Rencontres du troisième type

Was SOOOOOO excited to see this as a kid, with my friends and big sister (who got us in, since it was a PG movie) and it was AMAZING!!! We lived in New Mexico and would stay out late trying to spot UFO's . Ha hahaha Loved Crazy Richard Dreyfuss. That ship reveal was mind boggling to all us kids. ;D Ahhhhh Good Times!

When the whole area suffers a full blackout, electrician Roy Neary is called out to service some poles suspected of being down. Sitting in his truck trying to find directions he is suddenly caught in a bright light and the electric's on his truck fail. Shortly it passes and he sees a craft pass overhead. At the same time nearby a woman pursues her young son who has wandered out in search of the lights that have been calling to him. Both adults are left wanting to know the truth and filled with half-ideas and images that haunt them – when Gillian Guiler son is taken, this becomes even more important to them. Meanwhile the military, led by investigator Claude Lacombe uncover planes and ships that have been missing for decades and uncover hidden codes and signals in the mysterious crafts.

I am currently ploughing my way through Speilberg's Taken on BBC2 so I thought I'd give this classic another view just to remind myself how good Speilberg and aliens can be. The plot is perfect for any UFO nut – the government are behind everything and know of everything. The story unfolds really well – the three main stories complimenting each other and giving the film a sense of pace. The strand with Lacombe following events all round the globe is the least personal (and thus least involving) but it is enticing us for the climax of the film. Neary's soul searching maybe does go on a little too long but the emotion in the family situation is intense and his frustration and sense of confusion is very real. Although the thrid strand has less screen time the abduction of the child is a powerful scene and the emotion is well brought out.

The special effects are very good but the glue of the film is the emotional telling. This is Speilberg doing well – he never really gives into his American Apple Pie style sentimentality and the film keeps moving along and has a real emotional heart to it. The climax of the movie always sort of messes me up and I find it best not to question it's logic on any level for fear of holes opening up all over it – but it does have a sense of childlike wonder to it, which I guess Speilberg was trying to get across.

As usual Dreyfuss does well under Speilberg and he is mostly responsible for keeping the emotion in his character realistic without being all syrupy and sickly. Truffaut is OK but it's impossible to see him as anyone but Francis Truffaut and his character suffers as a result. Garr and Dillon are both strong female characters for different reasons and the support cast are generally very good (including a good handful of the Dreyfuss family).

Overall this film never gets me as one of the greatest sci-fi's of all time, but it is certainly a very good film that takes `real' people as it's driver and not flashy effect shots. That `Taken' seems to be slipping into Norman Rockwell type mawkishness is good enough reason to revisit CE3K.

When I saw this movie for the first time I was barely six or seven years old in former Yugoslavia.

It has left a huge impact on my childhood world , I was so consumed and mesmerized. That much I wanted to become an astronaut for a long time afterwards .

Now , as a 50 year old I feel pretty much the same. And , I didn't become an astronaut unfortunately.

I don't know what more to say . It is as realistic, as magical and feel good movie about benevolent aliens as it could be.

I hope one day it will become true , so that we all know there is something beyond this world, but not something bad.

For everyone who wants to dive into beauty with depth , I can only recommend it.

Strange phenomena, have caught science attention, all the things that they believed now in suspension, certain craft are turning up, in places they should not be put, it defies all known belief and comprehension. Roy Neary, catches sight, of strange night flights, it overwhelms, engulfs and leaves his face in stripe, causes family concern, an obsession starts to churn, as creative conjurings, are set alight. It consumes him every minute, every hour, until he links the creations, to Devils Tower, then he makes a bee line for, along with others just in awe, summoned by an unknown source, with unknown power.

Original and innovative for its time, and not too shabby when revisited many years later.

Aged forty, and there are many films I should have watched, and haven't, I will be rectifying that as soon as I can.

First up, Close encounters of the third kind, I can only imagine what it would have been like for someone seeing this at a cinema in 1977, I imagine it was epic. Watching this on a big screen in the dark, if is a spectacle lights.

Yes it's dated somewhat, of course it has, but the special effects are decent, but the story remains wonderful.

This showcases the art of storytelling, a movie that relies on the narrative, script and journey, as opposed to just special effects. It's an exciting, uplifting, wondrous affair, one I totally enjoyed.

Someone dismissing this out of hand, clearly has no concept of movies of any kind. When I'm bored with a film (Wonderwoman 1984) I twiddle on my phone, I didn't pick it up.

A wonderful movie. 8/10.