RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
RT's Blu-ray HQ
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | In Theaters
  • | Opening
  • | Upcoming
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Get this Movie
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
95 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:39

Fresh:37

Rotten:2

Average Rating:8.7/10

Consensus: Close Encounters' most iconic bits (the theme, the mashed-potato sculpture, etc.) have been so thoroughly absorbed into the culture that it's easy to forget that its treatment of aliens as peaceful beings rather than warmongering monsters was somewhat groundbreaking in 1977.

Runtime: 6 hrs 44 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg's extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a... CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg's extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a UFO on an abandoned road one night. Against the wishes of his wife (Teri Garr) and children, Neary, along with another witness to the sighting (Melinda Dillon), travels to a mysterious mountain where the government has built a landing strip hoping to attract the aliens. Director François Truffaut costars as Claude Lacombe, one of the organizers of the project. Spielberg hoped to follow up the huge success of JAWS with a low-budget film that would be an easy shoot, but, thanks in part to the complicated special effects, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS quickly snowballed into being an expensive endeavor but a commercial and artistic success. No one who has seen the film has ever looked at a plate of mashed potatotes the same way again. [More]

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, Pat McNamara, Warren Kemmerling, Roberts Blossom, Lance Henriksen, Carl Weathers

Director: Steven Spielberg

Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Steven Spielberg
Producer: Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
Composer: John Williams

[See More Credits]

Get This Movie

Rent DVD
 
 

Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.

 
 
Buy DVD
 
 
Release:

Nov 13, 2007

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Close Encounters of the Third Kind

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
21 - 39 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Build a monolith, and they will come.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle

No review available.

comment 2 Comments
01/12/03
Josh Ralske
Josh Ralske
All Movie Guide

Viewing Close Encounters we are reduced to a childlike perception, overwhelmed by the luster and might of the vision before us.

Full Review Source: Not Coming to a Theater Near You | comment Comment
11/19/02
Rumsey Taylor
Rumsey Taylor
Not Coming to a Theater Near You

Definitive cut of director Steven Spielberg's masterpiece isn't just great science fiction: It's great art.

Full Review Source: Netflix | comment Comment
11/07/02
James Rocchi
James Rocchi
Netflix

Real smart and touching, in an unusual way.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

Masterwork thriller about UFOs.

Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | comment Comment
09/01/02
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is unquestionably a great movie.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
07/11/02
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A thrilling adventure story and a brilliant example of the art and craft of movie making.

Full Review Source: Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
05/11/02
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

By the end, we’re swept away by the wonder of discovery; it's enough to thrill even a sci-fi sceptic.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
07/25/01
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

Saturated with imagery that fascinates, terrifies, and utterly consumes the viewer with the desire to discover the secret that's eating away at the on-screen characters.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
06/27/01
Almar Haflidason
Almar Haflidason
BBC

Spielberg is nothing if not adept at punching our buttons and making us puppets in his hands.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/30/01
James Brundage
James Brundage
Filmcritic.com

The film...lacks blockbuster detachment.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
05/21/01
Bill Chambers
Bill Chambers
Film Freak Central

...a masterful motion picture all around...where the interactions of its characters are equally important as the wizardry of the special effects.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
05/18/01
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a humanistic postmodern masterpiece.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
01/01/00
TV Guide's Movie Guide

[A] great movie, and one of the rare uplifting experiences in modern cinema.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews

. . . this is thrill-a-minute stuff.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Neil Jeffries
Neil Jeffries
Empire Magazine

May be the greatest film ever made about the meeting of the rational and the mystical.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

This 'collector's edition' will probably go down in film history as the definitive one unless, like me, you think the movie works best in its original version, wherein the special effects of adult delinquency are left unknown.

Full Review Source: Nashville Scene | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Nelson
Rob Nelson
Nashville Scene

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) is director/writer Steven Spielberg's first film after the enormously successful Jaws (1975).

Full Review Source: Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films | comment Comment
01/01/00
Tim Dirks
Tim Dirks
Tim Dirks' The Greatest Films
 
 
21 - 39 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2
all

Latest News for Close Encounters of the Third Kind

January 03, 2008: New Indy 4 Interviews, Pictures Online!
May 22 still feels awfully far away, but if the nearly six-month gap between your eyeballs and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has you feeling forlorn, fear... More...

December 13, 2007: Jurassic Park T-Rex, Life-Sized Terminator, More Up For Auction
This Christmas, we're asking Santa for Sam Jackson's Star Wars: Episode III lightsaber, Neo's Matrix Reloaded coat, and a full scale T-800 Terminator 2 endoskeleton for that... More...

June 28, 2005: Critical Consensus: Aliens Invade, Critics Cheer
Steven Spielberg has made a couple movies -- Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. -- about benevolent aliens who come in peace and gently help us to reflect on our place... More...

See All

More DVDs

Close
Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
68% 68% Funny People
25% 25% Four Christmases
45% 45% Shorts

More New Releases…

See All

RT On Current TV

The Rotten Tomatoes Show on Current TV

DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...

Learn how you can be part of the show

More...

What’s Hot On RT

Total Recall

Total Recall

John Travolta's top reviewed movies

Disney Countdown

Disney Countdown

Look back on Disney's best animated movies!

RT's Gift Guide

RT's Gift Guide

Give the best movies, gear, and more!

What's Coming Out

What's Coming Out

Find movies for the holiday weekend!

Other News

Close
  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
54
  • First Look (Sort Of) at New Nightmare's Freddy Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com
24
  • First Look at Shrek Forever After Source: USA Today
48
  • Woody Harrelson Will Battle Zombies in 3-D Source: Moviehole
26
  • Natalie Portman Says Kat Denning Is in Thor Source: MTV
34
  • Disney Restructuring Has Broad Implications Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Joel Silver Talks Ninja Assassin, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, and More Source: Collider.com
1
  • Weekly Ketchup: Idris Elba cast in Thor, more Spider-Man 4 rumors
128
  • Idris Elba Joins Thor Source: Hollywood Reporter
112
  • Jackass 3D Coming in 2010? Source: Collider.com
32
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: New Moon Shatters Records
182
  • Total Recall: John Travolta's Best Movies
92
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
82
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
81
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
70
  • Critics Consensus: Flee From Ninja Assassin
45
  • WB offers DVD to Blu-ray Trade-In Program
33
  • RT's Blu-ray Picks from WB
22
  • Five Favorite Films With Zombieland Director Ruben Fleischer
22
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Angels & Demons, Funny People, and Superman
19
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
16
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
21
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
8
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind at IGN

Fresh Links

Featured
Wes Anderson on Fox
Wes Anderson on Fox External Link

The director talks about puppetry perfection and his film, Fantastic Mr. Fox

Animated Oscar?
Animated Oscar? External Link

Hollywood.com ponders whether or not an animated film could win Best Picture.

TIME's Holiday Movie Preview
TIME's Holiday Movie Preview External Link

Richard Corliss previews the season's best offerings and hottest tickets.

Scenic Routes
Scenic Routes External Link

The AV Club's Mike D'Angelo airs his beefs with Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men.

Promos
Follow RT on Twitter
Follow RT on Twitter External Link

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Games| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.