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Close Encounters of the Third KInd (Director's Cut)

A Review of the Classic 1977 UFO film

By Tom BakerPublished about a year ago 5 min read
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***I've seen a UFO. Up close. Matter of fact, I've seen a couple of them. I don't know, specifically, what that means about ME, but, as far as the influence of the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind on m life, it WAS one of the first films from infanthood (along with Time After Time (1979) and Salem's Lot (1979), and the TV adaptation of the stage play of The Elephant Man (1982)) to indelibly etch its scenes into my subconscious. Especially the mantis-like alien that first appears during the final scenes of the film.

Close Encounters appeared in the wake of the huge glut of interest in science fiction brought about by the runaway success of the mega-blockbuster Star Wars. It tells a completely human tale though, the story of one simple, run-of-the-mill electrical worker who has an encounter, during a city-wide blackout in Muncie, Indiana (my old stomping grounds) of all places, and then begins to slowly go more and more unhinged, obsessed, as a psychic vision of Devil's Tower, Wyoming seems to consume his subconscious mind. Although he doesn't realize what it is until happening upon a phony government news report.

Others who saw the same dazzling display of UFO wizardry that night similarly find themselves affected. Melinda Dillon's character, Jillian Guiler, begins to have the same vision of Devil's Tower. The aliens return for her small son Barry in an alien abduction scene that is quite effective and frightening. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), the electrical worker, every man, finds his home life and relationship with his wife (Terri Garr) turned upside down, as he is fired, and becomes increasingly bizarre, obsessive, and emotionally unglued. At one point, he sculpts a massive Devil's Tower.

There are two stories here. The back story is the globe-trotting adventures of French ufologist Lacombe (played by the late famed French director Francois Truffaut) and his interpreter/sidekick, David Laughlin, played by Bob Balaban. (Lacombe, incidentally, is based on the real-life ufologist and writer, Jacques Vallee).

The military keeps finding missing airplane crews from WW2 in the Mexican desert, and an entire lost ship, likewise in the desert. These war toys are still functional. But the sailors and pilots have disappeared.

(There is quite a beautiful scene, one that takes place in Dharmsala, India, in which a huge crowd of mystics chants the strange little tune the aliens project as a way of communication, as a mantra. When asked by Lacombe, through an interpreter, where these sounds came from, the entire crowd suddenly points skyward. The chanting of the mystics is quite overwhelming, and the scene makes the connection between the ancient astronaut theories and religious theories concerning UFOs, and the story of the film.)

The government is demonstrated to go to elaborate lengths to poo-poo "flying saucer stories: holding ridiculous press conferences, planting tabloid stories, and faking photographs as a demonstration--but it is clear there is a real mission going on here, with phony Piggly Wiggly and Coca Cola trucks, Lacombe trying to contact the UFOs via radio telescope, and the government trying to come up with a believable story about a "chemical spill"; all the better to clear the area around Devil's Tower because, as Roy puts it, "The government is getting us out of here because they don't want any witnesses!"

To that end, they spray a chemical agent that renders livestock inert or dead, giving more fuel to generations of UFO conspiracy theorists and skeptics convinced the government knows ALL about the aliens, and has even hidden their bodies and back-engineered their technology. Roy, Jillian, and the others who have received a telepathic message to attend the event at Devil's Tower are not to be dissuaded though. They make it there, and, unbelievably, make it up the side of the mountain, and into the super-secret government base where the climax and end of the picture take place.

Although it is a little much to believe these people are physically fit enough to do the climbing, running, and evading (from military helicopters) that they do, it is of small importance. The end of Close Encounters is a tour-de-force, and whatever criticisms you may level at it are quibbling. It is a wonderful spectacle of light and magic, supers special effects, and a powerhouse performance of the score--which is really, supposedly, a communication device between us and THEM.

At this point, Roy Neary has left his family (or rather, they have left him, as he decided to build a filthy, full-scale model of Devil's Tower in their living room), and the ever-humane and gentle Lacombe asks him, in his heavy French accent, "Mr. Neary, what do you want?"

"I want to know it's all really happening," he replies.

His case is quickly discussed with the project heads, and he is chosen to accompany the red-suited and black sunglasses-wearing "explorers" who have decided to accompany the aliens home. The missing sailors and pilots of WW2 come forth from a brightly-lit ramp, along with people who look as if they have been abducted from every era of modern history: Victorian, 1920s through the 1950s, and on. (This is eerily reminiscent of descriptions of the near-death experience.)

The massive mothership, a chandelier spectacle in the desert sky, slowly departs, and the music swells. The credits roll.

The viewer is left with wonder and awe at the spectacle they have just witnessed, at the sights and sounds that will continue to impact them long after the credits have rolled.

And they will look skyward. But never in the same way again.

extraterrestrialmovie reviewscience fictionscifi movievintage
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About the Creator

Tom Baker

Author of Haunted Indianapolis, Indiana Ghost Folklore, Midwest Maniacs, Midwest UFOs and Beyond, Scary Urban Legends, 50 Famous Fables and Folk Tales, and Notorious Crimes of the Upper Midwest.: http://tombakerbooks.weebly.com

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