Fun Fact: Spielberg has stated that if he were to make the movie today, he'd never have Roy abandon his family. This likely stems from this film being made before he was a father himself. It's rectified somewhat in "ET", wherein Elliott chooses to stay with his family.
Thank god he hasn't done what his buddy, George Lucas did, and remade/jazzed it up a bit (obviously I'm talking about his Star Wars abominations!) 🤔 😉 So what Roy buggered off and left his family?!? 🤔 I'm sure there would be plenty of married men who would give up their family life to interact with friendly aliens, and possibly learn some literal, universal, life and death truths... Perhaps!? 🤔 😜
As someone who __did__ see it on the big screen in the 70s: Yes, it was awesome. The patented Spielberg Boiling Clouds Effect and the Trumble-icious alien craft dropped jaws all over the theatre floor. And as a kid, all the WTF aspects of the plot and characters didn't bother me.
The haphazard nature of the plot and characters are part of the appeal of the film - the *point* of it - humans and aliens reacting to each other in all their complications and letting us savour the result.
In 2019, my family stopped at Devil’s Tower on a cross country trip. The campsite shop sells this movie, so we bought and watched it mere miles away from the mountain. It was really cool.
I did the same when I was crossing the country alone while changing duty stations in the Army in 1998, for the same reason. It's not right off the highway; that's for sure!
I suppose it would depend on the movie... rather not buy nightmare on elmstreet at the house where it was filmed. Doubly so for the timberline lodge which was where the shining was filmed. kinda superstitious but i think that makes the ring movie more likely to happen. I know there was a black and white show twilight zone or outer limits where aliens had a book called 'to serve man'... anyways it was a cook book... bet they couldnt sell that there.. it was a good movie... I would say better than today's but that would classify marvel as actual movies. Apologies if you like them. Actually i kinda wish artists would sculpt things from mashed potatoes.. I doubt price would go down at all.. It is perishable thats why its so expensive...
The kid could be more excited about movie night with the family than the movie. Every year The Ten Commandments, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, and Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory were a given to be aired.
no dick clark rockin new years eve? how did you survive? I assume dick clark was there god knows he is old enough.. I say if he dies we bury him for 10 years and see if he is not younger when we dig him up.
umm I will give you those were good, however i would like to remind you of the presidents announcements. we did not have hundreds of choices and the president could take over all. we had free HBO and was in the middle of gulf war.. I had several vhs copies that had a 15 minute Bush the #1 telling me stuff. The odd thing was it was always at the good part I think it was planned. Also I have had enough of my childhood ruined by cgi. I can handle depp in wonka but because the songs are more accurate. sound of music i never really cared for. If there is a wizard of oz remake i will kinda blame you. I suppose the lollypop guild will become the diabetics. Dorthy will probably have to wish her parents would give her a cell phone to get home. "all you have to do is dial your parents number to get home." The wicked witch of the "non organics"? "we represent the shorter than normal"? I am not angry at you. I also know some things can be offensive to some people. However bleaching everything is offensive to me. How can we understand where we are going if we can not see where we have been.
I think it IS actually "they belong here more than we." In cases like that, I was always told you have to complete the comparison: "they belong here more than we belong here."
Its actually "zey beelong 'ere more zan we". Truffaut was magnificent and his accent a joy. Though "je ne sais pas mais c'est beau" was an odd comment considering he was looking at what appeared to be storm clouds
Absolutely correct. At this point English has completely lost its mind about subject vs object pronouns. When someone asks, "who wants this?" people will invariably yell out "ME!" when they mean "I" (as in, "I do!") but that sounds "weird" and "old fashioned" to people now. And on the flip side, cases when it *should* be "me" get flipped to "I" all the time, too, such as in "just between you and I" (it should be you and ME.) It doesn't seem to me that other languages struggle with these things. English speakers are just weird. I've heard college-educated Americans say things like "Her and I went to the store", which hurts my ears to much it makes me want to throw up, yet is considered more natural than the correct "She and I went to the store" for some reason by most speakers these days. Truly baffling.
As someone who grew up in the 70's, yeah, the yearly broadcast of the Ten Commandments on ABC was a big deal. It was as close to Sci-Fi epic as we got on TV.
Yeah, when you were too poor to go to movies and and had only 3 channels, that kind of thing was something you did want to see. It would play every Easter.
After reading various reports, I've decided that we're not getting the cream of the crop of alien society. We're more likely dealing with drunk truckers than neurosurgeons.
what kind of aliens are we speaking of? If highly intelligent probably a lot more interesting places to visit.. if a frat boy alien i guess.. even at that point i would probably enjoy messing with radar or deep space telescopes... I think the alien face on mars was a college prank... but just a guess. Ok messing with an individual family (depending on alien intelligence) would be akin to burning ants with a magnifying glass.. fun when you are 8 but eventually you develop empathy. To poltergeist guy.. umm i would take it all even to swimming with skeletons... but do not put maggots in my fried chicken... Thats a line alien or spirit... no redemption... also umm if you are an alien on earth why not say so? umm queen of the damned.. hitchhikers guide.. you would be famous.. we would probably kill you though.. i mean later... cause we tend to do that..
Yep, looked forward to it every year as a kid. Also, used to watch Spartacus, Ben Hur, Samson and Delilah and Cleopatra. There was something about those giant spectacle movies that captured my attention. Still love them today.
@@ruthmeow4262 I actually hate that movie. My aunt was a big fan, and they did a theater showing so I took her. She loved it, but Scarlett's accent was driving me up a tree the whole time. I don't doubt it is an excellent movie. The cinematography was amazing on the big screen. It's just not one I'm into. But good call! Thx I do miss really good movies like those.
I was born in 1963 so When the Ten Commandments came on TV at Easter time during the 1970s, my whole family would be watching it as it was an event that was kind of a ritual...I miss the 70's...it was fun being a kid then.
19:04 When I was a kid I wanted to see more of the tall alien. FUN FACT: I later read that this particular alien was a marionette, the bright light behind it was to obstruct the strings.
12:32 How did you miss the part where they ran the risk of seriously injuring that kids hands while Dreyfuss was shoveling the dirt out of the wheelbarrow?
As a former kid from the 70's, yes, we all thought the Ten Commandments was an awesome spectacle. Remember, this was all before you could choose what came on TV and certain movies like this or Westworld, were must see TV... -1 Sin!
I think they wanted to take the kid they abducted for a very fun ride around his own planet, and that kid is ultimately a metaphor for movie goers, and the aliens are the metaphor for the director, crew, composer, etc.
Just for the record I was a kid in the 70s & yes, I wanted to watch the Ten Commandments. I am the oldest of 6 & we all watched it as a family every year. LOL Love CinemaSins!
Context is important. 6 kids. A higher number of larger families are religious. Even a slightly religious family would of course want to see that crap. And if you claim that yours wasn't... you're lying
@@skankhunt-wy9wy Wow, such an antagonistic response. I don't know how how old you are but back in the 70s families had dinner together. There were certain movies that became annual events that we watched together. Movies like The Wizard of Oz, Christmas specials like Charlie Brown, and The Ten Commandments around Easter time were among these. And no we weren't overtly religious and quite frankly I don't care whether you believe me or not. Truth be told I'm more religious today than I was back in the 70s. Sorry to have touched such a nerve by mentioning a movie from the 50s. Seemed somewhat an overreaction Perhaps you should have an herbal tea, spark up a number and chill.
@@johnnie2638 Ignore him. Just look at his name - he named himself after a troll from South Park. I guess he isn't creative enough to come up with an original name.
Remember watching this as a kid in the early 80's. Always remember it as being a terrifying film. Even today when I see a thundercloud forming or unusual weather pattern, we still refer to them as "Stephen Spielberg clouds of doom"
You forgot a sin. The geographic coordinates given are actually near Greeley, Colorado, about 250 miles south of Devil's tower. *ding* Also, longitude is given in negative numbers when in the western hemisphere. *ding*
I'm not a mapmaker, but I do deal in lat/longs for work and I was watching this thinking those coordinates don't seem right. realistically those coordinates land you in the middle of China. So I guess if this movie gets remade they can appeal to the Chinese market. 😂
Another sin, how did the aliens know the increments of a planet as used by human? I mean, at least they clearly got the wrong coordinate system, but how about that metadata, damnit? Clearly they didn't know WGS72 if it could be that wrong!
