Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Warren Kemmerling, J. Patrick McNamara. [PG]

One-of-a-kind science fiction film tells parallel stories of maintenance worker Dreyfuss experiencing a “close encounter” with a UFO, a distraught mother (Dillon) suffering the apparent abduction of her young son, and a team of scientists and government men tracking strange occurrences across the globe that point the way toward the possibility of first contact with alien lifeforms. A dazzling feast for the senses that’s also intelligent and humanistic, achieving real wonder in its eyes-to-the-skies dreams, and treating its discoveries with technical detail, emotional warmth, and staggering awe. Dreyfuss is well-cast as an “everyman” sort who finds his family life deteriorating as his uncommon obsession takes over his life; Dillon’s emotional wreckage is both earned and well-served, and Truffaut gives a nice turn as a French scientist, the only time he ever acted in a film he didn’t also direct. Oscar-winning photography from Vilmos Zsigmond; all the other technical credits were award-worthy, too, but the craftsmen had the misfortune of having their sensational work appear in a film released the same year as Star Wars. Screenplay by Spielberg, one of the rare times he served as both a writer and director on one of his films. Look for Lance Henriksen and Carl Weathers in small parts.

94/100