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Movies / On DVD / Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

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Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:37

Rotten:2

Average Rating:8.7/10

Consensus: Close Encounters' most iconic bits (the theme, the mashed-potato sculpture, etc.) have been so thoroughly absorbed into the culture that it's easy to forget that its treatment of aliens as peaceful beings rather than warmongering monsters was somewhat groundbreaking in 1977.

Runtime: 6 hrs 44 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg's extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a... CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg's extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a UFO on an abandoned road one night. Against the wishes of his wife (Teri Garr) and children, Neary, along with another witness to the sighting (Melinda Dillon), travels to a mysterious mountain where the government has built a landing strip hoping to attract the aliens. Director François Truffaut costars as Claude Lacombe, one of the organizers of the project. Spielberg hoped to follow up the huge success of JAWS with a low-budget film that would be an easy shoot, but, thanks in part to the complicated special effects, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS quickly snowballed into being an expensive endeavor but a commercial and artistic success. No one who has seen the film has ever looked at a plate of mashed potatotes the same way again. [More]

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, Pat McNamara, Warren Kemmerling, Roberts Blossom, Lance Henriksen, Carl Weathers

Director: Steven Spielberg

Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
Composer: John Williams

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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The first film in years to give its audiences a tingle of shocked emotion that is not entirely based either on fear or on suspense.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
10/04/03
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Saturated with imagery that fascinates, terrifies, and utterly consumes the viewer with the desire to discover the secret that's eating away at the on-screen characters.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/27/01
Almar Haflidason
Almar Haflidason
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

. . . this is thrill-a-minute stuff.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Neil Jeffries
Neil Jeffries
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

perhaps, my favourite alien movie ever

Full Review Source: sbs.is | comment Comment
07/05/08
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
Stefan Birgir Stefansson
sbs.is

Though made the same year, Spielberg's awe-inspiring sci-fi fable has held much better than Star Wars due to his sublime crafstmanship, which benefits from sharp imagery and F/X, and engaging story and charcaters, well-acted by Richard Dreyfuss and others

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
11/11/07
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

It plays out as a film buff's idea of what a UFO sighting would be like if it could be a cross between a Disney theme park and a 1970s light show at a disco.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment 1 Comment
09/13/07
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

One of the great moviegoing experiences.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
09/08/07
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is dopey Hollywood mysticism all right, but thanks to considerable craft and showmanship, it packs an undeniable punch.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
06/05/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

A daring film concept which in its special and technical effects has been superbly realized.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
06/05/07
A.D. Murphy
A.D. Murphy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
04/25/05
Todd Jorgenson
Todd Jorgenson
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

Spielberg answers the "Are we alone?" question in fine form.

comment Comment
04/17/05
Scott Weinberg
Scott Weinberg
eFilmCritic.com

No review available.

comment Comment
07/29/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
F5 (Wichita, KS)

No review available.

comment Comment
05/28/04
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
03/22/04
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

No review available.

comment Comment
12/05/03
Carol Cling
Carol Cling
Las Vegas Review-Journal

Not even Spielberg makes them as they used to.

Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page | comment Comment
12/05/03
James O'Ehley
James O'Ehley
Sci-Fi Movie Page

Has just not held up.

comment 8 Comments
11/24/03
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

No review available.

comment Comment
10/28/03
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

The best -- the most elaborate -- 1950's science fiction movie ever made, a work that borrows its narrative shape and its concerns from those earlier films, but enhances them with what looks like the latest developments in movie and space technology.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Vincent Canby
Vincent Canby
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Close Encounters of the Third Kind

January 03, 2008: New Indy 4 Interviews, Pictures Online!
May 22 still feels awfully far away, but if the nearly six-month gap between your eyeballs and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has you feeling forlorn, fear... More...

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June 28, 2005: Critical Consensus: Aliens Invade, Critics Cheer
Steven Spielberg has made a couple movies -- Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. -- about benevolent aliens who come in peace and gently help us to reflect on our place... More...

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