Just to play the devils advocate, maybe the grid reference changed. Like we use GPS now, but back then they were probably using USGS maps or military grid maps. Nit like the two are anywhere close but idk.
Just a little interesting fact for everyone the man who made the music for this movie was John Williams and this is how good of a composer he is he lost out for the Oscar for making the music in this movie to himself for Star Wars. Honestly if they would have spaced out the movies the movies a bit more I think that man could have had like 20 oscars for best music. And it's not the first time when he had 2 or 3 movies come out the same year that could have won best music. I think you missed out for winning the Oscar for Jurassic park music because Schindler's list another movie were he made the music came out in the same year.
@@magellanthecat He composed the theme to Star Trek the Motion Picture which later became the theme to Star Trek the Next Generation and wrote the theme for the Man From U.N.C.L.E. and a lot of other TV shows. He also wrote the score of the Omen, Alien and narrowly lost out to John Williams for the Jaws gig. I think he is well known amongst film fans of my vintage (very old) but perhaps overshadowed by Williams, Moroder and Morricone
By the way, just after the one controller suggests an SR-71, another controller next to him immediately says "not at that altitude," just as you pointed out.
Fun fact: The light pattern on the bottom of the main ship is actually based on a night time street grid view of LA as seen from the Hollywood Hills. Steven Spielberg got the inspiration for it while sitting up there one night prior to the making of the film.
Spielberg never said that. It came from a radio show host who thought it looked like that and wondered aloud if someone involved with the movie did that on purpose.
While you were keeping count of this movie's sins, you should have kept a separate count of the "Roy's" being shouted; as far as I can tell, roughly two thirds of the movie consisted of someone repeatedly yelling "Roy. Roy? ROY!" 🤣
I posted above why I hated this movie so much. This is one of the most sickly IMMORAL AND UNETHICAL science fiction movies ever and made me hate the main character (Richard Dryfuss) passionately. I hope he (not the actor) rots in Hell and I explained why above.
@@Zurround How about the twisted guy in _Passengers_ who wakes up a pretty woman because he's lonely? They didn't market the movie with that "twist" so I felt pretty betrayed. Maybe if he needed to wake up a computer programmer and it was between her and a husky dude?
In the 70's we had three channels so watching Charlton Heston part the water was big entertainment and yes we wanted to watch it. The aliens didn't immediately reopen the doors, it was 19 years later.
Not just parting the water, but the staffs turning into snakes and the blood actually saving the Jewish first borns. Seeing all the miracles was exciting!
No way you were a 70s kid. I was born in 1974. No way I would want to watch that. There were tons of cartoons and shows waaaaayyyy more entertaining than that.
What a great movie that's really socially questionable. Regardless of its daddy issues, I still think of Close Encounters as "I love this scene" the movie.
I think Barry's response to the aliens versus his mothers' is Spielberg's child-adult dynamic from his earlier films; he just thinks it is fun because that is all he knows of these aliens (who he saw at the beginning, lest we forget).
I saw it in the theater in the 1970s. I knew some of the plot was questionable... but it was a GREAT movie... just great. Something most modern movies can't seem to do is be so overwhelming that we suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the movie.
I think we can suspend our disbelieve during the movie (unless it goes way off the rails); its afterwards, especially when we can get on the interwebz and talk that we start to have that "wait, yeah, what the heck WAS that" moments.
Homer: "You people have stood in my way too long! I'm going to Clown College!!" (storms out of the room) Bart: "I don't think any of us ever thought he'd say that..." (If it's not exact, OK. But it gets the gist of the exchange.)
The “Present Day” cliche definitely needs to start getting more sins added - especially in movies that start by giving an actual date in the opening, then time skip to “Present day”. I also found it pretty funny that most of the opening sins are simply because of it being the 70’s era.
It said "present day" because otherwise the appearance of 1940's aircraft would not have been so dramatic and viewers would be confused, thinking this was set in that era
After Teri Garr dissed Star Trek in Starlog's interview, you can have her! Is there a performance where she's not a blonde ditz? Dustin Hoffman's character only slept with her because she caught him trying on her clothes in _Tootsie._ Uh oh, if they read this they might knock that great but ridiculous movie. Attn: do Doubtfire, i didn't like that ripoff.
Also, the huge alien who appears first out of the ship just seems to disappear in the next shot, with no indication it could have disappeared that fast (given how slowly it emerged). And the little alien suits were, in fact, not quite what Spielberg hoped for, which is why he had to backlight them so strongly (which did work for the film, as far as I was concerned).
Having never heard of Devils Tower that scene where camera pans from the 'model' Roy built to the TV news report really gave me the chills. Who else was shouting "put the fekin' phone down and look at the TV"?
I actually think the aliens' action not making much sense to us works very well for the film, since they are, after all, working from a completely different set of experiences, knowledge, social norms, what have you (and they do many of things a lot of UFO reports had aliens doing at the time).
I think that it's one of the most realistic alien movies because they spend the whole movie trying to communicate with each other. Every point of context would be different. Even if they are moral, they might not even understand what could hurt us.
Many of the scenes are based on classic (alleged) UFO cases: - The opening: the disappearance of the Flight 19 in 1945 - Roy's encounter in his suddenly died car: Levelland 1957 - UFOs chased by police: The Portage County 1967 - Indianapolis Air Traffic Control: American Airlines DC-6 in 1953
@PatchesRips I'm not assuming anything. I have no way of knowing what the aliens conditions are for any of those things, or how they would respond if we treated them according to our norms or mores. Neither does anyone else. Assuming we do would be presumptuous
Lack of villains? What about the government? You really think any of the returnees will ever be allowed to speak to anyone other than military researchers ever again? No. They'll get as much information as possible out of them at some black site, then quietly dispose of them, all nice & neat.
@@the_once-and-future_king. that's speculation based on other movies and that seems realistic - but that's not shown, not part of this movie. The government act as a typical governmental apparatus. In recent movies you always have some darker scheme, villain as part of the government who has particular interests
What do you mean by "lack of villains"? RICHARD DRYFUSS was a TERRIBLE VILLAIN in this movie. What he did was UNFORGIVABLE and I posted above WHY I hated the character so much that I ended up hating the movie as a result. I consider him to be a VILLAIN. But I get your point. I hate that movies almost always have to have a "villain". For example in STAR TREK movies the very first filmed in 1979 and the 4th filmed in 1986 lacked a villain, more "forces of nature" and problems that must be dealt with. I wish JJ Abrahams would do another one of his versions of Trek but without a villain.
@@jeshkam Yeah! It was in Mobile, Alabama. Spielberg’s crew had to wait to set up until Elvis’ crew finished packing up. Probably the biggest two days ever in Mobile. It’s crazy looking at Truffaut on stage knowing Elvis was in the same spot 24 hours earlier!
The late 70s was an awesome time for movies. So many iconic films came out then. And the theaters were enormous, with gigantic screens and seating for 1000+ people. When a movie like Close Encounters came out it was a big event, and the energy of the crowd added to the excitement. Of course the downside was that you had to wait in line for hours to get tickets and get in, if you wanted to get a good seat. With only one screen, the number of show times was very limited and you didn't have an array of movies to choose from.
Yes, the television premier of The Ten Commandments back in the 1970's was a big deal. So was Close Encounters. I was in grade school and our class got to see it as a field trip (music appreciation) and it was incredibly majestic on the big screen. Years later the same problems Spielberg had with the movie I started to have, but damned if it isn't re-majestic in 4K 60' tv/
Watched this at 5 years old at Cobb Eastwood Mall in Birmingham, Alabama around December 1977. I was mesmerized, horrified, and entertained. I walked out with the assumption it had all really happened. I don't remember any toy merchandise, so it didn't become an obsession like this other sci-fi movie I had seen earlier that year. 😉
I think I saw this movie 11 times in theaters when I was a kid. Absolutely mesmerizing. I thought for sure Jeremy was going to remove a sin for the air traffic control scene. It was tense and the dudes actually sounded like ATC.
Early Spielberg had a lot of this cross chatter that added realism (kids talking nonstop under the dialogue between Roy and Ronnie). Also, the locals chatting in Jaws in the beach and town hall scenes.
