Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writer:

Steven Spielberg (written by)
(more)

Release Date:

16 November 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Close Encounter of the First Kind - Sighting of a UFO. Close Encounter of the Second Kind - Physical Evidence. Close Encounter of the Third Kind - Contact. WE ARE NOT ALONE

Plot:

After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.

Plot Keywords:

Vision | UFO | Desert | Military | Close Encounter Of The Third Kind

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 11 wins & 30 nominations

Cast

Richard Dreyfuss	...	Roy Neary
François Truffaut	...	Claude Lacombe
Teri Garr	...	Ronnie Neary
Melinda Dillon	...	Jillian Guiler
Bob Balaban	...	David Laughlin
J. Patrick McNamara	...	Project Leader
Warren J. Kemmerling	...	Wild Bill (as Warren Kemmerling)
Roberts Blossom	...	Farmer
Philip Dodds	...	Jean Claude
Cary Guffey	...	Barry Guiler
Shawn Bishop	...	Brad Neary
Adrienne Campbell	...	Sylvia Neary
Justin Dreyfuss	...	Toby Neary
Lance Henriksen	...	Robert
Merrill Connally	...	Team Leader
George DiCenzo	...	Major Benchley
Amy Douglass	...	Implantee
Alexander Lockwood	...	Implantee
Gene Dynarski	...	Ike
Mary Gafrey	...	Mrs. Harris
Norman Bartold	...	Ohio Tolls
Josef Sommer	...	Larry Butler
Rev. Michael J. Dyer	...	Himself
Roger Ernest	...	Highway Patrolman
Carl Weathers	...	Military Policeman
F.J. O'Neil	...	ARP Project Member
Phil Dodds	...	ARP Musician
Randy Hermann	...	Returnee #1 Flt. 19
Hal Barwood	...	Returnee #2 Flt. 19
Matthew Robbins	...	Returnee #3 Flt. 19
David Anderson	...	Air Traffic Controller
Richard L. Hawkins	...	Air Traffic Controller
Craig Shreeve	...	Air Traffic
Bill Thurman	...	Air Traffic
Roy E. Richards	...	Air East Pilot
Gene Rader	...	Hawker
Eumenio Blanco	...	Federale
Daniel Núñez	...	Federale (as Daniel Nunez)
Chuy Franco	...	Federale
Luis Contreras	...	Federale
James Keane	...	Radio Telescope Team
Dennis McMullen	...	Radio Telescope Team
Cy Young	...	Radio Telescope Team
Tom Howard	...	Radio Telescope Team
Richard Stuart	...	Truck Dispatcher
Bob Westmoreland	...	Load Dispatcher
Matt Emery	...	Support Leader
Galen Thompson	...	Special Forces
John Dennis Johnston	...	Special Forces
John Ewing	...	Dirty Tricks #1
Keith Atkinson	...	Dirty Tricks #2
Robert Broyles	...	Dirty Tricks #3
Kirk Raymond	...	Dirty Tricks #4
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Basil Hoffman	...	Longly (uncredited)
J. Allen Hynek	...	Himself - Smoking Pipe at Landing Site (uncredited)
Monty Jordan	...	Special Forces Commander / Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
Stephen Powers	...	UN Observer (uncredited)
Howard K. Smith	...	Himself - TV News Anchor (uncredited)

Directed by
Steven Spielberg

Writing credits
Steven Spielberg		(written by)
Hal Barwood		uncredited
Jerry Belson		uncredited
John Hill		uncredited
Matthew Robbins		uncredited

Produced by
Clark L. Paylow	....	associate producer (as Clark Paylow)
Julia Phillips	....	producer
Michael Phillips	....	producer

Original Music by
John Williams		(music by)

Cinematography by
Vilmos Zsigmond		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Michael Kahn

Casting by
Shari Rhodes
Juliet Taylor		(as Juliette Taylor)

Production Design by
Joe Alves

Art Direction by
Daniel A. Lomino		(as Dan Lomino)

