Cheap Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) (DVD) (Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr) (Steven Spielberg) Price

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Customer Reviews of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

"Toys!"
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." One of the aspects that sets his early films apart from most was his subtle, yet effective sense of humor. There are many scenes in this film that are just plain hilarious. This is 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 another 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." As for the Special Features section on the DVD they finally have the deleted scene showing the inside of the Mother Ship. 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. This is a Sci-fi gem from the 1970s. I highly recommend buying this DVD. Thank you.

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Most overrated Spielberg movie
I LOVE Spielberg, please don't get me wrong. I even kinda liked this movie when I first saw it all those many years ago. But we watched it with our kids (13 & 8) in the year 2000 and they hated it, and frankly, I dozed off myself. Science fiction is the hardest genre to keep fresh for generations, for obvious reasons, but some core elements of film-making never go out of style.

It feels so self-important and plodding. The pace is slow and the special effects no longer have the power to stun. And the movie doesn't really surprise. There is no ultimate mystery to the plot. Yes, one might wonder what the aliens are like, but we never doubt that they're there, that Dreyfuss will get to see them and that nothing bad will happen. The movie never builds up any truly engrossing tension. We feel safe throughout, and wouldn't you think that the world, getting ready to see aliens for the first time, would feel more frightened (and the viewer more frightened)?

It's fun to hear the "alien theme" music again, and Richard Dreyfuss is very good. But Francois Truffaut?? Why did Speilberg cast him? He's usually so assured with his ununsual casting choices (Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams? Great idea! Roy Scheider in Jaws? Oprah Winfrey in Color Purple? He's so often gone with unknowns or unusual choices and we've usually been SO pleasantly surprised).

I don't want to dwell on this too much, but CLOSE ENCOUNTERS is a piece of movie history, but sadly, not a living, breathing one.

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The Neary Family is as impressive as the light show
For me the portrayal of the Neary family is equally as stunning as the portrayal of the spacecraft throughout the movie. The acting in any scene involving the Nearys is astounding. Even though that family doesn't end up the way we might hope, they behave exactly like a real family might when faced with their situation. Pay special attention to the children. Their reactions are dead on.

The special effects are breathtaking and continue to prove, as have so many other great films, that the old way of doing effects is far more spectacular and convincing than today's cartoonish CGI effects.