Rating: 
Summary: A Sci-Fi Classic
Review: This film is a true science fiction classic. When it was first released in 1977, it competed with Star Wars as one of the top films of the year. Richard Dreyfus stars as Ray Neary, a man who suddeenly begins to have visions and hear voices. Terri Garr stars as Dreyfus' wife. Finally, Ray's visions begin to take strange turns, and he ends up constructing a model of Devil's Tower in his living room. By this time, his wife and children have left him. Meanwhile, odd occurances are happening all over the world. A flight of Navy torpedo bombers missing since 1945 suddenly shows up in Mexico in almost brand new condition, and a ship is found in the middle of the Gobi Desert. The voices finally lead Ray and others to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. There, a large spaceship lands with people that have been missing for years, including the pilots of the torpedo bombers.This movie is loaded with special effects which were excellent for their time, and it still remains one of the best sci-fi movies ever made. All sci-fi fans should watch this excellent movie.
Rating: 
Summary: "Are we the first?"
Review: "Are we the first to arrive here?" those first words shouted above the strong dust storm in the desert combined with John Williams unique musical scoring, begins the most innovative and tension building plot exposition I've ever seen. From there wunderkind Steven Spielberg thrusts us into an alien sighting report (or denial) as told to an active air traffic control center. Unseen, aliens are now part of the viewers psyche. Spielberg found earlier success with this approach with movie JAWS, keeping the shark out of sight for more than half the movie... With CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, Aliens are represented by flashing lights and an occasional spaceship. But, its true brilliance is not in seeing the story through someone's eyes, but rather, by looking at someone's eyes. That someone is Richard Dreyfuss in a career making performance. With this type of filmmaking, Spielberg is worth his hype. He would again return to aliens with another master work E.T. and alien-like robots in A.I. The DVD set is great with a wonderful documentary including interviews with the dirctor while on the set for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. "When You Wish Upon a Star..."
Rating:
Summary: A Good Sci-FI Movie from the 70's!
Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind directed by Steven Spielberg is a pretty good Sci-Fi movie that I first saw in a movie theater when I was about 12 years old. Richard Dreyfuss plays a power company worker who encounters UFOs and searches for answers and becomes so obsessed with it that he scares the heck out of his wife played by Teri Garr who doesn't understand why he is acting so strangely. He sets out to find answers about what he saw and meets a woman played by Melinda Dillon who is searching for her young son who disappeared after she saw a UFO. This is a good movie and I recommend it and I'm thinking of someday getting the DVD!
Rating:
Summary: Mystery tied with Positve Feelings
Review: I really liked the way this movie used mystery and linked it with good feelings. Spielberg and others who worked on this film, used their imaginations to create positive symbols for the unknown. Roy who was played by Richard Dreyfuss, was child like in his excitement and drive to discover and learn more about his encounter. His child like desire seems to touch the viewer and get them caught up in the movie, feeling his fascination. He kept saying, "I know this is important"! The film has awesome special effects and for that time period was really spectacular. It is definately a classic, at least for me. The only sad part was that Roy's family left him. They seemed like a happy, busy, bustling family before Roy's encounter. Instead of supporting him, they turned away with fear and distance. I felt that was dissappointing. Although, I liked watching him build the mud mountain in his living room, if I was his wife, I may have drawn the line of support there. I also liked Teri Garr's performance. I think she is a good and funny actor. Wouldn't it be eerie to experience an encounter? It kinda makes you wonder if anything is being covered up out there, stuff they don't want you to know about???
Lisa Nary
Rating:
Summary: Better than AI but still imperfect
Review: The most telling thing about "Close Encounters" is that it's been out for a quarter of a century, and even Steven Spielberg doesn't feel he's *quite* gotten it right yet. The 2001 DVD print is the "Collector's Edition", and is not the same as the version you remember from the movie theater, cable television, or the laserdisc (depending on how you were first introduced to the film). As with Spielberg's later "A.I." (also generally regarded as a misfire), this is a darker science-fiction fable than you'd expect from the director. The sense of discovery and wonder is present from start to finish, in images and pictures if not so much in words. The UFO display lighting up the pitch-black Indiana sky, or soaring over the Devil's Tower, haunted my dreams for years, just from seeing the TV trailers at a young age, long before I'd watched the movie. From that stand point "Close Encounters" is one of our most enduring films. Less well-remembered is Richard Dreyfuss's role as Roy Neary, a man whose life is quite literally torn apart by his encounter and subsequent visions. Almost unbelievably for a Spielberg film, Neary's marriage does't survive the film (Terri Garr does at least lends unexpected depth to what could have been a thankless role), and we're left wondering if he'll be reunited with his three children -- or if Roy Neary really cares? The one family scene before his close encounter shows that he's pretty well alienated from his home to begin with. Was he happy with his life before the flying saucers found him? Will he ever return to Earth? What does Spielberg mean by that U.S.S. Enterprise hanging in Roy's living room? :-) The film is rife with Spielberg's great cinematic signatures and humorous touches (the UFOs, who are first mistaken for a truck pulling up behind Roy's vehicle, lift up and fly *over* him, but he's too busy reading a map to notice). The final half-hour of the film is virtually dialogue free -- at least, in this particular edition -- and ends in a show of lights that mirrors the look of "2001"'s last segment, if lacking in that earlier film's impact. The DVD transfer is, as others have said, a joy to watch. The special features are a bit repetitive -- the making-of documentary is nearly as long as the movie -- and not all the footage from all the versions of the movie have been incorporated. Most Spielberg fans will not find this to be his most cohesive work. Indeed, one day Spielberg may return to the picture yet again. But the physical package is impressive, and the 4 hours you spend with these discs are 4 hours that you don't need to spend watching "A.I."
