Close Encounters of The Third Kind Commentary (Podcast Special)

[@TheDarthEddie]

The UFO slowly coming up behind Roy's truck and then rising up into the sky above him is still one of the creepiest moments in film history and is accomplished with absolutely no musical accompaniment whatsoever. When you visualize what the UFO is doing in your head it becomes even creepier. It basically stalks him until it almost touches the back of his truck bumper and then lifts away without a sound.

[@jan-fj9mi]

TheDarthEddie I’ve experience the same thing, was cool

[@jameslyddall]

TheDarthEddie when I saw that as a kid for the first time that sent chills up my spine.

[@irina1296]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien and Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) are my favorite Sci-Fi films of the 70's. This one was really unique. The acting and the soundtrack were memorable

[@patriottex4813]

This film is a masterpiece. As an 8 year old kid seeing it for the first time the scene where Barry is taken by the aliens scared the hell out of me! When Melinda Dillon is pulling him and the aliens get him anyway. As a kid it terrified me that not even your mom cant protect you that got to me as a kid. However as I've gotten older I see that this is a masterpiece. I watch it at least once every year. Man the 70's and 80's were a great time of film making innovations.

[@patriottex4813]

Y

[@DemonBoy3223]

This may be my favorite Spielberg film, it's something about how it treats alien visitation and first contact in a more whimsical light, mysterious and scary yet magical and beautiful. This movie is what made my look up at the stars. And John Williams' score is mesmerizing, especially when the Mothership shows up at the final-act. This is the kind of movie I would make if given the chance. I even love the influences it had on _Super 8,_ the truck crashing into the train kinda reminds me of Roy Neary's truck in this.

[@jameslyddall]

My favorite scene is the ATC scene, I love the way it builds up with everyone gradually paying attention to the conversation.

[@aeromagnumtv1581]

Could not agree with you more! Would be awesome if I could like your comment a million times!

[@jameslyddall]

AEROMAGNUM TV awwwe thanks dude (bows in respect)

[@roquefortfiles]

The ATC scene is AMAZING. So realistic it is beyond description

[@trickykid73]

The book , Close encounters of the 3rd kind diary by Bob Balaban is a fantastic read .

[@aeromagnumtv1581]

I'll definitely give it a read. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

Yes! He's a great writer.

[@Larkinchance]

I didn't know it at the time but this was the apex of the “American Dream” Roy (Dreyfuss) with just a high school education works for the electric company. He has 3 kids and a wife that does not have to go to work. She presides over a house full of broken toys. The kids live a non structured relatively happy life where education is not emphasized and discipline is minimal. In so far as the essentials of life go, they want for nothing. This an accurate depiction. It is not like that today in country where owning a home or going to college is beyond the capabilities of most people.

[@toddreyes2487]

You Millennials really love the 80s and 90s. It's about time we get some 70s.

[@thecinematicmind]

Todd Reyes and 60’s

[@BugVlogs]

The Cinematic Mind and 50’s

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

The 80s is to movies what the 60s and 70s was to music, and the leap in cinematic quality that decade is absolutely astounding.

[@nightmaster5593]

Yes! I love 70s movies! Close Encounters of the Third Kind, for example, is one of my favorites

[@Stand_By_For_Mind_Control]

@@nightmaster5593 Except it's a 1980 film.

[@aeromagnumtv1581]

Very awesome movie from start to finish! Saw when an 8-year laddy in 77', whilest living in Hawaii at the Marine Corps base theatre. Straight away I went, upon it's release! I have not looked at shaving foam the same ever since! Great Pod Cast Ollie and Mark, keep up the great work!👍🙏😉😁! (Would be cool, if could watch along).

[@lostintechnicolor]

My second favorite Spielberg film. Alamo Drafthouse sometimes has screenings outdoors at Devil’s Tower. I would love to go to that someday...

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

Oh - that would be AMAZING!! They should do more of that. JAWS on Martha's Vineyard for starters! I'd go!

[@lostintechnicolor]

Watching Skies - Star Wars, Spielberg and Us Alamo Drafthouse does a screenings of Jaws every summer at a huge swimming pool. So yeah. Watching Jaws in the water...

[@d3nv1]

Always loved this movie even over Star Wars, the atmosphere and story appeals to me more. CHeers guys, great commentary.

