Movie #165: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Movie #: 165
Movie Title: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Year Released: 1977

Director: Steven Spielberg
Notable Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban

Short Description: After an encounter with U.F.O.s, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: N/A
IMDB.com: N/A
Ranker.com: N/A
Lifed.com: N/A
Empire.com: #59
FilmCrave.com: N/A
FlickChart.com: N/A



Date Watched: 2/24/2016

Grade: 3.5 out of 5 (Very Good)

Rationale: Close Encounters was not at all what I expected. Knowing it was from Steven Spielberg I was expecting something along the lines of another famous alien movie of his, the family friendly E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. They’re really not similar at all. Close Encounters has an element of fear that I don’t recall E.T. having, particularly with a home invasion/abduction sequence and creepy looking aliens at the end when you finally see what they look like. I enjoyed watching Richard Dreyfuss’s character Roy Neary fall deeper and deeper into his obsession with the mountain image in his mind, even to the point of driving his family away while thinking everything is normal and ok by tearing up their landscaping and making a giant sculpture in their living room out of dirt, plants, and garbage. Not my first choice for a sci-fi movie to watch, but it’s pretty good.