Set Decoration by
Phil Abramson

Makeup Department
Edie Panda	....	hairdresser
Bob Westmoreland	....	make-up supervisor
Sharleen Rassi	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Clark L. Paylow	....	unit production manager (as Clark Paylow)
Baba Shaik	....	production manager: India (uncredited)
John Veitch	....	executive in charge of production (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jim Bloom	....	second assistant director
Charles Myers	....	assistant director (as Chuck Myers)
Eric Stacey	....	key second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Sam Gordon	....	property master
George Jensen	....	production illustrator
Bill Parks	....	construction manager
Stan Cockerell	....	set dresser (uncredited)
David Coleman	....	assistant property master (uncredited)
Ralph McQuarrie	....	conceptual artwork (uncredited)

Sound Department
Neil Burrow	....	sound effects editorial staff
Gene S. Cantamessa	....	production sound mixer (as Gene Cantamesa)
Richard Friedman	....	dialogue editorial staff (as Dick Friedman)
Sam Gemette	....	sound effects editorial staff
Gary S. Gerlich	....	sound effects editorial staff
Robert Glass	....	re-recording mixer
David M. Horton	....	sound effects editorial staff (as David Horton)
Bill Jackson	....	assistant dialogue staff
Stephen Katz	....	sound supervisor: Dolby (as Steve Katz)
Robert Knudson	....	re-recording mixer (as Buzz Knudson)
Don MacDougall	....	re-recording mixer
Richard Oswald	....	sound effects editorial staff
Robert A. Reich	....	assistant dialogue staff
Jack Schrader	....	supervising dialogue editor
Chester Slomka	....	sound effects editorial staff (as Chet Slomka)
Frank E. Warner	....	supervising sound effects editor (as Frank Warner)
Raul A. Bruce	....	boom operator (uncredited)
Ellis Burman	....	sound restoration engineer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Roy Arbogast	....	special mechanical effects
Wayne Beauchamp	....	special effects (uncredited)
Kevin Pike	....	special effects (uncredited)

Visual Effects by
Larry Albright	....	special consultant
Peter Anderson	....	special consultant
Mona Thal Benefiel	....	project coordinator
Richard Bennett	....	special consultant
David Berry	....	camera operator (as Dave Berry)
Carol Boardman	....	animation staff
Eleanor Dahlen	....	animation staff
Cy Didjurgis	....	animation staff
Don Dow	....	laboratory technician
Jim Dow	....	model shop coordinator (as J. Richard Dow)
Ken Ebert	....	special consultant
Glenn Erickson	....	project assistant
Eugene Eyerly	....	camera operator
Rocco Gioffre	....	assistant matte artist
Joyce Goldberg	....	production secretary
David Gold	....	effects electrician
Robert Hall	....	optical photography
David R. Hardberger	....	assistant cameraman (as David Hardberger)
Alan Harding	....	assistant cameraman
Jack Hinkle	....	laboratory expeditor (as Charles Hinkle)
Robert Hollister	....	technician
Thomas Hollister	....	laboratory technician (as Tom Hollister)
Paul Huston	....	special consultant
Joseph A. Ippolito	....	editorial assistant (as Joseph Ippolito)
Don Jarel	....	matte photography
Jerry Jeffress	....	electronics design (as Jerry L. Jeffress)
Gregory Jein	....	chief model maker
David Jones	....	special consultant (as David M. Jones)
Kevin Kelly	....	special consultant
Tom Koester	....	animation staff
Jim Lutes	....	special consultant
Michael McMillen	....	model maker (as Michael Mcmillen)
Bill Millar	....	animation staff
Alvah J. Miller	....	electronics design
Harry Moreau	....	animator
Conne Morgan	....	animation staff
Max Morgan	....	camera operator (as Maxwell Morgan)
Barbara Morrison	....	effects negative cutter
Dennis Muren	....	mothership photography
Bruce Nicholson	....	assistant cameraman
Ron Peterson	....	camera operator
George Polkinghorne	....	mechanical special effects
George Randle	....	special consultant
Marcia Reed	....	still photography (as Marcia Reid)
Peter Regla	....	electronics design
Ray Rich	....	key grip
Eldon Rickman	....	camera operator
Richard Ripple	....	assistant cameraman (as Richard Rippel)
Larry Robinson	....	special visual effects coordinator
Peggy Rosson	....	production accountant
John Russell	....	camera and mechanical design
Jeff Shapiro	....	special consultant
Robert Shepherd	....	project manager: effects unit
Dan Slater	....	electronics design
Steven Spielberg	....	visual effects concepts
Scott Squires	....	assistant cameraman
David K. Stewart	....	UFO photography (as Dave Stewart)
Robert Swarthe	....	animation supervisor
Ken Swenson	....	model maker (as Kenneth Swenson)
Don Trumbull	....	camera and mechanical design
Douglas Trumbull	....	special photographic effects supervisor
Douglas Trumbull	....	special photographic effects
Jor Van Kline	....	model maker
Robert E. Worthington	....	model maker (as Robert Worthington)
Hoyt Yeatman	....	project assistant
Matthew Yuricich	....	matte artist
Richard Yuricich	....	director of photography: photographic effects
Larry Albright	....	mothership neonlight effects designer (uncredited)
Gregory L. McMurry	....	visual effects technician (1980 special edition) (uncredited)
Christopher S. Ross	....	model maker (1980 special edition: mothership interior) (uncredited)
Jonathan Seay	....	visual effects camera (1980 special edition) (uncredited)
Scott Squires	....	developer: cloud tank (uncredited)
Robert Swarthe	....	visual effects supervisor (1980 special edition: inside mother ship) (uncredited)

