Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Retrospective/Review - Spielberg Sci-Fi, Part 1

[@RowanJColeman]

HELP THE CHANNEL GROW: www.patreon.com/rowanjcoleman P.S: People should realise bad movies can still be directed well. Just because you may dislike a film doesn't automatically mean all aspects of that movie are bad. I say this because I'm seeing a lot of, "What about _ movie directed by Spielberg which sucked?" Not every film directed by Spielberg is great, but every Spielberg film has great direction.

[@RaikenXion]

21:31 I think the reason for that is because the ETs wish to impart Esoteric Knowledge upon those individuals. They had gone about these "Abductions" of their own accord, until they were actually able to make a contact with actual secret divisions within the US Govt. The idea seems to be how does such a seriously Advanced Race of Intelligent "Alien" beings make full on "contact" with a technologically inferior race? Just look at how Humans who have entered places like the Amazon Jungle have tried to make contact with Ancient Tribes-people who have not changed for like hundreds of years. They see the group, with their flying machines in the sky, and some come down to greet them on other side of a river, and it's gone very badly for both sides. So i think the ETs in this Film, are so far beyond Humans, both spiritually and technologically, that they cant just show up at the UN, or the White House. No average person can show up at the White House and seek a audience with the President, without first being thoroughly checked, and just deemed a threat to national security first. Now think of that scenario, only with Alien beings from another planet out in space, who are highly advanced. In such a scenario, the US Govt, Military are powerful in comparison, but America always want to "Shoot first and ask questions later". So i think this is where this whole idea of a top secret "meeting" between the two is established. The ETs psychically communicate with those specific Individuals because they have invited them, for life-changing reasons. I think in the case of the child, it's that missunderstanding, that they are indeed "Alien". They're simply not going to just land their Saucer Craft out on the Field, get out and walk upto that Mother's house, knock on the door and ask - "can we borrow your child for a short time please, we have very important knowledge to impart to him that will help change his life when he gets older, where he will help move the culture forward." lol And so those ETs communicate with the child telepathically, and Spielberg does a masterful job here, of specifically showing us that the child himself does not deem the ETs as a threat; while it's shown to us that the ETs are depicted to appear as threatening in some way. This is the idea i always got from the ETs in this amazing film. They're intentions are Benevolent as they appear to be trying to help Humanity, by selecting certain individuals to come with them, and experience and have a higher knowledge imparted unto them. Then they return them, unharmed, sometimes at much later period of time. It's like, try going to some jungle in another part of the world, living with some tribespeople and then trying to teach them things like Economics, Computer Science or something. It's going to be quite overwhelming for them. And so the ETs in Close Encounters have to handle Humans with kid-gloves so to speak. It would be very interesting in Steven Spielberg followed his classic up with a Sequel all these decades later, where Roy Neary is actually returned to earth, and he hasn't aged a day; but the whole secret ET exchange program from the Govt has long since been declassified and shut down. Maybe the movie could even be quite dark, and show how Neary tries to get in touch with his Family, and his sons, daughter, none of them recognize or want to believe it's him. They just think it's a imposter.

[@LynnHermione]

close encounters is an amazing movie. what a stupid takee

[@lestatdelc]

I agree not every Spielberg movie is a great film. You mentioned “1941” as a great example of this. But you really missed the mark in saying CE3K is a flawed film. It really isn't, and holds up much better than other iconic films by Spielberg, such as E.T. which is an inferior film in my opinion, and does not hold up compared to CE3k.

[@RaikenXion]

@@lestatdelc I completely agree, infact i find Spielberg's later stuff in recent years really has been some of his worst. He really needs to jump back into proper hardcore, thinking person's sci fi. Spielberg should try doing a sequel to CE3K, but make it more personal, like where Roy Neary get's brought back, dropped off at Devil's Tower in our present day, and he doesn't look a day older; make it dark, where he tries to find his Family, his kids who are all grown up and reconcile with them, but they reject him, thinking he's an impostor. It could be a very different, psychological sequel, where though the Roy Neary he's questioning himself whether it was all in his head, thinking he's gone crazy; but we the audience know the truth. And then the film could slowly build up and reveal what's happened with the Alien/ETs and that whole, secret Operation from the first film. I believe Steven Spielberg still has it in him to make such a Film.

