--- description: "Close Encounters offers proof, if any were needed, that Spielberg's reputation is no accident," TIME noted of the now-classic film. title: Read TIME's Original 1977 Review of 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c92757728838f3/6988e5084ee2620dc830fb41/close-encounters.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [movies](/tag/movies/) ## movies Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ at 40: The Movie That Proved 'Spielberg's Reputation Is No Accident'  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 15, 2017 2:00 PM CUT  Cary Guffey on the set of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" Cary Guffey on the set of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"Sunset Boulevard / Corbis / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 15, 2017 2:00 PM CUT When _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ premiered in New York City on Nov. 15, 1977 — 40 years ago this Wednesday — filmmaker Steven Spielberg, though not yet 30, already had a reputation to uphold. His [_Jaws_](http://time.com/3894762/jaws-1975-review/ "undefined") had been such a massive hit in 1975 that his new film would be judged on standards that hardly any movie could match. Given its UFO-centric subject matter, the [1977 success of _Star Wars,_](http://time.com/3836877/1977-star-wars-facts/ "undefined") which had cost about half as much as _Close Encounters_ to make, only added to the pressure. So it was no secret that extreme measures were taken to make sure the movie remained a surprise. The cast didn’t discuss the plot with the press, and the set was closely guarded. Those moves paid off, as Frank Rich [pointed out for TIME](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-11-07/page/120/ "undefined") when the film was released, as “the secret turns out to have been worth keeping”: --- > “” --- But, as the TIME story explained, some of that secrecy about the plot wasn’t so much a matter of protecting a surprise as it was a matter of confusion. The now-classic film, which Spielberg identified by genre as an “adventure thriller,” follows several characters in their quests to achieve direct contact — the titular degree of close encounter — with extraterrestrials. But what exactly was going on in the story was opaque even to some of the movie’s stars. “I never really tried to figure out what my role meant,” said French director François Truffaut, whom Spielberg had cast in one of the roles. “I know I was there a lot, but like Greta Garbo, I can say only that I had the feeling of waiting.” (One group of fans, however, got the meaning perhaps a little too well, TIME later reported, as the movie contributed to [a real-life increase](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-12-12/page/104/ "undefined") in interest in UFOs.) Still, perhaps it wasn’t necessary to see the deeper meaning of every plot point into order to get the message of the film, encouraging the openness required to hope for a meeting between beings. “In Spielberg’s benign view, the confrontation between human and alien is an ecstatic evolutionary adventure, rather than a potentially lethal star war; it is a wondrous opportunity for man to be reborn,” Rich wrote. “When the earthlings and the visitors at last communicate in the film, bellowing ‘Hello’ to each other in bursts of light and music, it is like hearing a child speak for the first time — or, as one character explains, it is ‘the first day of school.'” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5015537/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-1977/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5015537/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-1977/"},"headline":"Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 40: The Movie That Proved 'Spielberg's Reputation Is No Accident'","datePublished":"2017-11-15T14:00:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:10:00.665Z","description":"Read TIME's original 1977 review of the Spielberg classic","url":"https://time.com/5015537/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-1977/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c92757728838f3/6988e5084ee2620dc830fb41/close-encounters.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc6c92757728838f3/6988e5084ee2620dc830fb41/close-encounters.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close Encounters of the Third Kind","caption":"On the Set of \"Close Encounters of the Third Kind\"","creditText":"Sunset Boulevard / Corbis / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5015537/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-1977/","name":"Close Encounters of the Third Kind at 40: The Movie That Proved 'Spielberg's Reputation Is No Accident'"}}]}] ```