Movie Description CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg's extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a UFO on an abandoned road one night. Against the wishes of his wife (Teri Garr) and children, Neary, along with another witness to the sighting (Melinda Dillon), travels to a mysterious mountain where the government has built a landing strip hoping to attract the aliens. Director François Truffaut costars as Claude Lacombe, one of the organizers of the project. Spielberg hoped to follow up the huge success of JAWS with a low-budget film that would be an easy shoot, but, thanks in part to the complicated special effects, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS quickly snowballed into being an expensive endeavor but a commercial and artistic success. No one who has seen the film has ever looked at a plate of mashed potatotes the same way again.
| Credits | | Producer: | Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips | | Cast: | Bob Balaban, Carl Weathers, Teri Garr, Warren Kemmerling |
| Details | | Edition: | 30th Anniversary Edition; 3-Disc Set |
Editorial Reviews "...The best -- the most elaborate -- 1950's[-style] science fiction movie ever made..." New York Times - p.C19 - Vincent Canby (11/17/1977)
Included in the New York Times "10 BEST FILMS OF 1977" New York Times - p.II:1 - Vincent Canby (12/25/1977)
"...The only feature to date for which Spielberg has taken sole writing credit, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS is one of his most personal works....The story's primal appeal endures..." Entertainment Weekly - Bruce Fretts (06/08/2001)
"...An undisputed classic....It's Richard Dreyfuss's finest hour..." Total Film - Stephen Risness (08/01/2000)
"Where the film scores is in its portrayal of an ordinary man, whose brush with the unknown changes his life..." Uncut - Peter Hogan (07/01/2001)
5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t remains awe-inspiring stuff that has held up better than the other big science-fiction film of 1977." Empire - Ian Freer (01/01/2008)
"Steven Spielberg's shining, glowing masterpiece will never wear out its welcome." Wall Street Journal (11/06/2009)
Awards 1977Academy AwardsBest CinematographyVilmos Zsigmond, 1977Academy AwardsBest Sound Effects Editing
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