Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The DVD version is what Spielberg wanted. He didn't want some of those deleted scenes in the movie.

I will say, I am not a huge fan of extras, but the documentary on the 2-disc set is one of the best I have ever seen and I am glad I have it.

I have the Criterion Laserdisc, which is the original theatrical version, and the DVD. The "they can't beat us on the highway" line of dialoge is definitely on the LD but is not on the dvd. The 2 disc set is great, but I really like having the original theatrical version too.

The DVD is the best representation of Close Encounters of the Third Kind directed by Steven Speilberg. The 1977 theatrical cut lacked scenes Speilberg was able to film or finish. The 1980 Special Edition closer resembles the Speilberg cut, but had a poorly tacked-on ending (by request of Columbia). The Collector's Edition features the best footage from the 1977 and 1980 cuts and takes out the stuff Speilberg didn't want.

Get the 2-disc version if you can...it's great in quality and supplements.

I'm out of town on business, but can try to check my laserdisc when I get home this weekend.

Didn't the Criterion LD edit both the original 1977 & 1980 SE version together?

Sort of. The CAV box set featured the 1977 original theatrical release, with additional scenes from the 1980 SE at the end of the appropriate side. If you just played the disc, you got the 1977 version (plus a few short scenes that Spielberg specifically wanted to include, like the shadow of the mothership passing over Roy's truck). If you programmed your player to skip around various chapters, you got something like the 1980 version (but not exactly, because the 1980 version trimmed some of the scenes of Neary at home from the 1977 version).

It was a great idea, but it didn't work very well. LD being what it was, the chapter switches caused long pauses that were quite intrusive, and not all players handled them accurately.

M.

Ah, along the same lines as their Halloween LD.

I do not have the box set, it is only one disc and it only has the theatrical version, none of the special edition. It seems like it would be a pain to have to program chapters on a laserdisc.

"...we're YEARS ahead of 'em here on the highway."

Same actor from Christine and Home Alone, Roberts Blossom.

The film played on TMC a day or so ago. Spielberg wanted to re-edit the film slightly as it was rushed into release. Columbia Pictures, according to TMC Ok'd the changes ONLY if they would show RD going inside the ship. SSS agreed, but hated the results. As usual, the tv showing added some more footage - usually just extending some scenes.

I hate the mothership interior material. I think it ruins the ending...

I agree with Colin, the movie is perfectly pitched, editing-wise and music-wise, without the interior stuff. The climax of the movie is him leaving, not what he sees. My imagination of the interior of the ship was far better than what they showed. (Many clueless audience members also thought that the shower of lights that hits him inside turns him into the alien that comes out at the end! I overheard them on the way out of my theatre every night when I played the special edition in 1980).

I want to correct the information one of you guys made on the version of "Close Encounters" that appears on the Criterion LD (and I have stated this many times in many places on the Internet).

The primary version on the Criterion LD is a re-edit of the original version minus about 30 seconds cut at the request of Steven Spielberg. These are subtle changes. There's a shot in the original of the truck driving down the road which was taken out (you can see this brief snippet on the "making of" section of the Columbia-Tri Star deluxe DVD). It has been replaced by the shadow of the UFO seen in the "Special Edition". There's also a bit of Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) watching "Days Of Our Lives" that was cut (this can be seen as an unmarked chapter stop at the end of the appropriate side). There is also a short bit of Roy, Jillian, and a reporter "running for their lives" (this comes after Lacombe's statement "...event of socialogical")...it too can be seen as an unmarked chapter stop at the end of that appropriate side. The version I'm talking about is commonly called "the syndicated TV version" because this was the cut that ran in syndication (and eventually numerous times on the Sci-Fi Channel and TCM). So, in reality, the original 135-minute version has never been officially released on video (although rumor had it for a time that the original cut was on VHS, one of the first Columbia home videos put out, but there is no real proof of this...especially 23 years after the advent of home video as we know it today).

Incidentally, the "special edition" scenes are at the end of selected sides of the Criterion LD (which, by the way, is still in my possession). Using LD player technology of the time (which would, had Criterion put it out on DVD, have been seamless branching via today's DVD technology) you could also create a totally different "special edition" using nearly all footage available to be put together by the LD viewer...and very similar to what ABC did when it ran CE3K in the 1980s.

Hopefully in the future I'll devote more time to talking in detail about all the versions of CE3K that have ever been put out, but for the record there have been no more than EIGHT versions of the film...

