Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) (40th Anniversary Edition)

[scififan73]

Originally Posted by jjhunsecker

I was a teenage film geek when this came out, and I recall how much of a push it received at the time. And of course everyone was shocked when it was not nominated for the Best Picture Oscar (many seculated that it had to do with the scandals at Columbia Pictures at that time )

Don't forget that there was even a nod to this film in the smash hit Moonraker in the form of a musical cue .

[Promo_Cop]

Originally Posted by happydood

The key art is the only way to advertise this movie. I've been a fan of this movie since '81? and seeing it on rerelease without knowing anything about it?... divine. I can't wait to show this to my seven year old in a couple of months and witness her awe at seeing that ship for the first time with the bass rumbling and in the dark. Wish they wouldn't spoil it on the current art work.

The movie is 40 years old. The statute of limitations on spoilers is long over

[OneWayFilms]

Originally Posted by Promo_Cop

The movie is 40 years old. The statute of limitations on spoilers is long over

It certainly feels like a classic movie 40 years old couldn't possible suffer from being "SPOILED", but with so many of THIS generation having never seen the film and needing to be re-introduced, you would at least expect the cover art not to give away the HUGE reveal of the mother ship.

But it makes for a beautiful cover, so I'll accept it and still enjoy the movie.

[Stevie81]

I love Trauffaut's performance in this, what an inspired piece of casting.

[klauswhereareyou]

Never got the other disc (still have the 2 disc DVD set from 2001), so I'll probably pick this up.

[Todd Tomorrow]

Originally Posted by HumanMedia

The movie popularity probably mirrors the cultural zeitgeist of the time, where there were many UFO sightings in the 1950-1970s. It probably came from a loss of trust in the government starting with Mcarthyism, solidified with Nixon, mixed with an increased awareness of space. In the 1980s UFO sightings dropped dramatically.

So maybe CEOT3K mirrored our culture back then where it doesn't as much now?

The X-Files, which was clearly influenced by Close Encouters, was still a huge success in the 90s. The most 70s genre element is that part of Close Encounters is a conspiracy thriller. The film wasn't popular because people believed in UFOs, it was a success due to Spielberg's skill as a filmmaker and because it was the next big sci-fi blockbuster after Star Wars, which had made the genre hugely bankable again. If anything the success of the film got people interested in UFOs, just like Jaws had made them afraid of sharks.

I think the reason why Close Encounters isn't as popular now, has to do with that it is a film of the 70s in different ways. It's very character based and modern audiences seem to find its pacing rather slow by today's standards. For long sections there are no special effects and action scenes, the mid-section of the film is about the disintegration of a family because the father may be suffering an emotional breakdown. To me these are virtues, but people don't seem to have the attention span anymore and I've heard people complain that they find the film boring.

[Justtoview]

Originally Posted by Todd Tomorrow

I think the reason why Close Encounters isn't as popular now, has to do with that it is a film of the 70s in different ways. It's very character based and modern audiences seem to find its pacing rather slow by today's standards. For long sections there are no special effects and action scenes, the mid-section of the film is about the disintegration of a family because the father may be suffering an emotional breakdown. To me these are virtues, but people don't seem to have the attention span anymore and I've heard people complain that they find the film boring.

......and that's really sad. I find that most of the films of today are mindless, soul-less, gutless pieces of trash that are hard to even watch. Yet I could watch Close Encounters over and over. Too bad that "modern audiences", as you put it, will never understand what they have missed.

[The Great Owl]

I'm leaning toward keeping my 30th Anniversary Blu-ray as the definitive edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my collection, just because the picture quality is already unbelievable, and because I really don't want to go down the rabbit hole of replacing perfectly-good Blu-rays in my collection with 4K discs that will have marginally better transfers.

(I won't deny that 4K is definitely better than standard Blu-ray, but I'm finding that there diminishing returns as the upgrades continue from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray and beyond.)

*sigh*

The chance that this 40th Anniversary 4K + Blu-ray set will be a part of my collection is probably about 95%. I'm just trying to talk myself out of it right now.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Promo_Cop

The movie is 40 years old. The statute of limitations on spoilers is long over

Uh huh. No point in watching a movie this old after all, I guess. Thank god the statute of limitations on being snarky is still wide open, am I right?!

[Stevie81]

You can't expect a classic film and its finer points not to be discussed, if you haven't watched it yet, that's your own fault. I wouldn't come into a thread of a film I've never seen

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I'm leaning toward keeping my 30th Anniversary Blu-ray as the definitive edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind in my collection, just because the picture quality is already unbelievable, and because I really don't want to go down the rabbit hole of replacing perfectly-good Blu-rays in my collection with 4K discs that will have marginally better transfers.

(I won't deny that 4K is definitely better than standard Blu-ray, but I'm finding that there diminishing returns as the upgrades continue from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray and beyond.)