Stunts
Buddy Joe Hooker	....	stunt coordinator
Bobby Bass	....	stunts (uncredited)
Craig R. Baxley	....	stunt driver (uncredited)
Jerry Brutsche	....	stunt driver (uncredited)
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jeannie Epper	....	stunts (uncredited)
Buddy Joe Hooker	....	stunts (uncredited)
Monty Jordan	....	utility stunts (uncredited)
Stephen Powers	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
John A. Alonzo	....	additional director of photography (as John Alonzo)
Jim Coe	....	still photographer
William A. Fraker	....	director of photography: additional American scenes
Earl Gilbert	....	gaffer
László Kovács	....	additional director of photography (as Laszlo Kovacs)
'Fast' Eddie Mahler	....	video technician
Nick McLean	....	camera operator
Steven Poster	....	director of photography: second unit (as Steve Poster)
Douglas Slocombe	....	director of photography: India sequence
Peter Sorel	....	still photographer (as Pete Sorel)
Pete Turner	....	still photographer
Michael C. Butler	....	additional photographer (1980 special edition: inside mother ship) (uncredited)
Allen Daviau	....	additional photographer (1980 special edition: Gobi Desert sequence) (uncredited)
Mike Laurance	....	camera operator: additional photography (uncredited)
Rexford L. Metz	....	additional photographer: second unit (uncredited)
Tim Ryan	....	dolly grip (uncredited)
Frank Stanley	....	additional photographer (uncredited)
Robin Vidgin	....	focus puller (uncredited)
Chic Waterson	....	camera operator: India (uncredited)
Chuck Waterston	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Casting Department
Sally Dennison	....	additional casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
James Linn	....	wardrobe supervisor (as Jim Linn)

Editorial Department
Charles Bornstein	....	assistant film editor
Bob McMillian	....	color consultant (as Robert M. McMillian)
Geoffrey Rowland	....	assistant film editor

Music Department
John Neal	....	music scoring mixer
Kenneth Wannberg	....	music editor
Tommy Johnson	....	musician: tuba soloist (uncredited)
Paul Salamunovich	....	vocalist: harmonic chanting (uncredited)
Jim Self	....	musician: tuba, voice of the mother ship (uncredited)
Herbert W. Spencer	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Transportation Department
Bill Bethea	....	transportation
Chris Haynes	....	production driver (uncredited)

Other crew
Judy Bornstein	....	second assistant to producers
Charlsie Bryant	....	script supervisor
Patrick Burns	....	production staff (as Pat Burns)
Colin Cantwell	....	technical dialogue
Kendall Cooper	....	assistant to producers
Al Ebner	....	publicist
Rick Fields	....	assistant: Mr. Spielberg
Janet Healy	....	production staff
J. Allen Hynek	....	technical advisor (as Dr. J. Allen Hynek)
Joe O'Har	....	location manager
Dan Perri	....	title designer
Carlo Rambaldi	....	realization of 'extraterrestrial'
Gail Siemers	....	production secretary
Steve Warner	....	location auditor
Murray Weissman	....	publicist
Seth Winston	....	intern: AFI
Noreen Beasley	....	dialogue translator: French for F. Truffaut (uncredited)
Norman Brokaw	....	production counsel (uncredited)
Norman Garey	....	production counsel (uncredited)
Steve Hinton	....	pilot (uncredited)
Pat Kingsley	....	publicist (uncredited)
Kevin Von Feldt	....	assistant: Clark Paylow (uncredited)

