For the purposes of this post, we watched the original theatrical version and Steven Spielberg's final 'Director's Cut'.......we skipped the 1980 'Special Edition' positioned in between these two versions. Why? It took Spielberg some time to realize that the abysmal, wrongheaded sequence inside the Mothership was all kinds of a horrible idea.......the BQ, on the other hand, hated that scene from the moment we first laid eyes on it in a theater......
.......for the simple reason that everybody wants to dream their own dreams about what the inside of the vast alien craft might look like.......just like the powerful nightmares we could easily conjure thinking about what that thing behind the bulging door in "The Haunting" looks like.....
Can't explain it rationally, but we watched the original theatrical cut 'cause we've always had a soft spot in our heart for that early scene at the power plant, where Richard Dreyfuss's boss yells into the camera, "In ten minutes, we're goin' to candle power!!"
Sure, we've read all the blah-blah-blahs about the movie's thin characterizations. True enough.....and even the mature Spielberg admits it's very much the film of a young man with little or no experience of how people behave with each other in the real world......
But Holy Flying Saucers.....who the hell cares? The movie presents itself, then and now, as a purely sensual, tactile experience. It functions as a 137 minute fireworks display, meant to make us all go "ooo" and "aaaah".......(and better than fireworks, works to touch our hearts so we also throw in a few "awwwww"s)
Things we love the most........
The craft of the shots......1970's movie directors embraced visual gimmicks with the fervor of ADD-afflicted toddlers playing with and then discarding their new toys......dizzying zoom lens shots, shifting focus, split-screens, multi-screens......all quickly forgotten but forever dating their films as quaint antiques of the era. Spielberg, however, stuck to meticulous, classic formalism in his visual compositions......every shot beautifully framed for maximum dramatic impact. It's what set him apart from most of his peers and what set him on the road to a celebrated career......he deployed Hitchcock's theory of pure cinema to its greatest heights.....
The master of crowd control......Since Spielberg now concentrates more on performance-driven dramas, we miss this great talent of his.......his ability to outdo Cecil B. DeMille in his manipulation of spectacular crowd scenes. The scenes looked like he directed thousands of people with the same pinpoint precision he applied to the actors......prime examples: the India sequence and the mass chaos at the Wyoming train station......
Terri Garr......a special shout-out to this unsung actress who had to play the same role twice in one year......as Richard Dreyfuss's tormented-into-hysteria wife in "Close Encounters" and John Denver's stunned, perplexed spouse in "Oh, God"........two women who watch their normal existence go up in smoke as their husbands are touched and selected by......well, a higher power. Although we've never been crazy about her (and Spielberg's) overuse of her shrieking tantrums, we think her finest moments come from her silent, pained, embarrassed reaction shots as she endures the Air Force debunking conference for Dreyfuss and his fellow UFO spotters. Sad and funny at the same time.....
John Williams......the first film that managed to duplicate and even improve upon the legendary Morricone-Leone collaboration of "Once Upon A Time In The West"......in which film and music blend into one singular creative entity.....and that's one breathtaking achievement to pull off....
We could go on and on......but we'll wrap it up by saying this is one 50th Anniversary movie that's a joy to re-visit every year. 5 stars forever (*****), a FIND OF FINDS......keep watching the skies.
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