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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978)
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The Spike
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PostPosted: Fri Oct 17, 2014 10:35 am    Post subject: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978) Reply with quote



It's like Halloween for grown ups!

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is written and directed by Steven Spielberg. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, Fran??ois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon and Teri Garr. Music is scored by John Williams and cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond.

Suddenly planes reported missing in 1945 show up the Mojave desert, and in pristine condition. Air traffic control is alerted to something strange in the sky. Lineman Roy Neary is out on a job call and has an encounter with what can only be described as a UFO.

The government is up to something, but what?

Neary and others find they are strangely drawn to a place they have never known before. Once the destination is reached, the revelation will make history and change perceptions for ever.

1977 was the year when sci-fi went blockbuster style, as the impact of Star Wars' was still being felt at the box offices around the world. Steven Spielberg ushered in his call for tolerance, an examination of faith, the need for human interaction and just the human need — a wondrous tale of the first contact between man and an alien species.

Watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind now it's inarguably ahead of its time. It still feels as fresh as a daisy, with the director beautifully managing to craft a film that strikes a chord with the young and old alike.

I was but a mere boy when I saw it back in 77. I loved it then because of the spaceships, I laughed at the funny things Richard Dreyfuss was doing on the screen with spuds and shovels, and that ending, those beings, and the mother ship homing into the picture to stop me in my tracks.

Now I still get all that boyish entertainment, but I understand thematics and points of worth. Dreyfuss as Neary is our everyman, his obsession to find his calling is holding us in his palm.

The fabulous Melinda Dillon as Jillian Guiler; no histrionics here, a believable woman, a single mother just desperately trying to find the apple of her eye. And uber cool Truffaut as Claude Lacombe, the scientist, so restrained, so very human.

Rest assured that in a film involving beings from another planet, this film is very human indeed.

The plot is simple and straightforward, there's no saggy filler or need for twists and turn a rounds. But the mystery element is strong. Are these beings friends or foes?

One terrifying scene at the Guiler house in particular skirts the boundaries of horror. The tone of the film is never airy. There's a bubbling undercurrent of unease, even fear of the unknown.

Spielberg is canny, he may be operating from his child whimsy at heart, but his brain is mature and in gear. He dangles human peccadilloes as the three-pronged character fork digs towards destiny.

And once we arrive there at Devils Mountain, pop culture references are assured, the master magician with the beard pulls his rabbit out of the hat to deliver a finale that once viewed, is never to be forgotten. He's aided considerably by the two noble masters at his side, Mr. John Williams providing five tone wonder and Mr. Douglas Trumbull, a purveyor of remarkable and classical effects, while Zsigmond's photography dazzles the eyes and smoothes them with astute colour lens choices.

In any version, it's a wonderful movie, but I agree with Spielberg about the Special Edition cut that features the inside of the mother ship. That's a mistake. The version to go with in my book is the Collector's Edition. But as long as you let this movie into your life, no matter your age, then you will be better for it. 9/10

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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

____________________________

Well, now — I must tread carefully here.

I want to dance this subject around a little, but I sure don't want to step on any toes. I'd like to offer a sincere analysis of this movie, but I can't resist being a little silly every now and then while pointing out what I consider to be the less-than-perfect aspects of a beloved motion picture. (A spoon full of sugar makes the medicine go down.)

So . . . here goes nuttin'.

I adored this movie from the moment I first saw it. It was The Space Children for a whole new generation, designed to inspire and enthrall, a vision of mankind's first howdy-do from beings who came from the stars.

It was love at first sight.

And that's the whole problem.

It took me a couple of years, but eventually the honeymoon was over and I woke up one morning wondering just what the story was about in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Seems like a dumb question, right? It's obvious, isn't it? The aliens wanted to make contact. They wanted to talk to us. The wanted to be our friends. Everything they did was motivated by that simple, friendly, laudable goal.

Right?

Right, yes, of course. And what did they do — I mean, exactly what did they do to make contact, to talk to us, to be our friends. Let's make a list. A list always helps. Here's the list.

* They made a long journey across the vastness of space.

* They studied us cautiously from a distance.

* They decided to study us a bit more closely, so —

* They stole a group of aircraft.

* They kidnapped the pilots.

* They kept the pilots away from their friends and families, who all thought these guys were dead, thereby causing grief and heartache.

* They flew around in their miraculous spacecraft twelve feet off the ground, following paved roads and passing through toll booths with inches to spare.

* They terrorized a young, single mom in her own home with the use of bright lights, loud noises, and advanced technology that switched on toys and household appliances for no discernible reason.

* They snatched the mother's kid, driving her half crazy with anguish and concern.