1. Original 1977 Theatrical release (135 min.; unavailable on video officially)
2. 1980 Special Edition (132 min.)
3. 1982 ABC version (nearly 145 min.; the first known version to combine footage from the two previous main versions)
4. Criterion/syndicated TV cut
5. The "do-it-yourself" Special Edition (created by proper programming of your LD player, for those players with such features)
6. The 1998 "Collector's Edition" (basically a re-edit of the original 1977 version plus a few moments from the 1980 "Special Edition" but minus a few moments from the original and the SE mothership ending).
7. The "Final Edition" pieced together by the Starz/Encore movie channel (to date the only version that uses ALL existing released footage).
8. The "final director's cut" screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on January 12, 1999 (this was edited according to an original Spielberg story outline---and markedly different than the 1998 edit).

Currently, the 1998 version is widely seen on cable (and more recently on TCM).

I hope this answers your questions you may have about the film.

Yes, the true original theatrical cut has never been available on home video.



Right, and that also is an unmarked chapter at the end of the side of the Criterion laserdisc. It's actually not a whole different shot -- it's just the first half of the remaining shot, so you see Neary's truck approaching up the tunnel.

Neary, Jillian, and what's-his-name "broke out" of the helicopter in the original theatrical version, just as the army men were about to shut the doors. Roy shouts, "Go for the mountain!" as the old lady in the copter says, "Be careful! Don't fight, don't fight." Some of the other passengers try to get out, too, but only those three escape.

I think it's more realistic for them to "sneak away" as they do currently. It looked kind of hokey with them bursting out (it didn't look like the army men were trying very hard to keep them in), and also it takes away from the moment when Lacombe sees them sneaking away and says nothing. I mean, if it was known immediately that they had escaped, surely they would have been caught.

However, when Neary says to the other prisoners in the copter, "How many of you are for getting out of here?" SEVERAL people raise their hands, not just the three that left... so if you don't have the botched escape, how do you explain why the others aren't with them? At any rate, the long shot of them sneaking away has been trimmed still further on the DVD release -- Spielberg cut the first couple seconds of it.

There is one trim that has never been on any home video edition, even the Criterion. When the men at the observatory take the globe off its axis to use as a map, in the original theatrical cut they rolled that globe out of the room and into the hall, then rolled it all the way down the hall with the camera tracking behind them, through the door, and into the warehouse, with the camera watching from the doorway. In all subsequent edits of the film, they roll the globe into the hall, then the shot cuts away just as they start rolling it down the hall. You can even see the camera starting to move behind them, then it cuts away.

I didn't notice the pillow scene was missing from the deleted scenes on the DVD. Huh. That sucks. Well, one day, when I get a DVD recorder, I'm going to edit together the "everything but the kitchen sink" cut from the laserdisc (and the DVD, too, if I can).

All that said, the current DVD is the best version of the film, probably even better than the combined TV version.

I remembered this scene from the theater as being somewhat humorous, but as I never found it that funny in subsequent home video viewings, I just assumed that my seven year old self was more easily amused. It never occurred to me that the scene had been shortened, though considering all the other changes made to the film over the years I should have.

Another trim that is NOT in either the 1998 edit or the DVD version is the closeup on the McDonald's sign during Roy Neary's first encounter. The Special Edition inserted a close up of the sign to show that the UFO was reading it. In the current version the UFO stops and looks at it, but as it remains a long shot it isn't as noticeable. I assumed in 1998 that the shot's omission was a mistake, but since it wasn't fixed for the DVD, I guess I was wrong. I seem to recall seeing an interview with someone about that shot, where they pointed it out as something they wanted to "fix", so I'm a little puzzled by its continued absence.

Also, two important notes about the Criterion LD: First, it is impossible to program the Special Edition to play because the chapter stops were set up incorrectly. This was long rumored to have been fixed in later pressings, but I've yet to hear from anyone who got a fixed one. Second, although the DVD is clearly the best way to view (and hear) the film, the Criterion LD remains a viable alternative for one very important reason--the bulk of the film was transferred from an original release print and is at times remarkably cleaner and clearer than every version of the film from the 1980 special edition on. I've never seen anything about this (never really looked, either, so if I'm wrong please let me know) but I'm guessing that either the original negative to the film doesn't exist anymore or was damaged after 1977, because to my eyes every home video version except the Criterion LD, and this includes the DVD, seems to be based on a release print from the 1980 special edition. I'm basing this on print damage and a noticeable drop in quality during effects shots that don't seem to be present in the Criterion transfer.

