Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut.

The film depicts the story of Roy Neary, an everyday blue-collar worker in Indiana, whose life changes after an encounter with an unidentified flying object, and Jillian, a single mother whose three-year-old son was also abducted by a UFO.

Though Spielberg received sole credit for the script, he was assisted by Paul Schrader, John Hill, David Giler, Hal Barwood, Matthew Robbins, and Jerry Belson, all of whom contributed to the screenplay in varying degrees.

In December 2007, it was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

[11] In 1977, French scientist Claude Lacombe, along with interpreter and cartographer David Laughlin, examine Flight 19—a group of United States Navy aircraft that vanished over the Bermuda Triangle in 1945—now found immaculate and abandoned in the Sonoran Desert.

The US Army evacuates the area around Devils Tower, planting false reports in the media that a train wreck has spilled a toxic nerve gas, while actually preparing a secret landing site for the UFOs.

A hatch opens, from which various humans and animals are released, seemingly having not aged since they were taken, including World War II pilots, Cotopaxi sailors, and Barry, who reunites with Jillian.

[20] In 1970, he wrote the short story "Experiences" about a lovers' lane in a Midwestern farming community and the "light show" a group of teenagers see in the night sky.

"[21] Borrowing a phrase from the ending of The Thing from Another World, he retitled the film Watch the Skies, rewriting the premise concerning Project Blue Book and pitching the concept to Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz.

[3] Schrader submitted his script, which Spielberg called "one of the most embarrassing screenplays ever professionally turned in to a major film studio or director" and "a terribly guilt-ridden story not about UFOs at all".

[15] Titled Kingdom Come, the script's protagonist was a 45-year-old Air Force officer named Paul Van Owen who worked with Project Blue Book.

Unusual in filmmaking, Spielberg carried enough influence to maintain creative control over the film's entire branding and asked Perri to design the advertising campaign and title sequence based on his logo.

The Sonora Desert sequence was photographed at the Dumont Dunes, California, and the Dharmsala-India exteriors were filmed at the small village of Hal near Khalapur, 35 kilometres (22 mi) outside Mumbai, India.

[32] Cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond said that, during shooting, Spielberg got more ideas by watching films every night, which in turn extended the production schedule because he was continually adding new scenes.

In her 1991 book You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, producer Julia Phillips wrote highly profane remarks about Spielberg, Zsigmond, and Truffaut, because she was fired during post-production due to a cocaine addiction.

[35] Williams wrote more than 300 examples of the iconic five-tone motif, to be used by scientists to communicate with the visiting spaceship as a mathematical language, before Spielberg chose the one incorporated into the film's signature theme.

[37] Vice President of Engineering at ARP Instruments, Phillip Dodds, was sent to install the unit on the film set and was subsequently cast as Jean Claude, the musician who plays the sequence on the huge synthesizer in an attempt to communicate with the extraterrestrial mothership.

[38] Spielberg initially included Cliff Edwards's original "When You Wish upon a Star" from Pinocchio in the closing credits, but after a Dallas preview where several members of the audience audibly snickered at the inclusion, the song was dropped and replaced with Williams's orchestral version.

[45] Spielberg explained, "I wanted to make Close Encounters a very accessible story about the everyday individual who has a sighting that overturns his life, and throws it into complete upheaval as he starts to become more and more obsessed with this experience.

[45] Roy's obsession with an idea implanted by an extraterrestrial intelligence, his construction of the model, and his gradual loss of contact with his wife, mimic the events in the short story "Dulcie and Decorum" (1955) by Damon Knight.

[56][31] Released in conjunction with Close Encounters of the Third Kind was a novelization of the film, credited solely to Steven Spielberg but largely ghostwritten by Leslie Waller.

[58] A.D. Murphy of Variety magazine gave a positive review but wrote that Close Encounters "lacks the warmth and humanity" of George Lucas's Star Wars.

Siskel praised the message of not being "afraid of the unknown", said Dreyfuss was "perfectly cast", and described the ending as "a wonderful scene, combining fantasy, adventure and mystery".

[67] This triple-disc LaserDisc set also includes an interactive Making Close Encounters documentary featuring interviews with Spielberg and other cast and crew involved with the film, and stills and script excerpts.

Vincent Misiano reviewed Close Encounters: The Special Edition in Ares Magazine #5 and commented that "Artists in other media have always had the luxury of returning to a piece, reworking and refining it.

[10] A LaserDisc release of the Collector's Edition, on July 14, 1998, includes a new 101-minute documentary, The Making of Close Encounters, which was produced in 1997 and features interviews with Spielberg, the main cast, and notable crew members.

He explained, "The army's knowledge and ensuing cover-up is so subterranean that it would take a creative screen story, perhaps someone else making the picture and giving it the equal time it deserves.

"[24] When asked in 1980 to select a single "master image" that summed up his film career, Spielberg chose the shot of Barry opening his living room door to see the blazing orange light from the UFO.

"[20] In 2007, Close Encounters was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and was added to the National Film Registry for preservation.

[106] Many prominent directors have cited Close Encounters as one of their favorites, among them Stanley Kubrick,[107] Edgar Wright,[108] Bong Joon-ho, Spike Lee,[109] Denis Villeneuve,[110] Guillermo del Toro,[111] Christopher Nolan,[112] Andrew Stanton,[113] Patrick Read Johnson and Michael Williams.