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Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Directed bySteven Spielberg
Written bySteven Spielberg
Produced byJulia Phillips
Michael Phillips
Clark L. Paylow
StarringRichard Dreyfuss
François Truffaut
CinematographyVilmos Zsigmond
Edited byMichael Kahn
Music byJohn Williams
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
16 November, 1977
Running time
Various, including:
Original 70MM Version
135 min
Special Edition
132 min
Collector's Edition
137 min
CountryUSA / UK
LanguageEnglish / French / Spanish / Hindi
Budget$20,000,000
Box officeDomestic
$116,395,460
Foreign
$171,700,000
Worldwide
$303,788,635
This article is about the film; for the a definition of the UFO related phenomenon, see Close encounter.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) is an award-winning science fiction movie about unidentified flying objects. It was written and directed by Steven Spielberg. It stars Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, and Cary Guffey. The movie has visual effects by Douglas Trumbull and a score composed by John Williams.

Close Encounters is a landmark science fiction film, not only for its special effects, but also for its portrayal of UFO occupants as benign, even kind, which was a sharp departure from the "evil monster" style of most earlier films. It popularized a number of UFO motifs, many of which had earlier been reported in conjunction with UFO sightings, such as alien abduction, small and thin aliens ("greys"), and UFOs covered in lights rather than the disc shapes popular in the 1950s and 1960s. The seeming moral contradiction between the UFO occupants' benevolence and the forced abductions they conduct is left unexplored.

The enigmatic title refers to the three "kinds" of "close encounters" with UFOs, as categorized by the noted astronomer UFO investigator, Dr. J. Allen Hynek who defined Close Encounters of the First Kind as "Sighting," the Second Kind as "Evidence," and the Third Kind as "Contact." In line with Hynek's rejection of the extraterrestrial hypothesis late in his life, (and somewhat in line with the "interdimensional" ideas of Hynek's colleague, the astrophysicist, computer expert and UFO investigator Dr. Jacques Vallee), the UFOs and their occupants, as depicted in the film, are not necessarily regarded as "aliens" and are not described as such in the film.

Plot overview

The movie plot has three basic threads:

  • A group of scientific researchers including Lacombe (Truffaut) and Laughlin (Balaban) investigate UFO reports worldwide, and discover a lost squadron of World War II aircraft (see Flight 19) in the Mexican desert of Sonora.
  • During a motorized pursuit of several UFOs that was probably modeled on the 1966 Portage County UFO Chase, Indiana electrical lineman Roy Neary (Dreyfuss) experiences a close encounter of the second kind (a sighting that leaves physical evidence) and thereafter becomes obsessed with UFOs, to the great dismay of his family. He begins making models of a distinctive, flat-topped mountain or hill - a place he has never actually seen, and with which he is unfamiliar. At one point, he and his wife (Garr) attend a meeting featuring both patronizing and skeptical government officials, and an archetypal crackpot ("I saw Bigfoot once!")
  • Jillian Guiler (Dillon) witnesses a UFO landing, in which her son Barry (Guffey) is abducted by unseen beings who appear to invade her home. Soon after, Guiler also becomes obsessed with the mental picture of a unique-looking mountain.

After Neary's increasingly bizarre conduct causes his family to abandon him, he sees the feature he has been modeling on a television news show: the Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Guiler also sees the same news broadcast, and both Neary and Guiler - as well as others with similar experiences - obsessively head toward the site. Elsewhere in the world, the pace of alien activity is increasing; Lacombe (a character based on Jacques Vallee) and Laughlin investigate a host of weird occurrences along with other United Nations experts.

After Laughlin recognizes a signal from space as a simple set of geographical coordinates pointing to Devil's Tower, all parties begin to converge on Wyoming. The United States Army evacuates the area after spreading false reports that a train wreck has spilled highly dangerous nerve gas, all the while preparing a landing zone for the first human contact with the UFOs and their occupants. While the other humans drawn to the site are unable to reach Devil's Mountain, Neary and Guiler persist and make it to the site as dozens of UFOs appear. The enormous "mothership" lands, and returns people who had been abducted over the years, including Guiler's son. With an understanding of peace between the two civilizations, the aliens take Neary and several people on board their ship as ambassadors from Earth, and one of the aliens comes out to greet the humans. Lacombe communicates with him by using the hand signs that are used to create the five tones in the human contact. The alien does the same and smiles before he boards on the ship. All the humans smile once the ship soars away to the stars, knowing that they will meet the aliens again.

Alternate versions

The movie has been revised and re-edited numerous times, notably for a 132-minute "Special Edition" reissue in 1980 and again for a 137-minute "Collector's Edition" in 1988 (see List of films recut by studio for details on these alternate versions).