[@Chopperwocky]

Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull is a BADLY directed film. Spielberg clearly was on autopilot doing that movie and wasn’t interested in the story at all

[@QuicksilverSG]

It's hard to express the impact Close Encounters had on popular culture in 1977. Everyone was still overwhelmed by Star Wars and the Apple ][ computer had just begun to revolutionize the concept of home computing. At that point, there were only about 10 million cable TV subscribers in the USA, and VHS videorecorders had just launched the year before. In short, there was nothing outside of movie theaters to compare with the spectacular light shows and wide-eyed wonderment created by Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Star Wars was a rolicking adventure, but it was set in a completely alien galaxy with little connection to the 1970's. Close Encounters brought high-tech fantasy down to earth in a compellingly personal manner, mixing the mundane aspects of suburban life with the most profound extra-terrestrial experience imaginable. Everyone had heard of numerous UFO reports and we had all seen astronauts walk on the moon, and in that context, the dazzling display of earth-shaking technology showcased in Close Encounters seemed like it might be lurking just around the next bend in the road.

[@stephenbarrette610]

An absolutely brilliant comment. That’s exactly what I felt, I wasn’t too impressed with Star Wars, it was good but Close Encounters was the best. ‘I want to believe’ but I think it’s probably unlikely.

[@RaikenXion]

@@stephenbarrette610 WHY is it probably unlikely? The *Truth* could be much deeper and darker than you realize. What if certain World Leaders had been taken to actually meet with Extra-terrestrial Beings? What if they had been warned that Man's messing around with the "splitting of the atom" was dangerous and such ETs had not intended for such esoteric knowledge to be deciphered and used in such a way? What if there was a governing body, a "organization" that acted of it's own accord, above any "President", and could not be prosecuted by the law?

[@scotternst7803]

That is exactly why, as a seven-year-old, I loved the adventure of Star Wars, but Close Encounters scared the crap out of me. I wanted to hang out with Jedi and hot princesses, not get taken from my family by all-too-plausible aliens!

[@chancellorpalpy813]

That was well articulated, good on ya

[@Foxonian]

One thing that always struck me about Close Encounters was how the kids in the film acted like real kids, not like what Hollywood thought kids should act like.

[@stephenbarrette610]

Yes Cary Guffey was amazing and in that iconic scene when he smiles at ‘an alien’ it was someone dressed in a a tiger costume who jumped out on set I think. A real piece of cinema history. Just a wonderful film I have adored for 40 odd years.

[@RaikenXion]

They did! Like when the day Roy Neary and his Wife are having a fight, the kids get upset, that whole scene, with them crying was extremely REAL.

[@stephenbarrette610]

@@RaikenXion And the mashed potato being shaped in Devils Tower.

[@fierro7771]

​@@stephenbarrette610there's a dead fly in my mashed potatoes"

[@RaikenXion]

@@stephenbarrette610 Yes that whole scene was really good.

[@ejtappan1802]

This came out when I was in high school. My friends and I were absolutely obsessed. We went to see it many times that December. The following summer my family took a trip across the country, and when I found out we would be passing "near" Devils Tower, I managed to talk my dad into the side trip to see it. This wasn't an easy sell but I was forever grateful when he said yes. The whole thing was just so magical to me!

[@beeman2075]

Glad you got to see Devils Tower. My Dad and I (from Australia) travelled on a US road trip 8 years ago and I nominated Devils Tower on our travel itinerary from seeing it in Close Encounters as an 80's kid. I'm still very glad we visited it. It's impressive as a geological structure, and it does indeed have a kind of 'not of this world' feel to it.

[@jokerz7936]

You gotta give McQueen credit he knew his limits as an actor and passed on the project as to not bring it down.

[@inkermoy]

McQueen was a serious tough guy. Playing Neary would be really be out of his comfort zone. And no one does manic as well as Dreyfuss.

[@atariboy9084]

1977 I was 5 and this year THREE things happen to me that shape my life forever. My mother brought me a Atari Video Computer System (aka 2600) for my birthday and she took me to see both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind in the NYC movie theater.

[@darrenscrowston9386]

You can’t front on that. What a mother.

[@jdnelms62]

Having seen CE3K at in theaters in 1977 when I was still a high school freshman, I can tell you it was a profound film, full of pure awe and wonder, at time when that was in very short supply. Close Encounters had a bigger impact on me than Star Wars did, which itself was huge.

[@celestepalm6949]

I just find it amazing that 2 such historically groundbreaking sci-fi blockbusters came out on the same year. What a year it was!

