# Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)



## Dave (Mar 10, 2001)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind. (1977)

Written and Directed by Stephen Spielberg.

With Richard Dreyfuss, Francoise Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Cary Guffey.

http://uk.imdb.com/Title?0075860

A series of UFOs takes Indiana by surprise, and a workman is led by intuition and detection to the landing site, which has been concealed from the public.

What the "Halliwell's film guide" calls a "benevolent mysticism" filled a need at the time it was released, at the height of a sort of "UFO fever". This was the time of the Erik Von Danikan's "Chariots of the Gods" books, the USAF project Blue Book and the start of mass interest in Roswell. 

The technical effects are masterly, though their exposure is over-prolonged. In comparison to "It came from Outer Space" (1955), which was made on a tiny budget, it has less suspense, less plot and much more padding. Much of the dialogue is inaudible. However, Close Encounters had enormous box-office success and put Spielberg on the road to his own success.  

Two versions of this film exist. I saw the original version, and I have never been bothered to watch the 1980 "special edition". That version pared down the endless idiotic middle section, in which the Dreyfuss character spends hours making a huge mud-pie in his lounge, while the neighbours look on bemused; and it instead extended the final scenes with the spaceship and the aliens, including some new interiors.

"One is inclined to feel that with all the money at his disposal, Spielberg might have got it right the first time" Derek Malcolm 'The Guardian'.

The cost of the film was estimated at 20,000,000 US Dollars. At the time it used the largest film set in history, the inside of an old dirigible hanger.

"It somehow combines Disney and 1950's SF and junk food into the most persuasive (if arrested) version of the American dream yet" Time Out.

Academy Award for Photography- Vilmos Zsigmond.


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## Annette (Mar 11, 2001)

Hi David, I thought this film to be absolute pants. Every time I glimpse this film it makes me cringe all over. Don't why but it may have something to do with Richard Dreyfuss. Just don't kike him at all. The way he was playing about with the mashed potato. Pleeaassee!!!! Anybody would think he was a kid out of kindergarten.

Annette.


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## greese (Jun 1, 2001)

*SCI-FI have you seen it all*

you have seen it all when you have seen the classic Sci-Fi movie "Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind".  You must see it. *If you have seen it what did you think? *


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## tokyogirl (Feb 7, 2002)

*what the heck?*

once again, why has no one posted here?  this movie was actaully good!  i think this is probably the first sci fi movie i ever saw, and from then on i've been hooked.  i mean, the mashed potatoes, the 'sunburn' on half his face, everything.  this movie was great!  some one please post here so i'm not all alone!


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## tokyogirl (Feb 7, 2002)

i think the movie was amazing.  it was probably the first sci fi movie i ever saw, and i've been addicted ever since.


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## Ivanhoe (Feb 9, 2002)

*I love it ....*

This is a great movie because of it's gentle tone and strong positive energy that it has, simply erupting at the movie finale. It so accurately presents how the general opinion about the UFO's marks and isolates everyone that dares to agree with a complete reasonable view and that goes : "ALIENS EXIST!". In this movie our main character is in  a position of a man left even by his family, his wife is scared that he is going nuts just because he chose to believe his eyes and his mind and not the media image! And the movie end offers so much hope and bliss that is completely amazing.


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## angelle myst (Jul 15, 2002)

I loved the little tune they made to contact the ship  its cute 
 Classic film 

:fangs:xxx:smokin:


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## angelle myst (Jul 15, 2002)

lol, Tokyo hey :wave: have only seen the film the once a couple years back but i loved it  

(Just so i'm on the right track, this is the movie with the painting isnt it?) Cos i get quite mixed up sometimes with all the different eps of X-Files and similar movies that are made and stuff, so just checking )

:fangs:xxx:smokin:


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## tokyogirl (Jul 16, 2002)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0075860

there's the us.imdb page about it.  i'm not sure i remember a painting in it (it's been a few years for me 2) but the one thing i think most people remember about it is the mashed potato mountain that the main character builds.  i remember that because that's what we used to do to copy it as kids.


