10 Things You Didn't Know About CloseEncounters

[@jeremycunningham7897]

This movie hasn’t gotten dated at all - it still looks amazing! Perfect practical effects… hats off all round. Cheers minty!

[@JusNoBS420]

And those masked potatoes!!

[@amytrumbull156]

My dad Douglas Trumbull did the effects for this and many other great movies but he sadly died February 7 this year. His work lives on.

[@josephconnor2310]

I was very saddened to hear about his death.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

RIP🌹

[@luiznogueira1579]

I wasn't aware of your dad's passing. He was a master of his profession, always admired his work, especially in 2001, Blade Runner and also in his own movies, like Silent Running. From his Interviews he seemed like a very pleasant, charming person and with a keen intelect.

[@stephen285]

He was great at his craft!

[@jaywatanabe4706]

He must have been very proud of this film. The effects are truly beautiful ❤

[@killswitch1982]

The special effects are still amazing over 40 years later. Absolutely stunning. Practical effects will always be superior to CGI because what you're seeing on the screen is a real, tangible object. Studios rarely use them anymore because they are now more expensive and time consuming, but that just goes to show that anything worth doing is worth doing right.

[@chrisvandergriff504]

I want this comment to get like, a million likes, so someone screenshots it and sends it around all the studios, lol.

[@ericstewart2608]

It’s the exact same cost. Practical and CGI is the exact same cost.

[@1pcfred]

When CGI is done right you don't even know it is CGI. Now bad CGI can be just terrible.

[@ascensionindustries9631]

As someone with a degree in visual effects, I approve this comment. 👍

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

I agree. Now it's 'throw enough pixels at it and hope for the best'.

[@seasquawker]

The lighting in movies from this era is unmatched by anything done with modern special effects. Close Encounters, Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T. all have a warm glow to them that just can't be touched by anything done with computer animation

[@MrDuncanDonut]

The greatest film of all time in my opinion. Remember seeing this as a kid, and now 40 years later I still love every second of it. I still get shivers down my spine when they start playing the musical notes.

[@JusNoBS420]

John Williams is so good

[@v-town1980]

@@JusNoBS420 so good? Lol. And Mozart was "so good."

[@byronharano2391]

I enjoyed this movie as well.

[@MindBodySoulOk]

I'm a man child, I could have played it.

[@RaineStudio]

@@JusNoBS420 He is extremely competent. Sometimes he is brilliant, but mostly, he gives the director what they want for their vision.

[@Hykje]

The synthesizer that was used to communicate with the aliens at the end of the movie was a real synthesizer, these days quite rare machine called ARP 2500. The guy who plays the guy who operates the synth is actually not an actor -it's the manufacturer ARP's VP of engineering Phil Dodds who was just there to demonstrate the instrument for the production but ended up getting a role in the movie.

[@RobertGraziose]

ARP made the string synthesizer, a n affordable mellotron alternative. Gray Wright used it in Dream Weaver.

[@emilyminchew6131]

My grandpa's uncle, Leigh Harline, wrote the music to When You Wish Upon A Star. Leigh Harline was born and raised in Salt Like City, to Swedish immigrants. He won 2 Oscars: one for Pinocchio best score and the other for best song, When You Wish Upon A Star.

[@sabre0461]

Hi! Lyrics written by my brother in law's great uncle Ned Washington! For real!

[@johndalton3180]

That's really neat!

[@cindyknudson2715]

It's a shame that it is generally only seen on televisions now. I saw it when it first came out, in the movie theater on a full-size screen. My most intense memory of the movie is the moment when the spaceships come around the corner, following the road around the mountain, and fly over "our" heads. It was like actually being there, with the ships huge and right overhead. An awesome experience. Years later, seeing it on TV, made me feel a kind of sadness, a sorrow. Those magnificent vessels diminished and harnessed inside a small box in our living room..☹️

[@JustinCase99999]

I couldn't agree more. I remember coming out of the theater at night we were all looking up at the starry sky expecting the huge spaceship to appear. We were all still in shock at the last act of the movie. You could feel it in the theater when the ship appeared on screen. We were like wow, what was that ! Amazing.

[@pattym307]

Same for me. I have never looked at skies the same after this movie. Seeing it in the theater with no scenes removed for tv usage was amazing. My all time favorite movie. Gonna rent it now lol

[@grandmasmagic3858]

I went and saw this on the big screen as part of a school excursion into the city..we didn't have cinemas in the outer suburbs then..loved the movie then, still love it now, especially with the extended version...but my biggest memory/takeaway of the movie was me falling down the stairs after the movie and spraining my ankle...I've not been able to safely navigate stairs ever since...

[@wesleycook7687]

Very good movie Still have my T shirt..

