Close
Encounters of the Third Kind is unquestionably a great movie
- its eight Oscar nominations and one win (Best Cinematography)
are a testimony to that. The story is fresh and compelling,
simple and straightforward, unburdened by pointless twists
and turns. Close Encounters focuses on three characters and
the different paths that bring them together at Devil's Tower,
Wyoming, for the climax.
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| Roy
Neary (Dreyfuss) is an everyday kind-of-guy with three
kids and a materialistic wife (Teri Garr) who's hyper-concerned
about what the neighbors will think. |
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Roy
works for the power company, and, one night, during
an area-wide blackout, he has a close encounter with
an alien spaceship that leaves half of his face sunburned
and his psyche shaken. He has unexplained visions of
a mountain, and is compelled to sculpt models of it
out of whatever materials are available. |
The
second character is Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon),
a mother who has lost her young son, Barry (Cary Guffey),
to the aliens. One night, they arrive at Jillian's
house and take Barry away. Now, like Roy, she is obsessed
by the image of the mountain, except, instead of making
sculptures, she draws, aware that there is some connection
between her artwork and the opportunity to be re-united
with her son.
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She
meets Roy at the time of the first alien appearance
and ends up joining with him for a road trip after his
wife and family have left him. There's nothing special
or extraordinary about Jillian - she's a single mother
who will brave any odds to be reunited with her son.
In another movie, she might end up being Roy's "love
interest", but Spielberg keeps the attraction between
the two strictly platonic. |
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| U.N. scientist Claude
Lacombe (François Truffaut) is the man in charge of
a mostly-American team investigating unexplained phenomena
around the globe and preparing a huge staging area for Earth's
first contact with visitors from the stars. Lacombe is focused
and humorless, but not unkind. When he recognizes that Jillian
and Roy have been "invited" by the aliens to be
at Devil's Tower, he does what little he can (without being
overt) to assist them. In the end, however, Lacombe is more
concerned with the aliens than he is with the humans. |
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The casting of François Truffaut was Spielberg's
coup. Truffaut was the dream choice for the part,
and Spielberg didn't expect the great French filmmaker
to say yes. Truffaut is, of course, far better known
for his work behind the camera (which includes such
classics as The 400 Blows and Jules et Jim) than in
front of it. Truffaut made it clear from the beginning
that he was in Close Encounters to work as an actor
and not to function as a second director looking over
Spielberg's shoulder. He acquits himself admirably,
bringing a dignity and seriousness to the part that
is appropriate for his stature.
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