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## tokyogirl (Jul 16, 2002)

i think it set a standard for alien movies.  (granted i can't be to accurate about that seeing as how i wasn't born yet...)  i think SS wonderfully captured the emotions of the people in the movie.  you could really feel like it might happen to you.  you felt their fear, awe, amazement, curiosity, hesitation, worry, and everything else these people felt.  i love it.


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## angelle myst (Jul 16, 2002)

Ah, the potato mountain  how weird was that lol, i just thought i remember a woman (maybe) painting a picture of a big rock in the desert and thats where she had to go or something, lol, maybe i'm losing it 

:fangs:xxx:smokin:


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## tokyogirl (Jul 16, 2002)

you know what i think that might have been in there actually.  i think it was one of the people that went to the mountain with the main character.  not sure though.  i think i may have it on an old tape somewhere.  i'll have to check it out....


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## angelle myst (Jul 16, 2002)

i'm not that delusional after all  i havent seen it in forever  but i remember when i watched it i thought, how come i havent ever seen this before! And then i was gutted that i didnt record it 

:fangs:xxx:smokin:


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## tokyogirl (Jul 16, 2002)

see i think i have it recorded from years ago somewhere, but if i do i know the tape quality won't be that good.  but i still think i'm gonna look 4 it anyway.


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## angelle myst (Jul 16, 2002)

Thats cool, i'm gonna look and see if there is a ringtone of the tune for my Nokia    :laugh:  :laugh2:

:fangs:xxx:smokin:


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## tokyogirl (Jul 16, 2002)

probably is.  they have tons of ringtones for nokias.


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## Dave (Jul 18, 2002)

I think your confusion may have been caused because of all the different versions of this film circulating. When I went to the cinema to see it, when it was first released (yes, I'm really that old) there was a long section with the potato mountain sculpture. It was very boring, with him keep going to get buckets of whatever to finish. His neighbour gave him odd looks in through the window, which was amusing though.

There have been several versions of this, the one that was shown in cinemas in 2002 has none of the 'mountain sculpture' left in, and has extra scenes at the end. An older version still has it, much much less. This seems to be happening with many films now. My own view is that if the Director couldn't get it right the first time, he can't be very good. 

I've only seen the original version, I think. I've seen it on TV, but I can't remember if it was the same or not.

I wonder if Mr Spielberg will change the ending to AI? Or if Mr Lucas will remove Jar Jar Binks?


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## Dave (Jul 18, 2002)

The new version out this year (2002) cuts out the mashed potato mountain sculpture altogether. From the other threads here, no one likes that part.


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## tokyogirl (Jul 19, 2002)

i think if you get it on dvd it has at least a couple of versions.

(and when he went to go get water that was because he had moved on from the potatoes to a mud mountain.)

_ Dave - edited out stuff that makes no sense anymore because all the threads are now merged together_


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## tokyogirl (Jul 19, 2002)

i do.  i think i must be the only one.


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## tokyogirl (Jul 19, 2002)

i know that his wife left him and all, but it still kind of bugged me just the slightest bit when he left at the end.  now his kids will never know what happened to him.


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## Tabitha (Jul 21, 2002)

Sorry if this thread has become a little disjointed - I merged a bunch that were very similar - but the posts are ordered by date posted.  Hope you all can make sense of it!


ps - I loved this movie when I was younger, but haven't seen it since I was a nipper.  All I remember is the mashed spuds mountain...


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## tokyogirl (Jul 21, 2002)

see?  someone else liked the mashed potato mountain!


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## Tabitha (Jul 21, 2002)

hehe

I am irish though - so I suppose potatoes are like mother's milk to me 

I must watch this film again - I might try and track down the special edition that came out a few years back.


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## tokyogirl (Jul 21, 2002)

i used to get mashed potatoes just ti build my own little mountain.  i didn't like them, i just wanted my own alien-meeting ground (i do like them now though, but sometimes i still do that....)