Loved that scene, seemed completely realistic. Also an SR-71 can fly lower than the height cited, and possibly conflict with commercial aircraft. I mean, the pilots are extremely unlikely to create the situation, but it's possible
I didn't realize Morgan Freeman was an air-traffic controller in the movie until he became more famous in his movie rolls as the years went by...Gotta love his voice.
@@lesliejohnson8738, oh,I actually looked it up online and yes, you are correct...It wasn't Morgan Freeman but as you said, David Anderson...Got to admit he sure does look like a younger Morgan Freeman with the voice too...lol
I was about 8 when I first got a chance to see this with my parents, before the end, my dad sent me to bed thinking it was going to be a horror ending, can you imagine how messed up I was with just seeing the beginning parts of this movie without the nice friendly payoff at the end??????
Seeing this movie as a kid in the 90s gave me all the emotions that Spielberg meant for us to feel. The raw power of the sound the ships made the fear of what an alien abduction can be without showing the aliens. The curiosity of seeing the possibilities of what could be out there, The happiness of the ending seeing the return of people and the communications between human and alien. This movies aesthetic is beyond beautiful and creative and it’s one if not the best alien Syfy movie made. 🖤
@@RoulinBrooks really? I learned about quavers (the note, not the snack) at UK school in the 70's. What confused me was that the pitch (?) was never mentioned. Five quavers could be the same note . A, C, D, so how did they not have a monotonous message, sounding like morse code?
@@Neil070 That's interesting. Maybe it's used more in the U.K. than in North America. My university friend was Canadian (as am I). Like we don't use stone as a measurement of weight in North America.
Kid from the 70’s here: we didn’t WANT to watch The Ten Commandments but we only had 3 (4 if you count PBS) stations to choose from. Probably just the best choice.
I don't know how anyone can't fall in love with the notion of a Musical Mothership. This movie made/makes me feel all kinds of stupid, wonderful 'feels' to this day, and it paved the way for unique Animes like Robotech and Super Dimensional Fortress MacrossII (The one that focused on Ishtar, Silvie Gena and Hibiki Kanzaki). I think the only thing that 'ticked' me off about this movie was the fact that Ronnie (Terri Garr) and the kids, midway, were no longer 'relevant' >:P
I assume no relation to henry.. Umm communication is about sounds... Musical not musical.. you make sounds to say what you want and what you will do.. I am sorry to explain this but you looked like and idiot and i wanted to help.
Teri Garr objects to the kids wanting to watch The Ten Commandments because the movie is four hours long. They're showing the parting of the Red Sea on the TV, which is only about 10 minutes from the end.
Should have shown baby in a basket. Maybe it took them 4 hours to get the shot right, so just left it running, and that's what was playing during that take.
It my second time to the movies . As a 4 year old, I fell in love with Spielbergs way of directing. But i remember falling asleep on it. Haven't watched it since.
At the beginning, David ( the mapmaker and translator ) say he's been with the team since the beginning, yet when the WW2 planes are discovered and inspected he seems completely clueless as to what's going on, unlike everyone else.
"There's a dead fly in my potatoes." This was not in the script. Adrianne Campbell who played the Neary's youngest Silvia saw said dead fly and and as kids that age do, she announced it. They kept it in the scene as well as Teri Garr's "It's OK". Also, I did see this on the big screen back then and it was amazing. One of my favorite all time movie. I do need to add that you have a lot of scenes I don't remember like Roy at the plant, Ronnie saying she's not getting a job, Carl Weathers. I don't remember any of that. And sorry, whenever I see Melinda Dillon I can't help but think of her as Suzanne Hanrahan.
I'm glad it's not just me. I don't remember some of the scenes shown here & I only watched it a few weeks ago (Australia). The same scenes you mention. People are saying there's directors cuts etc so maybe they're in one of those.
I just watched the movie for the first time an hour ago here on RUclips and none of those scenes were in the movie. I was very perplexed when I saw them in the sins video.
The toll booth attendant was shown to be dozing until the last UFO set off the lights (why the last one did that is another of the mysteries of the aliens), but he did not actually see the UFOs go through.
Your comment about how the aliens do the same thing as creepy movie demons later...yee gods yes! I was so freaked out from those scenes when I was a kid!
This has been one of my all time favorite movies since I was a child. Even watching it chopped up a sinned to hell it still gives me a misty eyed smile.
You gotta sin the toll booths for not having the (breakaway) "arms" in place for the cops to blow to smithereens as they cruise in pursuit of the goofy ass aliens.
I think they take those off for turnpikes that are normally bumper to bumper like in Jersey. cant run the booth anyway with the traffic. but the movie happened at night or the wee hours.
I saw this in the winter of 1978, and I can say that it was a BIG deal. A pioneering movie that set the stage for what we have now. Everyone in the audience was in awe, and the experience is one of my favorite movie moments.
I never had a problem with Roy leaving his family then or now. Maybe since Spielberg got Truffaut in this, he was a fan of his films which are deeper than american films. A guy leaving his family wouldn't be out of place in a French film because life is complicated and in some cases you have to take a leap for yourself.
And it was also shown clearly that his obsession/drive to see the aliens was irreconcilable with his family life. I think it made sense ofr the character. What makes less sense to me is him kissing that boy's mother. They never really shared a scene together to make that feel earned imo
I was too young to see this when it first came out. But, there was a re-release around 1980 with "EXTRA FOOTAGE" inside the mother ship, which apparently wasn't in the original. Big gold room and a weird chandelier looking thing. Also remember my mother constantly asking me to translate what Barry was saying. As if I somehow spoke Barry.
I’m a 70’s child. This was my all time favourite movie. It was a great time with so many epic movies like The 10 Commandments. I loved your take on this. Especially why the aliens closed up the ship once the people were let out, only to open it again to show the aliens. I’d always wondered why they did that 😂
I did see this movie in the theater back in the day, and yes, it was just a fantastic spectacle. Seeing Star Wars and this within a relatively short period of time as a kid really was an amazing thing looking back.
Great job in pointing out all the plot holes (and there are a lot of them). What a great movie, though. I remember being a 13 year old kid and my head exploding during the last half hour of this movie. Sort of like the asteroid chase in Empire. How great it was back then to be *blown away* by the movies. Now they can show pretty much anything visually and my reaction is "Yes, very nice."
You know how people are disappointed by the Mona Lisa when they see it? They don't get what's so special about it or why people went so crazy for it. It's because the Mona Lisa was the first portrait to be 3/4 view. Previous to her all portraits were either full face forward or side profile only. The Mona Lisa changed everything and nowadays we see portraits in 3/4 view all the time and think nothing of it. So it is with this movie. People had never seen such spectacle in their movies before so it was amazing and got a lot of attention. Nowadays people can create such scenes on their home computer. It's everywhere now and nobody considers it special anymore. How lucky you were to experience such a spectacle before it became commonplace.
YT just had Office Space on and as usual I watched it for the umpteenth time. I love that part where he explains he has people skills to Bob and Bob. In the whole movie is "great".
9:21 Might say Spielburg's all about joy in foreboding situations. After I got around to Poltergeist, what stood out in memory is how the mom & kids sometimes laughed in delight when psychokinetic phenomena occurred. These were almost like Addams Family sight gags. Wasn't sure how to reconcile that with reviews about how famously scary the film supposedly was.
I love it when Cinemasins covers movies like this, that are considered classics, but that I’ve never seen. I know I’ll probably never get round to watching most of them, but sins videos give me enough of a gist of the whole movie to know what people are on about if they come up. Plus, some people are genuinely offended if you don’t know anything about certain movies, so it saves me from awkward situations, like having the whole plot explained to me in an increasingly exasperated manner!
I can understand not seeing movies from the 1960s or "classic" movies in black and white. But with the advent of video rentals and now streaming, what's the problem? Maybe you just need an uncle with Laserdisc?
There are scenes in this that I've never seen before. For instance the one in the control room where Roy was allocated a task. The reason Roy was sacked is that the night after the aliens chase he was supposed to do some work but instead went looking for the aliens again.
