dex14

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Anybody planning on seeing it on the big screen?

bluetoast

I'm planning on it. Somehow I've never seen it (despite owning the BD, as usual), so this is a good way to get introduced.

Hulkabrgr

Can't wait to see this on Monday. This is another film that I can take off my theater going bucket list

E Unit

I'm jazzed all the cuts were remastered in 4K and will be on the UHD that way. I'll see if I can make this or not.

TomOpus

Definitely recommend seeing in theatrically.

Dan

This is playing at the closest Dolby Cinema to me. I might have to see it on the big screen while I have a chance.

devilshalo

Which cut is this? The director's or collector's edition? I'm always confused.

dex14

I posted the info in the first post.

devilshalo

Ah ok, so basically the 2 dvd collector's version when it was made available the first time on dvd. I kind of wished it was the original theatrical release which we never see the interior of the ship after Dreyfus walks in, but I think we get the various opening scenes which are filler to me.

james2025a

This is the first movie i remember ever seeing at the cinema (at the grand old age of 3 years old). The one thing i remember about it more than anything was crawling under my seat and talking with the boy in the row behind and being amazed at his new piece of technology....a digital watch. Only time i ever went to the cinema with my mother as well.

Mabuse

I posted this elsewhere, but I am reposting to see if anyone has an answer.

Just saw Close Encounters. I've never seen it on the big screen, and this is the BIG screen. One of the largest in California. The size of the screen and the resolution definitely revealed detail I had never seen before. Also, Ray's first encounter in his truck was amazing. I've seen the scene 100 times, but the intensity of the sound mix made it truely frightening and bewildering. The bass shook the theater. Now I've never seen an original print, was it like that? Or has this restoration boosted the bass?

Ky-Fi

I'll post mine here too, to keep it in one thread.

Mabuse, I'm not sure about the bass on the original print.

**

Saw Close Encounters last night---awesome movie experience. Probably 50 people at a 7 pm showing.

I THINK I saw it in the theaters when it came out; I would have been nine or ten. But if I did, the experience of Star Wars greatly overshadowed Close Encounters for me at that age.

Especially compared to E.T., which I was never really a fan of, I love the largely unsentimental portrayal of the aliens through most of the movie right up until the end. Some of the early scenes, like Roy's encounter in the truck and the aliens abducting the boy from the home are genuinely unnerving and frightening. And the spot-on portrayal of middle-class America in 1977--so realistic.

And of course I love the analogy to artists in general, and filmmakers in particular---Roy is so obsessed with images, feelings, lights, music---that he has to pursue them no matter what the cost.

I also appreciate that there really are no villains in this movie, cardboard or otherwise. Yeah, there is a government conspiracy, but it's not really nefarious. The term "sense of wonder" is thrown around a lot, but I think this movie really does capture that--with great casting, performances and effects to boot.

Abob Teff

I haven't seen it yet and I can't say with any degree of certainty, but I doubt it hit those levels in the original theatrical run. I'm just basing that on technology advancements. When my son and I went to see the Indiana Jones movies over the last few weeks I noticed the picture was great but the sound was rather underwhelming.

If they went to the extent of a 4K restoration, I'm betting the sound has been modernized as well.

Daytripper

Just got back from seeing it at the Uptown here in D.C. Also one of the largest screens in my area. Curved, 70 feet long and 40 feet. And it was great seeing the film in the theater again. Even though I've also seen it on video 173,294 times. But I was really underwhelmed by the sound at the Uptown. I read your post first before going and was excited to have the theater shake. But the sound wasn't loud at all during any part of the movie. The only speakers I could hear were behind the screen. There was no surround sound at all. Not sure why.

hdnmickey

Saw it in the theater on first release, and the second time around as well (SE?). I can distinctly remember the theater really rumbling and rocking during the UFO flights and musical communication scenes. Especially the key scene where all the windows in the booth were blown out by the mother ship. Pretty sure both times it was at the Seattle UA 150 which at the time was supposedly one of the better theaters in the country. My family made a big deal out of going there for every new big release. Saw all the big blockbusters there until they closed it down.