[@craigbrown8984]

I know what you mean. Me and my buddy Harold at the Sam Eric theater downtown Philadelphia 1977. I still have my Close Encounters photo portfolio, that I had purchased from Gimbels Department Store back in that same year. The SamEric theater had the largest indoor screen in Pennsylvania. I'm a close encounter of the Third Kind nut. Hold on to those good memories of how it felt for the first time you saw it on the large theater screen. You are not alone my friend.😊👽

[@philsowers]

I got to see the mothersship model at its home at the Udvar-Hazy Air & Space museum in Dulles, VA. There are a lot more Easter eggs in addition to R2D2 you can try to spot.

[@JusNoBS420]

Do you happen to remember any of them?

[@hagerty1952]

@@JusNoBS420 - There's also a C3PO, a pre-WWII Navy reconnaissance seaplane complete with launch ramp and a bunch more. I tried to photograph the entire thing, but being under plexiglass, I couldn't get close, nor were the images very sharp.

[@NinkeWestra]

I didn't find C3PO, do you remember where you saw him? I did find the planes, USPS mailbox, cemetery, submarine conning tower, VW van, tie fighter, R2D2 and the shark

[@taqresu5865]

I've actually visited Devil's Tower in real life. My family and I hiked around it to appreciate it from every angle (from the ground of course). It's a very impressive Geological structure, and the mountain climbers on its side looked like ants in comparison. When rewatching Close Encounters, I could grasp the sense of f scale the movie was trying to capture.

[@nasalpolecat091]

The fact that Spielberg was willing to cut out the "crying scene" to accommodate Steve McQueen says alot. Even more profound is that McQueen told Spielberg that it was an important scene. Wow.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

So true, and I agree that McQueen would have ruled the part and made it a better movie. Nicholson - NO WAY.

[@negotiableaffections]

I cannot imagine anyone but Dreyfus as Roy Neary. Hindsight being 20/20, as they say, but I think I'd have chosen Dreyfus from the contempory male leads of the day. I'd just seen jaws [1975] and he'd impressed me then.

[@Gilleban]

One of the fun things about having been a kid back then is that we got to see all the best films AS kids...though in a few cases such as Excalibur, The Thing, and Alien I probably shouldn't have been watching those (The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 still has an impact on my current life). I remember seeing knights on the Big Screen and wearing a sparkly costume that Halloween and having a wooden sword...as an adult I learned to make chainmail, got in touch with the right people, and spent over two decades in the movie industry. I remember watching Close Encounters and Star Wars, and looking up at planes in the night sky and, seeing their navigation lights, imagining them as alien explorers or battling starships. I remember seeing Bill Murray and Harold Ramis as soldiers in one film, them going toe-to-toe with a Mesopotamian god a couple years later. I'm just chuckling now (in a good way...welcome to the party, pals!) that Stranger Things has been such a beloved series...we didn't have the psycho supernatural stuff going on, but the kids in that show portray kids only slightly older than I was back then, and shows how much fun it was to be a kid in those days.

[@johnnym7904]

i agree 100% !!!

[@semperfi-1918]

I was born in 81 and even i had the privilege to do the same with fun movies in the 90's

[@Scorpionwitch]

Agreed. I was 10 years old in 1977. Going to the movies was almost magical at that age.

[@howardkerr8174]

I saw the original, 50s version, of The Thing on some late night horror movie theater and thought that the John Carpenter version would be similar. The JC version of The Thing truly scared me to near death. Saw Alien late at night at a base movie theater. Walking to the barracks afterward had me afraid that I would step on a tropical snake.

[@singin8324]

Great review Minty, Speilberg should go back and do a sequel, Roy Neary returning to earth 45 years later, that would be worth the price of a ticket.

[@mojebi3804]

Wouldn't he be like 90 years old?

[@mr.pavone9719]

@@mojebi3804 Not if he's been traveling at light speed.

[@singin8324]

@@mojebi3804 he would be 74, I think he could pull it off.

[@2782gregmiller]

I'd pay to see that

[@mojebi3804]

@@mr.pavone9719 the entire time? I mean, I guess.

[@ChuckMusicDinoLover]

Loved both "Star Wars" and "Close Encounters"! Saw both of them in theaters, the originals and their re-releases with enhanced changes. "Stars Wars" did do more revenue, but its audience appeal was farther reaching into a wider range of generations. "Close Encounters" was too complex and the story didn't move as fast for younger audiences. But, "Close Encounters" still did quite well at the box office. I used an inflation calculator to get the equivalent of $306 million in 1977 to what it would be today in 2022. It was pretty impressive... $1.5 billion!

[@stuartgeorge2324]

What a underrated film 📽️ great score from John Williams 👌👌👌

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

If this film is underrated, I wonder what the baseline is!

[@stuartgeorge2324]

@@TheRadioAteMyTV I find if I say it to people they don't know of it or got not very much to say about it , I say it Spielberg and music by John Williams and still don't get much feedback , I love the film 🎥👍👍

[@jimmymelendez1836]

*an

[@smokerings9588]

I was a flying saucer true believer when I saw Close Encounters and it blew me away! And made me cry. It was so moving to me that humans and aliens could be friends and communicate thru music.