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## Tabitha (Jul 21, 2002)

OT --> Did you also stare at tv snow?  Mimicking Poltergeist?  I scared the XXXX out of my mother by doing that when I was younger.

The potato mountain has got to be one of the most memorable scenes in recent scifi history.


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## tokyogirl (Jul 21, 2002)

'they're heeeere'!  i totally used to do that!  my mom would be like 'you're going to ruin your eyes doing that!'. i didn't believe her.  now i have to wear glasses.  oh well


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## Genocide (Jul 27, 2004)

*The Potato Mountain.*

Ok this may seem like a weird request but i dont suppose anyone could furnish me with a picture of the mash mountain i dont seem to be able to find a decent one anywhere.

Bigger the better 

Ta

Andy

(email: ablueman@demon.net)


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## tokyogirl (Aug 10, 2004)

here's a couple interesting factiods about the movie:

The Mothership is in the Smithsonian Institution. Visible on it are a miniature R2-D2, a mailbox, a cemetery, and models of the airplanes that were abducted by the ship.

It is possible to see an upside down R2-D2 (from Star Wars (1977), etc) in part of the large spacecraft that flies over Devil's Mountain. The SFX people needed more detail, and so supposedly there are many more such items, such as a shark from Jaws (1975) (also directed by Spielberg), etc. R2-D2 is visible as Jillian first sees the mothership up close from her hiding place in the rocks

The federal agent-types on stage with Lacombe during the auditorium scene where he teaches the hand signals were real federal agents. Similarly some of the extras who played scientists in the end sequence were real scientists.

The film holds the record for most cinematographers on a production (11, counting the Special Edition).

During the dinner scene just before Roy piles on the mashed potatoes, you can hear the little girl say, There's a fly in my potatoes. This was unscripted and almost caused the rest of the cast to laugh. The scene was kept as-is.

The Jaws (1975) theme can be heard when the mother ship is communicating with the base at the end of the movie, right before the release of the human prisoners.

When Barry, Cary Guffey, gets pulled through the doggy door by the aliens, it was actually Mrs. Guffey on the other side pulling her sone through.


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## Cloud (Dec 1, 2006)

This is one of my favorite movies.  There are so many wonderful moments in it.  I've been watching it a lot, and here are a couple of things I've noticed:

Spielberg often has a very strange twist on family and the relationships between children and adults.  Roy Neary's family is very dysfunctional--the kids are horrible brats and not portrayed sympathetically at all.  Kind of the opposite of the adult/child dynamic in E.T.

I'm struck by all the hide and reveal imagery throughout the film--they are tricks of seeing and believing which build more suspense.

--the sandstorm hides the planes until the are right there.
--the aliens darken the landscape; then the spaceship lights reveal Roy in his truck.
--Roy talks on the phone to his wife, not seeing the tv showing the Devil's Tower while standing next to a replica of it in his living room--until the very last minute.
--Roy and the chick's first glimpse of the real Devil's Tower in Wyoming as the climb the hill.
--and of course, the reveal of the Mother Ship and the aliens inside.


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## roddglenn (Dec 1, 2006)

I liked the mashed potato scene too!


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## Huttman (Aug 27, 2012)

Just watched it recently again, and while I consider this a brilliant movie, does anyone else have a problem with the near violent way the little boy Barry was abducted from his mother? These are supposed to be benevolet aliens, albiet a little mischievious with putting the ocean liner in the middle of the Sahara desert, but to rip that boy away they did seems less than friendly. I know it was cinematically a great scene....but really? Still, it does not detract me from thoroughly enjoying this masterpiece, I was just curious on your take on it. By the way, did you know the hand jesture thing with the musical 5 note thing means h-e-l-l-o?


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## Venusian Broon (Aug 27, 2012)

I suppose a response to the abductions is that they are aliens therefore why would they would do human benevolance, or assume that they understood these the ins and outs of our emotions or our way of living. 

Also the boy is shown not to be frightened when the experiences occur and appears to willingly go out and meet them. Of course the destructive effects of these actions on the mother (and what happens to Richard Dreyfuss) are bad - perhaps they don't realise or understand.

