← Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind poster

Close Encounters of the Third Kind · reception & legacy

1977 · Steven Spielberg

How Close Encounters of the Third Kind has been received, argued over, and remembered.

The arc

A hit and an Oscar contender on release in 1977, it's since settled into a strange spot: revered as maybe Spielberg's most personal film, yet perpetually overshadowed in pop memory by Star Wars (same year) and E.T. Cinephiles keep re-crowning it as the secret masterpiece of his early run.

What's debated

The evergreen fight is over Roy's climactic choice — transcendent wonder or the ultimate deadbeat-dad move — a debate Spielberg himself fueled by admitting he'd never write it that way after becoming a father.

Its footprint

The five-note tone sequence is one of the most instantly recognizable musical phrases in movie history, and the mashed-potato sculpture ('This means something') has been parodied everywhere from UHF to Paul. Devils Tower still gets pilgrimage visits from fans.

Where it stands

Firmly canon — the 'you must have seen this' Spielberg that Letterboxd reviewers love to argue is better than E.T.

★ Did you know? The scientist Lacombe is played by François Truffaut — the French New Wave legend acting in his only American film — and the title comes from UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's real classification scale (Hynek consulted on the film and has a cameo).

Named by the director

Influences Steven Spielberg has publicly named — the director's own word, distinct from the inferred lines of influence.