[@Thurgosh_OG]

If friendly aliens did come to visit in 2022, they'd probably just leave given the mess the world is in and the warmongering going on in Eastern Europe and Asia.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

@SharrelWright Did you even see the movie?

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

In December 2007, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

Wait until NASA finds out about that! There will be h_ll to pay!

[@FWDSUXARSE]

Damn straight!

[@MaceyMichael]

I have another interesting fact for you, Minty: 1979 a Novel was written by German author Rainer M. Schröder which continues the adventures of Roy Neary in space. It is rather a kind of anthology of three episodes called "Close encounters of the fourth, fifth and sixt kind". German Titel was "Plast des Grauens - Raumschiff Novatlan auf Sternenkurs". It shows how Roy and the team of human scientists work and travel together to other worlds.

[@raystewart3648]

WOW Will look out for this book, sounds fantastic. Did not know about this. Thanks.😅

[@robertc4826]

Would like to see a English translation

[@raystewart3648]

@@robertc4826 I bet that most Germans can speak and read English.

[@pheunithpsychic-watertype9881]

How many travels were through time?

[@MaceyMichael]

@@pheunithpsychic-watertype9881 None, they visited several planets encountering different civilizations.

[@infinitysynthesis]

Probably one of the top ten Sci-Fi movies that has been made.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

After Dark Star.

[@Johnrob1943]

What's so funny is, as a kid, I actually watched some of this actually getting filmed. The scene of Devils Tower was actually about 20 miles from where I grew up. After watching the movie several times, I had to start laughing, because I knew the area and knew the people who owned the land.

[@gdodson69]

Love this film. In the summer or 1978 I've must have seen Star Wars and Close Encounters on a double bill at the drive-in at least 10 times.

[@The_Names_Dalton]

I've been waiting a long time for you to do this one. One of my childhood favorites although it was before my time. I remember sitting with my grandfather watching this and then every time I had mashed potatoes I would sculpt Devil's Towet. Thank you Minty for doing this and all your others.

[@RobinMarks1313]

One of my favourite movies of all time. I saw in in theatres when I was a kid in the 70s. It made me believe and I've been waiting for the aliens ever since. Also, Dreyfus's character is one of the best depictions of a man's obsession I've ever seen. Oh, and the big space ship is shot of the city of Los Angeles but put upside down. I didn't know R2D2 was also stuck on the ship.

[@Primus54]

I recently watched a series of KZbin videos featuring a number of the pre-CGI special effects creators. I forget his name, but one of the premier model-makers clandestinely stuck tiny R2D2s on a number of models, and not just ships. Became his inside joke “signature”. 😉

[@stereoscope360v6]

I would have to disagree with you on Dreyfus having played the best depiction of a man's obsession, though it happens to be another movie starring Dreyfus, and that would be Bill Murray playing a guy obsessed with seeking mental help from a psychotherapist played by none other than Richard Dreyfus who takes his family on vacation only to be tracked down by the patient and relentlessly confronted by him in the classic movie "What about Bob?".

[@RobinMarks1313]

@@stereoscope360v6 When I went insane, during my return back to the planet, I used the "baby steps" line any time I was overwhelmed and feeling down. It works. Just take small bites and focus on the here and now. That and three deep, slow breaths. Simple steps to a simple life.

[@CharGC123]

I saw it at the theater too and had a really memorable 3D experience! Toward the end of the movie when the big bass note played and busted out the glass... the drop ceiling tiles in the theater dropped down on the audience! Luckily they were light weight and nobody got hurt, but it was pretty intense!

[@davekendall9749]

I had noticed the R2D2 shape but hadnt made the connection. But in starwars 1 the stormtrooper bangs his head. In 2 C3PO bangs his head on the spaceship ramp. Still looking at 3.

[@rebeccatavel554]

Bravo Minty! Another classic! Random guy "That wasn't in my drawing." Roy Neary "Next time, try sculpture!" My favorite line!!

[@Caffeine_Club]

The word 'masterpiece' gets thrown around a lot, but this film truly is one.

[@thefrecklepuny]

Still one of the very best Sci-Fi movies ever! Full of awe, wonderment, a sense of slight chill and special effects which still hold up to this day! I read that it was not just kids playing the 'cute' bulbous headed aliens, but specifically little girls. As their movements were preferred than that of boys of a similar age.

[@tkent3698]

The scene in the helicopter when Neary decides to run for it, is a precise description of what faith is all about. Taking a positive feeling that is strong about something important and risking everything. IMHO his entire character, while set in a secular universe, is clearly an example of how faith operates.

