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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1 Viewer)

Dave Mack

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:) Actually I think the wedding scene in The Deer Hunter is all about establishing the characters whereas the power plant scene reveals very little IIRC about Neary except that he knows the average tension weight on certain power lines and his supervisor calls him an expert. The scene is much more about the supervisor who is never seen again. I do also agree now that it throws a very bright and loud scene into the quiet atmosphere-y night scenes. I do miss the "They can fly rings.." line though. Always liked it and like the actor alot. Creeped the hell out of me in Christine.

It would be nice to eventually have all 3 cuts but that's doubtful. And they had BETTER not screw up whatever HD release it finally gets as it was my fave film growing up, (all my pals like Star Wars, yes, Star Wars, not A New Hope! better...)


:)


Dammit I know this! This means something... This is important.

Such great dialog...
 

Dave Mack

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:) Can you imagine a bunch of 9 year old kids back in 1977 going, "WOO HOO! We're going to see "A NEW HOPE!!!"
or "WOO HOO!" I just got my "A NEW HOPE" Tie Fighter!

;)
 

Dave Mack

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I don't think so. My niece calls it Star Wars, my girlfriend's nephew calls it Star Wars. I haven't met ONE kid who calls it "A New Hope". I somehow think that the title STAR WARS has more resonance with kids. Just my 2 cents. Our landlady's neighbor's kid even called it that. He didn't say, I wanna watch "A New Hope" recently when she got the videos, he called it Star Wars and called ROTS, Star Wars III.

Star Wars sounds cool to a kid. A new hope sounds like The Young and the Restless...

Like Serenity, cool Sci-fi film that many people had no clue what it was from the title. Sounds like a mediation CD.

:)
 

Lyle_JP

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Brian,

Your list was good, but you missed one little thing: The scene where Neary and companions force their way out of the military helicopter with Neary shouting, "Go for the mountain!" I believe that was only in the theatrical 1977 cut (like the extended "Days of Our Lives" scene, it's not even in the Criterion Collection's "1977 cut").

-Lyle J.P.
 

BrettB

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One brief final cut made to "The Special Edition" was the shot that follows Lacombe saying “It is an event sociological” where we see Roy, Jillian and Larry (Josef Sommer) pushing past security and jumping out of the helicopter, with Roy shouting "Go for the mountain!" (as with earlier trims, Spielberg again requested this be cut from the 1990 laserdisc). "The Special Edition" simply cuts straight to the three of them running towards Devil’s Tower. A strange choice of edit which again makes the characters’ escape seem less believeable without anyone seemingly trying to stop them.


From the link I provided. :)
 

Dave Mack

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Cool site!

"By the time of the film’s release almost two years had passed since initial filming took place..."

That answers my Carl Weathers question...

:)
 

RickardL

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I really would like an extended edition containing all known footage from
the original, special and collectors editions. Seemless branching would do fine...
 

Bryan^H

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Dave Mack,
Your absolutely right on Star Wars. It will never be A NEW HOPE to me, just plain ol Star Wars. Imagine my dismay when Lucas once again changed another of his movie titles. Raiders of the Lost Ark. I picked up the Indiana Jones collection on dvd, and thought hmm...I don't seem to remember it being called Indiana Jones, and The Raiders Of the Lost Ark. But thats what it says on the disc, and case. Just kind of weird when you think about it. IS he trying to erase our childhood memories?
Maybe Spielberg should follow his example:
-Chief Brody, and the Jaws.
-Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Devils Tower.
What do ya think?
 

Ray H

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I think the reason for the Raiders title change is simply because they wanted the artwork to look uniform on the VHS & DVD.
 

Brian W.

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Oh, that's right! But the film IS better without it. It's a very hokey escape -- the army guys don't even look like they're trying very hard to hold them in the helicopter. It works much better with them sneaking away.

But its omission does leave one thing unexplained: when Neary says in the helicopter, "How many of you people are for getting out of here," four or five people raise their hands -- yet only three actually sneak out. The original cut does at least explain why only three people left the helicopter.

But, Lyle, the scene is on the CAV Criteron disc. At the end of several sides, they include brief scenes that were left out "at Steven Spielberg's request." This is one of them. So is the longer "Days of Our Lives" opening.

The only shot from the original that was not included at all on the Criteron CAV edition is the shot of them rolling the globe down the hall. They show them starting to roll it, but originally (and other people have confirmed my memory) the camera tracked behind them as they rolled the globe all the way down the hall and out into the warehouse.
 

Sam Favate

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Agreed. This thread is making me want to watch the movie again (haven't seen it since the DVD came out). But I have too many other DVDs waiting for a first run!

Does anyone else here often feel like the digital equivalent to Burgess Meredith in Time Enough At Last?
 

Bryan^H

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Sam,
I have the same problem: Too many dvd's, and not enough time to watch them all. Tv season sets on dvd, are especially problematic. I have a ton of them, and usually 1 set is takes 10-20 hours to get through. Being a completist has it's drawbacks.

Back to Close Encounters. Here are my dream features, that I hope will be on the next version released on dvd:

-Three Audio commentary tracks. Spielberg, Dreyfuss, and Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban(french interrprutor)and the actor that played Barry, Split over 2 commentary tracks. And of course a commentary track by Doug Trumball, and the SFX team.

-A feature dealing with the comparison of Spielberg's novel to the film.

-a feature on superfans of Close Encounters. This would be interesting. Planet of the Apes has superfans, and of course Star Wars has them. Close Encounters has to have some out there.

-Merchandise of Close encounters, and much more.
 

Aaron Reynolds

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The film used for every composite and effects shot for CE3K rapidly degenerated. Any shot that has an effect (or any shot with the night sky, because all of the skies were dropped in as photographic effects to make them dramatic) had to be either restored from a negative that has nearly nothing left on it or sourced from a later generation print.

Sadly, the night sky shots are hit the hardest because loss of detail in the dark areas of the picture was the first thing that happened when those parts started to degenerate.

Apparently the Criterion "theatrical cut" is also different from the original theatrical cut in that it has many effects shots replaced with better work done for the Special Edition -- basically, the Criterion cut takes the audio from the theatrical cut (for the most part), uses the picture elements from the Special Edition wherever they match up, and adds back some scenes that were removed.

The audio on the Criterion LD is notably limited in both high and low frequency sound -- it sounds like it was sourced from a non-magnetic theatrical print.

I like the original cut a lot, even though it drags in places. That said, I most frequently watch the Collector's Edition.
 

Patrick McCart

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Not one Spielberg film has had an audio commentary. However, nearly all of his films have an extensive documentary. The one for CE3K is over two hours long. Other than the inclusion of the two previous versions being a good idea for a new disc, this is one film that doesn't need an upgrade until HD.
 

WillG

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-Three Audio commentary tracks. Spielberg, Dreyfuss, and Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban(french interrprutor)and the actor that played Barry, Split over 2 commentary tracks. And of course a commentary track by Doug Trumball, and the SFX team.
Yeah, unfortunately you can forget about a commentary track out of Spielberg. I'm not sure how he would feel about a cast commentary, but I would imagine he would frown on in. I wonder how he would feel about a text commentary.

The current edition is good, the documentary is excellent. My wishlist would be a four disc edition with each cut of the film on its own disc. For the fourth disc, the doc, featurettes, trailers etc. (I suppose the deleted scenes would be pretty much redundant.)Failing that, I would settle for the 1997 cut only as long as it contained all the footage and alt scenes that appeared in the 1977 and 1980 cuts and the extensive still gallery from the laserdisc. A more extensive featurette on the three cuts of the film (with all the associated footage included) would be nice as well.
 

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