Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Steven Spielberg’s follow-up to Jaws not only set the box office ablaze but solidified his reputation as Hollywood’s foremost poet of wonder. When Indiana lineman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) experiences a mysterious encounter with an unidentified flying object, he becomes consumed by a vision he cannot explain, joining a growing chorus of dreamers, obsessives, and true believers drawn toward an extraordinary rendezvous. Rejecting the paranoia and hostility that had long defined cinematic extraterrestrials, Spielberg instead approaches first contact with awe, curiosity, and childlike amazement. Blending suburban drama, science-fiction spectacle, and spiritual quest, Close Encounters of the Third Kind remains one of the defining moviegoing experiences of the New Hollywood era. A dazzling affirmation of humanity’s capacity for wonder.