Daytripper

I saw the film in the theaters twice when it first came out. Also here in the D.C. area. And I remember the sound being pretty good. But saw the SE at some theater in Westwood (Los Angeles) and the sound nearly blew the roof off. But then again, movie theaters in L.A. were always better than the ones in D.C. during the 80's. The Uptown was always the place to see a movie for both the size of the screen and it's amazing sound. Which is why I was so surprised had bad it was today.

Mabuse

I can believe the sound was amazing back in the day, I know that there were 70mm 6 track mag prints made for Close Encounters and those had high fidelity.

Meanwhile this rerelease undoubtedly comes with several choices for theaters: Dolby, DTS, SDDS, Atmos. I saw it in an Atmos RDX theater.

Grainy

The deluxe Digital Cinema site lists the DCP theatrical audio as 5.1.

Mabuse

School me on what that means exactly. Im a little rusty on the new formats.

Grainy

Joking maybe?
I pointed it out because if you see it in an "Atmos" theater, it's upmixed not a true Atmos mix. It would be in keeping with its original 70mm mix (hopefully).

TheAllPurposeNothing

Had the good fortune to catch this today. While I had seen it numerous times on various video formats, this was the first time I was able to see it on the big screen. Definitely a film that deserves to be seen big.

It did, however, bring up one pet peeve I have for these special revival screenings. The 10 minute or so behind-the-scenes piece that ran before the movie, which seem to be standard for such screenings, contained visual spoilers for people who have not seen the movie before. It really would make much more sense to place these promotional shorts after the end of the movie instead of assuming that everyone who is seeing it is revisiting it.

Mabuse

I agree 100%. My mother in law and her sister went and saw it today. They are in their 60's and had never seen it. What an awesome opportunity to have your first viewing at this enormous venue, and the stupid retrospective is full of spoilers.

Dan

Yup. Today was my first time seeing it in full, and the featurette ruined the ending and a bunch of other scenes.
Can't really complain since the flick is forty years old... But had I known, I'd have distracted myself from watching that.

Abob Teff

Add me to the list ... while CE3K is one of my favorites, my 20 year old son had never seen it. I sat there during the featurette wondering what he was making of the stuff being shown.

Some random thoughts:

Very happy that I went to see it on the big screen! Sound was good, but we weren't blown away (I was expecting that heavy note in the communication scene to knock us out of our chairs; not even close). The picture was clear (not grainy or "poppy") but I thought it was a bit soft and fuzzy from what I expected.

I don't know if it was seeing it on the big screen or just being forced/allowed to actually focus on the movie, but I found it did evoke some different - and not necessarily positive - emotional reactions from me. I know Spielberg has talked about these things changing in him as he aged, but ... what a douchebag Roy was in his decisions. I understand it pervaded his mind and took over his life. I understand he didn't exactly choose to walk away from his family, but the speed at which he detached after they left was gut wrenching.

Another thing that never bugged me before was the completely inconsistent nature of the aliens, UFOs, and their "powers".

I don't know why, but my favorite scene has always been the air traffic control scene. Maybe it is because it is such a departure from modern filmmaking. Today we would see a CG fest reenactment of the pilots bathed in red cockpit lights and alarms blaring as the UFO buzzed by their plane, with dramatic quick cuts to the other planes. Instead we get a brilliant scene that shows us nothing, stays with a detached observer, and yet completely relays the feelings of all the participants. Sheer brilliance.

Terri Garr was so damned hot.

The mother ship was awestrikingly beautiful while the aliens ... wow, the aliens were bad.

I know the family stories were the emotional heart and soul of the movie, but I would love to see a longer version of the research team and their journey.

DWilson

Films of this period were generally shot to have a "softer" look, -it was the style of the time and there's only so much you can do with that.
The aliens have always been a problem, -I don't know (or have forgotten) why they went with three (or more) styles. The child/little people in costume aliens were never convincing. The long alien is never explained and has always seemed like a distraction. However, the alien who communicates with Truffaut is just terrific.