Re-encounter one of Spielberg’s best movies

Close Encounters of the Third Kind’s 40th anniversary flick is opening this week in 700 theaters around the country, including the Fairchild Cinemas Queensgate 12. Last week Terminator 2: Judgement Day opened in 463 theaters, including the AMC Kennewick 12.

AMC is keeping the film for another week, but around the nation James Cameron’s classic bombed. The why stretches from the devastation of Hurricane Harvey to competition from the Floyd Mayweather/Conor McGregor fight, to no one really caring much about terminators anymore.

It’s also an odd release being the 26th anniversary and not the 25th.

What’s sad is Terminator 2 is one of my favorite sci-fi flicks because it is a unique mix of science fiction, action — and best of all — humor. It is the humor that is the film’s cement and helps suspend disbelief and moves unbelievable to the believable. Plus, it’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s best and most popular character and — ironically — this incarnation of the machine is his most human character.

Also impressive was Cameron’s casting of skinny, harmless-looking Robert Patrick as the film’s dangerous and formidable villain T-1000.

I didn’t see it in 3D, but if any film was ever made to translate to three dimensions it is this one. Don’t miss it, and while you’re not missing Terminator 2, you’ll also want to catch another really terrific piece of science fiction, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

In a very real way, it’s a close encounter of the fourth kind. The first is the sighting of a UFO. Close encounters of the second type is proof that the sighting is real. The third kind is actual contact with aliens.

And the fourth? It’s a brilliant film about encounters one, two and three.

Owing much to early sci-fi classics like The Day the Earth Stood Still and other cerebral alien-defining films from the 1950s and ’60s, writer/director Steven Spielberg’s story has two parts. The first follows scientists unraveling a mystery that involves alien contact. The second is the story of ordinary people being drawn — because of alien contact — to the Wyoming landmark the Devil’s Tower.

It features a brilliant performance from the always entertaining Richard Dreyfuss, who plays an obsessed electrical lineman whose encounter with a UFO puts a wedge between him and his family. Equally fun is the work of Melissa Dillon who plays the equally obsessed mother of a young boy who is taken by the aliens. The two team up for an impossible encounter.

Teri Garr is perfect as the helpless and hapless wife of Dreyfuss’ Roy Neary.

On the scientist side of things, Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban have a blast using math, science and music to solve their part of the mystery. The musical notes Spielberg picked for the film are mesmerizing and used often. So is the Devil’s Tower. It’s the perfect plot focal point.

Originally released in December 1977, Close Encounters is Spielberg’s third big screen movie and followed 1975’s white-knuckle, semi-horror flick Jaws. If you’re counting, Close Encounters was Spielberg’s fifth movie if you include the Dennis Weaver made for TV thriller Duel and the forgettable TV flick Something Evil.

After Duel and Jaws, film fans knew Spielberg was a very special storyteller and was destined for great things. He proved us right. And Close Encounters is a very special movie. Even better, what you’ll see is the director’s cut and a new and improved version remastered for 4K.

Also of note, Spielberg released this film the same year George Lucas put out Star Wars: Episode IV. The latter won six Oscars and Close Encounters won two. One was a special award for sound, and the other for cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond.

Today — like Star Wars — Close Encounters of the Third Kind holds up. So does Terminator 2. Many of you have never seen either film on the big screen. Don’t miss this opportunity.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

▪ Rated PG for mature themes. It’s playing at Fairchild Cinemas Queensgate 12.

▪ Rating: 5 out of 5

Terminator 2: Judgement Day

▪ Rated R for mature themes and violence. It’s playing at the AMC Kennewick 12.

▪ Rating: 5 out of 5

This story was originally published August 31, 2017 at 2:03 PM with the headline "Re-encounter one of Spielberg’s best movies."