"We are not alone." It wasn’t a sequel to anything, nor was it based on a comic book or a video game. The words on its minimalist posters gave a succinct insight into the film’s subject matter: UFOs.
The young director of the movie – making only his third full-length feature film – had reportedly rejected offers to helm Jaws 2, King Kong and Superman in order to pursue a project he’d spent years working on.
Chris Wasser joined Seán Rocks on RTÉ Arena to talk about Steven Spielberg’s classic film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which is getting a limited re-release to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Seán started by asking him to explain the film’s title:
"A close encounter of the first kind is a UFO sighting. The UFO is less than a kilometre away. A close encounter of the second kind is physical evidence of that UFO sighting. And a close encounter of the third kind is contact."
So, Chris tells Seán, the film is concerned with a character called Roy Neary – played by Richard Dreyfuss, with whom Spielberg had worked on his previous film, Jaws – who has all three types of close encounter over the course of the film’s two-hour running time. When he sees a UFO, Roy starts acting erratically, sculpting his mashed potatoes into something resembling a mountain. But Roy isn’t the only person making mountains out of their food. Jillian – played by Melinda Dillon – and her young son also see a UFO, but although her son is very excited, Jillian is terrified. Then her son is kidnapped by a UFO.
"There are three stories there: the government’s side, Roy Neary and Gillian. And they all converge at Devil’s Tower."
Roy and Jillian find that they’re being drawn to Devil’s Tower in Wyoming, a mountain that looks just like Roy’s re-modelled mashed potatoes. When they make their way there, they find that government scientists have already made preparations for the arrival of yet more UFOs.
"Spielberg actually wanted Steve McQueen, but the problem was that McQueen responded and said that the part sounded interesting, but he wasn’t able to cry on film."
You can’t talk about Close Encounters, Seán ventured, without mentioning the iconic five-note musical phrase that the scientists – led by the great French director Francois Truffaut – use to communicate with the UFOs. The film’s score, including that phrase, was composed by John Williams, with whom Spielberg had first worked on Jaws.
"So Jaws is famous for two notes, Close Encounters is famous for five."
Although Spielberg was never fully satisfied with it, the film was acclaimed by the critics and became a huge hit at the box office, saving its production company, Columbia Pictures, in the process. No mean feat for a film released in the same year as the original Star Wars.
A fully-remastered version of Close Encounters of the Third Kind is released in selected cinemas across Ireland from 15 September. You can hear the full discussion of Close Encounters and listen back to the rest of RTÉ Arena here.