* They beamed a puzzling hypnotic message into people's heads, presumably because the message was too complicated for mere words. And the message was . . . "Come to Wyoming. It's lovely this time of year."

* They caused compulsive behavior that threatened the sanity of simple, average people whose lives were disrupted and whose relationships were destroyed.

* They put on a Technicolor light show for hundreds of brilliant scientists who desperately wanted to converse with them, and they played five musical notes that had a deep and profound meaning for all mankind — if we could just figure out what the hell the notes meant.

* They released dozens of kidnapped people after decades of captivity, people who were in a dazed lethargic condition — with the exception of the little boy, who seemed just fine. No harm done. Hey, there's your mom, kiddo. Go home.

* They accepted a group of volunteers aboard their ship, presumably to teach them things they would come back and teach us. Why they couldn't just stick around and deal directly with us is not explained. And if an advanced race really wants to get chummy with mankind, why would they just take a small sample to who-knows-where and leave the rest of us back home to wonder what's going on?

In short . . . I don't get the story. A lot happened — without making a lot of sense. To me, Close Encounters was kinda like 2001: A Space Odessey, but with newer music. Both movies looked really neat, but there didn't seem to a whole lot of story between the studio logo and the closing credits.

It was bit like falling in love with a beautiful girl and then finding out that beauty really is just skin deep. You can't find anything to talk about.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Gosh, I hope not . .

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~ The Space Children (1958)


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ralfy
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw this and the extended version in the theater when I was a child, and for some reason what frightened me then was the scene involving helicopters and gas.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

It is a horror movie, and the Aliens are evil.

Like Bud said, they terrorized people, how many people were injured or died due to the power failure the Aliens caused? They broke up marriages, kidnapped people, letting their loved ones believe that they were dead. They then returned the kidnap victims decades later, when everyone they know are either dead or much older. These kidnap victims now have to live in a world that is alien to them.

Think about what it would be like if you woke up one morning and it was forty or fifty years later. Everyone you know is gone. You have no references to deal with the changed society because of the events which have passed. Even language would be hard due to the changes.

And yes. I believe that ET is a horrible movie too.

David.
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 5:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Krel wrote:
And yes, I believe that ET is a horrible movie too..

Well, to be honest, I cry big fat manly tears at the end of E.T. Crying or Very sad

But I've never been able to figure out how E.T. ran so fast through the undergrowth when he was trying to get to the ship before it took off. The first time I saw the film, I kept expecting his legs to stretch out the way his neck did in one scene. Very Happy

Seems reasonable.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Randy
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PostPosted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 8:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bud ...

If you would have looked closer, you would have seen that "Bad Robot" was carrying E.T. to the ship. You can't see Bad Robot move in the undergrowth, but at the end of certain movies and tv shows you can just see how fast he can go through underbrush.

By the way ...

Every time I watch that movie, I get this strange desire to get a big pot of mashed potatoes and build something with them.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 05, 2014 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

"We come to visit you in peace . . . and with side dishes!"


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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Richard
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 07, 2014 10:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The thing I came to realize about Close Encounters was that SOME Earthlings and the Aliens had been in close contact.

The Earthlings 'in the know' had everything pre-planned — the 'hostage swap' so to speak — where a sort of truce was being formed, all to the celestial tunes of John Williams.

The military was 'in the know'. They (and Truffaut) knew damn well what all these people had been going through — the psychic messages. But they were just curious about the 'alien effect' and had no intention of letting mere citizens near their appointed mass encounter.

Neary spoiled that one big time.

It was an 'evil big brother' film with the spunky, plucky every-American guy getting his big wish handed to him at Devil's Tower.
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Krel
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 08, 2014 12:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Richard wrote:
It was an 'evil big brother' film with the spunky, plucky every-American guy getting his big wish handed to him at Devil's Tower.

Now that brings up a good question. Was it his wish, his desire, or was it something the Aliens did to him? Nothing in the beginning of the movie indicated any interest in these matters. It was only after the Aliens gave him the sunburn, that his behavior changed.

He was by all indications a happily married father. After the exposure to the Alien light beams, he changed. An Alien induced change? A compulsion? It had a definite, visible physical effect on him. Is it far fetched to believe that it also altered his brain in some way? He was definitely being compelled.

The Aliens turned him looney toons. Broke up his marriage. Alienated him from his wife and children. And we're suppose to believe that these Aliens are nice, and friendly? They left a trail of destroyed lives and pain everywhere they went through the decades!

And the Alien hand gestures, what did they really mean? Come with us, you tastes like chicken?

