Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Steven Spielberg’s favorite story has always been that of the ordinary person faced with extraordinary circumstances and events. In a way, most of his movies throughout his career, from his TV movie triumph, “Duel,” to “Lincoln,” deal with this fundamental narrative in one way or another. Whether it’s the terror of a great white shark in “Jaws” or a young boy who gains an alien friend in “E.T.” or scientists faced with long-extinct dinosaurs in “Jurassic Park,” or even just a group of soldiers in war sent to rescue one in “Saving Private Ryan,” Spielberg is fascinated by the way something out of the ordinary effects the average person. The results vary from film to film, but even in some of his least popular films, the emotional impact is similar.
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” is probably the best embodiment of this idea in Spielberg’s nearly 40-year career. It’s also his first science-fiction film, and it set a high bar for what came after, whether it was the children’s fable “E.T.” or the dinosaur adventure “Jurassic Park” or the darker, morally-complicated explorations of “A.I.” and “Minority Report.” And yet, I think the film it shares the most in common with is his criminally-underrated 2005 adaptation of “War of the Worlds,” also about aliens coming to Earth, but also dealing with a parent whose sense of responsibility is brought into question. However, Spielberg also looks at the larger world, and it’s response to a possible encounter with alien lifeforms, throughout the film, putting Roy Neary’s story in a larger context that makes it all the more affecting. Over 35 years later, it’s still one of the greatest films Spielberg has ever made, and probably his finest sci-fi film, depending on how you see “E.T.”.
The version I watched for this review, which was the 2001 DVD “Collector’s Edition,” and combined both Spielberg’s original theatrical version and his 1980 “Special Edition,” begins with an international team going to Mexico to look into the discovery of WWII fighter jets; they had disappeared in 1945. Later, the same team is in Mongolia, and discover a long-lost cargo freighter. Where has it been? Why is it back? Parallel to this, we see strange events happening to people in a small town in Indiana, where Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) lives in peace with his wife (Teri Garr) and children. One night, he is out on a call for his electrician job when he has an encounter with…something. Objects move. The ground shakes. And flashing lights are coming from all sides of him. In the same town, other people, including a single mother (Melinda Dillon) and her son, have a similar experience. Images have also flashed into their heads of a mountain with a flat peak, and they are driven to recreate this image. Meanwhile, the scientific team from the beginning of the film has been sending out a musical message, heard by people in India, and getting a response back. They are coordinates to a place called Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, which features the same mountain peaks Roy and others have seen. Roy makes his way to Wyoming, unsure of what he will find, and unaware of how much his world is about to change.
I’ve only seen “Close Encounters” a handful of times in my life (this is my first time since buying the DVD in 2001) and, even now, it is a remarkable cinematic experience. Had George Lucas, Spielberg’s dear friend, not released “Star Wars” the same year, I have no doubt many of those Oscars that classic won would have gone to Spielberg’s science-fiction epic. The cinematography by Vilmos Zsigmond (who DID win the Oscar for this film); the visual effects by Douglas Trumbull (“2001: A Space Odyssey”); and the music by John Williams (who was destined to win for “Star Wars”) are at least as extraordinary as the same achievements in “Star Wars,” and in a lot of ways, maybe more so; they combine for showing us amazing images in a mundane reality, and the result is a breathtaking leap forward in moviemaking imagination from what sci-fi was prior to the film. (Although there were some equally ambitious efforts like “2001” and “Silent Running,” directed by Trumbull, to pave the way.) This is not a science-fiction adventure but a drama, filled with humor, danger, heartbreak, and suspense that results in a deeply personal story of discovery by Spielberg, who is the credited screenwriter of the film. The contributions from Williams, in particular, are uniquely important to the film, because it’s five notes played on a synthesizer– the five first heard in India –that become our first communication with intelligent life from another world, and the way the rest of his score emanates from those notes make for a wonderful sonic experience, even by his high standards.
What really makes this film special, though, is Richard Dreyfuss’s performance as Neary. It’s interesting that while Dreyfuss did win an Academy Award for Best Actor in 1977, it was not for this film, but for “The Goodbye Girl.” That’s a fine film, and a great performance, but his role here is the sort that you would think would have been just as worthy of such recognition, regardless of whether it’s in a sci-fi film or not. (Dillon did get nominated for Supporting Actress, deservingly so, and the French director, Francois Truffaut, found much acclaim for his performance as the scientist, Lacombe.) This is a very different performance from his role in Spielberg’s “Jaws,” and the driving force of the entire film. The pain Neary feels when he first has his encounter, and is unable to explain it to others, is palpable in every way, and the obsession that drives him away from his family; to make that replica of Devil’s Tower in his living room; and, finally, to make the decision to leave this world behind for the unknown, is felt at the core of his being, earning both the joy and sadness we feel when he enters that mother ship at the end. This is a movie of tremendous hope and promise, and an early glimpse of the great storyteller Spielberg would continue to be in the decades to come. Hopefully, he has one more movie like this in him before all is said and done with his legendary career.