Also they return everyone at the end and don't seem to do anything with the people they've taken. So that's sortof of benevolant


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## steve12553 (Sep 1, 2012)

Close Encounter was a visually stunning film but many of the concepts were a little bit childish or naive. I can still watch it and enjoy it now and again but it's not one of the heavy classics.


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## Gordian Knot (Sep 2, 2012)

At the time of its release CE was a darn good movie. Up to this point his only blockbuster hit was Jaws. As time went by though I started to see the pattern he has since become famous (infamous?) for. Pulling, I mean, hauling on the viewer's heart strings.

Not that there is anything wrong with the concept, it makes a great many movies, well, great! But Spielberg became so outrageously blatant about it, it became a terrible gimmick.

It reached its pinnacle in decrepitude in the Gawd Awful E.T.

All of which is a long winded way of saying looking back on Close Encounters and seeing the heart string tugging kinda ruins the movie. For me.


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## clovis-man (Sep 2, 2012)

Hindsight is always 20/20. How many people here saw it in a theater in 1977? Much different than seeing one of the "updated" copies today. Not that the difference in the film versions was all that significant. Just the time that it was intoduced to the world.


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## Dave (Sep 2, 2012)

I saw it at the cinema, and strangely, though I may have caught it on TV once or twice since, I don't own it on DVD or VHS and haven't sat down and said 'I'm going to watch this again properly'. As you say, it probably wouldn't live up to me memories. I didn't realise that Spielberg made that many retrospective changes to his films though - I know he just released a new version of 'Jaws' this year - but he is on record at criticising George Lucas for his endless tinkering with 'Star Wars', and that comes over as a little hypocritical now if he has done the same.


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## megamaniac (Sep 3, 2012)

Well, first of, you must know what 'Close Encounters' are; then what 'Close Encounters of the 1st, 2nd, and finally 'Third Kind' are.  The differences between them, etc.
Watching the movie by itself with no knowledge of UFO history or myths or lore wouldnt do much for anyone.  

Ifcourse,  2001:A Space Odyssey is still the best sci-fi movie ever made.  Yes, it's confusing, and slow, and doesnt make sense at first; what's the big black thing, why are the monkeys fighting, why does HAL kill all onboard, what is the white room, why does the old man turn into a baby which then somehow floats in space above planet Earth, etc.  

But, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was in fact surpassed by Star Trek, Star Wars, Blade Runner, ET, and many others in popularity.


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## Gordian Knot (Sep 4, 2012)

clovis-man said:


> Hindsight is always 20/20. How many people here saw it in a theater in 1977? Much different than seeing one of the "updated" copies today. Not that the difference in the film versions was all that significant. Just the time that it was intoduced to the world.



Ummm. I saw it in the theater in 1977.

Yes hindsight is 20/20. That was not really what I was alluding to though. For me it was more like when you see a magic trick the first time, don't know the secret of the trick and it looks impressive as, errr, heck. But then you find out what the trick was and the next time you see that magic trick you are disappointed.

Spielberg's "trick" of tugging heart strings to the point of tearing them loose was still mostly still an unknown back in '77.


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## Dave (Mar 4, 2013)

I've just watched the special version on TV. It is the first time I have seen it again since 1977. I'd say it really was a product of its time. The special effects no longer seem "masterly" but more "youtube". 

I'm glad the mud and rubbish mountain part was pared down but it still goes on too long. I get the obsession with the image. I get their need to be at the Devil's Tower. I actually don't think his wife was very understanding though. Maybe if she believed him and not what they neighbours thought he wouldn't have needed to go so far. The other woman with the missing boy - she would have been locked up if they didn't believe her story - and apparently no one did. And all the others in the helicopter - their obsession wasn't so great then - they weren't prepared to die for it anyhow.

I'd say the begining and ending are the best parts, but extending the ending spoils that too.



Annette said:


> I thought this film to be absolute pants. Every time I glimpse this film it makes me cringe all over.


