Close Encounters Of The Third Kind
1 9 7 7 (USA)
 1977
was a killer year for science fiction. One of the year's SF
blockbusters featured an asthmatic in a mask and black cape fighting a
woman with doughnuts glued to the side of her head . . . The other had
Richard Dreyfuss as an electrical repairman whose sighting of alien
spacecraft leaves him with a telepathic imprint of the site of their
imminent landing, and a nagging urge to find meaning in odd shapes (a
desire that eventually leads him to apparent semi-madness).
Before too long, others (including Melinda Dillon,
whose son has been kidnapped by the aliens) figure out what it is they
need to do, and they all head out west for Devil's Tower Wyoming
- the setting for the final meeting between mankind and intelligent
life from outer space in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (quasi-scientific
jargon for physical contact with extra-terrestrials). When the
friendly alien mother ship finally arrives, we are treated to a
magnificent firework display of models and special effects (plus our
first sighting of ET's relatives).
 In
1980 Steven Spielberg produced a 135-minute “Special Edition”
version of Close Encounters. Although this version added new
footage, it was a shorter film than the original version due to some
judicious editing on the part of Spielberg (he cut 16 minutes of shots
from the original, reinstated seven minutes of material filmed in 1977
but not used, and added six minutes of newly-made material).
The newly added material was the most controversial: scenes from
inside the Mother ship at the end of the film (in order to get funding
for the re-shoot, Columbia wanted Spielberg to add these segments). As
such, the Special Edition of Close Encounters was a rather
different film than the one originally seen in 1977.
Spielberg paced the film well, and though the effects
have aged somewhat, they still hold up after almost a quarter of a
century. Close Encounters achieves a level of beauty and
tenderness rare in the Sci-Fi genre, and also combines well-integrated
humour, drama and action. As a whole, Close Encounters of the
Third Kind remains a fabulous piece of work that deserves to be
included amongst the greatest films ever made.
  
TRIVIA NOTE
The UFO landing site built for the movie, holds the world record as
the largest indoor film set ever made. It was 90 ft high, 450 ft long
and 250 ft wide. The structure included 4 miles of scaffolding and
nearly 17,000 ft of fibreglass |