There are many many versions of this film now. There is a version where the ship closes after Roy enters, and that's the end of the movie. It takes off and flies into space. There is another version that shows Roy marveling at the interior of the spaceship, a gargantuan space filled with lights like interior skyscrapers. There are scenes missing and added throughout both versions of the movie.
@@jondunmore4268 There are basically three versions. The original cinema release. A shortened TV edited version, and the special edition (which has the interiors of the spacecraft added) There is an 'unoffical' forth version, that combines the original cinema version with all the added special edition plus all the deleted scenes that dont disrupt the continuity.
@@jondunmore4268 No sweat, easy to do with a film like that. And most films are not edited to make them longer, so that would also help add to the confusion
I saw this film at the theater in 1977 and yes, it was a wondrous spectacle. Also, we kids did like watching the Ten Commandments on TV. Remember, it was the 1970's and parting of the Red Sea still looked cool to us.
The older I get, the more I side with Ronnie, Roy's wife. She and their children are dependent on him and his income to survive. When he abandons then to go gallivanting with aliens, he leaves them without any source of stable income, not to mention losing his job in pursuit of his dreams.
I'm susprised by no sin for the fact that, despite what a great reveal it is, there is no reasonable physical way the mothership could have hidden behind Devil's Tower and appeared as shown in the film without deliberately sneaking up on Sky Harbor from the other side... where there was already the base which could have told them the big honking ship was coming.
Missed outtake opportunities: the Zoltan hand gesture from Dude Where's My Car when the French guy is teaching the Zoltan sign language and the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme when the aliens are playing their music with the brass section. Would've been great!
Saw this in the theaters when it first came out. I was a little too young to appreciate hard sci-fi then, what with the lasers and giant death rays of Star Wars that had already enthralled me. But I've grown to appreciate Close Encounters and like it far better than Spielberg's second romp with aliens, ET.
I didn't see it in the 70s (as I wasn't alive yet) but I *did* still get to see it on the big screen a few years ago as part of a special event, was so awesome!
I saw this in the theater with my dad when I was 6 years old, because I thought it would be like Star Wars. Spoiler: it was not like Star Wars, and I spent the next 2-3 years terrified that aliens were going to crash through my bedroom window every night. Also a note: the visual spectacle you so rightly praise wasn't quite as impactful upon the films initial release; don't forget that Spielberg went back and juiced up the special effects years later, when budget and technology allowed.
The city blocks-wide mothership was so cool back in 1977. The way it was seen over the mountain known as Devil's Tower in Wyoming was pretty bad ass!! Then, 19 years later, in Independence Day, the miles wide ships seen over major cities were like OMG!!!!! Gotta go search my Amazon For Fire Stick for this gem of a movie!!!!! I haven't seen this movie since the early 2000's.
Fun Fact: Spielberg has stated that if he were to make the movie today, he'd never have Roy abandon his family. This likely stems from this film being made before he was a father himself. It's rectified somewhat in "ET", wherein Elliott chooses to stay with his family.
@DON'T WATCH MY VIDEOS too late! I read your name.
Spiderman No Way Home Full Movie ruclips.net/video/zowDDnHO5Z8/видео.html Link
Thank god he hasn't done what his buddy, George Lucas did, and remade/jazzed it up a bit (obviously I'm talking about his Star Wars abominations!) 🤔 😉
So what Roy buggered off and left his family?!? 🤔 I'm sure there would be plenty of married men who would give up their family life to interact with friendly aliens, and possibly learn some literal, universal, life and death truths... Perhaps!? 🤔 😜
Roy leaving his family an going to space is everything tho
They abandoned him!
As someone who __did__ see it on the big screen in the 70s: Yes, it was awesome. The patented Spielberg Boiling Clouds Effect and the Trumble-icious alien craft dropped jaws all over the theatre floor. And as a kid, all the WTF aspects of the plot and characters didn't bother me.
I remember it in the theater and Yes it was Awesome 😎
Ditto!
I always love these comments men, thanks. Its cool to hear, read or see the real side of things. I cant even imagine the experience on the big screen.
Lmao hold on. She was gonna leave HIM because she refused to work and yet he's the one that needs to change? No.
The haphazard nature of the plot and characters are part of the appeal of the film - the *point* of it - humans and aliens reacting to each other in all their complications and letting us savour the result.
In 2019, my family stopped at Devil’s Tower on a cross country trip. The campsite shop sells this movie, so we bought and watched it mere miles away from the mountain. It was really cool.
I did the same when I was crossing the country alone while changing duty stations in the Army in 1998, for the same reason. It's not right off the highway; that's for sure!
you know what would be cooler? if they used the side of the tower as possibly a giant drive in movie screen.
I suppose it would depend on the movie... rather not buy nightmare on elmstreet at the house where it was filmed. Doubly so for the timberline lodge which was where the shining was filmed. kinda superstitious but i think that makes the ring movie more likely to happen. I know there was a black and white show twilight zone or outer limits where aliens had a book called 'to serve man'... anyways it was a cook book... bet they couldnt sell that there.. it was a good movie... I would say better than today's but that would classify marvel as actual movies. Apologies if you like them. Actually i kinda wish artists would sculpt things from mashed potatoes.. I doubt price would go down at all.. It is perishable thats why its so expensive...
Not made out of mashed spuds.
Did you go with the aliens?
The kid could be more excited about movie night with the family than the movie. Every year The Ten Commandments, The Sound of Music, The Wizard of Oz, and Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory were a given to be aired.
Don’t forget It’s a Wonderful Life at Christmas
no dick clark rockin new years eve? how did you survive? I assume dick clark was there god knows he is old enough.. I say if he dies we bury him for 10 years and see if he is not younger when we dig him up.
the upcoming showing of Oz was all the talk in grade school for a week prior.
missing it was not an option.
And "War of the Worlds". I never missed that one.
umm I will give you those were good, however i would like to remind you of the presidents announcements. we did not have hundreds of choices and the president could take over all. we had free HBO and was in the middle of gulf war.. I had several vhs copies that had a 15 minute Bush the #1 telling me stuff. The odd thing was it was always at the good part I think it was planned. Also I have had enough of my childhood ruined by cgi. I can handle depp in wonka but because the songs are more accurate. sound of music i never really cared for. If there is a wizard of oz remake i will kinda blame you. I suppose the lollypop guild will become the diabetics. Dorthy will probably have to wish her parents would give her a cell phone to get home. "all you have to do is dial your parents number to get home." The wicked witch of the "non organics"? "we represent the shorter than normal"? I am not angry at you. I also know some things can be offensive to some people. However bleaching everything is offensive to me. How can we understand where we are going if we can not see where we have been.
I think it IS actually "they belong here more than we." In cases like that, I was always told you have to complete the comparison: "they belong here more than we belong here."
You are correct
Its actually "zey beelong 'ere more zan we". Truffaut was magnificent and his accent a joy.
Though "je ne sais pas mais c'est beau" was an odd comment considering he was looking at what appeared to be storm clouds
@@Neil070 True to all! :)
Absolutely correct. At this point English has completely lost its mind about subject vs object pronouns. When someone asks, "who wants this?" people will invariably yell out "ME!" when they mean "I" (as in, "I do!") but that sounds "weird" and "old fashioned" to people now. And on the flip side, cases when it *should* be "me" get flipped to "I" all the time, too, such as in "just between you and I" (it should be you and ME.) It doesn't seem to me that other languages struggle with these things. English speakers are just weird. I've heard college-educated Americans say things like "Her and I went to the store", which hurts my ears to much it makes me want to throw up, yet is considered more natural than the correct "She and I went to the store" for some reason by most speakers these days. Truly baffling.
I appreciate you.
As someone who grew up in the 70's, yeah, the yearly broadcast of the Ten Commandments on ABC was a big deal. It was as close to Sci-Fi epic as we got on TV.
and the Wizard of Oz, Sound of Music and possibly Gone With the Wind
Yup bright colorful costumes. Parting of the sea. We were too young to understand the rest of it.
Yeah, when you were too poor to go to movies and and had only 3 channels, that kind of thing was something you did want to see. It would play every Easter.
Membah Ben Hur?! I membah!
3;s company? dukes of hazard? charlies angels? i dream of genie? bewitched?
If I was a alien on Earth, I'd totally mess with the humans by shaking mailboxes and suddenly starting their toys and appliances for no reason.