The Special Edition features several new character development scenes, the discovery of a lost ship, the SS Cotopaxi, in the Gobi Desert, and a view of the inside of the mothership. The interior of the mothership is deleted from the "Collector's Edition" (Spielberg added this scene as a concession to be allowed to make the Special Edition. He decided it was a mistake and removed it in the later edition).

Cast

Awards

It received eight Academy Award nominations. Director of Photography Vilmos Zsigmond won the Oscar for Best Cinematography and sound effects editor Frank E. Warner was granted a Special Achievement Award.[1] and in 1998, The American Film Institute placed the film on its list of the 100 greatest American films.

In 2003, the film received another type of recognition as the primary special effects model of the "Mother Ship" was placed on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center annex of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM), located near Washington Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia.

Trivia

  • The motif woven through the film (the five tones that the space ship plays back and forth with the humans) is re - mi - do - do (octave lower) - sol. These tones all lie on a major pentatonic scale.
  • During an interview years later, Richard Dreyfuss was asked whether there would ever be a sequel to Close Encounters. He responded that, "The sequel to Close Encounters was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial."
  • Following this movie, young Cary Guffey got to play the part of an alien himself - in the Italian movies Uno Sceriffo extraterrestre - poco extra e molto terrestre (English title: The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid, 1979) and its sequel Chissà perché... capitano tutte a me (Everything Happens To Me, 1980); both alongside the Italian actor Bud Spencer.

Behind the scenes

  • The shooting/working title for the film was Watch the Skies, which is the last line of the classic 1950's science fiction film, The Thing from Another World.
  • Paul Schrader wrote the first-draft script for Close Encounters, entitled Kingdom Come. Schrader's script was essentially a modern-day retelling of the story of Saint Paul. Its protagonist, Paul Van Owen, is an Air Force officer whose job is to disprove the existence of UFOs. In a climactic scene which recalls to mind St. Paul seeing a vision of Jesus and being converted to Christianity, Van Owen sees a UFO, is abducted, and carried away from the earth. Spielberg hated Schrader's script (referrring to it as "embarrassing" and "terribly guilt-ridden") and the final screenplay - credited to Spielberg alone - bore very little resemblance to it. However, Schrader did have some influence on the final version of the movie: he convinced Spielberg to focus less on the government's Watergate-style cover-up of the UFO, and more on the mystical encounter with the spaceship.[2]
  • Bob Balaban wrote a book about his experience shooting the movie called Spielberg, Truffaut & Me: Close Encounters of the Third Kind - An Actor's Diary. The book was first published in 1978, and a 25th anniversary edition featuring more photos and an extra chapter was published in 2002.
  • When the original director of Jaws 2 was fired, Spielberg considered taking over. However, his contractual obligations to Close Encounters of the Third Kind meant that production on the sequel would have been delayed by an expensive year.
  • Steve McQueen, Gene Hackman, Jack Nicholson and James Caan were all considered for the main role (McQueen was a recluse at the time, Hackman passed for unknown reasons, Nicholson was deemed too old and Caan's price tag was too high).
  • Roy Neary lives in Muncie, Indiana and there were plans to actually film in Muncie, Indiana, but those plans were changed and no filming took place in Muncie. Still, there were multiple references mostly noticeable to Muncie, Indiana natives, such as the reference to an actual road in the Muncie, Indiana area (Cornbread Road) as well as a scene at the breakfast table where Neary wears a local college shirt (Ball State University) while other props on the breakfast table such as a newspaper from the now defunct Muncie Evening Press, as well as a milk carton from a now defunct Muncie based drive up convenience store (Miller's Milkhouse).
  • The synthesizer used to communicate with the aliens at the end of the film is an ARP 2500 modular system. Phil Dodds, a tech from ARP Instruments Inc., is the man playing the keyboard.
  • The chaplain who blesses the astronaut volunteers during the climax is real-life Reverend Michael J. Dyer, who is credited as playing himself in the film.
  • At the climactic scene, François Truffaut and the alien use Kodály Hand Signs to express this motif. The alien smiles after doing so; Spielberg was slightly surprised and pleased that the prop could muster the facial gesture.
  • Astronomer J. Allen Hynek, a UFO researcher who coined the term "close encounter," was a consultant for the film, and makes a cameo appearance as a scientist smoking a pipe near the end of the picture. UFO researcher Dr. Jacques Vallée served as a model for the character of the French scientist Lacombe played by François Truffaut. Vallée met Hynek while studying for his Ph.D. at Northwestern University.
  • Melinda Dillon takes some photos of Dreyfuss' departure with the aliens using a Rollei 35 B compact camera.
File:Close Encounters Mothership.jpg
Mothership model at the Udvar-Hazy Center
  • Spielberg initially wanted the mothership to be very dark, but seeing a large oil refinery at night while filming in India gave him the idea to have it lots of spindly towers covered in lights. A model of the mothership used during filming is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia; the model includes a number of hidden objects integrated in and around the ship's antennas, domes and other structures. Examples include a 1930s automobile, a cemetery, a VW Bus and a small model of R2-D2. The model of R2-D2 can be seen upside-down on the mothership at 1:54 into the Collector's Edition DVD, as it rises behind Melinda Dillon.
  • Most of the Devil's Tower landing site scenes were filmed in a Mobile, Alabama aircraft hangar. The small aliens in the final scenes were played by local children.
  • Spielberg wanted the Warner Brothers classic Duck Dodgers in the 24th and a Half Century to play before the movie in theatres, but Columbia balked at showing a rival studio's cartoon with one of their movies.[citation needed] However the Chuck Jones directed Merrie Melodie can be seen on the living room television as Roy Neary begins throwing dirt into the house to build his model of Devil's Tower. [citation needed]

