Sightlines · reception
How Close Encounters of the Third Kind was received
1977 · Steven Spielberg · Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Sightlines
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
- Pinocchio (1940) — Spielberg repeatedly named the Disney film and 'When You Wish Upon a Star' as the guiding spirit of the movie, and John Williams weaves the melody into the score.