[@johnmcaree7298]

Dreyfus portrayed the 'everyman' character perfectly. Fair play to Steve McQueen for realising that he wasn't right for it.

[@Apogee02UK]

The dark storyline you refer to is basically about divorce. Specifically Spielberg's own experience of a family break up...he was writing from personal experience and, speaking as someone from a broken family myself, I can say he nailed it. This makes David Lifton's question about the director's parent's communicating particularly pertinent. The emotional confusion portrayed gives the film some real grounding. I saw Close Encounters in the theatre on its first release and I love it now as much as I did then.

[@subraxas]

❤ ❤

[@SPVFilmsLtd]

Hollywood science fiction is so either obsessed with making everything and everyone a cartoonish, comic book character come to life or trying to plumb the depths of the human soul through misery and betrayal...it's so rare to see a movie that's just grounded, authentic, made with a keen observational eye about ordinary people. Hollywood stopped making movies about regular folks a long time ago and, in some ways, I feel like it's made audiences forget how to read ordinary people characters in grand scale films like this.

[@JeghedderThomas]

@@SPVFilmsLtd Well put, I concur.

[@priestpega]

Let me summarize what 1977 audiences experienced watching this film: it wasn't just a movie...it was an EVENT.

[@nunyabizness6595]

Close Encounter. Star Wars. 1977. That year was just awesome. Two years later the return of Trek!❤❤❤

[@glennledrew8347]

I was in my mid teens when this was released and was completely enthralled. I perceived no disjointed plot structure, being instead taken on an engrossing journey which pulled me in entirely.

[@PixelatedH2O]

I was born a few years after the film was released. I've seen it countless times though, including once in the theatre. I don't see how it's disjointed either.

[@kurtb8474]

Me too. I was 17. I had just been wowed by Star Wars. This movie wowed me all the same. I didn't find the movie boring or disjointed. It made perfect sense to me and it sort of answered all of the UFO curiosities we had back then. I gues you had to have been there when it first came out.

[@musa7606]

Its not disjointed. Its stuff that happens. Not everything needs a perfect answer. Some of those questions could be answered by the aliens playing all their cards for the best possible outcome.

[@marienbad2]

Agree. It ties together well. Neary is given a vision which is so overpowering it takes over his life. This is similar to how people who are into stuff like UFOs can become, totally obsessed and single-minded about something. It is never boring, I'm not sure which bit he was bored by!

[@XboxNuisance]

Man,you're old as dirt. You're older than the dinosaurs from Jurassic Park

[@nickk6518]

If you weren't alive at that time to see films such as this, then you missed something very special.

[@jimisi7424]

So true. Everything is possible now with cgi. Great time to be a kid

[@troyo.8294]

I miss my Close Encounters 70’s lunchbox.

[@squall9930]

Always loved this movie since i was little, but over time it’s firmly gotten into my top 5 of all time, there’s just something mesmerising, poetic, sad but at the same time joyful about it… it sparked my imagination and still does to this day

[@soppdrake]

I still have my cinema theatre booklet I bought when the film was released in London. I remember reading that Brand X did a concert in New York at the time and used the scale theme during their set. The buzz from this film was enormous.

[@lamecasuelas2]

Dude! That sounds so cool!

[@jons2614]

I saw it the first showing of opening day - amazingly the theater wasn't very crowded because word of mouth hadn't gotten out yet and the marketing campaign was very mysterious without really showing any of the actual film. Anyway, I went with a good friend (we actually skipped our college classes that morning to see it) and when it was over we walked out of the theater, back to my car and got in without saying a word to each other, we were just speechless at what we just saw - after a minute or two of just sitting in the car I just said "wow....." to him and it was enough. A few weeks later I saw it again with some other friends - there was a rainstorm the evening and during the scene where the lights start to go out across the city, the power ACTUALLY WENT OUT in theater as well! Suffice to say people were a little freaked out, the theater manager had to make a announcement for everyone to please stay calm - the power was restored a few minutes later and the film continued - but it was a deja vu moment of fantasy becoming reality for a few minutes!

[@yesdollyhadbraces7442]

I saw this when I was eleven years old. and loved it so much I saw it three times in the theatre. This was second only to Star Wars which I saw seven times that same year. It was for a long time my second favorite film and still remains in my top ten. The one-two punch of these two sci-fi films made the late seventies a golden age of science film. Superman, Battlestar Galactica, Alien, Moonraker, and Star Trek the motion picture would soon follow.