Rating:
Summary: "Toys!"
Review: 4.5 stars. This is easily one of my favorite early films from living, legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg. This film and "Jaws" are two incredible, remarkable achievements from the 1970s. In 1977 all I really remember was the release of another science fiction film by the name of "Star Wars," and it wasn't until the early eighties on cable television that I began to appreciate "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." I even read the book. What seperates Spielberg's early films from his more recent work, I think, is a sense of inspired enthusiasm for every aspect of the film. His more recent films are less fantastic and more visceral, such as "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan," which are both monumental, technical achievements, but are much less entertaining than his early work. Both "E.T." and "Poltergeist" are excellent examples of this. Though the primary director of "Poltergeist" was Tobe Hooper, the film has an undeniable Spielberg stamp on it. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" falls into this category, as well. One of the aspects that sets his early films apart from most was his subtle, yet effective sense of humor. There is a scene when a little boy is standing in the middle of the road looking at an old man whistling. This is just moments before spacecraft come zooming around the corner being chased by police cars. The tune the old man is whistling is "She'll be comin' 'round the mountain." Another scene is late in the film when there is a shot of about twenty cameras taking pictures at high speed. A man stands up next to the cameras holding a single-click camera and snaps a single shot. Another great shot is when the same spacecraft that were being chased go flying through(rather than over) a toll booth setting off alarms. Then there is the scene when Richard Dreyfuss goes down to the main landing area to get a closer look at the spacecraft flying about and thinks a man running at him is about to apprehend him. The man bumps into him then careens away toward a row of portable toilets. But there are plenty of dated sequences, particularly the special effects. While most still look great, others look like models or are slightly comical by today's CGI standards. But this is still a great story with some excellent acting, most notably from Richard Dreyfuss who won the Oscar for Best Actor in the same year for "The Goodbye Girl." I can't help feeling that his work in this film added to the Oscar voting. Apart from the magical Spielberg touches, which are everywhere, there is a largely under-appreciated force in this film in the score by composer John Williams. John Williams also won the Oscar for Best Score that same year for "Star Wars." There is another humorous nuance late in the film where John Williams incorporates a non-too-subtle reference to the score he wrote for "Jaws." As for the Special Features section on the DVD they finally have the deleted scene showing the inside of the Mother Ship. In the cable TV version this was part of the film, but it was not in the original, and is not in this feature film on the DVD. Steven Spielberg mentions in the documentary that he wishes he had never filmed the sequence, leaving the inside of the ship a mystery. But I love the scene, and I think it adds even more majesty to the ship seeing how huge it is from the inside. Speaking of the documentary...watching it made me notice how flawed the final film really is. Like how fake each and every alien looks. With all the CGI effects available today, the amazing technology being used, those aliens are an anti-climax. But the Mother Ship, and many other special effects shots, still look excellent. As for my favorite scene, it comes when Richard Dreyfuss is stopped at the railroad tracks and we are looking through the windshield at him purusing a map. We see a car pull up behind, and after he waves for the car to pass, it goes by and there is a small bit of humorous dialogue. A moment later, we see another "car?" pull up behind him. He waves for this one to drive as it stops. Instead of driving by, it rises up and over his truck, and in moments one of the best scenes in the film completely unfolds. This is a Sci-fi gem from the 1970s. I highly recommend buying this DVD. Thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Review: Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon.
Running Time: 137 minutes.
