It is still hard to fathom the experience of watching "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" back in the 70's on a big screen, and seeing it since on video. It is a wondrous, often enthralling film yet something about it still holds me back from seeing it as one of Steven Spielberg's crowning achievements. Maybe there is an emotional reserve to it, perhaps the characters don't strike me as memorably as those seen in "Jaws" or "E.T" or any other Spielberg film since "Close Encounters." That is not necessarily a detriment to the overall film because there is a degree of excellence to it in terms of pacing, sustained moments of mystery in elongated sequences where we are not sure if the aliens mean harm or not, familial conflict, and overall sense of joy and wonder during the last half hour when we witness the enormity of the alien mothership.
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is exactly the type of encounters two key characters experience in the film. First is Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), a testy lineworker who is often asked to work ridiculous hours in the middle of the night (asking for directions from passing motorists who tell him to get off the road, his most obscene reply to them is yelling "Turkey!"). He's a normal family man who is commissioned to fix electrical problems, unbeknownst to him the latest issues are caused by UFOs. Melinda Dillon plays a single mom named Jillian who has a young son and their house becomes a target of interest by these UFOs. The aliens kidnap the giddy son who is more than bemused by them in some of the most startling scenes of an invasive presence on a domestic home I have seen until Spielberg's own "E.T." Both are aware of an alien presence and Roy gets more than a bad sunburn on his face from those oppressive UFO light beams. Pretty soon whole communities witness these UFOs that do not look like the average flying saucers - they are flying ships of indeterminate size and shape with colorful lights (there is a miniscule ball of light that travels in formation with the other ships). "Close Encounters" also has scientists investigating these paranormal incidents such as the reemergence of 1940's World War II planes that had been missing since that decade or the discovery of the SS Cotopaxi in the middle of the Gobi desert! Many of the inhabitants of North India claim to have heard a distinct 5-tone musical code that came from the aliens - a chance to communicate to the humans. Francois Truffaut is a French scientist who has a smile that tells us he is optimistic about this hopeful encounter - he sees it as a peaceful transmission.
As I said, the movie is glorious and often enchanting in terms of mood and exposition. Spielberg was already showing the mastery of sustaining interest by not revealing too much, too soon. The shot of Dreyfuss looking for directions in his truck with a flashlight at night as he motions a motorist in his rear to drive past him, not knowing of course that it is an alien ship that levitates, still gives me goosebumps. The scenes of the 3-year-old kid's sense of childlike wonder at these aliens and how they make his mechanical toys come to life foreshadows similar scenes in "E.T." - Cary Guffey as the kid is easily the most memorable character in the film and we believe his reactions and his precious smiles. The aliens are not visible till the end of the film and that in and of itself was a masterstroke - show them too soon and the mystery is lost.
Still, I found little to empathize with Dreyfuss - he is a great actor but he doesn't seem to register with me in this film. I understood his obsession with creating the vision in his head of Devil's Tower manifested by crudely using mashed potatoes, fence wiring and so on but his obsession turns his family away completely who understandably leave him. It is a different side to Spielberg than what he showed in the 80's and beyond - some of this could've been written with more intimacy between Dreyfuss and his wife, played with raw nerve by Teri Garr. So when he takes flight with the mothership at the end, I felt precious little emotion for him except knowing that this was a monumental cosmic adventure as it would be for anyone (The director's cut features the inside of the mothership). But when the alien communicates with the scientists by a hand gesture that complements the famous 5-tone music phrase, I felt a deeper understanding of Spielberg's intentions. Communication, no matter what planet you are from, is universal.
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