 It is pants, but I think it is something you need to watch once as it is a part of cinematic history. Just fast forward through the middle portion. 2 hours and 12 minutes is just too much.


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## steve12553 (Mar 5, 2013)

I believe I saw it in the theater in 1977, although I don't have a vivid memory of it like the first *Star Wars* flim or *Star Trek The Motion Picture*. It definity was a product of its time. It was a tear jerker and did not have a meaningful plot. On the other hand I am still partial to Non CGI special effects. CGI tends to either run the action so fast you can't see what is going on or else they'll make a slight mistake and I'll see an action that tells me I'm watching a cartoon and it breaks my suspension of disbelief. Very few of the newer ones pass both tests for me. Maybe *Avatar* and that had a story that's been told so many times I know it by heart. I enjoyed CE and I'll drag out the DVD every so often but it was a product of the UFOscares of an earlier age. 

( By the way where did all the UFOs go?)


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## Dave (Mar 6, 2013)

steve12553 said:


> I am still partial to Non CGI special effects.


Steve - watch again the part when the three aliens ships race down the road, and round the corner where everyone has been camped out waiting for them. Tell me if you feel the same way still?



steve12553 said:


> ( By the way where did all the UFOs go?)


I'm not sure if this was the intention of the film or not, but one explanation for all the abductees was that the aliens were searching for a person who was suitable and never found them yet - someone who had a particular psychic connection to them. The pilots, the young child, all the other people returned with names on the board - they were all unsuitable. All the army officers prepped to go - they were not chosen either. Only Richard Dreyfuss measured up and so he was taken away forever.

None of which explains cattle mutilation


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## clovis-man (Mar 6, 2013)

Dave said:


> None of which explains cattle mutilation


 

The "dead" livestock in the film were just part of the gov't cover-up. But if you mean the"real-life" incidents which appeared in the news some years ago, then we're just comparing non-facts to fiction, i.e., (1) nobody has a proper explanation for who (or what) messed up the cattle and (2) the fictional story line in the film of benevolent, although picky, aliens is just that: a story. But you knew that and you're just messing with me.

Maybe I'm missing something? Crop circles, maybe? Nope. M. Night Shyamalan and Mel Gibson have that covered, even though their aliens aren't very nice (just incredibly stupid).



steve12553 said:


> ( By the way where did all the UFOs go?)


 
They tend to come and go. Maybe now is a quiet period or there's a recession out there in the stars which cuts down on the tourist trade.


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## Dave (Mar 7, 2013)

Sorry, I did mean it as a joke. 

The more I think about this film though, the more unsatisfying it is. There is a lot of information in this thread that I wasn't aware of. Back in 1977, I imagined that we were downloading masses of information from the aliens in the form of those musical sequences. Information that would take years to decode but provide cures for cancer and engines for faster than light travel. If the hand signal merely meant H-E-L-L-O then the equivalent 5 notes meant the same. Then all we really learnt was how to say "Hello" at high speed, lots of times.

It wasn't the start of a meaningful relationship with the aliens, it was the end of the relationship.

Someone else said that it was all a love story - between who and who? Not Dreyfuss and his wife. It could have been written in a 'love conquers all way' much like *ET* later was, but it wasn't. Dreyfuss' dysfunctional family was probably going to break down anyway, given more time, but as someone else mentioned, it is a pity that his children will grow up without knowing the truth about their father.

Dreyfuss and the other woman - the connection they had wasn't love, more desperation, relief, comfort, consolation.

Dreyfuss and the aliens - please, no.


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## clovis-man (Mar 7, 2013)

Dave said:


> Sorry, I did mean it as a joke.


 
Understood. Me too.



Dave said:


> It wasn't the start of a meaningful relationship with the aliens, it was the end of the relationship.


 
So long, and thanks for all the fish.



Dave said:


> Dreyfuss and the other woman - the connection they had wasn't love, more desperation, relief, comfort, consolation.


 
Pity, that. I thought Melinda Dillon was pretty hot back then. But that would have ruined the story.


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