Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

1977 was named one of the best years in science fiction by the sci-fi blog i09.com. This was due to George Lucas' Star Wars, and this film directed by Steven Spielberg. Directly after the wild success of Steven Spielberg's film, Jaws, he was essentially allowed the rare privilege to do whatever he wanted for his next project. He chose this film as his next endeavor. One that he not only directed, but wrote as well, which is a rarity for Spielberg. After this film Spielberg would continue to tackle the ideas of aliens with E.T. & War of the Worlds. But I feel this is his best endeavor into the alien realm.

The film is cinematically beautiful, and it's ideas and themes are graspable and I can see them being true. An example being that humans use colors and music to communicate with the alien beings, that is an idea I can grasp and get on board with. This is Spielberg's best alien film, and I would go as far to say as the best film about aliens in cinema. Nothing seems far fetched, everything from acting to effects is executed with great detail and care. I think the film is underrated and should definitely be way above many other films on various best of sci-fi lists.

Story
The film begins with French scientist Claude Lacombe and his American translator, David Laughlin, who find a lost squardron of World War II aircrafts in the desert. The planes are nearly completely intact and operational, but the pilots are not in them. Later an air traffic controllers listens to two airline flights who nearly have a head on collision with some unidentified flying objects. To add to the eeriness of these events, a three year old boy, Barry, wakes up when his toys start working on their own, automatically.

Later we finally encounter our main character Roy, a electrical lineman, who is on his way to fix a line that has caused a large scale power outage. On his way his car becomes immobile and he encounters a strange light that lifts his car upwards. This not only terrifies, but fascinates Roy, and he becomes obsessed with the idea of UFO's. Although his wife becomes worried after Roy starts obsessing over mental images of some mountain like image, that he continuously makes models of. Roy's increasingly erratic behavior causes Ronnie to leave him, taking their three children with her. Later Roy sees a television news program about a train wreck near Devils Tower in Wyoming, and he realizes that this is the mental image that has been plaguing him. This immediately causes him to head directly to the site.

Meanwhile Claude and David are investigating claims around the world of UFO's with United Nations experts. The witnesses report hearing a 5-tone musical phrase in a major scale. Later Claude is listening to music sent from somewhere in space, and realizes it is coordinates to a specific site, Devils Tower. After the discovery nearly all parties arrive at Devils Tower and build a landing site for a UFO they are sure is coming. They tell all nearby residents that they have to evacuate the area due to the train wreck, which is spilling nerve gas. Although many residents are determined to make it to the site, and are apprehended by Army officials. But somehow Roy and his companion Gillian persist and make it near the landing site. The government and army officials have created a large light board, with a musical keyboard attached to the colors. They communicate with the UFO's through this light & sound combination. Soon the mother-ship lands on the site, which opens up and a crowd of humans exit the ship, all people who have been abducted over the years. Soon Roy makes his way onto the landing strip and gets talked into entering the mother ship. He is hastily prepared. Then alien beings begin exiting the ship. All are different races of aliens, in all shapes and sizes. They choose Roy to join them on their ship and they enter the mother ship. The ship flies off and the film ends.

My favorite thing about the film is the perception of the aliens. They are peaceful, and gentle, not bring a war of the worlds between them and Earth like nearly every other alien depiction. Although Spielberg would return to the idea of peaceful aliens, and getting along with humans (E.T.), I believe this is much stronger execution of the idea. The other idea of Spielbergs I drool over is the communication between aliens & humans. Unlike most other sci-fi films, the aliens do not know English and do not look like us (The Day The Earth Stood Still). How would we be able to communicate with them? His conclusion that we should use a system of music & light. This idea takes on the conclusion that all species in the universe would be able to understand both of these tools. I think is one of Spielberg's strongest ideas in both alien films, and all of his film. In the end the story is magnificent and you are thrust into the best alien adventure film of all time.

Directing
Now I know when you ask the average movie goer (my family for example) and you ask them to name a director, Spielberg is always the name that comes with it. His name is sin-ominous with film directing, and for obvious reasons. The man has directed some of the most classic films, not only in science fiction, but in cinema history. Everything from Jaws to Raiders of the Lost Ark to Schindlers List to Jurassic Park. Time and time again he has proven himself to be a director that should looked up to a revered by his peers and the general public. That is not to say he hasn't directed some flops, but he has a larger body of great work then mediocre. This is one of the examples of some of his greatest work.

One of the great parts of Spielberg's directing skill in the film is the acting of the 3 year old boy, Barry. For example there is a scene where supposedly the young boy is seeing aliens run around his house, the camera stays on the boy as we watch his face track something off screen. Since Spielberg was working with such a young child and didn't want to rely and normal acting techniques he went a different route. For this section he had two crew members hide in boxes off camera, one in a clown suit and one in a gorilla suit. One popped out, then the other as the cameras rolled, catching young Cary Guffey's (Barry) bewildered reaction. Spielberg then whispered to the gorilla to remove his mask, eliciting a smile from Guffey. He used techniques like this over and over again for all scenes with Barry. I think it is a stroke of genius because without knowing this, I would never have guessed that's what occurred on set for the boys acting. Overall I think Spielberg's enthusiasm about UFO's and aliens is what makes his directing so poignant and rich in this film. Everything from shots to acting to SFX was all filled with great care and love, which is something that is rarely seen on screen.

Acting
This is something that Spielberg will always have over his close friend George Lucas, he can actually direct actors. Unlike many great directors, he does not see his cast as cattle, much like Hitchcock did. He sees them as one of the many tools to be able to tell your story. In this film my two favorite actors were Richard Dreyfuss and the famous French director Francois Truffaut (who directed the classic The 400 Blows). Dreyfuss delivers a character who has been psychically implanted with images and sounds from alien beings, and plays it perfectly. You feel for him, you want to help him as does everyone else, but the only thing that will help him is finding the images in his mind.

And along with Truffaut, who makes him American acting debut, you have two lovable characters are who chasing the same thing: aliens. They don't seem like people you could never meet, or could never be, but certainly feel real and tangible to the audience. Although Truffaut is not an actor, he certainly does a great job with his character, who is based on a real-life French UFO expert Jaques Vallee. Overall from the boy, to Dreyfuss, to Truffaut, they all deliver each section of the story in great prowess.


After viewing the film again, I am certain that this is hands down my favorite alien film. I like the idea of them being peaceful and the humans not screwing it up with war. We are able to communicate with them in a way that seems logical and now obvious. It gives you hope for a future were this event might actually happen. I hope we will meet alien creatures with music and lights, and not war and guns. This still remains a classic in sci-fi and in film history.