CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND -- Steven Spielberg, dir

©1977
studio: Sony Pictures
production company: Columbia Pictures Corporation, EMI Films Ltd.
director: Steven Spielberg
cast: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban, J. Patrick McNamara, Warren J. Kemmerling, Roberts Blossom, Philip Dodds, Cary Guffey, Shawn Bishop, Adrienne Campbell, Justin Dreyfuss
screenplay: Steven Spielberg

After having a close encounter with a U.F.O., Roy Neary (and others) struggle to understand why they are drawn to Devil's Tower in Wyoming.

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Though I've seen this quite a number of times, it has been a long time since I last watched this classic.

Even though I remember the movie fondly, it's not one that begs my attention, and as I watched this again, I can understand why. It is obvious that this is an early Spielberg movie. It relies too much on simply accepting a few improbable ideas (not the only which is that U.F.O.'s really are ships of an alien race and from outer space).

For instance, how is it that he loses his job but there is no change in the household? How is it that he hooks up with the Melinda Dillon character, and suddenly we see nothing more of Teri Garr? How is the music interpretted into colors? Where does this HUGE, MASSIVE mothership come from without our having seen it before? Why have people been kidnapped? ... then returned, un-aged? ... and yet we don't see the presence of the mothership as a threat?

Actually, as I watched this again, my biggest disappointment is seeing an alien at the end. I know that it was based on all the supposed sightings (which was all the rage back then [J. Allen Hyneck was a known figure to most people who watched the movie in the 70's]) but my feeling now was that it would have been much more suspenseful and creative to never actually see an alien -- only what they are capable of.

Still a recommended movie, but it lacks the power and punch that it had thirty years ago.