Movies Remembered: Close Encounters of the Third Kind
by DarenDoc on Jun.20, 2009, under Early Fandom
Fresh off the summer high of 1977, which introduced me to Star Wars for the first time, the second part of the psychic 1-2 punch came in November when Columbia Pictures released “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” It filled me with wonder, and the aliens scared the heck out of me. Here’s the relation between fear and interest that I’ve mentioned before… it was another major contributor to my interest in movies and filmmaking. Along the years that I’ve watched it, I noticed several familiar faces in the film that aren’t widely known… When Neary and Gillian are stopped by the roadblock, and the men in environment suits capture them… the one that goes in for the “dead” birds out of the front seat of the car looks like none other than Spielberg’s buddy, George Lucas. Lucas was on set in Alabama at times… you can see him hanging with Steven in several on set photographs that I’ve seen before. It’s only natural that Steven would have asked him to be an extra in the movie. I’ve never heard a confirmation that this is in face Lucas in the film… but it sure looks like him. Also, I noticed in a screening of it last night in Santa Monica, that I recognize writer/director Willard Huyck, (American Graffiti, uncredited polish on Star Wars, and of course Howard the Duck) who was a close friend to Spielberg and Lucas.
Another face in the crowd in the end sequence is former Project Blue Book head Debunker turned researcher J. Allen Hynek, who coined the term “Close Encounters”… A small personal note, I got to meet Hynek several times when my dad was involved with producing a show on UFO research in the early 80s. Hynek passed away about 20 years ago, but he’s immortalized in the film, with his trademark pipe and inquisitive gaze.
Everyone knows about Artoo's Cameo hanging upside down on the MotherShip
This sure looks like George Lucas to me...
Also in the gallery of guest stars, Writer/Director Willard Huyck?
Dr. Josef Allen Hynek, Director of the Center for UFO Studies in Evanston Illinois, and originator of the phrase "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"
A Bob Baker Marionette in originally a lighting test shot by Doug Trumbull... it was so effective, it was cut into the picture.
Creepy, mysterious, other worldly. This puppet, nicknamed "puck", was shot after principal photography was done. The film was undercranked to make the slow moving mechanics seem normal speed.
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June 20th, 2009 on 11:54 am
Mmmm, not sure if that’s Lucas or not, if I had to decide I’d say more that it wasn’t him ! Fabulous film…let’s hope they don’t remake it soon !!
June 20th, 2009 on 12:44 pm
I don’t know, looks like a definite George-spotting possibility, eh.
And I too have met J. Allen Hynek, as he was born, educated, taught, and based out of Chicago, eh. I spotted him the sec he slid his way through the crowd into the shot, pipe in hand. I believe he was an advisor on the film.
The soundtrack. Oh the CE3K soundtrack! I listen to it probably about three times a week, at least. The wonder and time-traveling musical-based pull-back to the wonder year of ’77. Williams’ Star Wars soundtrack (on 8-Track as well
) is also a prime contender for nostalgic workin’ in the comic-book store time-travelin’ to ’77, but somethin’ extra-magical and extra-special about the CE3K soundtrack, with it’s crescendo of “When You Wish Upon A Star” at the end. Chills every time-Awesome.
And the CE3K pop/disco version rocks too! As well as the Meco Star Wars Theme/ Cantina Band 12″ Disco Mix. I put those two on along with Love’s Theme by The Love Unlimited Orchestra , and I am right back in the sweet ’77, eh.
Great post, thanks, Daren!
LLP,
deg
June 20th, 2009 on 12:47 pm
There’s a lil’ P-40 on the mothership as well, for 1941, and a mailbox (no idea), and some other stuff as well, that I recall seein’ in the Cinefex article at the time, eh.
PLL,
deg
June 20th, 2009 on 10:56 pm
What a coincidence. I’m watching old footage of Hynek in that Peter Jenning’s UFO special, being rebroadcast tonight on National Geographic, literally right now.
One word sums up “Close Encounters” for me – “wonder” – and its been so since I was a kid. It is sort of the brighter sister of Spielberg’s “Poltergeist” a few years down the road, which touches a lot of the same nerves as “Close Encounters” but turns them in a dark direction. I recently re-watched “Close Encounters” for the first time in many, many years on Turner Classic Movies, and it all came flooding back to me. I wonder sometimes if people remember it since it wasn’t “franchised” like so many sci-fi films of the period. I know the studio re-released different cuts of it to make their bank, but it hasn’t been sequelized, prequelized, remade, rebooted, re-imagined, turned into a TV series and a series of paperback novels and comic books, and on and on. It remains “pure” and a truly wonderful example of what the name “Spielberg” really used to stand for.
I suppose its a silly thing to be appreciative of, but I am so glad I grew up when I did, getting to have my little imagination opened up to worlds of wonder and possibility by the genuinely great films that were springing up left and right in the 15 years or so that I was a kid. Those were magic years and magic films, being made by people of vision who had something to say.