Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

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Writer/Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Cary Guffey, Francois Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Teri Garr, J. Patrick McNamara



Strange events around the world foreshadow the first contact between mankind and aliens.

 


Several people who encounter UFOs are psychically imprinted with an impulse to converge on the meeting area, including a worker for the phone company (Richard Dreyfuss) and a mother (Melinda Dillon) searching for her abducted son (Cary Guffey).

 


I'm not sure which of the three (at least) versions of this film I saw.

 


I didn't get to see the interior of the ship at the end, but I did see the scene in which Dreyfuss tears up his yard to construct a replica of the mountain in his visions; that may provide a clue to those who are more knowledgeable about this movie than me. 



There may be a superior version of this film out there, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit.

 


No one can convey that sense of wonder better than Steven Spielberg at his best.

 


The story structure is very effective, alternating between the intellectually stimulating narrative of two scientists (Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban) who are investigating the unusual phenomena and the intense, personal stories of two people who don't understand what is happening to them.

 


The wonderful finale provides a nice contrast to most science fiction films, which are really teched up action flicks with violent endings.

















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