From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Mar 25 15:38:47 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!solace!nntp.uio.no!news.apfel.de!news.maxwell.syr.edu!cam-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: WFrith1680@aol.com (Walter Frith) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 25 Mar 1997 01:55:04 GMT Organization: America Online Lines: 74 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <5h7b9o$29c@nntpb.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: WFrith1680@aol.com (Walter Frith) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07186 Keywords: author=Frith Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:6578 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1242 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND A film review by Walter Frith Copyright 1997 Walter Frith By 1977 director Steven Spielberg had already established himself as a world class filmmaker with 'Jaws' in 1975 and his big screen debut in 1974 entitled 'The Sugarland Express'. While the former was obviously the more popular, many of Spielberg's fans also recall an ingenious television movie he did in 1971 entitled 'Duel' which is a cult favourite among many film fanatics, myself included. Born in Cincinnatit, Ohio in 1947, Spielberg achieved greatness in the art of filmmaking before he was thirty years old. Undoubtedly the greatest creative mind working in film in the last twenty five years, Spielberg's films invoke debate everytime someone asks "What is his masterpiece?" Is it 'E.T., The Extra-Terrestrial' (1982)? This was a gentle and loving film about the child in all of us and a moving, simplistic fantasy with religious implications done in a most tolerable fashion. Is it 'Schindler's List' (1993)? This harrowing story about the holocaust and one of the most original looking and important film of the twentieth century was the film that earned Spielberg recognition among his peers with seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Spielberg himself. I suspect that if you ask Spielberg what the crowning achievement in his career is, he will vote for this one and rightfully so. But what about 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' (1977)? It too is a subject for debate when considering what exactly is Spielberg's masterpiece. Written as well as directed by Spielberg himself, the film was a creative odyssey which was released the same year as the phenomenal 'Star Wars' and the strength of 'Close Encounters' along with most films that year was diminished quite a bit by George Lucas' vision of other worlds aside from our own. Like Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' (1968), 'Close Encounters' was a motion picture well ahead of its time. Also like '2001', 'Close Encounters' failed to secure a Best Picture nomination but Spielberg like Kubrick for '2001', respectively, was nominated as Best Director. The creative culture lessons of the 1950's showed beings from another planet as mostly hostile towards Earth with 'War of the Worlds' (1953) and 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956). These films acted as metaphors for communism as the cold war reached its peak in the 1950's. Even 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' (1951) has a classic presence in motion picture history as it serves as a message for peace among Earthlings with drastic consequences from other worlds if that cannot be attained. It has been reported that like 'Star Wars' and the recently released twenty fifth anniversary edition of 'The Godfather' (1972) that 'Close Encounters' will get a release sometime later this year for its twentieth anniversary. It was a huge box office success for its time and will undoubtedly do well again as its closest ally (television's 'The X-Files') will serve as an unintentional promoter because its subject matter is obviously a parallel to 'Close Encounters' but the television series takes it one step further by implying government conspiracies and colonies of aliens living among the people of Earth. 'The X-Files' is definitely about having a close encounter with aliens and while there is no direct connection between it and 'Close Encounters', they are distant cousins whether they want to admit it or not. Richard Dreyfuss stars in 'Close Encounters' as a working man from Indiana who is confronted on a dark road one evening by an alien space ship which causes his vehicle to disrupt in many different ways and as the film develops Dreyfuss becomes obsessed with meaning of his encounter and becomes involved with a single mother (Melinda Dillon) who has lost her little boy to an alien abduction. Throughout the course of the film there is a constant theme of preparation for an alien visit as two men (Bob Balaban and the late Francois Truffaut) supposedly two scientists with government connections, travel to distant places like Mexico and India to follow up with people who have had an alien encounter of some sort. There is the development of language and communication as hand signals and musical riffs are used to make contact with the the extra-terrestrials who would surface in the film's hypnotic climax set at Devil's Tower in Wyoming. With eight Oscar nominations and one win for the searing cinematography by veteran cameraman Vilmos Zsigmond as well as being voted a special award for Sound Effects Editing, 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' is definitely one of Spielberg's finest films and is one of the most original movies dealing with the concept of determining what exactly this man's masterpiece is. The debate continues..... From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jun 29 10:50:31 1998 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed1.news.luth.se!luth.se!masternews.telia.net!news-nyc.telia.net!howland.erols.net!wn3feed!worldnet.att.net!140.142.64.3!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: "Brian Koller" Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Retrospective: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 29 Jun 1998 04:29:35 GMT Organization: MPSi Net Lines: 55 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <6n757f$125a$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer12.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 899094575 34986 (None) 140.142.64.7 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #12997 Keywords: author=koller X-Questions-to: movie-rev-mod@www.ee.washington.edu X-Submissions-to: movie-reviews@www.ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer12.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:12171 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1950 Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Grade: 73 "Stars Wars" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" were both released in 1977, and were enormously successful films, both critically and commercially. This began a new era in Hollywood, in which special effects became much more important as a lure to bring customers to the theater. The plot has aliens visiting the Earth with a fleet of enormous, glowing spaceships. Scientists learn how to communicate with the aliens through musical and mathematical codes. The U.S. Government, of course, launches a massive conspiracy, inventing a deadly nerve gas leak to force citizens away from the site of the alien visits. Richard Dreyfuss is well cast as an average man who sees the flying saucers one evening, and soon loses his job, his sanity, and his wife (Teri Garr). Melinda Dillon is a mother of a young boy (played by wide-eyed and mute Cary Guffey) who is abducted by the aliens. Dreyfuss and Dillon are compelled to visit Devil's Peak, not knowing why, where they become part of the alien's landing ceremony. Steven Spielberg wrote and directed "Close Encounters". As with his later film "E.T.", the aliens are benevolent, and the special effects are used to create a mood of childlike wonder. This mood is ultimately manipulative, however, and the jaded viewer may not be especially impressed with hairless, big-eyed, unisex aliens and glowing spaceships. Ethical considerations, such as the rights of aliens to kidnap whomever they wish for close inspection, are not addressed. Tellingly, "Close Encounters" won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, but was not nominated for Best Picture or Screenplay. While it is a very good film, it is not outstanding. The story succeeds as a drama, but there is more form than content. There are two major versions of "Close Encounters", with perhaps fifteen minutes of differing footage. After the film's release and great success, Spielberg reassembled most of the cast and filmed new scenes including the interior of the alien spaceship. Some other scenes in the original version were cut or replaced. I have not seen this latter version. kollers@mpsi.net http://members.tripod.com/~Brian_Koller/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Jun 7 23:16:57 2001 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lth.se!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!nycmny1-snh1.gtei.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.gtei.net!newsfeed.cwix.com!sjc-peer.news.verio.net!sea-feed.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!news.u.washington.edu!140.142.17.34.MISMATCH!news.u.washington.edu!grahams From: James Brundage Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 1 Jun 2001 01:34:51 GMT Organization: filmcritic.com Lines: 67 Approved: graham@ee.washington.edu Message-ID: <9f6rfr$p8m$1@nntp3.u.washington.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: homer12.u.washington.edu X-Trace: nntp3.u.washington.edu 991359291 25878 (None) 140.142.17.37 X-Complaints-To: help@cac.washington.edu NNTP-Posting-User: grahams Summary: r.a.m.r. #28324 Keywords: author=brundage X-Questions-to: graham@jetcity.com X-Submissions-to: graham@ee.washington.edu Originator: grahams@homer12.u.washington.edu Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:26502 rec.arts.sf.reviews:2841 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND A film review by James Brundage Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com filmcritic.com Around a quarter century ago, a nerdy little kid fresh off the success of some shark movie decided he wanted to turn his focus to little green men. And somehow he turned out one of those rare films that imprints itself into the cultural psyche so far as to be able to be referenced by just about anyone (whether they've seen it or not). But just in case you really are from another planet and have no clue just what the hell I'm talking about, the year was 1977, the director was Steven Spielberg, and the movie was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Per the film, there are three kinds of alien contact, two of which nobody really cares about. The third kind is the close, personal relationship forged between man and alien when a person gets abducted... and, well, that's the focus of most of this film. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) starts out as an angry father in a job he doesn't seem to care for all that much, all of which is changed when some friendly aliens give him a sunburn and give his town a lightshow that puts concert pyrotechnics to shame. This experience makes Roy a little off-kilter; he begins sculpting shapes he's never seen, having the feeling that he should be going somewhere soon. In the meantime Claude Lacombe (François Truffaut) is going about the globe picking up planes and ships that disappeared a half century ago, and he finds them in the middle of the desert, to boot. And with mysterious fly-bys happening to modern day aircraft around the world... well we don't need rocket scientists to figure out what's going on. Close Encounters is really such a simple movie that it doesn't warrant a helluva lot of discussion. Were it not able to hit our cultural pressure points so well, it probably would have faded off the of cinematic map -- but Spielberg is nothing if not adept at punching our buttons and making us puppets in his hands, and Close Encounters is no exception. While, storywise and on filmmaking levels, Close Encounters might not be the greatest film ever, I'll be damned if when you're watching the aliens communicate through music, you don't feel like it is. RATING: **** |------------------------------| \ ***** Perfection \ \ **** Good, memorable film \ \ *** Average, hits and misses \ \ ** Sub-par on many levels \ \ * Unquestionably awful \ |------------------------------| MPAA Rating: PG Director: Steven Spielberg Producer: Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips Writer: Steven Spielberg Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon --- http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?tag=filmcriticcom&path=subst/video/sellers/amazon-top-100-dvd.html Movie Fiends: Check out Amazon.com's Top 100 Hot DVDs! Visit filmcritic.com on the Web at http://www.filmcritic.com --