David.
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Rick
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I saw CLOSE ENCOUNTERS in Denver on the day it opened in 1977. It was a morning screening, 9 am, 10 am, something like that. It was one of only two occasions when I did that thing where you arrive hours early and stand in a long line in order to grab a seat. The other occasion was for RETURN OF THE JEDI (also stood in long lines for ANDY WARHOL'S FRANKENSTEIN and POPEYE, but those were surprises to me and I didn't know I'd be arriving to a long queue.)

It's hard to imagine or remember now, but in 1977 this was a really BIG deal. Everybody was STAR WARS-ed and wanted more, even if it was somehow different. And we only really knew Steven Spielberg from one movie but that movie was...JAWS. My God, the anticipation was overwhelming.

My friend and I made it into the theater after about a two or three hour wait in a line that seemed to snake forever through a huge parking lot. We grabbed seats in the front row of the balcony which my friend insisted were absolutely the best seats possible. How he knew that, I don't know. He wasn't from Denver (nor was I), had never been to this theater, and knew as little about the upcoming movie as I did.

And we knew so little. The trailer managed to show us some exciting stuff without really giving any of the biggies away at all.

As the end of the movie neared, I was totally satisfied. I figured those colored lights zooming around were all we were going to see and that was fine with me. They were lively and beautiful and wonderfully well-done. I was thrilled with it. And I think the entire audience was. That colorful "dance" of the lights, was greeted with continuous cheers and applause. We had all more than gotten our money's worth.

Then came the mothership. Totally unexpected. I don't think I've ever been part of an audience reaction like that one. I can't really call it a "gasp", but it's hard to describe. It was as if all the air was sucked out of the theater in an instant. There was an instant of oxygen-free silence, followed by a gigantic roar which just wouldn't stop. Maybe the most exciting minute or two I ever spent in a movie theater.

So, did I love it? Oh, God, yes I did. And I still do.

As for your questions, Bud....hey, chill, dude. It's a movie. I can honestly say that, while I understand what you're asking, none of that ever occurred to me. I was lost in the movie. If I absolutely had to explain to myself or anyone else why the aliens behaved that way, I would answer..."how the hell do I know? They're aliens, who knows what's up with those guys?"

I highly recommend the book, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND DIARY by Bob Balaban, who plays the translator/former cartographer. It's probably one of the two or three best "making-of" books I've ever read. Fascinating stuff.

I can't say that I ever met Bob Balaban, but I do remember the day, around 1991 or '92, when my wife and I toured a hoity-toity Manhattan pre-school in preparation for our son's approaching school career. Also on the tour that day were Balaban and his missus. We didn't care for the school and scratched it off the list. Don't know where mini-Balaban went to school.

I also saw Bob Balaban onstage once, but didn't connect the dots till years later. In 1967, when Balaban was known only to his immediate family, I saw him Off-Broadway playing Linus in YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. I can't honestly say that I remember anything about his performance.

One more thing. The reason I saw the movie in Denver was that I was doing a show there at the time. Every night a van would pick up cast members at the hotel and drive us 20 minutes outside the city to the theater. That night I sat in the van, not thinking about much at all, when I heard someone mention CLOSE ENCOUNTERS. Only then did I realize what I had been doing. I'd been staring out the van's window, trying to spot a UFO or three. I was still so under the movie's spell that I was convinced that I would surely see a flying saucer. I mean, didn't everyone?

I still love this movie. Haven't seen it in a couple of years. Must correct that.

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2016 10:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rick wrote:
As for your questions, Bud....hey, chill, dude. It's a movie. I can honestly say that, while I understand what you're asking, none of that ever occurred to me. I was lost in the movie. If I absolutely had to explain to myself or anyone else why the aliens behaved that way, I would answer..."how the hell do I know? They're aliens, who knows what's up with those guys?"

Well, to some folks I'm the kinda guy who over-thinks things, but to me the ideas in a story are the sweet creamy center, the prize in the box of Cracker Jacks, the real present inside all that pretty wrapping paper and fancy ribbons.

I get the usual jolt of wonder and awe when I see a great move, but that's just the foreplay. The real thrill comes when I ponder the story structure and wander through the ideas it presented and take apart the plot like a Swiss watch to see all the gears and springs and jewels inside.

I mean sure, this is great. Smile



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But this . . . is greater. Cool


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And as for the seemingly impossible task of figuring out what's going on inside an alien's little green noggin' — well, that's the kind of challenge that makes science fiction the greatest genre of them all. Very Happy
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
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Robert (Butch) Day
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PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2016 7:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sadly, the kind of person who WORKS on what the latter picture embodies is getting harder to find.
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 4:56 pm    Post subject: Close Encounters of the Third Kind Is Flying Back to Theat Reply with quote

2017 is the 40th anniversary (how is that possible) of Steven Spielberg's sci-fi masterpiece Close Encounters of the Third Kind and to celebrate, it's coming back to theaters. ....