[@CybershamanX]

Three movies changed my life, starting with "Star Wars" (now, episode 4; there was only one back then), followed by Close Encounters, and then Raiders. I was in fourth grade when Star Wars came out. My young mind was opened and to this very day people tell me I come up with some "out there" ideas. I still have fond memories of when I was a young lad and having my mind as a whole other seemingly infinite universe of possibilities where anything could happen to play in. Today I am stuck in bed a lot due to some ongoing medical issues. I don't know what I would do without that gateway of imagination that Lucas and Spielberg opened up for me... 😃☮

[@willythepeachfacelovebird]

Not everthing needs to be resolved. Absolute classic. Year of my birth and a favourite for my dad.

[@MiBrCo4177]

Certain films and TV shows when done right can come off as being a story that started being told midway through and ends just as it started. Hints of its past that leads up to what we're watching on screen and then leaves with hints of the future story left to interpretation. Recent shows that have been canceled after one season come to mind. The show Humans that came out on the BBC a few years ago always come to mind.

[@madyak6669]

I was lucky enough to see it in the cinema. Honestly changed my life and is my hands down favourite film.

[@kathyastrom1315]

I was 11 in 1977, and seeing this in the theater was overwhelming .What struck me the most was that damn 5-note tune! The idea that alien encounters would be so, well, ALIEN, was a mind blowing concept to me. I never liked Roy all that much-like you stated, his abandonment of his family was not good. I loved Melinda Dillon a lot, though. When I rewatch the film, I tend to skip over the middle part.

[@JamesHaney]

I remember the mind-bending glory of this film as I saw it as a 13-year-old kid.Raised on STAR TREK, LOST IN SPACE and SPACE:1999, I drank in the wonder that Spielberg presented, reinforcing my hopes for a future where we interact with the Universe. Thank you for an excellent overview! 🖖♾

[@mahatmarandy5977]

“Name another director…..genres” easy! Robert Wise! He did everything. Horror, spy thrillers, science fiction, musicals, romances, you name it he did it. Spielberg even remade one of his films. Which is not meant as disrespect for Spielberg, who has blown pretty much everyone away with pretty much everything…..but I don’t think Wise should be forgotten.

[@stephenbarrette610]

Totally agree, a brilliant director like Spielberg.

[@jgrab1]

William Wyler. Coppola. This author doesn't know enough about past Hollywood. Like most of today's people, he only knows about what he's lived through.

[@stephenbarrette610]

@@jgrab1 Well first off, William Goldman died in November 2018, if you are referring to him. And he won two Academy Awards for his scripts and had been involved in the movie industry since the 1950s. And William Wyler and Francis Ford Coppola are / were great directors. Personally Kubrick is my favourite.

[@Stonecutter334]

Robert Wise was a great storyteller. Spielberg is a great filmmaker and storyteller.

[@stephenbarrette610]

@@Stonecutter334 I totally agree.

[@davidwaddell6063]

My mum took me to see it at the cinema (ABC, Paisley). It’s the only film I’ve gone back to see for a second time within a week.

[@colinritchie1757]

I saw the original version twice when it was first released and then once again when the special edition came out , every time is blew me away , one of the defining films of my life

[@average_joe4558]

How big was its impact? I remember seeing the rock band KISS and Ace Frehley aka The Spaceman played that 5 note piece from the movie in the middle of his guitar solo to the absolute delight of the screaming audience. It gave me goosebumps.

[@fabiendalmasso]

This is my favorite movie ever, and it has never lost its place over the years. I was born in 1980, so my first memory of Encounters was on TV when I was around 5. My father watched it and I just came down from my room where I was supposed to be asleep. I ran bhind the couch just to witness the arrival and the very unhuman gentle yet frightening face of the alien. I was amazed and terrified at the same time. Over the time, I finally watched the whole movie and I remember it was one my first bluray disc later on. I still watch it with the same fascination as when I was a child. It's peak cinema for me, an absolute masterpiece.

[@leamanc]

The fact that CE3K is nearly plotleas is not a flaw. It's one of the things that makes it great. It's a self-contained world where you can get lost for a couple of hours.

[@clangerbasher]

Exactly. There can be no real plot because we have no definite answers about UFO's. As I said below I find it odd he has no grasp of the film.

[@karlkarlos3545]

Is that a complaint that people have? I wonder how they would react to 2001: A Space Odyssey?