After reading various reports, I've decided that we're not getting the cream of the crop of alien society. We're more likely dealing with drunk truckers than neurosurgeons.
@@christopherheckman7957: "They're not sending their best, they're sending rapists, they're sending criminals, and some, I assume, are good people."
And do the Poltergeist thing and have a toy Hulk ride a horse through the air and nearly buzz you!
@@christopherheckman7957 oh gosh you might be right 😂
what kind of aliens are we speaking of? If highly intelligent probably a lot more interesting places to visit.. if a frat boy alien i guess.. even at that point i would probably enjoy messing with radar or deep space telescopes... I think the alien face on mars was a college prank... but just a guess. Ok messing with an individual family (depending on alien intelligence) would be akin to burning ants with a magnifying glass.. fun when you are 8 but eventually you develop empathy. To poltergeist guy.. umm i would take it all even to swimming with skeletons... but do not put maggots in my fried chicken... Thats a line alien or spirit... no redemption... also umm if you are an alien on earth why not say so? umm queen of the damned.. hitchhikers guide.. you would be famous.. we would probably kill you though.. i mean later... cause we tend to do that..
My mom was a kid in the 70’s, and she loved watching the 10 Commandments ever Easter X)
Yep, looked forward to it every year as a kid. Also, used to watch Spartacus, Ben Hur, Samson and Delilah and Cleopatra. There was something about those giant spectacle movies that captured my attention. Still love them today.
@@rtailhwk Don't forget Gone With the Wind.
@@ruthmeow4262 I actually hate that movie. My aunt was a big fan, and they did a theater showing so I took her. She loved it, but Scarlett's accent was driving me up a tree the whole time. I don't doubt it is an excellent movie. The cinematography was amazing on the big screen. It's just not one I'm into. But good call! Thx I do miss really good movies like those.
I was born in 1963 so When the Ten Commandments came on TV at Easter time during the 1970s, my whole family would be watching it as it was an event that was kind of a ritual...I miss the 70's...it was fun being a kid then.
19:04 When I was a kid I wanted to see more of the tall alien. FUN FACT: I later read that this particular alien was a marionette, the bright light behind it was to obstruct the strings.
12:32 How did you miss the part where they ran the risk of seriously injuring that kids hands while Dreyfuss was shoveling the dirt out of the wheelbarrow?
As a former kid from the 70's, yes, we all thought the Ten Commandments was an awesome spectacle. Remember, this was all before you could choose what came on TV and certain movies like this or Westworld, were must see TV... -1 Sin!
Aliens just wanted to go for a walk.
A very enthusiastic walk.
Alucard, you magnificent bastard!
I'm sure Alucard will agree.
I think they wanted to take the kid they abducted for a very fun ride around his own planet, and that kid is ultimately a metaphor for movie goers, and the aliens are the metaphor for the director, crew, composer, etc.
Just for the record I was a kid in the 70s & yes, I wanted to watch the Ten Commandments. I am the oldest of 6 & we all watched it as a family every year. LOL Love CinemaSins!
I was wondering when this question would get answered. Thank you!
Context is important.
6 kids. A higher number of larger families are religious.
Even a slightly religious family would of course want to see that crap.
And if you claim that yours wasn't... you're lying
@@skankhunt-wy9wy Wow, such an antagonistic response. I don't know how how old you are but back in the 70s families had dinner together. There were certain movies that became annual events that we watched together. Movies like The Wizard of Oz, Christmas specials like Charlie Brown, and The Ten Commandments around Easter time were among these. And no we weren't overtly religious and quite frankly I don't care whether you believe me or not. Truth be told I'm more religious today than I was back in the 70s. Sorry to have touched such a nerve by mentioning a movie from the 50s. Seemed somewhat an overreaction Perhaps you should have an herbal tea, spark up a number and chill.
@@johnnie2638 Ignore him. Just look at his name - he named himself after a troll from South Park. I guess he isn't creative enough to come up with an original name.
@@WakenerOne Thx.
Remember watching this as a kid in the early 80's. Always remember it as being a terrifying film. Even today when I see a thundercloud forming or unusual weather pattern, we still refer to them as "Stephen Spielberg clouds of doom"
You forgot a sin. The geographic coordinates given are actually near Greeley, Colorado, about 250 miles south of Devil's tower. *ding*
Also, longitude is given in negative numbers when in the western hemisphere. *ding*
I'm not a mapmaker, but I do deal in lat/longs for work and I was watching this thinking those coordinates don't seem right.
realistically those coordinates land you in the middle of China. So I guess if this movie gets remade they can appeal to the Chinese market. 😂
Another sin, how did the aliens know the increments of a planet as used by human? I mean, at least they clearly got the wrong coordinate system, but how about that metadata, damnit? Clearly they didn't know WGS72 if it could be that wrong!
@@ashleyhamman oh dang you’re right! How DID they know latitude and longitude?!
@@stargirl7646 ...maybe they confiscated a map from the early abductee aviators and went "ooooh! lookit them buncha numbers...!"
Homer: _"NNNEEERRRDDDD!!"_
Missed sin: The coordinates given DO NOT lead to Devils Tower, They actually point to a cattle ranch just outside Ault Colorado
Just to play the devils advocate, maybe the grid reference changed. Like we use GPS now, but back then they were probably using USGS maps or military grid maps. Nit like the two are anywhere close but idk.
@@ccarroll4339 That wouldn't have affected latitude and longitude which is what the coordinates were.
Sin: The aliens use the same co-ordinate system as we do.
@@ccarroll4339 I think you mean Devil's Tower's Advocate.
@@pheasantplucker And operating systems susceptible to the same viruses.
Just a little interesting fact for everyone the man who made the music for this movie was John Williams and this is how good of a composer he is he lost out for the Oscar for making the music in this movie to himself for Star Wars. Honestly if they would have spaced out the movies the movies a bit more I think that man could have had like 20 oscars for best music. And it's not the first time when he had 2 or 3 movies come out the same year that could have won best music. I think you missed out for winning the Oscar for Jurassic park music because Schindler's list another movie were he made the music came out in the same year.
as much of a fraud the Oscars are.. if you lose to yourself, you should also get an Oscar for 2nd place.
Superman 1978 was very close in time, too. JW was a bone fide genius. As great a composer as Copeland, better than Souza. A modern Elgar or Holst
@@magellanthecat He composed the theme to Star Trek the Motion Picture which later became the theme to Star Trek the Next Generation and wrote the theme for the Man From U.N.C.L.E. and a lot of other TV shows.
He also wrote the score of the Omen, Alien and narrowly lost out to John Williams for the Jaws gig.
I think he is well known amongst film fans of my vintage (very old) but perhaps overshadowed by Williams, Moroder and Morricone
Unfortunately, they couldn't wait until the next year to release it, because the studio was counting on this movie to financially “bail them out”.
@@Neil070
WAS? I'm pretty sure he’s still alive.
By the way, just after the one controller suggests an SR-71, another controller next to him immediately says "not at that altitude," just as you pointed out.
I missed that!
BTW: I watched the Ten Commandments every year. They usually showed it around Easter.
They used to show it every year in our local theater back in the 60s-70s. It was always packed.
If CS ever sinned The Ten Commandments, he would put sins -20 in the beginning, because it’s religious and he would commit a sin too early!
I watched it every year growing up.
Funny how everyone says "Easter", when I thought it was about "Passover."
Fun fact: The light pattern on the bottom of the main ship is actually based on a night time street grid view of LA as seen from the Hollywood Hills. Steven Spielberg got the inspiration for it while sitting up there one night prior to the making of the film.
Duuude, that's cool
Woah. Cool factoid
Spielberg never said that. It came from a radio show host who thought it looked like that and wondered aloud if someone involved with the movie did that on purpose.
@@timhallas4275 that's not where I heard it, but ok.
@@pocobull I know that's not where you heard it. That is where it originated though.
While you were keeping count of this movie's sins, you should have kept a separate count of the "Roy's" being shouted; as far as I can tell, roughly two thirds of the movie consisted of someone repeatedly yelling "Roy. Roy? ROY!" 🤣
16:58 - It really WAS a cinematic spectacle. I was 10 when I saw it in theaters and it was absolutely incredible!
I can see, like Jeremy did that it would be amazing for the time.
