Wednesday, November 16, 1977

Close Encounters of the Third Kind released

Close Encounters of the Third Kind


Released: November 16, 1977


Studio: Columbia


Genre: sci-fi


Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 135.20 Worldwide: 306.90


Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 548.66 Worldwide: 1191.00

Directing: Steven Spielberg


Screenwriting: Steven Spielberg


Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Cary Guffey, Teri Garr


Review:

Director/screenwriter delivers yet another blockbuster which wowed critics as well. This “A science-fiction epic and adventure story” FS “celebrates the possibility of friendly extraterrestrial life.” A98

Roy Neary is a utilities lineman from Indiana who “is confronted by a UFO on a deserted road at night as he investigates a power outage.” FS Because of the “near-religious, life-transforming experience” FS he is consumed by “the possibility of extra-terrestrial life after a brief encounter with them.” A07

“He becomes obsessed with unexplained, mountainous shapes, and five musical notes. By piecing together clues, he is ultimately led to a rendezvous on Devils Tower in Wyoming with Jillian (Dillon), a mother whose young boy Barry (Guffey) was kidnapped by the aliens. There in the exhilarating climax, they witness an arriving spacecraft, the dazzling mother-ship, greeted by a top-secret scientific establishment led by Claude Lacombe (Truffaut).” FS


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Awards:


Oscars:

Wins: 1 – Best Cinematography. Also a Special Achievement Award for Sound Effects Editing

Nominations: 8 – including Best Director, Best Supporting Actress (Dillon), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Sound, Best Original Score, Best Film Editing, Best Visual Effects


Other Lists/Honors:


First posted 6/2/2023.

Friday, November 4, 1977

50 years ago: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, a silent movie masterpiece, released

Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans


Released: November 4, 1927


Studio: Twentieth Century-Fox


Genre: drama/romance/silent


Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --


Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: F.W. Murnau


Screenwriting: Carl Mayer


Starring: George O’Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston



Review:

This is “considered a silent movie masterpiece,” MSN “an artistic, poignant, brilliantly-filmed, expressionistic, landmark.” FS It was actually “the first movie to use synchronized sound-on-film with a musical score.” MSN It was overshadowed at the box office because it premiered just days before the release of The Jazz Singer, the first talkie. MSN

The screenplay, based on a story by Hermann Suderman, tells a “fable-like story” MSN “of redemption and forgiveness.” A07 A married farmer (O’Brien) is tempted by “a vampish seductress (Livingston).” FS He plans to drown “his pure, innocent wife (Gaynor)” FS but “realizes his love for his wife and can’t complete the act.” FS

The “attempted murder is only the start; two thirds of the movie is actually about a couple making up.” T95 On their way home in the rowboat, “a storm looms up and takes her from him – a seemingly-just punishment from Fate itself.” FS “A cavalcade of urban images and horrific storms almost destroy the farmer when he thinks his wife is lost at sea in this expressionistic masterpiece.” A07

“The tension is allowed to drop in a glorious jazz-age city sequence, and then twisted into breaking-point as a journey of murderous rage is repeated. But its dreamlike realism is also to be enjoyed: when lovers appear to walk across a crowded city street, into (superimposed) fields, and back to kiss in a traffic jam, you have an example of True Love styled to cinema perfection. Simple, and intense images of unequaled beauty.” T95

This is a “triumph of direction, camerawork, art direction, and performances, all hauntingly beautiful.” LM “The poetic cinematography by Oscar-winners Karl Struss and Charles Rosher makes Janet Gaynor’s feat in ascending above a thankless role all the more amazing, and puts a definite thrill into George O’Brien’s transformation from homicidal lout to reborn romantic.” ML


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Awards:


Oscars:

Wins: 3 – Unique and Artistic Picture (a second ‘Best Picture’ Award), Best Actress (Gaynor), and Best Cinematography

Nominations: 4 – including Best Interior Decoration


Other Lists/Honors:

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Critics’ Picks:


First posted 6/3/2023.