[@Roy88772]

When I saw this film for the first time as a small child, it terrified and fascinated me at the same time. I am sure that it was this film that sowed in me the seed of fascination with space and the topic of UFOs, film and science as a whole. Steven Spielberg is a man who really influences our lives through cinema. I'm excited again because his new project is going to be about UFOs again.

[@gregorybird7066]

This is a great retrospective. This is my favorite Speilberg film. I agree the "directors cut" is superior, with tighter cut and more messy emotional drama in the home, which humanises Roy much better. Speilbergs early films had real magic about them. This is his best

[@ricwilliams9922]

I saw this the week it came out--and then saw it several times that week, taking my parents and everyone I knew to see it. CETK is still my favorite Spielberg movie because it so well portrays how a child approaches the unknown. Spielberg's later movies leave me cold because I feel manipulated in ways that don't feel earned, but CETK is the exception. When Spielberg later says he couldn't make the film as a father because Roy leaves his family, I realize why his later films seem so lacking. Something extraordinary, terrifying, beautiful, and true compels a loving father to leave his family. Imagine this power. As written, when Roy leaves his family it's absurd because he becomes a baby man, but imagine the effect on his children driven out that night to that promontory and watching their father go mad. Imagine Roy doing everything he can to raise his children out of mature love in spite of the power of that vision. Then after they're grown, imagine him returning to the vision. Could Spielberg make such a film? I don't see it. I don't see him getting his heart around it. What's always disappointed me in his work is that while he can portray how a child approaches the unknown, he doesn't do a good job in showing how a mature adult does. I don't see him comprehending the life of such a person. But if he could, he probably wouldn't have been able to make such popular blockbusters.

[@haysgoodman8068]

That shot where the camera cranes up and the lights come on in blocks in the cityscape… That made such an impression on me when I first saw it in a theater. Could not figure out as a kid how they did that. The whole road-constructed-on-stage looked great but it had that little bit of unrealism that made it slightly spooky.

[@HossBlacksilver]

Close Encounters has to be my favorite movie.

[@SodiumWage]

Close Encounters is still my favorite Spielberg film. Of all his film, this is the one that defines the "Spielberg magic".

[@Pixel-Shell]

I can’t even imagine how beautiful this movie would have looked in theaters, especially the giant space ship at the end. My jaw dropped when I saw it on TV for the first time imagine seeing it on a ginormous screen in the dark 😳

[@2ToyBoys]

Close Encounters is one of my all-time top of every list favorites! It's perfect!

[@jon-michaelharris5840]

“Half your millions should go to John Williams”

[@user-jr7xk7ox4o]

Of close encounters: the only scene that made it was Bishop crying at the dinner table,its called humanizing a atrticice otherwise it would not have pulled viewers in.and yes i love crying scenes as it is amazing that very few people can allow themselves to become vulnerable to others ambitions...there was more to this scene than most people realize.

[@IngieKerr]

Super review. :) Wonderful film, saw it in cinema as a kid, it inspired me far more than Star Wars did. I have to say that from my personal viewing of it, the gap you feel between the plot threads and the lack of resolution is the major part of why I like it... that it's left to the viewer to connect them, rather than be directed to connect them; as everyone that sees the alien ships has a different perspective on _why_ they're happening. Same with the multiple message formats; why would aliens "know" what language to use unless the director told them to just use one language? So the aliens use all languages; light, radio, sound, and evidently psychic, to make sure that they're heard; as we would if we were trying to do the same thing the other way. As for a hateful protagonist, I never got that either; I think he was coded more as "a person who had totally lost all sense of what was happening due to aliens taking over his head"

[@celesteburley4035]

I just saw a re-release of Close Encounters in the D.C. area (July 2024). This might be my favorite movie of all time! I personally LOVE Richard Dreyfus in this movie and all of the characters. Francois Truffaut was especially endearing.❤ The space ships are incredible. It just carries me away. John Williams' music is incredible. I hardly noticed the issues that the reviewer described. Inspite of the family break-up, this movie gives us something we are in great need of now--INNOCENCE and HOPE!

[@martinsear5470]

Personal favourite of his work is 1941, an underrated film.

[@balung]

Went out if my way to get 1941 on DVD, one of my favs.