I saw this at a General Cinemas Corporation theater in Speedway, Indiana ruclips.net/video/m6uHhUKURYE/видео.html
independence day blowing up white house was mine
I posted above why I hated this movie so much. This is one of the most sickly IMMORAL AND UNETHICAL science fiction movies ever and made me hate the main character (Richard Dryfuss) passionately. I hope he (not the actor) rots in Hell and I explained why above.
@@Zurround How about the twisted guy in _Passengers_ who wakes up a pretty woman because he's lonely? They didn't market the movie with that "twist" so I felt pretty betrayed. Maybe if he needed to wake up a computer programmer and it was between her and a husky dude?
In the 70's we had three channels so watching Charlton Heston part the water was big entertainment and yes we wanted to watch it.
The aliens didn't immediately reopen the doors, it was 19 years later.
Not just parting the water, but the staffs turning into snakes and the blood actually saving the Jewish first borns. Seeing all the miracles was exciting!
@@shemari0129 You must have been adults in the 1970s. I was watching Hulk and Dukes and modern things.
No way you were a 70s kid. I was born in 1974. No way I would want to watch that. There were tons of cartoons and shows waaaaayyyy more entertaining than that.
@@deathisonlythebeginning5098 sure there were cartoons etc, but not on at night and with its running time allowed you to stay up later.
Yes because The Ten Commandments was like a violent horror movie, with cool special effects, that my Catholic parents wanted me to watch.
What a great movie that's really socially questionable. Regardless of its daddy issues, I still think of Close Encounters as "I love this scene" the movie.
Same 👍🏿
Maybe Spielberg and Lucas would stay with their kids, but I think a lot of guys became "deadbeat dads" when they just want to get away from their ex.
Steven's father left him when he was young that's why you see the daddy issues. But his father came back after his son was famous.
Excuse me, but he's correct; it's "than we" because of the understood "do." He is "bigger than I am," not "bigger than me am."
I saw this on the big screen in 1977, and it was awesome!
I think Barry's response to the aliens versus his mothers' is Spielberg's child-adult dynamic from his earlier films; he just thinks it is fun because that is all he knows of these aliens (who he saw at the beginning, lest we forget).
Nice Simpsons throwback st 21:15!
"It's bringing love, don't let it get away!"
"Break its legs!" 😆
I saw it in the theater in the 1970s. I knew some of the plot was questionable... but it was a GREAT movie... just great. Something most modern movies can't seem to do is be so overwhelming that we suspend our disbelief and just enjoy the movie.
I think we can suspend our disbelieve during the movie (unless it goes way off the rails); its afterwards, especially when we can get on the interwebz and talk that we start to have that "wait, yeah, what the heck WAS that" moments.
I'm SOOO glad I went and watched this on its IMAX re-release. It was incredible!
Would have loved to see that! This is a film that was MADE for the big screen.
If you ever wondered why Homer Simpson is carving a circus tent into his mashed potatoes......we'll here you go
My mind immediately jumped to that scene from the Simpsons, years later I finally get the reference
Now I know I'm old - it never crossed my mind there may be people who wouldn't get that joke.
Homer: "You people have stood in my way too long! I'm going to Clown College!!" (storms out of the room)
Bart: "I don't think any of us ever thought he'd say that..."
(If it's not exact, OK. But it gets the gist of the exchange.)
@@johnleeson6946 Bart's response is low-key classic. ("I don't think any of us expected him to say that.")
The “Present Day” cliche definitely needs to start getting more sins added - especially in movies that start by giving an actual date in the opening, then time skip to “Present day”.
I also found it pretty funny that most of the opening sins are simply because of it being the 70’s era.
It said "present day" because otherwise the appearance of 1940's aircraft would not have been so dramatic and viewers would be confused, thinking this was set in that era
This movie is a definite classic. One of the best alien movies ever made. It's all about the communication.
I like aliens and all but Dreyfuss left Teri Garr and Melinda Dillon behind to fly away with some insects with no genitals. Now that is a Sin.
Man on his purpose. Quintessential MGTOW
Amen, brother 😄
After Teri Garr dissed Star Trek in Starlog's interview, you can have her! Is there a performance where she's not a blonde ditz? Dustin Hoffman's character only slept with her because she caught him trying on her clothes in _Tootsie._ Uh oh, if they read this they might knock that great but ridiculous movie. Attn: do Doubtfire, i didn't like that ripoff.
There is nothing on this planet that would stop me from jumping on that ship.
Also, the huge alien who appears first out of the ship just seems to disappear in the next shot, with no indication it could have disappeared that fast (given how slowly it emerged). And the little alien suits were, in fact, not quite what Spielberg hoped for, which is why he had to backlight them so strongly (which did work for the film, as far as I was concerned).
Having never heard of Devils Tower that scene where camera pans from the 'model' Roy built to the TV news report really gave me the chills. Who else was shouting "put the fekin' phone down and look at the TV"?
I actually think the aliens' action not making much sense to us works very well for the film, since they are, after all, working from a completely different set of experiences, knowledge, social norms, what have you (and they do many of things a lot of UFO reports had aliens doing at the time).
I think that it's one of the most realistic alien movies because they spend the whole movie trying to communicate with each other. Every point of context would be different.
Even if they are moral, they might not even understand what could hurt us.
Many of the scenes are based on classic (alleged) UFO cases:
- The opening: the disappearance of the Flight 19 in 1945
- Roy's encounter in his suddenly died car: Levelland 1957
- UFOs chased by police: The Portage County 1967
- Indianapolis Air Traffic Control: American Airlines DC-6 in 1953
I'm just glad they left the cows alone
@PatchesRips Maybe, maybe not, may be they won't care, maybe they don't even have families... or toilets. 😀
@PatchesRips I'm not assuming anything. I have no way of knowing what the aliens conditions are for any of those things, or how they would respond if we treated them according to our norms or mores. Neither does anyone else. Assuming we do would be presumptuous
one of my all time favorite movies - not just of the era - of all time until now. I really appreciate the lack of villains 🙂
Lack of villains?
What about the government? You really think any of the returnees will ever be allowed to speak to anyone other than military researchers ever again?
No. They'll get as much information as possible out of them at some black site, then quietly dispose of them, all nice & neat.
@@the_once-and-future_king. that's speculation based on other movies and that seems realistic - but that's not shown, not part of this movie. The government act as a typical governmental apparatus. In recent movies you always have some darker scheme, villain as part of the government who has particular interests
What do you mean by "lack of villains"? RICHARD DRYFUSS was a TERRIBLE VILLAIN in this movie. What he did was UNFORGIVABLE and I posted above WHY I hated the character so much that I ended up hating the movie as a result. I consider him to be a VILLAIN.
But I get your point. I hate that movies almost always have to have a "villain".
For example in STAR TREK movies the very first filmed in 1979 and the 4th filmed in 1986 lacked a villain, more "forces of nature" and problems that must be dealt with. I wish JJ Abrahams would do another one of his versions of Trek but without a villain.
You mean besides Ronnie
My mom took me to see this about seven times in theaters when I was a kid. Worth it every time.
Interesting fact: The auditorium scene where Truffaut introduces the hand signals, Elvis played there the night before the scene was shot!
No way?!
@@jeshkam Yeah! It was in Mobile, Alabama. Spielberg’s crew had to wait to set up until Elvis’ crew finished packing up. Probably the biggest two days ever in Mobile. It’s crazy looking at Truffaut on stage knowing Elvis was in the same spot 24 hours earlier!
@@GarretGrayCamera Truffaut was probably as huge in France, as Elvis was in the US. 🙂
The late 70s was an awesome time for movies. So many iconic films came out then. And the theaters were enormous, with gigantic screens and seating for 1000+ people. When a movie like Close Encounters came out it was a big event, and the energy of the crowd added to the excitement. Of course the downside was that you had to wait in line for hours to get tickets and get in, if you wanted to get a good seat. With only one screen, the number of show times was very limited and you didn't have an array of movies to choose from.