[@JKVisFX]

Douglas Trumbull was, in my view, the greatest VFX artist/supervisor in the physical/photo-chemical days of visual effects. His cloud tank shots in C3K were incredible, nothing like that had ever been seen before. There's one bit of trivia that I have always liked (being a synth man and all) the monster modular synthesizer used in C3K. It is a real synthesizer being manufactured back then by Allan R. Pearlman, the ARP 2500. It is a monster modular system where you have a collection of modules, each one having a specific function in the signal chain that helps shape and form the sounds the synthesizer makes. The biggest systems had a large, central case and two, smaller wing cases that sat on each side of the main one. All of the modules were connected together in pretty much any way you wanted allowing you to mold the sound into a vast variety of timbres/voices/instrument sounds. They were very big, very heavy, and very expensive. On the third act set (the mother ship finale), they put the synth in a custom case that had the synth facing up at an angle with the two side wings mounted in their own angled cases set at an angle to the main case. They then added two keyboards to it. I'm sure that was all to dress up the set with a serious, bad-ass-looking synth whereas, the actual music could have been done with a simple Minimoog. reverb.com/news/a-brief-history-of-the-arp-2500#:~:text=Perhaps%20the%20most%20famous%20example%20of%20this%20can,film%E2%80%99s%20alien%20communication%20was%20the%20incredible%20ARP%202500. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iWWzinxsid-kj80

[@karenlbellmont6560]

Rest in peace Douglas. FX experts before CGI will always be the best in my books.

[@stevensaussey8680]

I read the ashen, sweaty, nervous-looking young man who plays the keyboard in the film was actually the installer who came with the synth!

[@JKVisFX]

@@stevensaussey8680 Yeah, I remember reading that too. If you are into synths, that one is one of the very early classic modular systems. Only something like 140 of them was ever built and each one was built to the specs of the individual buyers.

[@Brad772006]

Douglas Trumbull's visual effects still look amazing all these years later. A true testament to how great he was at his craft.

[@akfreed6949]

Douglas Trumbull ALWAYS held his own against competitor Industrial Lights and Magic when it came to special effects . He's also a great underrated director . He never made a bad movie .

[@davidbuswa9425]

Douglas Trumbull became a UFO enthusiast/hunter as he build a mobile telescope observatory on wheels.

[@akfreed6949]

@@davidbuswa9425 He did a segment on a show about UFOs as a consultant on some UFO videos showing that they were hoaxes using off the shelf computer software .

[@davidbuswa9425]

@@akfreed6949 He definitely knew the tricks of the trade. Hoaxers could get anything past him

[@StevesgamingWorld]

One of my all time favourite movies! An absolute delight in movie magic and it wasn’t that long ago when I bought all three versions on Blu-ray! Love, love, love this movie!

[@cabellero1120]

45 years later and I'm still in awe of this Incredible movie! I saw this when I was a kid! The visual effects are just awesome It's Spielberg's masterpiece! The scene where the mothership communicates with the humans is phenomenal! " do do do..do do!"

[@thiswonderfullandpenwithco1151]

I remember being into UFOs as a kid and massively looking forward to CEoTK coming out . Bloody loved it and everything expected which was rare in a film then and the effects still give me goose bumps . Watched with my son recently he enjoyed it and hard to impress . It was massive at the time and still good . A movie pleasure 🧡

[@VideoMusicManiacPlace]

At 35 years old I would not leave my family. Now at 65 I would...

[@chuc98]

My favorite science fiction movie of all time! I can remember my grandmother taking me to see the re-release when it came out! The special effects still hold up, great acting, and emotional payoff at the end (no matter what version you’re watching)!

[@AtheistOrphan]

I saw it at the cinema when it first came out and it remains one of my all-time favourite films.

[@brettbroadbere2614]

To this day still one of the best films ever made. Nothing released today comes close..

[@eddylex4921]

You forgot the TV cut which premiered in the early 80s. My parents taped this version off of TV and its the one I grew up with and would watch over and over as a kid, it combines both Original & Special editions of the film. To this day this version is Close Encounters to me whenever I see the other versions they always seem kinda strange to me. The closest you can get to owning this version without having to track down a recording is the criterion Laserdisc which also combines both versions. Both the TV cut and Laserdisc are around 3 hours long.

[@Issicra]

Always loved this movie since I was a kid in the 70s. Fun fact: The Lacombe character, played by Francois Truffaut is based on a real UFO researcher named Jaques Vallee

[@HossBlacksilver]

And real life ufo researcher, J. Allen Hynek cameoed among the team at Devil's Tower contact sight.

[@michaelscottturner]

@@HossBlacksilver And J Allen Hynek coined the phrase 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' as well! He also told Spielberg about an alien they found wandering New Mexico named Ebe, short for Extraterrestrial Biological Entity! Spielberg changed it to E.T. and the rest is history

[@christopherheckman7957]

* Vallee. He is also a computer scientist who helped design DARPANet, which eventually became the Internet.

[@Issicra]

@@christopherheckman7957 Thank you. I thought I might have had his name spelled wrong. I read one of his books back in the 90s. Very interesting fellow.