Thanks
Johnny Mathis	....	special thanks

Production Companies

• Columbia Pictures Corporation
• EMI Films (in association with) (as EMI)

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (1977) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1981) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Columbia-EMI-Warner (1980) (UK) (theatrical) (special edition)
• Columbia-Warner Distributors (1978) (UK) (theatrical) (original version)
• Warner-Columbia Film (1978) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1978) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Columbia Home Video (Brazil) (DVD)
• Columbia Home Video (Brazil) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2001) (UK) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2001) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (1998) (Netherlands) (VHS) (rental)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (DVD)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• Columbia TriStar Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Columbia TriStar Television (????) (USA) (TV)
• Columbia TriStar (video)
• Criterion Collection, The (laserdisc)
• Nordisk Film (2001) (Sweden) (DVD)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (Brazil) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (Netherlands) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures Releasing (1998) (re-release)
• Sony Pictures (2007) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Sony Pictures (2007) (Sweden) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Universal Pictures Nordic (2004) (Sweden) (DVD)

Special Effects

• Future General Corporation (uncredited)

Other Companies

• Pickwick Public Relations  publicity
• Fries Engineering  camera and mechanical design
• Rourke Engineering  special consultant
• Dolby Laboratories  sound post-production (as Dolby System)
• Arista Records  soundtrack (uncredited)
• B/G Engineering  camera and mechanical design (uncredited)
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera cranes (uncredited)
• Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment  camera dollies (uncredited)
• Government of India  the producers wish to thank: for their valuable help and cooperation
• Kodaly Musical Training Institute  the producers wish to thank: for their valuable help and cooperation
• Paramount Pictures Corporation  excerpts provided by: "The Ten Commandents", © 1956

Also Known As:

CE3K (USA) (informal short title)
The Close Encounter of the Third Kind (USA) (working title)
The Special Edition: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (USA) (reissue title)
Watch the Skies (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

132 min (special edition) | 137 min (director's cut) | 135 min (original version)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English | French | Spanish | Hindi

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | Dolby (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Spain:T | Netherlands:12 (original rating) | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | South Korea:All | Brazil:Livre | South Africa:PG | West Germany:12 (f) | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) | Australia:PG | Canada:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Iceland:L | Norway:12 | Portugal:M/12 (Qualidade) | Singapore:PG | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG | UK:A (original rating) | Ireland:PG

Filming Locations:

Alabama, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

The mother ship appears to be covered with millions of tiny lights. This effect was achieved through utilizing aerial view images of the San Fernando Valley at night.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Roy is building the clay mountain in his living room, you can see the cut in the clay where he will later pull off the top of the mountain.

Quotes:

Roy Neary: I wanna speak to the man in charge.
David Laughlin: Mr. Lacombe is the highest authority.
Roy Neary: He isn't even an American.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Visions of Stanley Kubrick (2007) (V)

Soundtrack:

WHEN YOU WISH UPON A STAR

personal all-time favorite

For my taste, the first hour and a half of this movie is the greatest stretch of filmmaking ever. Up until Roy and Jillian reach the "dark side of the moon" on Devil's Tower, this movie is perfect. No, it's beyond perfect -- it's sublime. It takes me to a level of bliss that no other movie can do.

Many critics and viewers -- including a number on this site -- don't like this movie at all. Those who do like it almost uniformly like the final sequence, the "alien landing," the best. For me it is the rest of the movie that is the most remarkable. Some of my favorite sequences:

1. The blinding flash of light that ends the opening credits and leads us to a sandstorm in Sonora Desert, Mexico -- Present Day, with various team leaders, Bob Balaban, and Francois Truffaut speaking three languages as they find a whole bunch of old Navy planes lost in the Bermuda Triangle and an old geezer who saw something very strange. "El sol salio a noche. Y me canto," he keeps saying. Translation: "He says the sun came out last night. He says it sang to him." Then Balaban translates for Truffaut: "Il dit que le soleil etait venue ici hier soir, et qu'il chantait pour lui." Then Balaban disappears in a cloud of dust. The mystery created in that sequence is incredible -- the greatest opening of all time, if you ask me. Trivia note: that sequence was the last Spielberg filmed before the movie's release. The shooting script opens with Indianapolis Flight Control, but Spielberg decided he wanted a new opening and shot this after production had wrapped. Supposedly this sequence was inspired by the Iraqi prologue in the Exorcist.