*sigh*

The chance that this 40th Anniversary 4K + Blu-ray set will be a part of my collection is probably about 95%. I'm just trying to talk myself out of it right now.

I sort of feel the same way. I'm telling myself the 30th Anniversary Blu-ray is all I'll need. At the same time I'm fighting the urge the replace it just because it's 10 years old. And as silly as this sounds, I think the excellent packaging Sony came up with for that 30th Anny edition will be the "swing vote" that will ultimately decide if I upgrade or not. Had that edition been released in generic regular packaging with crummy artwork I'd most certainly have to upgrade

[happydood]

Originally Posted by Stevie81

You can't expect a classic film and its finer points not to be discussed, if you haven't watched it yet, that's your own fault. I wouldn't come into a thread of a film I've never seen

I don't think you've read what was written in previous posts and will assume you just missed it. I'm not talking about spoiling the movie in the sense that we usually mean 'spoiler' alert. I'm talking about marketing the movie in a way that preserves some kind of mystery that makes you want to watch it. Would you want a rerelease of Psycho to picture Norman Bates in his mother costume getting the knife wrestled out of his hand on the poster? Or The Exorcist to show Karas lying at the bottom of the stairs? I absolutely expect the finer points of a movie to be discussed. I saw this movie in the theater. In its original theatrical run. Sometimes its better to dip your toe in the water before you jump in.

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

I sort of feel the same way. I'm telling myself the 30th Anniversary Blu-ray is all I'll need. At the same time I'm fighting the urge the replace it just because it's 10 years old. And as silly as this sounds, I think the excellent packaging Sony came up with for that 30th Anny edition will be the "swing vote" that will ultimately decide if I upgrade or not. Had that edition been released in generic regular packaging with crummy artwork I'd most certainly have to upgrade

I've just got the lazy man's single-disc edition of the 30th Anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, because I found it for seven dollars at Best Buy shortly after purchasing my first Blu-ray player five years ago. It's got the three versions of the movie, though, and that's all that I need.

[happydood]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

I've just got the lazy man's single-disc edition of the 30th Anniversary of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, because I found it for seven dollars at Best Buy shortly after purchasing my first Blu-ray player five years ago. It's got the three versions of the movie, though, and that's all that I need.

If you're in to special features, the making of supplements on this are really pretty great, though.

[ditcin]

I saw CE3K 7 times when it was in the theater. I still remember walking out from the theater, at night, and everyone was looking up at the sky.

I wonder if SONY will be re-mixing the 40th Anniversary Edition in Atmos - as they have re-mixed other UHD release in the same way?

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by happydood

If you're in to special features, the making of supplements on this are really pretty great, though.

I used to have the DVD set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, where Spielberg discusses the movie while he's apparently on the set of Saving Private Ryan or some other war flick.

I thought that it was really sweet that Spielberg mentioned that he is uncomfortable with this movie now and with the concept of a man leaving his family to go off with space aliens, because, now that he has a family of his own, he cannot fathom the idea of leaving them.

(Whereas, I myself am still a grumpy unmarried 45 year-old who would cheerfully welcome the idea of space aliens transporting me far far away from this lame planet. Please, for the love of God, take me away from this place.)

[Member-222782]

Originally Posted by The Great Owl

(Whereas, I myself am still a grumpy unmarried 45 year-old who would cheerfully welcome the idea of space aliens transporting me far far away from this lame planet. Please, for the love of God, take me away from this place.)

Whenever you get these thoughts just think of Fire In the Sky

[The Great Owl]

Originally Posted by Cinema74

Whenever you get these thoughts just think of Fire In the Sky

Nope. The aliens who come to take me away will hopefully look like Princess Aura from Flash Gordon.

[abouttreefitty]

Didn't see this posted:

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND - Official Trailer - YouTube

[JMDiaz718]

Originally Posted by OneWayFilms

I would respectfully disagree that they DO.

In this original trailer for the film, they only give a quick GLIMPSE of the huge mother ship, they never reveal her in her full glory, which leaves a very mysterious presence and makes you want to go to see the movie to se eMORE of this thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dacfll4bVU

In the original posters for the film, they didn't show the mother ship, they only showed Devil's Tower and bright lights coming from above it.

But the cover art-work gives away the BIG REVEAL right away and doesn't allow first time viewers the joy of anticipation or mystery as to what IT looks like.

Well actually, the original poster only showed the road, stars in the sky and mysterious glow in the distance. The main poster listed the bullet points, describing the different types of encounters. The teaser poster was the same road image, with the WE ARE NOT ALONE tagline.



I don't think they ever put the mothership on any of the posters. They used the image below, for the re-release of the movie, in a Special Edition. The mothership started to be put on the posters, when the movie hit home video.