[@christopherheckman7957]

@@Issicra He's one of the few UFO writers that writes intelligently on the subject.

[@Fister_of_Muppets]

Close Encounters is brilliant, as it made everyone feel good about kidnapping and and intergalactic human trafficking.

[@rimmerblues1586]

This comment.

[@mrock828]

Christ, are you one of those people who think everything is racist and white-supremacist?

[@raymondlantz9278]

Gotta watch out for those a-b-g-g-d aliens!

[@marvingarden4587]

are we brothers? :)

[@mikentx57]

My mom told me to never get in a van with a man offering me a puppy. She never said a word about not getting in a spaceship with an alien offering me moon rocks.

[@jerryc5743]

1:28 - that is the only Easter egg. Toward the end of the movie when the scientists and the ship were communicating with sound, the ship plays the theme from Jaws.

[@bennemer489]

One of my all-time favorite movies. BTW Minty, "Mobile" as in Mobile Alabama is pronounced as "MO-beel"

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

For reasons no one is quite sure.

[@jwb52z9]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.

[@sarlaccstapeworm990]

This movie scared the hell out of me as a kid... The part where little Barry was abducted, it scared me so bad I actually got nauseated! As I got older though, I grew to really LOVE it! Actually THIS video, has even made me want to watch it again tonight!! Great video buddy!!👍💯

[@joshblevins7609]

Minty, I've said it before and I'll say it again....YOU DA MAN!!! KEEP IT UP!!!

[@siegfriedkleinmartins7816]

Great video!!!! This is one of my favorite movies ( I saw it more than 40 times in cinemas, not including TV reruns or DVD). What great year was 1977 !!! Here in Rio de Janeiro, at the first exibition, Close Encounters was applauded for more than FIVE minutes. I know, I was there. And the cinema where it was shown had a huge rounded exibition room of 1800 seats. It was round and big like the interior of the mothership. Unforgettable experience. Now I have all 3 versions on DVD Forgot to say, I also have the marvel comic from the movie, the soundtrack in vinil LP, the novel book, a big poster with the mothership.... And a clay sculpture of Devil's Tower!! Ok, call me THE big nerd. In my defense I must say that a UFO I saw flying over Copacabana beach 1 year before this movie was exactly equal to that little red lightball over the road, but bigger, much bigger. It justifies my compulsion with this movie.

[@nebulousy]

Leaving his family behind really diminished the film because it showed that the guy we’d been following was a selfish asshole the entire time. I’m glad Spielberg now agrees.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

So he was a "regular guy" after all, along then.

[@AquarianAgeApostle]

His wife failed to "stand by her man". Perhaps if Mrs Nearly had listened to Tammy Wynnette's advice, he'd no doubt have been not such the selfish asshole. Running off with the kids when your spouse needs the support arguably gives license for the jilted partner to go off world with extra terrestrial midgets lol

[@welleffitthen]

The 1970s was IMHO the best decade for movies. These movies are so great they should never be remade.

[@grapeshot]

I remember when I was a kid that scene of the little kid opening the door and you saw the spaceship outside and everything was like bathe in orange. That kind of freaked me out. Obviously the mothership was quite impressive and that sound off they did with the keyboards that was good. And of course Futurama spoofed it by having a Mothership that was the size of a compact car.

[@louguzzo4977]

The effects hold up and are much better than many CGI movies now.

[@guywgane3]

I love your videos, Minty. Always. Even for films I haven't seen before. Close Encounters is one of the best films ever made. Im so glad you did this one!

[@rayraybowser235]

This is one of those majorly hyped up movies that absolutely lives up to to all the fuss, for me it dose at least. There’s not a single boring scene through out the whole movie, it’s just keeps building and getting better. Definitely one of the all time greats!

[@shainewhite2781]

This was the first Steven Spielberg movie I saw on VHS, the second ET, and the third Hook. The first movie I saw In theaters was JURASSIC PARK.

[@Jman417]

I like ET and Jurassic Park. Spielberg directed three o clock high too. I like that one too

[@commercialrealestatecoach]

Minty, in addition to your fun analysis and historic documentaries of all these classic films, you're a joy to watch since you're such a Kind Soul. Best wishes to you Down Under

[@laranaarana]

My father belonged to the Movie Censors Association in my home country and I always went with him to watch the movies that were to be shown in theaters and had the chance to see them before they took out many scenes that were considered "inappropriate or not necessary for the plot".

[@VickiCampbell-1216]

My 2 ALL TIME FAVORITE movies, Star Wars and Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind!! I saw them both when they came out in the late 70s. This was pure joy seeing what you put together. I've been a huge UFO/Alien abductee/experiencer research nut thanks to my initiation into Close Encounters of the Third Kind's debut in theaters!! 🛸👽🛸

[@user-michael77]

A true masterpiece! Back when Spielberg used to make great movies.