Sony confirms the film will be back on the big screen in the U.S. and Canada for one week starting September 1. .....

Most now look back at Close Encounters not only as a pivotal film in the science fiction genre, but a formative film in Spielberg's overall development too. With it, he began to find the happy medium between big spectacle and personal stories that would later serve him so well, not the least of which was a few years later with E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Plus, it's a movie that begs for a giant screen. Imgur.



http://io9.gizmodo.com/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-is-flying-back-into-1796651191


800 posts and still posting


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Gord Green
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PostPosted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 5:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

As to some of your earlier comments Bud, I do have a few suggestions.

We tend to put our own human, enlightened notions onto the aliens. We expect that our own perceptions of ethics and morality extend to any other advanced beings that may exist. Ethics and morality are hardly universal.

To these aliens we were an unknown species. They had little prior knowledge of us and our culture. Think about it-----What do WE do in examining nature? We capture or kill to vivasect subjects without any concern that the creature may be a mother of children and have no concern about caging or tranqualizing them. We don't think about the psychological aspects.

We step on or destroy colonies of ants or wasps with little regard.

Only after a period of long examination and observation did CE3K aliens arrive at a way to communicate in some way. As portrayed in the film this was a filmmakers way of showing a way this may be expressed. It not only can't but could never be accurate. It's just a best guess that makes the movie work.

Even in the area of ethics and morality look how our civilization has constantly been changing! 200 years ago slavery was an accepted concept to most of the world as was racial superiority. Even the Nazi concept of the master race is in our recent history.

How can we possibly try to impose our concepts on a culture thousands, perhaps millions of years beyond ours?

You kind of have to accept your points as, "That's the way it is!" because we have no way to understand the alien psyche.
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Bud Brewster
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 1:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

________________________________

Hmmm . . . a well-written presentation of a carefully thought out concept.

Nice job. Smile

The gist of your argument seems to be that these aliens are (by definition) very different from us, and therefore it would be a mistake to apply our concept of morality to their own drastically different culture and their basic psychology.

That's certainly true of aliens in general . . . but is it true of these particular aliens? Let's examine some of the evidence which this particular Close Encounter offered and see what it revealed.

In other words, how are they like us?

First off, they felt a strong need to communicate — not just to study us as a species, without regard for our well being. They didn't kidnap people and dissect them. They reached out and invited us to meet with them.

Naturally they were seeking a common language, and they tried some very puzzling methods to establish one. For example, they telepathically implanted compulsions which compelled certain people to attend a meeting in a place the aliens selected.








Like humans, the aliens understood visual and audible symbolism as a way to communicate. They taught us a sequence of musical notes, perhaps just to encourage use to work with them to slowly develop a language based on that —





— and we in turn taught them a series of simple hand gestures that matched the notes. It was a meager beginning for two very different species who desperately wanted to talk to each other.





I also contend that they were, like us, inherently playful! Very Happy

The most likely reason they flew along dark roads at night is that the aliens simply enjoyed doing this! After all, they slowly cruised past groups of people who had seen them do it before and were waiting to greet them!

The aliens might also have been doing a little advanced PR work to demonstrate that they were neither hostile, dangerous, nor bent on our destruction.

Clearly this interpretation is more logical than trying to find a practical reason for such rambunctious behavior! Very Happy








Another important point is that they shared a distinctly humanoid shape. They gathered specific people (by invitation) in a carefully selected location and then revealed their appearance — trusting us not to gun them down just because they were physically different and perhaps a tad too eager to run around naked in front of our women! Laughing:






And I think the most important common characteristic of all is the kindly nature they demonstrated when they surrounded Roy Neary and gently escort him into the ship.





All in all, these aliens didn't seem to have a problem understanding basic human nature, because they seem to share much of that nature with us. But they definitely had trouble figured out how to get a complex conversation going so we could do more than just jam together . . . and enjoy big light shows! Cool

I accept your premise that it's wrong to assume these aliens would solve problems like we do, such as how to establish a common language.

But I see very little evidence that they resembled superior beings who cared nothing for the proverbial "lower life forms".

In fact, your own argument demonstrates that as intelligence increases and societies learn to live in harmony — as shown by your varied examples from human history — sentient beings tend to become more concerned with the well-being of less intelligent species.

Animal rights activist, for example, have never been more dedicated to the well-being of the creatures with whom we share our planet. And basic human rights are a big concern for the more civilized nations of the Earth.

I'm not saying that every alien species who might descend from the stars and make contact with mankind will be gentle creatures who bear us no ill will.

I'm just saying that the aliens in Close Encounters of the Third Kind seemed to have the same basic moral instincts we do.

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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)


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