I am a huge Spielberg fan, but this films has always been one I was the least familiar with, for some reason. I have rediscovered it now, thanks to DVD, and am kicking myself for not getting better acquainted with it after all these years. It isn't a stretch to say that Close Encounters may be the best Alien movie. Spielberg also wrote the film(and why hasn't he written a truckload more?), and it's a wonderful accomplishment still after 30 years. The great Richard Dreyfuss stars as Roy Neery, a middle class, suburban husband and father who has a 'close encounter' when UFO's begin to come into his town of Muncie, Indiana. And what a great scene that is!. Roy and a few others, including single mom Melinda Dillon(A Christmas Story), end up with a connection to the UFO's as the aliens inside try to make contact with earthlings. Spielberg has a great sense of feeling and wonder thru the entire film. He shows us how this could be taken in two ways. One, he gives us the whimsical, fantastical, awe-inspiring side, and with a fantastic sequence in Dillon's house with her son, also gives us how this can be frightening and scary. One look at that scene and you can see how this movie heavily influenced Shyamalan's "Signs". The movie was made 30 years ago, but it holds up strongly. It's 30 year old story and effects are more affective than a lot of the films today with millions of dollars and fancy new technology. Dreyfuss is always good, and he's great here as Neery. Teri Garr plays his wife. The home life aspect of the fillm doesn't work for some, but it's part of what made the movie to me. Seeing how this normal, average joe gets sucked up in this obsession and how it starts to affect the family life. Garr doesn't get a whole lot here, but she seems to get across that she is a woman who doesn't know what to do. The late director Francois Truffaut plays a scientist, along with Bob Balaban, tracking the UFO's and the strange occurences that have happened around the world. The score by Spielberg mainstay, John Williams, is another success in his long cannon of work. Beautiful and haunting, and who will forget those few chords?. The end is still remarkably fresh and amazing, and the mother ship itself is more cool and impressive than a lot of what we can see nowadays in movies. It's grand entrance is still amazing and a great accomplishment in filmmaking. The smaller ships that come and go are equally fun and well done. Close Encounters has a lot of great things going for it. There are a number of great/classic scenes, a wonderful score, good acting, and a sense of awe and wonder that Spielberg is so brilliant at capturing. You gotta love early, 1975-82, Spielberg. The fact that this movie remains to be so good and touching and amazing 30 years on and before all the studio money that goes out nowadays is a testament to the film and Spielberg's talents. A true classic.