[@jasonotoole1822]

I got to see the actual model of the alien ship only weeks ago at the Smithsonian. This is such a great movie!

[@darklink539]

My favorite Spielberg film, and dare I say one absolutely needing a modern remake.

[@dominus519]

No, this movie does not need a remake!!, like ever!!

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

No! Some movies need to stand alone and left as an amazing one-off!

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

You really want a race and gender swapped movie where the aliens are not even allowed to be called aliens? No thank you.

[@kamandi1362]

It really doesn’t.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

Nope, it doesn't deserve a remake.

[@Noname-xi7xi]

Saw the movie with my dad when it first came out, I was ten years old, then bought the Comic book and obviously went to see the special edition. I'm 55 years old today and I still remember this film as one of my favourite as well as associating this movie with my dad and that beautifull period of my life....👨‍👦

[@mikehagmaier3949]

My Dad was awesome, too. He took us to see all the new movies (that our Mom approved of) when we were kids. Glad you have fond memories of your Dad as well.

[@marcfuller7531]

BEST FILM EVER! They don't make them like this anymore!

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

Blame green screens.

[@chrisvandergriff504]

Another great video, Minty. I've always loved this film and I sure didn't know most of these things!

[@thunderstruck5484]

Saw at the theater all timer favorite, he should make a sequel find out where Roy has been that would be interesting, with really great writers of course! Thanks again!

[@LoganHunter82]

Nope. This is one of those movies that doesn't need unnecessary sequel.

[@thunderstruck5484]

@@LoganHunter82 it would probably ruin the original story

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

It would most likely involve Crystal Skulls or something, and be an hour too long.

[@thunderstruck5484]

@@TheRadioAteMyTV hahaha very true

[@jimmymelendez1836]

@@LoganHunter82 *an

[@SalisburyKarateClub]

Saw this at the cinema when it first came out, was blown away by the special effects, and when the alien mother ship responded with the music was pure bliss

[@letshavefun420]

You got to respect McQueen, for not making Spielberg cut out any scenes just for him

[@mbryson2899]

I don't think the film would have been anywhere near the same had he taken the part. I like Steve McQueen, but an everyman he is not.

[@alltheinnocence]

That would not happen now. The only reason actors turn down roles anymore is because they either don't get offered what they believe they're worth for it, or they think the movie will make them look bad. Otherwise, if it means a fat paycheck, they'll do it without a care about if they're the right fit for it or not. It feels like everyone in the business just used to care so much more back then about actually making a quality product for audiences, even if that meant knowing when to step aside and let someone who was a better fit go for it.

[@mbryson2899]

@@alltheinnocence There are still some who do it out of love for the craft and do roles at discount rates. Also, there's always been actors who insist on fat checks and/or will take any work for a paycheck. Sean Connery, Michael Caine, and Marlon Brando leap to mind.

[@alltheinnocence]

@@mbryson2899 Maybe, but there's a reason people say they don't make them like they used to. Of course there will always be exceptions, but it feels like movie making has lost a lot of its soul. I know it's always been first and foremost a business, it has, but classic movies just have a certain heart and charm to them that is lacking from modern movies. And it isn't even nostalgia making me feel that way, because I was born in the mid 90's, and almost all of my favorite movies are from the 70's and 80's. To me, while people phoning it in and just collecting a paycheck has always been a thing, it feels SO much more prominent now.

[@letshavefun420]

@@alltheinnocence oh yeah 👍

[@CarlJohnson-kk4pr]

HalleluYaH HalleluYaH HalleluYaH HalleluYaH Great Job Minty Excellent Presentation and i Thoroughly Enjoyed Close Encounters myself, Best Shows in The Galaxy, besides Last Starfighter and Galaxy Quest!!!!! , Shalom Blessings, Chayim

[@2782gregmiller]

I love this movie seen it as a kid and still hunt it down on streaming services one of the movies that got me interested in the possibility of life out side of our own world

[@byronharano2391]

The casting of Richard Dreyfus in the lead role for this movie is brilliant. I was quite young when I saw this movie. Totally enjoyed this. (I am an '83 graduate, so you know my age then and now...lol).

[@matthewmartin4394]

I always assumed that after they get him on the ship, & fly off, the torturous experimentation begins. Then, like a month later they bring him back & he's like just a torso...

[@SheSmilesattheFuture75]

Accurate

[@tricivenola8164]

Thanks for this! I saw CEOTTK on premier night at the CInerama Dome in Hollywood, and that line you show was around the block. My boyfriend George was an expert line-cutter, we mimed friends up ahead and walked right up through it clear to the front, where there was a sort of party, nobody pushing or shoving, people dancing around,. I even smelled weed. The TV camera trucks were there, searchlights, the works. We made the news! Inside the Dome, the screen was curved, so you could literally sit right in the movie with no eyestrain, and we grabbed the two seats front row center. When the alien ship came across the sky towards the end, we slid down onto the floor, propped our heads on the seats, and lay there stunned all through the closing. I miss old Hollywood.