Rated PG for mild language and some intense situations. Fresh off the outrageous success of his first hit "Jaws", Steven Spielberg creates the extra-terrestrial epic "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". While obviously a film about aliens, Spielberg uses star Richard Dreyfuss as a chess piece to how the mystique and mystery of a foreign being can not only cause a man to go crazy, but can ultimately influence mankind as a whole. Dreyfuss is extremely under-rated in his performance as a man driven to the brink as he experiences an otherworldy encounter with extra-terrestrials while inside of his vehicle. Not knowing the affect this would later have on his life, he returns home as if nothing happened. Dreyfuss's behavior grows stranger and stranger (he first makes a mountain out of mashed potatoes at the dinner table, then creates an even larger model of this mysterious mountain out of his yard while still inside his house), he realizes that he most confront this incredible feeling that has overcome his mind and search for answers. What he encounters is magical and unbelievable. Spielberg's direction is top-notch and sincere, proving that his previous sucess was not a fluke. Much like his other alien film, "E.T", "Close Encounters..." provides a symbolic theme that is far more significant than what the aliens look like or what planet they came from. With the peformance of Dreyfuss, Spielberg is able to to show that it is okay for all of us to return to the kid we once were, and to explore all of the questions that we all want answers for. A true spectacle of a film with superb special effects, a wonderful musical score by John Williams, and a child-like charm that is for the whole family.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Sci-FI Movie from the 70's!
Review: Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a Sci-Fi movie from the late 70's that was directed by Steven Spielberg and I first saw it in a movie theater when I was about 12 years old and I enjoyed watching it. It may not be Spielberg's best movie and it may seem a little dated these days but it's a good movie and has a great cast, especially Richard Dreyfuss and I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Snore factor is in orbit!
Review: Hated it when it came out, still feel the same. Pure fantasy, not to be confused with real science fiction. "The Burbs" of UFO movies. Hard to take this one seriously. And with all due apologies to Mr.Spielberg, who has made a number of great movies, but this ain't one of em'. There's nothing compelling, or intriguing about this flick and it's quite silly actually. I doubt that was the intent. Impossible to muster any sympathy for Richard Dreyfuss' character. He appeared to be having a little too much fun with his "obsession." Either that or he was warming up for his part in "What About Bob." Melinda Dillon was quite good though in a contrasting role. And please people, escaping from the grasp of the military on a top secret installation and actually allowed to get away so they can take a peek at that horrible giant Fisher-Price synthesizer and watch the pretty UFO's dart about all dressed up in their finest Christmas season trim! I don't think so. If you're ever out in Vegas, take a run up to Groom Lake where you will likely be greeted very rudely if you trespass the signs that read "Lethal Force Authorized." That basically means shoot first and ask questions later. Good alternative to Disney for the kiddies. 2 boxwoods
Rating:
Summary: Withstood the test of time...And who said this is sci-"fi"?
Review: It had been years since I had watched this film and i wanted to see whether it would have the same impact on me as it when i saw it almost 20 years ago. Perhaps unsurprisingly it was every bit as intimidating, eerie, and tremendously entertaining as it was back then. Ask any UFO buff and he/she'll tell you that when it comes to films about the "objects in the sky" there are very few, extremely few, that can demand good notes from the audiences.
"Close encounters" is definately one of them, a film that despite a near 30 yrs after its release it still jumps at you (small screen or big) and is at the same time thought provoking. Spielberg has some tremendous (especially at the box office) hits under his belt but in the minds of many this might be one of his very best films. If not the best. As "they" arrive with lightning-speed craft that cruise the skies of a small american town, scanning and patroling while getting the attention of every local in sight it seems like a collective obsession takes over the residents and the viewers together. What do they want? Who are they? The questions, the fear, the immense intimidation, the complications and the implications come through in brilliant manner through all the characters that parade through this classic film. But what still impresses is that "Close encounters" manages to remain intelligent even if you see it today. That might sound
like a moot point to those that love this film but it's a legitimate point. Spielberg doesnt ridicule the issue, doesnt attempt to offer some laughable debunking, doesnt dismiss it, but instead takes it full-on with the seriousness it demands.
And even when the film has its funny moments the focus isnt lost for a single second. All the more wowing is the fact that effects still look pretty damn good and i saw it in my small living room TV. Sure, it might reek of that 70s aura all along but that's inevitable and it really doeasn't come across as annoying, if anything that even adds to the charm. Funny and certinaly bizzare that I havent seen a good film with this theme in a long, long while, unless we consider braindead disasters like "Independence day" contenders.
This is why i picked up to the DVD and the reward factor was immense.
The extra features on this limited edition disc are seriously interesting as well.
Way up there with the cinematic classics regardless of genre. If you havent seen this check it out.
Timeless stuff.
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