Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 film about a man who, in common with numerous people, witnessed unidentified flying objects.
 * Written and directed by Steven Spielberg.

We are not alone. Taglines

Roy Neary

 * Honey... Ronnie... Wake up. You're not gonna believe what I saw!... I never would have believed it. There was this, uh, in the cab, there was this... it was a red whoosh... You know those pictures in the National Geographic about the Aurora Borealis? This is better than that! Come on! Ronnie, I need you to see something with me. It's really important. [wakes his kids] Sylvia, come on. We're going on a little adventure. Toby! Brad! Come on. Get up. Up!... It's better than Goofy Golf! Come on!


 * I know this sounds crazy, but ever since yesterday on the road, I've been seeing this shape. Shaving cream, pillows...Dammit! I know this. I know what this is! This means something. This is important.


 * I figured it out, that's all. Will you just listen?... Have you ever looked at something and it's crazy, and then you looked at it in another way and it's not crazy at all?... Don't be scared. Just don't be scared. I feel really good. Everything's gonna be all right. I haven't felt this good in years.

Others

 * Old Man: [about the UFOs] They can fly rings around the moon, but we're years ahead of them on the highway.


 * Major Benchley: [holding up a photo] Ladies and gentlemen, this is a flying saucer. It's made of pewter, made in Japan, and thrown across the lawn by one of my children. I just wanted to point that out to you to show that we're not all polished brass about these things. Also to make a point that last year, Americans shot more than seven billion photographs at a record of 6.6 billion dollars for film, equipment and processing. Now with all those shutters clicking, where is the indisputable, photographic evidence?


 * Laughlin: We didn't choose this place! We didn't choose these people! They were invited!

Dialogue

 * Laughlin: What the hell is happening here?
 * Project Leader: It's that training mission from the Naval Air Station in Ft. Lauderdale.
 * Laughlin: Who flies crates like these anymore?
 * Project Leader: No one. These planes were reported missing in 1945.
 * Laughlin: But it looks brand new. Where's the pilot? I don't understand. Where's the crew? Hey! How the hell did it get here?


 * Old Man: ¡El sol salió anoche y me cantó!
 * Translator: He says the sun came out last night. He says it sang to him.
 * [Literally: The sun came out last night and sang to me! ]


 * Supervisor: Ask them if they want to report officially.
 * Air Traffic Controller: TWA 517, do you want to report a UFO? Over. TWA 517, do you want to report a UFO? Over.
 * TWA Pilot: Negative. We don't want to report.
 * Air Traffic Controller: AirEast 31, do you wish to report a UFO? Over.
 * AirEast Pilot: Negative. We don't want to report one of those, either.
 * Air Traffic Controller: AirEast 31, do you wish to file a report of any kind to us?
 * AirEast Pilot: I wouldn't know what kind of report to file, Center.
 * Air Traffic Controller: AirEast 31, me neither.


 * Roy: Look, I'm gonna give you your choice, I'm not gonna be biased in any way. Tomorrow night you can either play Goofy Golf, which is a lot of standing in line and shoving and pushing and probably getting a zero, or you can see Pinocchio, which is a lot of furry animals and magic, and you'll have a wonderful time. Okay? Now, let's vote.
 * Brad and Toby: Golf!
 * Ronnie: All right! Everybody to bed!
 * Toby: No way! Dad said we could finish watching The Ten Commandments!
 * Ronnie: Roy, that movie is four hours long.
 * Roy: I told them they'd only watch five commandments.


 * Ronnie: Roy, what did it look like?
 * Roy: It was like an ice cream cone.
 * Ronnie: What flavor?
 * Roy: Orange. It was orange - and it wasn't like an ice cream cone. It was, it was more like a shell. You know, it was like this.
 * Ronnie: Like a taco? Was it like one of those Sara Lee, um, moon-shaped cookies? Those crescent cookies? Don't you think I'm taking this really well? I remember when we used to come to places like this just to look at each other...and snuggle.


 * Roy: Ronnie, all I wanna do is, is, is know what's goin' on.
 * Ronnie: But nothin's going on. It's just one of those things.
 * Roy: Which things? Which things?
 * Ronnie: I don't want to hear about this anymore.
 * Roy: Ronnie, this is very important. I'm not just gonna let it lay here. I'm gonna call somebody about this...I saw something last night that I can't explain.
 * Ronnie: I saw something last night I can't explain.
 * Roy: I'm going out there again tonight, you know.
 * Ronnie: No, you're not.
 * Roy: Yes, I am.
 * Ronnie: No, you're not.