[@franl155]

I saw them both at the cinema, and to be honest, I felt rather let down by Star Wars - the hype had been so intense, the reality was somewhat disappointing.

[@harlow2047]

Great commentary as usual guys. I was watching the version currently on New Zealand Netflix which is substantially different from the 1980 Special Edition. It left out the whole Pinocchio/Goofy Golf scene, a good part of Roy's mental breakdown - the door slamming and bathroom crying scenes were both gone as well as the mothership interior at the end. However, it did include the Bigfoot news conference, the extended scene of Neary throwing his garden through the window and Carl Weathers as an army guy. I'm not sure which version it was - Director's cut maybe?

[@patriottex4813]

Harlow think it was the 1998 edition.

[@theflickgeek2089]

Although I miss the banter that Oliver had going on with Duncan and Richard on his commentaries sometimes, I definitely think that with Mark and Brad these are a more grounded and serious approach to commentating movies. They actually talk about the movie, people involved and technical minutiae, which I think is great. Don't get me wrong, I think that Oliver did some great commentaries with Richard and Duncan, (Superman with Duncan and Total Recall with Richard, off the top of my head), but could also, many times, lean more on the goofy side( Highlander commentary, case in point). That being said, I'd love it if they could get together in the future and do something together.

[@cdev2117]

11:07 Pilots don't report UFOs because they can end up in deep trouble if they do. So the scene was more (imho) about on pilots and ATCs seeing stuff like this all the time, but nobody reports on it. What is fascinating about that scene is, almost the same thing happend a few weeks ago over Ireland (9.11.18) and you can listen to the recorded audio on KZbin. The Scene in the movie is 2:30ish minutes long, the inncident over Ireland took about 2:30. And hits almost the same beats, "Uhm, is there any military traffic?", "We saw a bright light", "It was so fast", "I saw it too", "I'm happy that I'm not the only one who saw it."^^

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

Interesting. Good to know.

[@jakkak9371]

When Mark says 'Sezza me' street, it makes me picture Mario saying 'says me' in his "its-a-me" style

[@outatime2254]

When the mothership starting playing the Jaws theme like Oliver said, the subtitles actually said in the film "Mothership plays 'Main Theme from Jaws'". What a strange crossover.

[@MrTheBassline]

I love this film so much, not only is it Spielberg's greatest film (in my opinion), but has that 70's "grounded in reality" style of film making witch I adore, I hope this style of film making has a renaissance soon.

[@jakkak9371]

21:40 But it's all relative, right? Like if you saw an American who's visiting England for a few days taking photos of a red postbox, that really isnt't all that odd.

[@gallactorme]

Cary Guffey was in Sherriff and the Satellite Kid. watched it many times growing up

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

That was it! Was trying to remember that one's title!

[@franl155]

Bob Balaban kept notes during the shoot and published a book, Close Encounters Diary; it has a lot of inside information. Can Roy be blamed for leaving his family? He was acting on outside influences that were implanted in him witout his knowledge or consent, he was under induced complsion if not coercion. I first saw CE3K at the cinema - full-size wide screen. There were a couple of moments I particularly remember: When Roy is parked at the crossroads and waves on the "second car" behind him, and the lights slowly start rising, tha laugh had to be heard to be believed. And When the mothership started coming over the mountain, and kept on coming, and coming, and coming ... it was chin-on-the-floor time. Incredible. Especially on a full-size cinema screen. I actually saw it twice\; it was so successful that the cinema held it over for a second week, so I went to see it again. ps: When they showed it on TV, they put an ad break in just where Roy is starting aboard the ship, and I thought why? it's nearly ended. I was very surprised to see a whole new section that hadn't been in the version I'd seen at the cinema, inside the ship. Glad they took that back out; it didn't add to the story.

[@booker80]

Just to let you know I have been promoting the hell out of this documentary on my Instagram page it is going to be a good one

[@jameslyddall]

Andrew Fudge I got a lot of the ma American marines where I work listening to this channel. They all love it so very happy to be doing my part to promote OH :)

[@fatoldsun1967]

Outstanding editing

[@chrislondo2683]

Oliver, I’ve listened only to 21 minutes of your commentary. It’s nice to have a little mention of Super 8.

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

Couldn't avoid it for this one!