[@DirtySanchez943]

This film "painted" my childhood. It had such tremendeous influence on me I watched it more than 100 💯 times

[@Cyril29a]

I always found the disjointed and flimsiness of the plot added to the authenticity as much of the life of an adventurous person who does legitimately choose to take large risks in the name of the journey is really disjointed and to the perception of those around them flimsy or even insane. I really believed that Dryfus's character felt compelled and his drive while not reasonable stemmed from the magnitude of the experience and as such did not need to really make sense to me, only the understanding of the compulsion did

[@bcham7373]

One of my favorite movies ever. I was the same age as Barry during the movies release. ❤

[@jimyoung9262]

I was a kid when this came out and it blew my little mind.

[@glengast8615]

It was born in 1970, never watched the entire movie from start to finish, just pieces here and there. Saw it today at a theatre, 2024. I enjoyed it very much. Especially the throwbacks to that era. The music was great. I even remember the 5 note theme song part, kids would play that when we were young, I had know idea what it was from, but it all makes sense now.

[@Waterboyofsuperman]

Probably my favorite Spielberg film. A masterpiece and masterclass in so many ways.

[@michaelbruns449]

The (academy award winning) night time cinematograhy throughout close encounters of the third kind is sublime and haunting and beautiful to behold and experience.

[@roquefortfiles]

All of the night skies in Close Encounters are paintings.

[@djdksf1]

I was 11 and hopelessly addicted to Star Wars when this film came out. Nonetheless, unlike most of my friends at the time, Close Encounters instantly became my favorite movie and I spent the next year obsessively watching the skies. I probably saw it 5 times in the theater. The director's cut vastly improved the flow and accentuated some of the darker, Pinnochio-adjacent themes that I suspect Spielberg wasn't quite in touch with when he was ideating the script (He's said so himself.) Of course, like a lot of his work, his subconscience seems to find its way into things despite that. It's one of the marks of truly great artists. Williams' soundtrack is hands down my favorite thing he ever wrote. It's both mysterious and grand - almost impressionistic at times - and the main theme is literally a major plot point, which is just astounding.

[@CybershamanX]

(20:10) I love how the spotlights on this vehicle converge to point forward. Definitely one of my favorite sequences of the film, among many others, of course. 😉

[@lamecasuelas2]

I never get tired of CEOTTK, i watch it at least twice a year

[@richardcoulson6027]

I prefer Senior Spielbergo.

[@laurencemurray5584]

Es moy Bueno!

[@namogel67]

Thanks for that. It brought back a lot of good memories and I learnt things I didn't know. Your format is easy to digest too.

[@neiltaylor6645]

While making saving private ryan made the making of close encounters

[@raystewart3648]

Fantastic movie. Fantastic review as per normal. "Good Bye" is the part that made me cry and still cry to this day.

[@Chris-ut6eq]

I was a teen when this came out and it was magic and wonderful. It was more real than star wars and stuck with me as if at any time some night, UFOs might be seen in the night sky.

[@ryancraig2795]

I was 10 when this movie came out. Saw it a couple times in Canada, and the next year in England. UFOs were big at the time, and I was really into it. Read a bunch of books on the subject. I loved the ideas and concepts explored. And the visuals were fantastic. Star Wars was space fantasy, this was a lot more sci-fi.

[@marklechman2225]

Bob Balaban is one of the most under appreciated actors in Hollywood.

[@mattyboyb523]

Fantastic!! One of 4 movies I went to see as a young kid/young teen that i remember: Star Wars (family) Jaws (family) Close encounters (family) & Risky Business (first date movie) Close encounters was the most unique and complex to understand of the 3

[@collecticus]

My favourite alien movie, an absolute masterpiece.

[@user-vr6sd3cr9p]

The 1970's was a good time for movies. Science fiction really was big. George Lucas gave us Star Wars. Steven Spielberg gave us close encounters of the third kind. Then Ridley Scott gave us Alien. The aliens seem to amaze us. From friend to hostile. We love a good story.

[@coinopanimator]

Close Encpunters is my favourite Speilberg film. Funnily enough all the things you dont like about the movie is what I love it.

[@Murrlin27]

I simply can't get enough of little SFX tidbits and injokes!

[@cbluebeard]

Thanks! I really enjoy your review / retrospectives.