 * Spokesman: Now, there are all kinds of ideas that would be fun to believe in: mental telepathy, time travel, immortality, even Santa Claus. Now I know it's no fun to go home and say: "Guess what happened! I was in a shopping center. There was this tremendously bright light, and I rushed outside, and it was an airplane."
 * Roy: Excuse me, sir. I didn't want to see this.
 * Spokesman: I sure wish I had. You know, for fifteen years I've been looking for these damn silly lights in the night sky. I've never found any. I'd like to, because I believe in life elsewhere.
 * Audience member: Why don't you guys just admit that the Air Force is conducting secret tests in the foothills area?
 * Spokesman: It would be easy to say yes to that, but I'm not going to mislead you. This is not the case. To tell you the truth, I don't know what you saw.
 * Roy: You can't fool us by agreeing with us.
 * Another witness: I saw Bigfoot once. 1951, back in Sequoia National Park. Had a foot on him thirty-seven inches heel to toe. It made a sound I would not want to hear twice in my life.


 * Laughlin: We need answers from you that are honest, direct, and to the point.
 * Roy: Where's Jillian?
 * Laughlin: [translating for Lacombe] Do you realize the danger that you and your friend have risked? By coming here, you've exposed yourself to toxic gas...
 * Roy: There's nothing wrong with the air.
 * Laughlin: What makes you say that?
 * Roy: I just know. There's nothing wrong with it.
 * Lacombe: Go outside and make me a liar.
 * Roy: Uh, look, I want to talk to the man in charge.
 * Laughlin: Mr. Lacombe is the highest authority.
 * Roy: He isn't even an American.
 * [Roy is shown a drawing of Devil's Tower]
 * Roy: Yeah, I got one just like it in my living room. Who are you people?
 * Laughlin: Have you recently had a close encounter - a close encounter with something very unusual?


 * Laughlin: [about Roy and Jillian] The two of you felt compelled to be here?
 * Roy: Yeah, you might say that.
 * Laughlin: [translating] What did you expect to find?
 * Roy: An answer. That's not crazy, is it? [Laughlin and Lacombe speak to each other in French]...Hold it, hold it, hold it! Is that it? Is that all you're gonna ask me? Well, I got a couple of a thousand damn questions, you know. I want to speak to someone in charge. I want to lodge a complaint. You have no right to make people crazy...If this is nerve gas, how come I know everything in such detail? I've never been here before. How come I know so much? [raising his voice] WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?! WHO THE HELL ARE YOU PEOPLE?!


 * Walsh: You brought in twelve people to the decontamination camp instead of the evacuation center, where they belong. I'd like to know why.
 * Laughlin: Because this means something. These people have come from all over their country to a place they have been told will endanger their lives. Why?
 * Walsh: Because somebody could be trying to subvert this whole operation by sending in fanatics and cultists and Christ knows what all.
 * Laughlin: [while showing sketches of Devils Tower drawn by all the captives] This is a small group of people who have shared a vision in common. Look. [pulls up the shade to reveal the Tower in the window] It's still a mystery to me why they are here. Even they do not know why.


 * Lacombe: I believe that for everyone of these anxious, anguished people who have come here this evening, there must be hundreds of others also touched by the implanted vision who never made it this far. It's simply because they never watched the television. Or perhaps they watched it, but never made the psychic connection.
 * Walsh: It's a coincidence. It's not scientific.
 * Lacombe: Listen to me, Major Walsh, it is an event sociological.


 * Roy: Want to see better?
 * Jillian: I can see fine.
 * Roy: We can't stay here.
 * Jillian: I can.
 * Roy: Why?
 * Jillian: Because, Barry's not here. I'm just not ready.
 * Roy: [impatiently] I can't stay here. I've got to get down there.
 * Jillian: I know. [They kiss quickly and impulsively]


 * Team Lead: Give her six quavers, then pause.
 * Audio Specialist: She sent us four quavers, a group of five quavers, a group of four semi-quavers...
 * Scientist 1: What are we saying to each other?
 * Scientist 2: It seems they're trying to teach us a basic tonal vocabulary.
 * Team Lead: It's the first day of school, fellas. Take everything from the lady. Follow her pattern note for note.


 * [Air Force pilots disembark from the ship.]
 * Scientist: They haven't even aged. Einstein was right.
 * Team Lead: Einstein was probably one of them.


 * Lacombe: Monsieur Neary, what do you want?
 * Roy: I just want to know that it's, it's really happening.
 * Lacombe: I envy you.
 * Lacombe: I envy you.

Taglines

 * We are not alone.


 * Close Encounter of the First Kind - Sighting of a UFO. Close Encounter of the Second Kind - Physical Evidence. Close Encounter of the Third Kind - Contact. WE ARE NOT ALONE

Cast

 * Richard Dreyfuss - Roy Neary
 * François Truffaut - Claude Lacombe
 * Teri Garr - Ronnie Neary
 * Melinda Dillon - Gillian Guiler
 * Bob Balaban - David Laughlin
 * J. Patrick McNamara - Project Leader
 * Cary Guffey - Barry Guiler

About

 * Isaac Asimov: Well, I liked Star Wars. I thought Battlestar Galactica was such a close imitation of Star Wars, emphasizing the less attractive portions, that I was a little impatient with it. And as for Close Encounters, I'm afraid I detested that. It was too noisy and parts of it were just silly.
 * "Southwest Airlines Magazine." (1979)