To give one specific example, early in the film when Jillian looks out her window and sees Barry running around, there's a low reverse shot of her in the house, with the sky visible behind her. On the Criterion LD the sky is deep black and the stars so bright that they seem to pop out of screen. One of the stars is moving, as well. On every other home video that I've seen the sky in that shot is not at all the same, and looks in comparison to be a generation or two removed from the original. The stars certainly don't pop out, and the moving star is much less noticeable.

Overall, of course, the DVD is visually superior, but I'm glad I've hung onto the Criterion LD just the same, because it DOES look different.

It's been years since I tried this, but my recollection is that the instructions included with the LD box gave incorrect chapter listings, but it was possible to get the chapters in pretty much the right order for the "extended version" if you knew what goes where. As I said in my earlier post, it never really worked well -- not the least because the "1977 version" on the LD wasn't really the 1977 version.

M.

It's also been years since I've tried it, but my recollection is that the placement of one of the chapter stops prevents you from omitting the original Neary Introduction. I'll be checking out the LD when I get home tonight to see if I'm remembering it wrong.

FWIW, I'm fairly certain that this trim is contained as an unmarked chapter on the appropriate side of the Criterion CAV set.

DJ

That sounds about right. As I said in my original post:

M.

The close-up of the McDonalds' sign is chapter-marked and can be found in the SE section of side One of the Criterion LD.

My bad. I only meant to mention that the Mcdonalds sign bit was not in the 1998 (and DVD) version, which I find puzzling since they apparently went to the trouble and expense of filming a new effects shot for the special edition, obstensibly to "fix" the sequence.

Really? I always thought it was part of the compromises Spielberg had to make to get the 1980 version made (i.e., Columbia asked for more obvious product placement).

-Lyle J.P.

The closeup of the McDonald's sign was ONLY in the 1980 Special Edition. I'm not sure if it was product placement or if the closeup was to make the joke more clear... the joke being that the sign says "McDonald's next right" or some such thing, and the UFO makes a right on the road.

It is not possible to program the Criterion disc exactly like the Special Edition, because both the Special Edition and the 1998 edit cut back and forth between Lacombe and Neary much more frequently. The original theatrical cut (and the Criterion disc) had a Neary sequence, then a Lacombe sequence, then a Neary sequence, etc. It wasn't Neary scene/Lacombe scene/Neary scene/Lacombe scene as it was after 1980. The order of the early scenes was different in the original cut.

I prefer the structure of the original. You had three scenes leading up to Barry's abduction, and they all began and ended with the five-note tone -- Lacombe addressing the assembly, which ended with his demonstration of the hand signal, cutting directly to the observatory sequence, which begins with the satellite picking up the five-note "beeps" and ends with Lacombe picking out the five-note tone on a keyboard, which cuts to Barry playing the tone on his toy xylophone. It was great, it just gave you chills.

But for some reason Spielberg decided he prefers Lacombe at the assembly to be followed by Neary loading his camera on the hilltop. This scene originally came after Roy gets fired, which of course ended with the pillow bit. (And even in the current version Roy makes a reference to the pillow scene when he's helping Barry build the mud tower -- "I've seen this before -- in shaving cream, pillowcases.")

The McDonalds Shot,


I figured the purpose of this related to one of the early conceptions that the ailen spaceships were going to show themselves to earthlings with familiar product logos, lile McDonalds. I know that this was mentioned in the Documentary

Wow. This is pretty fascinating reading. In my youth I saw this film numerous times during both theatrical runs as well as many times on video, network television, cable, etc. I thought I knew the details about all of the different versions; apparently I was wrong. You guys have me beat!

One question:

I've never heard of this one. What's the story behind it? Did Spielberg do the editing or did someone else do it? More importantly...why? It seems a little strange to me.

Fantastic documentary on the 2-Disc CE DVD! I'd highly recommend this excellent 90-minute+ documentary to anyone who's never seen it.

I, for one, enjoyed each and every one of the many deleted scenes on the DVD (even though they were quite bleached of color and showed their age). I can see why Spielberg didn't want to include many of these, but, still, great stuff.

(Truffaut reading from the paperback romance novel will make you smile, although having nothing to do with the project at hand. )

"Heaving with passion, her young breasts rose with arrogance...."