Yes, the television premier of The Ten Commandments back in the 1970's was a big deal. So was Close Encounters. I was in grade school and our class got to see it as a field trip (music appreciation) and it was incredibly majestic on the big screen. Years later the same problems Spielberg had with the movie I started to have, but damned if it isn't re-majestic in 4K 60' tv/
"music appreciation"
legit your teacher just wanted to see the movie😂
@@Baysidemom2 True enough. He probably deducted the ticket prices from his taxes :)
Power goes out, yet the Shell sign keeps spinning.
This is one of my favorite Spielberg films of all time. Love the story, love the setpieces.
Watched this at 5 years old at Cobb Eastwood Mall in Birmingham, Alabama around December 1977. I was mesmerized, horrified, and entertained. I walked out with the assumption it had all really happened. I don't remember any toy merchandise, so it didn't become an obsession like this other sci-fi movie I had seen earlier that year. 😉
I think I saw this movie 11 times in theaters when I was a kid. Absolutely mesmerizing. I thought for sure Jeremy was going to remove a sin for the air traffic control scene. It was tense and the dudes actually sounded like ATC.
Early Spielberg had a lot of this cross chatter that added realism (kids talking nonstop under the dialogue between Roy and Ronnie). Also, the locals chatting in Jaws in the beach and town hall scenes.
Loved that scene, seemed completely realistic. Also an SR-71 can fly lower than the height cited, and possibly conflict with commercial aircraft. I mean, the pilots are extremely unlikely to create the situation, but it's possible
I didn't realize Morgan Freeman was an air-traffic controller in the movie until he became more famous in his movie rolls as the years went by...Gotta love his voice.
@@survivor536 their voices are quite similar, but the actor portraying the ATC officer in Close Encounters is named David Anderson.
@@lesliejohnson8738, oh,I actually looked it up online and yes, you are correct...It wasn't Morgan Freeman but as you said, David Anderson...Got to admit he sure does look like a younger Morgan Freeman with the voice too...lol
I was about 8 when I first got a chance to see this with my parents, before the end, my dad sent me to bed thinking it was going to be a horror ending,
can you imagine how messed up I was with just seeing the beginning parts of this movie without the nice friendly payoff at the end??????
Seeing this movie as a kid in the 90s gave me all the emotions that Spielberg meant for us to feel. The raw power of the sound the ships made the fear of what an alien abduction can be without showing the aliens. The curiosity of seeing the possibilities of what could be out there, The happiness of the ending seeing the return of people and the communications between human and alien. This movies aesthetic is beyond beautiful and creative and it’s one if not the best alien Syfy movie made. 🖤
17:57: "She sent us four quavers, a group of five quavers, a group of four semiquavers" has always been one of my favorite lines in this whole movie.
A friend of mine who studied music at university told me that quavers is out of date and not much used, even back in 1977.
As a Brit. Theyre really being sold short for some crisps/chips
@@RoulinBrooks the dudes saying the lines were all in their 50s
@@RoulinBrooks really? I learned about quavers (the note, not the snack) at UK school in the 70's.
What confused me was that the pitch (?) was never mentioned.
Five quavers could be the same note . A, C, D, so how did they not have a monotonous message, sounding like morse code?
@@Neil070 That's interesting. Maybe it's used more in the U.K. than in North America. My university friend was Canadian (as am I). Like we don't use stone as a measurement of weight in North America.
Kid from the 70’s here: we didn’t WANT to watch The Ten Commandments but we only had 3 (4 if you count PBS) stations to choose from. Probably just the best choice.
"All 3 networks, _and_ PBS?" from X-Men.
I did love this film. Francois Truffaut plays a scientist in it. Classic!
I don't know how anyone can't fall in love with the notion of a Musical Mothership. This movie made/makes me feel all kinds of stupid, wonderful 'feels' to this day, and it paved the way for unique Animes like Robotech and Super Dimensional Fortress MacrossII (The one that focused on Ishtar, Silvie Gena and Hibiki Kanzaki). I think the only thing that 'ticked' me off about this movie was the fact that Ronnie (Terri Garr) and the kids, midway, were no longer 'relevant' >:P
I assume no relation to henry.. Umm communication is about sounds... Musical not musical.. you make sounds to say what you want and what you will do.. I am sorry to explain this but you looked like and idiot and i wanted to help.
I have never seen this movie so that cop full sending his car off the cliff has me crying laughing
Teri Garr objects to the kids wanting to watch The Ten Commandments because the movie is four hours long. They're showing the parting of the Red Sea on the TV, which is only about 10 minutes from the end.
Should have shown baby in a basket. Maybe it took them 4 hours to get the shot right, so just left it running, and that's what was playing during that take.
It my second time to the movies . As a 4 year old, I fell in love with Spielbergs way of directing. But i remember falling asleep on it. Haven't watched it since.
At the beginning, David ( the mapmaker and translator ) say he's been with the team since the beginning, yet when the WW2 planes are discovered and inspected he seems completely clueless as to what's going on, unlike everyone else.
"There's a dead fly in my potatoes." This was not in the script. Adrianne Campbell who played the Neary's youngest Silvia saw said dead fly and and as kids that age do, she announced it. They kept it in the scene as well as Teri Garr's "It's OK".
Also, I did see this on the big screen back then and it was amazing. One of my favorite all time movie. I do need to add that you have a lot of scenes I don't remember like Roy at the plant, Ronnie saying she's not getting a job, Carl Weathers. I don't remember any of that. And sorry, whenever I see Melinda Dillon I can't help but think of her as Suzanne Hanrahan.
I'm glad it's not just me. I don't remember some of the scenes shown here & I only watched it a few weeks ago (Australia). The same scenes you mention. People are saying there's directors cuts etc so maybe they're in one of those.
@@tkps yup
I just watched the movie for the first time an hour ago here on RUclips and none of those scenes were in the movie. I was very perplexed when I saw them in the sins video.
My dad was just telling me last night how he loved watching the 10 commandments as a kid. He’s not religious but grew up in the 60’s/70’s
The toll booth attendant was shown to be dozing until the last UFO set off the lights (why the last one did that is another of the mysteries of the aliens), but he did not actually see the UFOs go through.
The last alien threw a buck twenty-five in change into the bin- the noise woke him up.
I feel like they don't even watch these movies when they write these anymore. And none of the writers are older than 23
Your comment about how the aliens do the same thing as creepy movie demons later...yee gods yes! I was so freaked out from those scenes when I was a kid!
Ha, nice try Loch Ness monster. You'll never get your $3.50!!!!
This has been one of my all time favorite movies since I was a child. Even watching it chopped up a sinned to hell it still gives me a misty eyed smile.
You gotta sin the toll booths for not having the (breakaway) "arms" in place for the cops to blow to smithereens as they cruise in pursuit of the goofy ass aliens.
I think they take those off for turnpikes that are normally bumper to bumper like in Jersey. cant run the booth
anyway with the traffic. but the movie happened at night or the wee hours.
I saw this in the winter of 1978, and I can say that it was a BIG deal. A pioneering movie that set the stage for what we have now. Everyone in the audience was in awe, and the experience is one of my favorite movie moments.
1:44 a muncie boy! can you beat that?😂
that made my day I'm so glsd you guys put that in
That was a nice surprise......but I'm a little uncertain of being a fan of what I'm guessing is a Delta grad :)
Long live The Hud!
I never had a problem with Roy leaving his family then or now. Maybe since Spielberg got Truffaut in this, he was a fan of his films which are deeper than american films. A guy leaving his family wouldn't be out of place in a French film because life is complicated and in some cases you have to take a leap for yourself.
And it was also shown clearly that his obsession/drive to see the aliens was irreconcilable with his family life. I think it made sense ofr the character. What makes less sense to me is him kissing that boy's mother. They never really shared a scene together to make that feel earned imo
"there's a fly in my potatoes" - best line ever ! 😆
No matter how much I love a movie, Jeremy always makes me laugh and rethink. 😋😎
I saw this as a kid when it first came on The Movie Channel back in 80 or 81, and I have been fascinated with it ever since
I was too young to see this when it first came out. But, there was a re-release around 1980 with "EXTRA FOOTAGE" inside the mother ship, which apparently wasn't in the original. Big gold room and a weird chandelier looking thing. Also remember my mother constantly asking me to translate what Barry was saying. As if I somehow spoke Barry.
I’m a 70’s child. This was my all time favourite movie. It was a great time with so many epic movies like The 10 Commandments.