References and parodies

  • The film was spoofed in a short titled Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind on the original 1980's videotape Hardware Wars and other Film Farces. In this short, the mother ship was a huge pie accompanied by marching music.
  • On the episode "Who Wants It More?" of That '70s Show, Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) tells of seeing a UFO. Hyde (Danny Masterson) later mocks Kelso by sculpting the Devil's Tower out of mashed potatoes and saying "This means something".
  • The movie is also spoofed in two episodes of The Simpsons. In the episode "The Springfield Files", Homer sculpts his mashed potatoes into a shape similar to the Devils Tower after he encounters what he believes to be an alien. Also in "The Springfield Files", while the citizens of Springfield are gathered in the field awaiting the 'alien's' appearance, the school music instructor, Mr. Largo and 5 of his students play the famous 5 note tune on marching band instruments. In another episode called "Homie the Clown", Homer forms a large mashed potato circus tent after becoming obsessed with a billboard advertising a local clown college.
  • In the film UHF, George Newman ("Weird Al" Yankovic) sculpts his mashed potatoes into the Devil's Tower and says, "This means something, this is important."
  • The mashed potato sculpture is once more spoofed in the film Muppets From Space, where a fan of Gonzo presents Kermit the frog with a mashed potato sculpture of Gonzo's head.
  • Close Encounters was parodied in an eighth-season episode of the British comedy The Goodies entitled "U-Friend or UFO?". Steven Spielberg was a fan of The Goodies and in 1979 he considered making a film with the British trio.
  • In the movie Bruce Almighty, there is a deleted scene, which may be viewed on the DVD, of Jim Carrey's character, Bruce, parodies being crazy and sculpting what looks like the Devil's Tower out of cookie dough, saying "This means something, this is important!"
  • In the film Canadian Bacon, Rhea Perlman's character, swept up by a faux Cold War with Canada, builds a replica of the CN Tower in Toronto out of mashed potatoes.
  • The five-note musical motif of the film has been referenced many times. It was used as a code entered on a pushbutton keypad in Moonraker of the James Bond series, and the first five notes on Mr. Herriman's keypad security system in the Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends episode: The Big Cheese, and in the Power Glove sequence of The Wizard. The five notes were also rearranged for the theme to Jurassic Park, also composed by John Williams. In one episode of the short-lived animated series The Oblongs, the tones are used for the doorbell of an alien masquerading as a teenage girl. Rock guitarist Steve Vai referenced it in his song "Little Green Men" from his 1984 solo album, "Flex-Able." John Petrucci plays it before beginning the song Trial of Tears on the Dream Theater album Once in a LIVEtime. Jerry Garcia also quotes it in a solo from the Grateful Dead's January 22, 1978 concert at the University of Oregon. The tone is also played at the beginning of Alien Hominid. Enigma also borrowed the motif for the song "Back to the Rivers of Belief". Daft Punk opened their 2006 U.S. performance, their first in 8 years, at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival with the theme music from the movie, performing in an LED pyramid.
  • Close Encounters was parodied in an episode of That's So Raven, called Close Encounters Of The Nerd Kind.
  • It was mentioned by Captain Steve Hiller in the movie Independence Day, when he knocks out an alien. He says, "Now that's what I call a close encounter".
  • The title is brought up briefly in the X-Files episode "Squeeze".
  • Matt Bellamy of Muse played the musical motif from the film before Knights of Cydonia at their two massive gigs at Wembley Stadium on June 16, 2007 & June 17, 2007. This was probably due to the stage being heavily sci-fi based and possibly as a reference to contacting aliens with the performance.
  • There is an episode of the anime series Pani Poni Dash! where the character Akira Miyata tries to communicate with aliens using music, but gets shot by their laser for her efforts.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
  1. ^ http://imdb.com/title/tt0075860/awards
  2. ^ http://www.adherents.com/people/ps/Paul_Schrader.html Adherents.com
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