[@bartlester591]

Two things I rember as a kid . Not takeing a bath only showers and staying away from pools becouse of jaws . And being so captivated by close encounters

[@palmercolson7037]

Great review. My only nitpick for the movie was the sequence when Neery yells "Jump" to Jiliian, I wasn't sure what I was looking at because it looked like a lot of motion. As for your concern about the aliens inviting both the government and a group of random people to the encounter, I think it was to get regular people on the ship and not just the government chosen people. I think the aliens were expecting all the people who had gotten off the helicopter with Neery and more.

[@morlockmeat]

Great retrospective! I saw CE3K first showing, first day, at the MGM Theater in NYC, 2 days after the cast and crew were at the NY premiere. They had the celebrity studded premiere on Wednesday and the public premiere on Friday. How exciting it was to see this film for the first time, especially in the theater that held the cast 2 days earlier. Seeing this movie when it came out was almost like having a religious experience. There was nothing like it ever seen before. Anyone born after this film can never comprehend how different it was at the time. Star Wars was the same way. But, CE3K was more identifiable and really made you think that something like this could happen, and might happen, in our lifetime.You came away from this movie seeing the world differently. What a fantastic and magical time for movies! Fun Facts: Every encounter in the film was based on actual "encounters" or reports. Spielberg was getting high when he saw the refinery that inspired the look of the Mother Ship. The Roy Neary character was based on a real person. The shower scene with Roy was in the original release cut, not added for the Special Edition. In the novelization, when Roy was seeing Devil's Towers everywhere (shaving cream, mashed potatoes, etc.), he even saw the Devil's Tower in his wife's boob. Some of the kids playing aliens fainted while being suspended by wires. There were government agents at the set to keep a close eye on what was being portrayed about UFO's and the grand meeting at the end of the film. Cary Guffey's real mother was on the other side of the doggie door pulling him, during the "tug of war" scene when Barry's was abducted.

[@ShauriCheshire]

I'd definitely have to say that this film lucked out in getting pushed back for release, else it would have been almost directly up against Star Wars which likely would have crushed this fabulous movie. And overly sentimental as it may be, Speilberg has always managed to have a sense of wonder that really got to shine through with this one (and later, again, with E.T.), but also that...realism of "this is how people really are" that a lot of Hollywood doesn't always succeed in portraying well. :) Thank you, Rowan, for covering this; it is one of my favourites from my childhood.

[@markburns1990]

Thank God, Steven, made this movie in the 70’s I love that Richard (Roy) Dreyfus leaves his family: It’s dark and careless and irresponsible… Love it! 😊

[@albamo95]

I've been using the 5-note "greeting" sequence as my ringtone since the late 90s

[@Wizardofgosz]

My favorite Spielberg film. I was SO happy 4 or 5 yeas ago when they remastered it in 4K and did the theatrical release.

[@BenBootKHTwo]

The director of Godzilla Minus One said this movie was his first inspiration to be a director.

[@TSwanny3180]

My Dad told me that some people would call it close encounters of the nerd kind, which to him was kinda rude, and he's kinda right, the movie is perfect

[@jimyoung9262]

There was a spoof that came out called Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind not long after the movie.

[@ross-carlson]

Another absolutely fantastic retrospective - and one of my all-time favorite movies. Just WOW

[@thomasbaxter1371]

I've seen this movie two dozen times or more and I'd never noticed the blooper in scene where Roy comes to sit down for his mash potato dinner (at 22.30 in your video) - you can clearly see the shadow of the camera operator (or possibly Spielberg himself) on the wall.

[@lastguyminn2324]

Carl Weathers of "Predator" fame? Yeah, he was in that movie, but we're talking about Apollo Creed here!

[@darrenscrowston9386]

Best single part of this movie? When the guy that escapes with Roy and Gillian to climb the mountain waves at the helicopter about to gas him and shouts “Los Angeles!!!”

[@AGoodJoe]

Its why Arrival is so great. It wasn't the alien comes to blow us up. Great sci-fi

[@justinrichardson3864]

"Never resolved"? The aliens literally select Roy to travel with them. Did you fall asleep while watching?

[@notmyproblem88]

CE3K is my favorite Spielberg by far. I think the most interesting note is how odd Roy's story is as a protagonist (in a family film) who essentially abandons his family. I've come to read this movie as a modern take on the spiritual quest where Roy (King) hears sacred voices from the sky calling to him to go on a quest to a holy mountain, which he must climb despite fear and the risk of death to meet with the "Gods" or at least achieve some sort of spiritual enlightenment. In buddhism they have the concept of 'leaving home' to seek spiritual salvation. I also really enjoyed the theme of translation in the movie: we have scenes where English/Spanish/French are being shouted at each other, scenes of air traffic controllers talking jargon over each other, the obvious imagery of translating sounds from the sky into the Kodaly sign language and the computer tones in the finale.