I loved your take on this. Especially why the aliens closed up the ship once the people were let out, only to open it again to show the aliens. I’d always wondered why they did that 😂
If you were a jewish kid growing up in the 70s, watching the Ten Commandments was a requirement.
I did see this movie in the theater back in the day, and yes, it was just a fantastic spectacle. Seeing Star Wars and this within a relatively short period of time as a kid really was an amazing thing looking back.
Great job in pointing out all the plot holes (and there are a lot of them). What a great movie, though. I remember being a 13 year old kid and my head exploding during the last half hour of this movie. Sort of like the asteroid chase in Empire. How great it was back then to be *blown away* by the movies. Now they can show pretty much anything visually and my reaction is "Yes, very nice."
You know how people are disappointed by the Mona Lisa when they see it? They don't get what's so special about it or why people went so crazy for it. It's because the Mona Lisa was the first portrait to be 3/4 view. Previous to her all portraits were either full face forward or side profile only. The Mona Lisa changed everything and nowadays we see portraits in 3/4 view all the time and think nothing of it. So it is with this movie. People had never seen such spectacle in their movies before so it was amazing and got a lot of attention. Nowadays people can create such scenes on their home computer. It's everywhere now and nobody considers it special anymore. How lucky you were to experience such a spectacle before it became commonplace.
@@cillyhoney1892 Such a great point! You clearly know art. I'm a Van Gogh specialist so your comments are especially appreciated.
Loved the sound replacements at the end, particularly the office space one
YT just had Office Space on and as usual I watched it for the umpteenth time. I love that part where he explains he has people skills to Bob and Bob. In the whole movie is "great".
9:21 Might say Spielburg's all about joy in foreboding situations. After I got around to Poltergeist, what stood out in memory is how the mom & kids sometimes laughed in delight when psychokinetic phenomena occurred. These were almost like Addams Family sight gags. Wasn't sure how to reconcile that with reviews about how famously scary the film supposedly was.
Jillian was clearly referring to the entire situation, of which that was a part, not the physical existence of Devil's Tower.
Exactly. She was relieved that the visions of the tower that she was having amounted to something tangible. That she wasn't going crazy
I love it when Cinemasins covers movies like this, that are considered classics, but that I’ve never seen.
I know I’ll probably never get round to watching most of them, but sins videos give me enough of a gist of the whole movie to know what people are on about if they come up. Plus, some people are genuinely offended if you don’t know anything about certain movies, so it saves me from awkward situations, like having the whole plot explained to me in an increasingly exasperated manner!
It is a must see. See it in a theater.
I can understand not seeing movies from the 1960s or "classic" movies in black and white. But with the advent of video rentals and now streaming, what's the problem? Maybe you just need an uncle with Laserdisc?
@@sandal_thong8631 that’s where I went wrong. Both of my parents are only children. No Uncles to speak of.
What a classic. The runway scene was so awesome at the theater with the lights and especially the music echoing so loud. I loved it!
There are scenes in this that I've never seen before. For instance the one in the control room where Roy was allocated a task. The reason Roy was sacked is that the night after the aliens chase he was supposed to do some work but instead went looking for the aliens again.
There are many many versions of this film now. There is a version where the ship closes after Roy enters, and that's the end of the movie. It takes off and flies into space. There is another version that shows Roy marveling at the interior of the spaceship, a gargantuan space filled with lights like interior skyscrapers. There are scenes missing and added throughout both versions of the movie.
@@jondunmore4268 There are basically three versions. The original cinema release. A shortened TV edited version, and the special edition (which has the interiors of the spacecraft added) There is an 'unoffical' forth version, that combines the original cinema version with all the added special edition plus all the deleted scenes that dont disrupt the continuity.
@@glenchapman3899 Thanks for that. I must have seen them all at one time or another, so confuse how many versions there are.
@@jondunmore4268 No sweat, easy to do with a film like that. And most films are not edited to make them longer, so that would also help add to the confusion
That makes more sense
I saw this film at the theater in 1977 and yes, it was a wondrous spectacle. Also, we kids did like watching the Ten Commandments on TV. Remember, it was the 1970's and parting of the Red Sea still looked cool to us.
The older I get, the more I side with Ronnie, Roy's wife. She and their children are dependent on him and his income to survive. When he abandons then to go gallivanting with aliens, he leaves them without any source of stable income, not to mention losing his job in pursuit of his dreams.
I'd like to believe that the government took care of Ronnie and the kids.
Pretty sure his was a Union job. He probably could not get fired so quickly or easily. But it's a movie, and you gotta move the story along.
I agree but from my perspective he was chosen like the others and had no choice but to go regardless.
Lolwut? Figures an ex wife bitches about her being the center of the universe right when aliens are proven to exist 🤣 😂 😹 🤣
It’s a movie
The “not your toy to play with…” line was a perfect missed “my college girlfriend” joke
I'm susprised by no sin for the fact that, despite what a great reveal it is, there is no reasonable physical way the mothership could have hidden behind Devil's Tower and appeared as shown in the film without deliberately sneaking up on Sky Harbor from the other side... where there was already the base which could have told them the big honking ship was coming.
Cloaking device.
What? It's a Sci-Fi movie.
Missed outtake opportunities: the Zoltan hand gesture from Dude Where's My Car when the French guy is teaching the Zoltan sign language and the Curb Your Enthusiasm theme when the aliens are playing their music with the brass section. Would've been great!
Saw this in the theaters when it first came out. I was a little too young to appreciate hard sci-fi then, what with the lasers and giant death rays of Star Wars that had already enthralled me. But I've grown to appreciate Close Encounters and like it far better than Spielberg's second romp with aliens, ET.
Great call with the 2001: A Space Odyssey reference of Dreyfuss being HAL watching Dave and Frank in the Pod!!
As a European, i had no idea why Jeremy suddenly started moan/cheering, but i had a good laugh nonetheless. Go Eagles, i suppose?
As an American, I’m also confused
Must be an Indiana thing
@@Sarahonwheels, I'm from Indiana, but have no idea what he's about here. Maybe it's a Muncie thing.
It’s a “Hudsucker Proxy” thing!
as american, i had no idea
As a kid in the '70's, yes, we did watch The Ten Commandments. Not necessarily because we wanted to but there were only four channels.
I didn't see it in the 70s (as I wasn't alive yet) but I *did* still get to see it on the big screen a few years ago as part of a special event, was so awesome!
I miss the original opening shot, with the road and sudden burst of light. I saw it on the big screen, and it was very effective.
Please do Everything Wrong With Firestarter (2022)
When you were a kid in the 70s, you would be grateful for things like The Ten Commandments to allow you an excuse to stay up later to watch TV.
In the 70’s we only had 4 channels. Yeah we were happy to see anything new.
Here in the U.K we only had three, and all of them only broadcast for about ten to twelve hours a day, going off air between eleven pm and midnight.
my own riff “I found myself half expecting Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and JP “Big Bopper” Richardson to come out”..
No sin for the coordinates of the Devil's Tower being off by like 444 miles?
I was a kid in the 70s and it actually was kind of a big thing when they showed "The Ten Commandments" on TV.
I saw this in the theater with my dad when I was 6 years old, because I thought it would be like Star Wars. Spoiler: it was not like Star Wars, and I spent the next 2-3 years terrified that aliens were going to crash through my bedroom window every night. Also a note: the visual spectacle you so rightly praise wasn't quite as impactful upon the films initial release; don't forget that Spielberg went back and juiced up the special effects years later, when budget and technology allowed.
Same, except it was my friend's mom who took us (at 5-6 yrs old) with her older teenage kids (& their friends) to see the movie. Lol 😅😅
The city blocks-wide mothership was so cool back in 1977. The way it was seen over the mountain known as Devil's Tower in Wyoming was pretty bad ass!! Then, 19 years later, in Independence Day, the miles wide ships seen over major cities were like OMG!!!!!
Gotta go search my Amazon For Fire Stick for this gem of a movie!!!!! I haven't seen this movie since the early 2000's.
Fun fact: my friend's dad is the little boy who got abducted from this movie! :)
Tell him we are all glad they brought him back 👍
In the 70's the Ten Commandments was the Height of Action and Adventure for cinema and home TV, so Yes, Excited to watch it 🤗