[@chrislondo2683]

Watching Skies - Star Wars, Spielberg and Us I kind of sorta feel Super 8 has been forgotten about. Though it’s not one of JJ Abrams’ best work but it need some respect at least.

[@MrTheBassline]

@ 10:56, its because if you were a pilot, in the navy, or any kind of military occupation and reported a UFO sighting, the chances are you would either loose your job, get ridiculed, or be subjected to psychological examination. So many people who claimed to see a UFO officially denied what they saw, and pretended it didn't happen. There are many examples of this.

[@white-dragon4424]

The only question I've got is how that massive mothership got behind that mountain without anyone in the local area seeing it? Granted, there's sod all population in the area, but that thing must've been visible for miles and miles as it dropped out of the sky and hovered low towards the mountain.

[@glyph2011]

I can heartily recommend tracking down Paul Schrader’s script KINGDOM COME. It’s the script that he wrote that became CE3K. It’s fascinating. I honestly feel, after reading it , that I’ve watched an alternate universe version of CE3K. I’ve now got 2 different , amazing CE3K’s in my head.

[@AdrianMendoza23]

Great commentary. I personally do not believe that their is alien life, but this is a beautiful film.

[@DemonBoy3223]

I'd go far to say it may be my favorite Spielberg film, I myself being a UFO conspiracy buff since young childhood, there's something about this film that's so whimsical and magical, especially with John Williams' piece when the Mothership arrives. This is the kind of movie I'd love to make. *;)*

[@AdrianMendoza23]

@@DemonBoy3223 its a beautiful film.

[@Mokkari77]

Re: Spielberg using Richard Dreyfuss in his films again as his surrogate. I think Mark Rylance took over that role.

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

True. And Tom Hanks of course.

[@Lawrence_619]

Spielberg's masterpiece, was a literal buffet, of all the ancient alien-UFO theory stuff that has been so normalized these days, to the degreee, that its just common dinner table-chit chat, now. But he was also FAR AHEAD of his time, and the time we're in now, where we watch Ancient Aliens and hear things said on that show, about UFOs floating or flying and "not making a sound" (we saw that in the scene where its nighttime and a UFO is just floating over the town, sillently...all you see is its shadow)...or war planes disappearing from their missions, inexplicably and winding up in some faraway place, you'd never expect them to be (we saw that in the opening scene in the desert)...or the cops chasing the UFOs in a fruitless effort that ends with the UFOs flying off into the sky, at a crazy speed and navigating an impossible 90% turn on a dime. If we haven't read about that type of stuff in sci-fi books, we've heard about it in all kinds of UFO accounts on KZbin. Spielberg was the first one to bring all those accounts and UFO legends, to life...but it was in 1977....not 2021.

[@patriottex4813]

As an American who grew up at this time supper was the meal the whole family ate together. It was the big meal of the day, so there was plenty of food. Lunches and breakfast were small meals supper was the big one.

[@Haywerth]

I have this on video tape. I'm old.

[@ForceMaximus84]

Douglas Trumbull worked on Close Encounters. Dennis Muren worked on Close Encounters and E.T..

[@handsomestik]

I only know "Here comes the King" from this.

[@Private-Hudson]

Best cloud tank effect is probably poltergeist

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

It's a good one. Certainly one of the most striking uses.

[@patriottex4813]

IR16471 Star Trek 2 the wrath of khan uses the cloud tame to create the Mutara Nebula. That is a great cloud tank effect as well.

[@Private-Hudson]

@@patriottex4813 Very true mate it was a great effect in a great film

[@watchingskies-starwarsspie9259]

Yes! Good call! @@patriottex4813

[@roquefortfiles]

No way!! Poltergeist was just a cheap retread cloud tank. Close Encounters invented it. The shot of the clouds coming round the mountain is AMAZING. Jaw dropping on a big screen

[@daverindone655]

The "I'm going to my sister's place" is based on that many families can't stand their in-laws, so they're more than willing to take a sibling in for a while.

[@jamessullivan4391]

Thank you so much for explaining that for me.

[@johnashley327]

You should check out Project Blue Book on the History Channel.

[@TheDarkHour684]

Mark’s rationalizing abandoning your family is truly disturbing.

[@Tolstoy111]

Coke didn’t buy Columbia till 1982