30th Anniversary Edition of 'Close Encounters' Touching Down Soon!

Scott,

You're still here. I told you to go home and relax. But as long as you're still posting...
I'll have to put my jokes on hold because CETK is one of my favorite films and I too bought the previous DVD as soon as it came out.

Perhaps this is not the place for serious discussion but the one thing that has always bothered me about Roy Neary's character is that at the end after the previous abductees have been released and one realizes that they were gone (with the exception of the little boy) for decades Roy still willingly goes with them - effectively abandoning his children and wife. It strikes me as shortsightedly selfish. I think the film would have worked better for me if he had stayed, just as Melinda Dillon does. In fact, her staying makes the contrast even starker. Of course, if one is telling the tale of obsession (as Spielberg is here) I can understand Neary going but because nothing in his character was built up to be selfish I believe his sense of responsibility would have overwhelmed his sense of curiosity.

The same conundrum faces George C. Scott at the end of THE HOSPITAL: Run off with Diana Rigg to the hills or stay and do your duty. He stays of course. Same with Timothy Bottoms in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. Because of that those films strike a sense of reality with me that CETK does not. Most people want to do something, anything amazing and adventurous but our responsibility to ourselves and loved ones keeps us from doing it. I think that's where Spielberg missed the boat - or perhaps the Mother Ship(?).

Otherwise a great film and a science fiction classic.

Thanks for the post.

Jonathan Lapper
http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com

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"...at the end after the previous abductees have been released and one realizes that they were gone (with the exception of the little boy) for decades Roy still willingly goes with them - effectively abandoning his children and wife. It strikes me as shortsightedly selfish."

I think you missed the point entirely. The movie up to that point kept showing how out of touch Roy was with his family. Its kind of an 'ugly duckling' scenario, Roy has this family, but he doesn't really belong with them. At the end, he finally finds somebody who understands him... who wants and accepts him for who he is.

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Scotty, don't fret over those "HD exclusives" - the 1977 featurette and the trailer are both on the two-discer you already own. So's the making-of, in fact, so it looks like, apart from the new interview, the only real reason for this set is to get all the cuts of the movie together in one collection.

Which is good, because I prefer the original 1977 version over the others, but other than that? Meh.

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Rekres,

I see what you're saying but for me, there is nothing in the first part of the movie before his obssession begins that shows him to be a bad family man, someone who doesn't belong. And even if it did, and the aliens gave him everything he ever desired, his kids still need him. That's my point. I realize it was a director/writer's (both Spielberg) decision and I think the film is a masterpiece regardless. It just rubs me the wrong way that's all. Spielberg himself says in the doc on the dvd if he did it again now Roy Neary would not go because now that he (Spielberg) is a family man the ending bothers him as well.

Jonathan Lapper
http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com

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Whoa, how did that last comment double post - Scott, delete it.

Here's what I wrote that somehow didn't post:

Police Academy 7 - Now Scott is someone who cares.

Anyway, I'll say that both you (Scott) and Rekres have fine points as to why he gets on the ship, either compulsion or a need or acceptance that's fulfilled. I agree with both of you that those are probably the reasons, and I'm sure that's what Spielberg intended. But as I said before, it just feels wrong to me, that's all.

Now as to "Police Academy 7", I found it lacking the poetry and subtlety, the fluidity of camerawork and beautifully expressed longing for love in a cold, indifferent world that made "Police Academy" such a classic.

Jonathan Lapper
http://cinemastyles.blogspot.com

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Scott, I totally agree with your take on Neary. I always thought he went because something inside of him compelled him to go. Just like his growing obsession with the visitations grew from mild curiosity to outright abandon, there was no resisting when the ship finally landed and he had an opportunity to go inside.

The other trend I'm getting tired of is the trend of only releasing an HD version in one format or the other, regardless of which one the studio has aligned itself with. I think that pisses me off even more than HD only features. I'm leaning more towards HD-DVD than Blu-Ray at this point (sorry Sony, you screwed me toooooo bad with Beta) but I feel it should be up to the consumer to decide which format eventually dominates, NOT the companies producing it. If you don't have the common decency to form a consortium and go with one format from the beginning then strong-arming your customers isn't being fair to them either. Let the market work its magic and believe me, sooner or later the public will decide for itself. All these so called format wars are doing is pissing people off and turning them away from an otherwise amazing viewing experience.

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Jonathan; yeah, that struck a nerve with me too, after watching the film for the first time in over 15 years after I married and had kids (three, coincidentally). It was tough for me to watch it. Seeing the way the eldest son looked at Roy as he left; realizing that was the last time any of them would (likely) see him, it was gut wrenching for me.

Still, agreed; it is a classic, even a masterpiece, film. I still think one of my favorite sequences is one of the openers, with the air traffic controllers. Incredibly suspenseful without showing a damn thing. Brilliant filmmaking.

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