Movie Review: ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ still exist on TCM

Even if it didn’t contain five of the most famous music notes in movie history, “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” would be one of the most memorable science-fiction movies yet made.

Turner Classic Movies presents the 1977 blockbuster on Saturday, July 6, as part of a “We Come in Peace” double feature of alien tales that concludes with 1951’s “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” Steven Spielberg’s name was a huge selling point for “Close Encounters” after his monstrous success with “Jaws,” and audiences were eager to see what the filmmaker would come up with next.

Director Spielberg imbued the story about alien-spacecraft sightings on Earth, which he also wrote, with a humanity that has been a trademark of his career. He reunited with two of his “Jaws” collaborators — star Richard Dreyfuss and composer John Williams — to tell the story of several people whose lives are changed, understandably, by unusual experiences eventually traced to the presence of extraterrestrials in our orbit.

On one of her best screen roles, the late Melinda Dillon plays a mother distraught when her young son (Cary Guffey) vanishes in the wake of an at-home light show stunning enough to beat anything ever put forth on a stage. However, much of the plot centers on the utility-company worker portrayed by Dreyfuss.

After the truck that he’s in shakes, rattles and almost rolls during a bizarre outage of all power sources in his area, he becomes obsessed with visions of an enormous mountain, making models of it ... even one out of mashed potatoes at the family dinner table. He starts to wonder whether he’s going crazy, but a team of scientists (including one played by iconic French moviemaker Francois Truffaut) also is getting signals about possible UFOs.