Directed by Stephen Spielberg
Written by Stephen Spielberg
1977/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation/EMI Films/Julia Phillips and Michael Phillips Productions
Repeat viewing
#618 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die
IMDb users say 7.7/10; I say 9.5/10
[box] Barry Guiler: You can come and play now.[/box]
What better way to get back into the swing of my “must-see” movie viewing than with this practically perfect science fiction/fantasy? This would have received full points from me if the aliens had been left a mystery at the end.
I have always preferred this film to Star Wars, which came out the same year. The plot of Star Wars could have, and had, taken place in the Old West, medieval Japan, or a fairy-tale kingdom – anywhere, indeed, where good guys fought bad guys. Close Encounters only works as a collision of every day reality with the Unknown. The audience can identify with the befuddled everymen and share their sense of wonder.
I love the delight of tiny Barry Guiler when an unseen delegation from a UFO marches through his house like a whirlwind. And I can only sympathize with Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and his entire family as a force no one can understand takes over his will and life.
That is why I would have preferred to have let my imagination create aliens wonderful enough to create this kind of awe. I don’t think any kind of physical representation could have done the trick. As it is, the aliens look all too much like E.T. I was amused, however, at a shot that clearly shows the resemblance between big-eyed toddler Cary Guffey as Barry and the faces of the smaller aliens.
But this is nitpicking. Until the end, I was totally engrossed in the story, which has held up admirably all these years later.
Original Trailer
I saw this in the theater when it was released and was overwhelmed. Special effects were rather new at that point and the mother ship hovering over the Devil’s Tower took your breath. All in all, this is probably in the top 5 of my sci-fi films. And the addition of Francois Truffaut in the cast was a delight. The scene in India where he plays the five tones and the crowd all point to the sky is thrilling. And those confused people coming from the mother ship……..wow!!! One great film.
I should have mentioned Francois Truffaut. He really did a good job. Could have been an actor himself.
One of the most purely cinematic films to come out of Hollywood – or anywhere else. I get what you mean about the aliens, but I suspect that they had to show the audience something after all that build-up … and at the time, we hadn’t seen many even half-decent aliens.
“The plot of Star Wars could have, and had, taken place in the Old West, medieval Japan, or a fairy-tale kingdom”
Or WW2 – famously, the attack on the Death Star is basically The Dambusters, even nicking a few lines of dialogue!
I see we are in perfect accord on the movie. Wondrous and not really spoiled by the aliens. I just like the idea that maybe aliens are not even corporeal beings.
I love that image of Barry in the doorway. His wonder juxtaposed to his mother’s horror. It is to me this movie in a nutshell.
Truffaut deserves some mentioning. It was clear from La Nuit Americaine that he could act, but here you would think he never did anything else. On the extra material for the movie I found and interview with Denis Villeneuve, who said that when he watched Close Encounters in his youth, he wondered about this kind man (Truffaut) and looked him up, this triggered his interest in his movies, the New Wave, European movies and he got started himself. Because of Close Encounters and Truffaut we have all those wonderful movies from Villeneuve.
What a great movie!