2. Roy's first encounter with the aliens in his power company truck -- a brilliantly conceived and edited sequence. I love the dolly in to Roy's window as he pants in shock in the shadows, then the comedy of his reaction when the lights in the truck come back on.

3. The "sky speeders" disappearing into the clouds over Muncie, followed by lightning and then the lights of the city coming back on, bit by bit. Spielberg's use of miniatures here is breathtaking -- as it was in 1941 and as it is later in CE3K when the UFO believers gather again to await another encounter and the lights from the government helicopters move toward them across the plains below.

4. The entire sequence of Roy going crazy. This was controversial with critics -- Pauline Kael, who loved the movie generally, hated Roy throwing the bushes into the kitchen -- and Spielberg actually cut the entire digging up the garden sequence from the so-called "Special Edition." To me, though, this is the absolute heart of the movie. Ask people what they remember from CE3K and the first thing they'll say is "mashed potatoes." To my mind, the garden sequence is one of those magical moments that is so funny and so sad it's just perfect. I believe every second of it, every time. The reactions of the kids are perfect -- the oldest son is big enough to be angry, while the middle says, "Dad, when we're finished with this can we throw dirt in my window?" (In the dinner sequence, little Sylvia has arguably the best line in a movie full of them -- "I hate, I hate these potatoes. There's a dead fly in my potatoes." An ad lib, of course.)

In recent years, Spielberg has expressed concern with the fact that Roy leaves his family to pursue the aliens, and has said that if he were to make the movie over again, he would change that part. To my way of thinking, if you take that out, there is no movie. What this movie is really about is Roy's obsession, and that, I think, is why it has such a hold on me personally. This movie is about what it's like for a person whose life has lost its meaning suddenly finding there is a really important purpose, and pursuing that purpose at all costs. Is it right for him to turn his family's life upside down and ultimately leave them behind to do that? No. But his obsession is understandable, I think, and the purpose Roy finds is something a lot of people would like to feel. Also, it's clear that Roy is not acting entirely of his own free will -- he has been "commanded" subliminally to make his way to Devil's Tower.

I am not aware of any other movie -- or book, or any other source, for that matter -- that portrays 70s suburban life so accurately. The street, the house, the cars, the toys, the furniture -- it is like an archeological document. And the way the kids act, and the family conflicts -- to my way of thinking, they are all portrayed with unerring accuracy and realism. Some have contended that Ronnie is unflatteringly portrayed, but to me that's not fair. She can't be blamed for reacting the way she does to Roy -- many people in her shoes would. Garr's performance is brilliant; she and Dreyfuss are magical together. Melinda Dillon, too, is brilliant in her role. In the shooting script, the sexual attraction between Roy and Jillian was more overt, but Spielberg wisely downplays it in the finished film. It's only hinted at, although it is there.

The actual "alien landing" sequence, in my opinion, is a letdown. It's brilliantly photographed and realized, but once Roy and Jillian make it to the dark side of the moon, the primary tension in the story is gone. If I could edit this movie, I'd take a major pair of shears to the final sequence, cut it down to maybe half its current length. I do get choked up when I see Roy in his red suit at the end of the line of astronauts, though, and Jillian wiping tears away as she clicks away with her Kodak.

As with the original Star Wars, my other all-time favorite movie, I have a problem with the way this picture has been hacked and altered from its original release through various special editions. I understand it's possible to watch the original 1977 cut on the DVD, and I'm glad of that. That original version is the best. I first got to know this movie on ABC in the early 1980s, when it was shown with all the original and Special Edition footage edited together. Personally, I don't think the special edition footage adds much (even the Gobi desert sequence, which is an interesting concept that was in the shooting script, stands out because it was obviously shot by a different DP and doesn't have Truffaut in it).

Anyway, I will always cherish this movie. "You tell Crystal Lake we're going to candlepower in ten minutes!" "Zey belong here more zan we." "There's always some joker who thinks he's immune." "You can't fool us by agreeing with us." "What the hell is going on around here? Who the hell are you people?" "Ronnie, everything's fine. All this stuff is coming down."