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

What’s Aged the Best?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind The Rewatchables

The direction, practical effects, Dreyfuss, Dillon, child performance, and suburban wonder have aged best.

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:25Read transcript
  • The film preserves wonder about UFOs while the panel debates whether extraterrestrial visits have occurred.
  • Recurring maps, crossroads, and shots of Roy moving against crowds are praised as visual expressions of his inner life.
  • Melinda Dillon's performance and the mission-control worker who solves the coordinate problem are separate Aged Best choices.
  • The film's combination of cynicism, wonder, spectacle, and family story is credited with influencing later event filmmakers.
  • Motion-control photography, Douglas Trumbull's effects, Bob Baker's marionette, and Spielberg's limited writing credits receive craft praise.
  • Gene Siskel's description of the film as a fairy tale for adults is praised as its best concise description.
  • Small-town suburban America is praised as a durable setting inherited by later adventure stories.
  • The film's refusal to explain the alien compulsion literally is said to keep it timeless.
  • Roy's half-face sunburn and Barry's performance are praised as memorable character details.
  • Spielberg is reported to have elicited Barry's reactions by slowly opening presents above the camera.
  • The giant globe, Devil's Tower plot, numbered youth shirts, and the family's domestic setting receive further period appreciation.
  • The long Spielberg-Michael Kahn editing partnership is reported to have begun on this film.
  • Melinda Dillon's 1977 work and her appearances in two famous mashed-potato scenes are praised.