[@willswalkingwest7267]

This movie was HUGE when it came out. I went and watched it 6 or 7 times when it was in the theater. I bought the soundtrack on vinyl and used to put it on my stereo when I went to bed. I've never looked at mashed potatoes the same way since.

[@willswalkingwest7267]

@SharrelWright 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@chatanugadotorg]

Close Encounters is my #3 favorite movie (after Jaws and Jaws 2). In the 1980s, there was actually a fourth version of the movie. When ABC aired the movie, they took the Special Edition and added back in scenes from the original version that had been deleted with the Special Edition (Roy at the power plant, Ronnie going on about how she wasn't going to get a job, Roy tearing up the yard to get what he needed to build Devil's Tower, etc.)

[@michaelstaunton1632]

Close Encounters a brilliant film 🎥 no doubt about it 👌👌👌

[@amherst88]

Good work -- haven't seen it since it came out but remember it well & the scene where Dreyfuss makes the mountain out of mashed potatoes has great meaning to this day -- it's a film about a lot more than aliens.

[@markportier5466]

Indeed. It is a love letter to the misunderstood visionaries among us.

[@lordsessh1]

This channel just keeps getting better with every update

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

Considering it's always been good, that is saying something too!

[@jimmymelendez1836]

Update? It's an episode, not an update.

[@DrQuagmire1]

funny enough, the first time i've seen Lance Henriken in a big-screen movie was both "Aliens" and "The Terminator", as I saw them first as a little kid. But didn't know that he was in this movie as a much younger man

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

The Omen Part 3, he was excellent. You must have missed that one.

[@DrQuagmire1]

@@TheRadioAteMyTV actually, Lance didn't appear in that one, as Sam Neill did. you're referring to "Damien: Omen 2", where Lance DID have a role as one of the military personnel at the school

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

@@DrQuagmire1 OH! You are right. Good call. Still loved him in that part. : )

[@andyhynesvideography]

I count 52 Spielberg's. I'm gonna need a hospital and a really good priest...

[@sharkfeathers8499]

This movie never gets old, I'll never get tired of watching it.

[@killswitch1982]

Also, the tall, skeletal EBE with the long neck and limbs that's first seen before the smaller EBEs exit the mothership always creeped me out as a kid. There just always seemed something evil about it to me. I was always thankful that it was only on screen for a very brief moment.

[@killswitch1982]

@Phantasm I had always heard there were two different species of Greys: one being essentially biological robot servants for the Reptoids/Reptilians/Dracos, and the other a species that evolved/genetically modified to what we see them as today.

[@Mario_DiSanto]

That thing is terryfing. Slenderman must be modelled off him.

[@austintrousdale2397]

That scene was intimidating (with the score and the alien’s being kind of slumped over, inhuman proportions and on all fours when first revealed) and also a bit puzzling … was it meant to be a separate species or different life stage of the “grays?”

[@Sun_Simp]

well they are under direct command from the Mantises things.

[@shoua7]

This is the movie that got me fascinated in the Devil's Tower in Wyoming. It was just a surreal-looking geological feature of the surrounding land, everything else being comparatively flat. Even though I now live relatively close to it , I have yet to see it in person, but is on my list of must-sees.

[@redpillnibbler4423]

Apparently it’s made of mashed potato.

[@fluffybunny3178]

Some say it is a fossil of a tree trunk when trees use to be 100s of meters high. Things back when use to be bigger as the world was more tropical.

[@blackc1479]

Hadn't thought about it this way before, but I think the reason that it is one of the few real blockbuster "aliens are maybe friendly" movies is that the concept itself is something that better resonates in book form. You get more into characters heads, motivations, and can generally examine nuances much better. Visual representations can kinda trigger surface reactions, which are mainly fight or flight. It's the animal brain, something scary, must smash. But in the written format, the story is deeper, and doesn't have that clock pressure pushing it. Reading a book takes longer, and can let new ideas sink in more than an hour and a half movie.

[@michaelgallagher3640]

This one, Starman & ET, other than that their big scary lizards.

[@pheunithpsychic-watertype9881]

@@michaelgallagher3640 what about Escape to witch Mountain

[@Tk5869]

The upside down R2D2😆 😅 😂 🤣 Steven and George definitely had some thing going on in their movies with their hidden objects. And wow to Steve McQueens professionalism, skipping a good role only to have the director keep his scene in the movie is something not every actor would do.

[@wstine79]

I'm sure we all wanted to make mountains out of our mash potatoes.

[@paulcooper8818]

Close Encounters was a real joy to watch when it was released. I remember how excited people were leaving the theater, very talkative and animated.

[@sid2112]

The family dynamic in the movie is all too familiar to me. When I was young my parents fought like that, it got rough sometimes and I acted out just like the older boy did. Same ending too, mommy dearest ran off with us in tow, leaving Dad hanging with the bills. I'm almost 50 now and Dad lives with me and I personally take care of him. Mother is in a home, a nice one, but not one I'm planning on visiting. It was not the relationship I wanted, but the choice was hers.

