Close Encounters of the Third Kind...Which version is better?

[bboisvert]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Doesn't it seem odd, though, that in order to get something as basic as extra time in the editing bay and including the brief Cotapaxi scene, the trade off was an extremely expensive sequence requiring extensive f/x work and extensive sound and scoring...I don't know, fellas. I'm just not sure I buy the story.

That isn't odd at all. Columbia wanted to re-release the film. Spielberg wanted more time to fix what he considered to be a rushed edit.

Being able to highlight that you can finally see inside the ship -- something that many people felt was needed -- was the hook for the re-release, to get asses in the seats:
http://www.rt1automile.com/paperpost..._100811_XL.jpg

Going inside the ship was the primary thing highlighted in posters and trailers for the SE.

[KubrickFan]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Source?

Honest to god, I thought I read it somewhere. But as is always the case when you need to find something, you can't.

But if it was always intended, why does the entire theory hinge only on the 'spaceship scene', which was never intended in the first place? It isn't like Blade Runner, for example, which has at least some ambiguity in all versions. This theory is only noticeable in the Special Edition. And why would Spielberg remove it in the Director's Cut? It just doesn't make sense to me.

[HeavyHitter]

I don't know, but surely Spielberg would still put thought and effort into anything he did - even if it were an idea he wasn't 100% crazy about. So, maybe that's what happened.

[Robert Siegel]

The new "Silver Screen" column is up, covering Close Encounters of the Third Kind. See the Blu-ray.com front page top news. Interviews, behind-the-scenes, rare posters. Hope you all enjoy it!

[Iamspartacus]

How on earth is there three cuts of the movie all on one bluray disc? Didnt realize it could hold so much and still have good quality. Honest question.

[blu-ray_girl_fan]

Originally Posted by Iamspartacus

How on earth is there three cuts of the movie all on one bluray disc? Didnt realize it could hold so much and still have good quality. Honest question.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamless_branching

[ultlife2013]

I'm going to watch this for the first time and had to come on the forum to find out which version to watch. I guess it's the director's cut according to the forum.

[brian9229]

Definitely the directors cut.

[popeflick]

Originally Posted by guitarist155

i say directors cut, or original. the special leaves out some of the best scenes in the movie imo and adds one that never should have been there

It's a tough call, I LOVE the scene in the tub with the heat lamp.

[Spicoli]

Originally Posted by wnicholas76

I finally got Close Encounters of the Third Kind on Blu-ray today, and truthfully, I haven't seen the movie in years. Since there are 3 versions of the movie, which one is the best? The 1977 original theatrical edition, the 1980 "Special Edition" cut, or the 1998 director's cut? For anyone that has the movie on Blu-ray, please let me know. Thanks!

What is your favorite color?


That one

[ultlife2013]

Damn that movie was something else! That sound when the spaceship was outside the house made my speakers staticky, is the sound staticky on purpose or is it affecting my speakers that strongly? It was so intense, never had that happen before.

[MeMynonsense]

Does the '30th Anniversary Ultimate Edition' still comes with the Poster or it was just included in the initial pressing?

[ZoetMB]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Doesn't it seem odd, though, that in order to get something as basic as extra time in the editing bay and including the brief Cotapaxi scene

I haven't read every post, so maybe I'm missing something, but when I saw the original 70mm release of CEOTTK within weeks of the premiere, the Cotapaxi scene was in the movie. It was not only part of the SE.

And I don't buy your Neary as alien theory at all, but it was an interesting take.

[Filmmaker]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

I haven't read every post, so maybe I'm missing something, but when I saw the original 70mm release of CEOTTK within weeks of the premiere, the Cotapaxi scene was in the movie. It was not only part of the St.

You are mistaken. The Cotopaxi scene was filmed a few years later, using RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK's cinematographer, Douglas Slocombe, not CE3K's original cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond. It's a great scene but, in regards to the rest of the film's photography, you can tell it doesn't quite match Zsigmond's more diffuse style.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by ultlife2013

Damn that movie was something else! That sound when the spaceship was outside the house made my speakers staticky, is the sound staticky on purpose or is it affecting my speakers that strongly? It was so intense, never had that happen before.

yes, the movie is particularly bass heavy since it was the second 70mm 'baby boom' 6-track release:

"There were three speakers behind the screen designated left (1), center (2), and right(3). There was also one surround channel (4) and two low frequency effects channels (5 and 6) that excepted frequencies below 200 Hz.two low frequency effects channels that excepted frequencies below 200 Hz."

[Jack Priest]

So this release has all three cuts in 4K, right?
Unlike Blade Runner, where only the Final Cut is in 4K, rest are the old Blus

[Stevie81]

If I have to choose, I think the superior version is the original theatrical ahead of the DC, mainly for the further development of Roy Neary, showing him at work which shows the lead-in to the situation where he finds himself having a close encounter, the longer scene at dinner with the mashed potato, and the extended meltdown in the garden getting the materials for the large Devil's tower model (in the SE it just appears) and giving his wife a very good reason to take herself and the kids off. It does lack the shower moments, his son turning on him and Neary declaring that he doesn't know what's happening to him, both this, and the aforementioned scene in the garden are both key, as both scenes together give sympathy to Roy and Ronnie, whereas as viewed alone, you would think of Roy putting his obsession before his family, or Ronnie being unduly harsh and uncaring in Roy's time of need. Ronnie even says sorry for the night before, which doesn't make sense in the TV as the scene isn't there...So the DC puts this right, but lacks the scene at work, and the TV lacks the longer intro the Neary family (Goofy Golf)...We need a version that includes all these scenes

One thing I do know is that the Special Edition need not be considered, 1) because the Gobi desert scene doesn't feature Lacombe (Truffaut not available for shooting) so just has his interpreter there instead and 2) the inside of the mothership, is anticlimactic, sub-standard and the reason why we have this idiotic theory going around that Roy has been turned into an alien, which completely wrecks the contact scene the alien has with Lacombe (the most beautiful scene in the movie IMO). Roy wasn't present for the hand signals part earlier in the film so wouldn't know about it, and Spielberg would never do this to the character three years after the original movie - has Spielberg ever nixed this notion? He really needs to.