[@seanrush3723]

A theater played this a few years ago and I got to go see it on the big scteen for the first time. One of if not my favorite movie going experiences ever.

[@augiegirl1]

I had never seen this movie before, & I've been looking for it online for MONTHS; it FINALLY appeared this week on Amazon Prime!

[@jw4499]

I loved watching this film when it came to tv for the first time when I was a kid I was really amazed and inspired Yes I do view it differently now but I've never forgotten that wonder and excitement Now in middle age I just thought ,how many cook books on that Alien ship 😂

[@clutch2827]

Spielberg has said he was showing his age when he wrote Roy's character. Eg: being willing to just leave his family like that.

[@susanscott8653]

Yeah, the ending of the movie didn't - and still doesn't - work for me, for that reason.

[@jmalmsten]

19:50 As the opticals and effects of the alien crafts were handled by Trumbul. Those shots were all done with 65mm negatives and spherical lenses. Only squeezed to anamorphic in post for release prints. This was to cancel out the buildup of grain as the opticals were layered on the exposures.

[@dougg1075]

Filmed in my home town. I remember the kids in the neighborhood talking about tryouts for extras ( aliens) .

[@captainnerd6452]

I was in college when this came out, and I watched it many many times during its first run. I watched the "director's cut" when it came out, too, and the next "director's cut" too.

[@stephenbarrette610]

Close Encounters is a fabulous movie - when I first saw it in the late 70’s it was incredible. When the mothership appeared the audience just let out an audible gasp. An excellent video on the movie but I would disagree with a couple of your comments about the story lines not quite tying up and you didn’t mention, what I think is the main thrust of the movie which is wish fulfilment. Pursuing a dream which is what Roy does. The soundtrack even has when you wish upon a star in the extended version. But an excellent review that has me getting out my collectors edition box set to watch all three versions again! Thanks for posting this. ET is equally a genius film. Star Wars - it was ok. Never a huge fan.

[@qbertq1]

It did start Spielberg 's fascination with using the mechanic of "children in peril" (you might say "Jaws" was the first)

[@calvinhosworld]

The reason why close encounters was so good was because we all thought it fictional when it was actually a documentary. Man recieved a secret classified roll of film with documents and he simply reshot everything with actors.

[@retroforce6919]

I remember watching this movie as a kid, I believe on opening week at the movie theater. The movie poster intrigued me, an dark road leading to bright light at the end of the road. I remember being scared and relieved.

[@A-small-amount-of-peas]

I never had a problem with Roy's choice. Stay in a fairly mundane marriage where you will both eventually expire or get the chance to see a totally different planet and race of people and when you come back to earth you will have barely aged. Some people need to think bigger

[@hgwells1899]

As a kid, Neary's obsession made perfect sense to me - as an adult with a family of my own, on rewatch I saw a self destructive midlife freakout onscreen that frankly disturbed me. And away he goes, the lives of everyone around him in tatters, pursuing his crazy dream. Still spectacular tho and too embedded with my childhood to ever see as anything but a masterpiece of event cinema... always wished for a revisit from Neary in some context or other... the current de-aging thing could see him give some words of comfort to the son he left behind, maybe with that outtake of the two of them on the roof from back in the day being the springboard... yes, despite my misgivings about what a loser Neary shows himself to be, I still loved every clip from the movie in this video

[@margeryk000]

This was excellent! Thanks for sharing all your hard work and talent.

[@lordmccormick4792]

Fantastic OP! Brilliant piece of work! New sub for sure 👌🏽

[@peterpayne2219]

This is such an amazing movie to see in the theater at the age of 10

[@Sakrysta]

I love Taken! So glad to see you include it in this video. I would love to see a full retrospective for it, although I’m sure it’s too obscure to be practical. 😊

[@jaywilliams8386]

My favorite version is still the original theatrical telling. Also, at an art museum in Cincinnati the mother ship, the Millennium Falcon and the puppet who waved bye to his Earth friends were on exhibit. The mother ship and the Falcon are beyond description; I could have stood all day just looking at them.

[@aberlin01]

“Name another director that has made the highest grossing film of all time 3 times.” Jim Cameron would like to have a word!