[@rikprince8414]

Similar situation to mine. Dad and I have patched things up. Although, we are not exceptionally close. Mother and I are barely on speaking terms for the last 30+ years. CE3K is a favorite of mine. And Terri Garr in the yellow wispy thing was serious crush material in my young mind. :)

[@HeleniqueToday]

thanks for this one, minty!! loved it. & you really enlightened me on a few key historical points here!! ahhh… i’ll be re-watching this one a few times in the years to come. ❤️

[@jamesmoss3424]

Richard Dreyfuss is brilliant as Roy Neary and Melinda Dillon is brilliant as Jillian Guiler. 😀👍👽

[@adamesposito3662]

One of my all time favorite movies. Thank you for this Minty. Love your videos, keep it up...

[@docbrown6550]

I would love to read the letter NASA sent Steven. Does anyone know if there are copies available?

[@matthewfisher-sp5fq]

I like close encounters of the third kind. I also like the film signs with Mel Gibson in it 😊

[@efnissien]

Richard Dreyfuss apparently claimed that he spent a sizable amount of the production stoned on acid and says that's why he looks so awe struck on the scenes where there are lights (the road scene where they meet the other contactee's being one such scene). J. Allen Hynek's son Joel worked on the Predator movie as a VFX supervisor for the 'cloaking' effect, and has won an Oscar for his work. @Minty At 14;37 you mention the kids in 'alien suits' to get the 'Traditional alien look' - in fact Close Encounters lead to reports of aliens seen during encounters, to being almost exclusively 'The Greys' - prior to this there were a wide variety of descriptions. 'The Scandinavians' being the most popular with others including 'reptilians' and 'Wookiee' like ape men. If you listen to the theme by John Williams it perfectly encapsulates the film - almost horror film theme at the beginning before changing to a more wonderous piece (and including several bars of 'When you wish upon a star' at one point- and not just snippets.)

[@rgerber]

wasn't everybody high on acid in the 70's?

[@efnissien]

@@rgerber - if you say you can remember it, you weren't really there dude... ;)

[@jimmymelendez1836]

@@rgerber Geez, I was just a baby in 1977 but I wouldn't doubt it.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

Wow, who wouldn't be tripping on acid if your name is Richard Dreyfuss?

[@thomaspayton436]

thank you for covering this i've been waiting for someone to cover this sci fi classic

[@davidmckayii752]

More Spielberg pls. His morals, love for family ideals, and storytelling are in matched

[@v-town1980]

Ahh, he dropped the ball years ago.

[@MCastleberry1980]

My parents had the Special Edition when I was a kid, and now every version you can watch doesn't have the UFO interior scene. I legit was starting to think I imagined the interior scene back in the day.

[@RedRocket415]

"I agree sometimes leaving things a mystery leaves more intrigue and is more effective." You've just described J.J. Abrams entire miserable career.

[@PaulHilburger]

J.J. = HACK

[@the_once-and-future_king.]

Big difference between 'mystery' and 'not knowing how to end a series/movie'.

[@TheRadioAteMyTV]

@@the_once-and-future_king. Hahahahahaha, EXACTLY!

[@jimmymelendez1836]

Geez, really?😒

[@aprillisa910]

I am so happy that you finally did a video on one of my favorite movies. Great job!

[@MrWoodMan23]

This movie was truly extraordinary for its time. I don't think anyone can deny that all of these years later.

[@Carjn325]

I remember that movie being in theaters for years like 3-5 years alway at one in Tyson corner Virginia.

[@fixedguitar47]

Let’s go over the music theory lesson at the end.

[@dondee500k]

Absolutely love this movie!

[@chrisvellner3922]

Has anyone heard any rumors about a sequel? With deaging software we could get a cameo of Roy being brought back over 45 years later, and just like the WWII pilots, he hasn't aged a day. The plot could be about one of his sons becoming a MUFON agent who investigates UFO sightings hoping someday a UFO would return his father.

[@chrisvellner3922]

@SharrelWright Roy's sons were old enough to remember their Father being thrown from the hood of the car as their Mother Drove away. And the "important" mashed potatoes... It can easily be assumed the kids started to ask questions. Naturally, Ronnie would gaslight the kids about "Daddy's mental illness" But eventually the children would resent the Mother for not getting help for their Father and she would confess she didn't know. This would be the beginning of the search for the truth. Eventually they would make the "Devil's Tower" connection. Especially since Roy left a HUGE model of it in their living room... But the kids would remember it was Ronnie who left Roy.

[@blackamerican40]

Close Encounters was the second highest grossing movie of 1977 behind Star Wars; although Richard Dreyfus does have two movies in the top 5 of that year including his Oscar win in The Goodbye Girl.