[Image](https://www.tvinsider.com/show/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind/#key-art)
This film was Steven Spielberg's first super production and his first box-office success, and he was also the director and screenwriter.
At a time when aliens were seen as a threat and science fiction novels and movies touted the attack of these beings, Spielberg presented some different ones that instead of attacking us wanted to help us.
[Image](https://www.space.com/close-encounters-of-the-third-kind-still-holds-up)
Although the special effects were not spectacular, for the time they meant a new staging that earned him an Oscar nomination for best visual effects.
The plot revolves around an electric company employee who is abducted by a UFO and after this experience is fascinated by the subject and the mental image of a mountain and five strange musical notes.
Roy Neary who is the name of the same and is played by Richard Dreyfuss begins to model this, on the other hand Jillian Guiller also makes sketches of the same mountain and his son Barry Guiler is also abducted by a UFO.
[Image](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tcm.com%2Ftcmdb%2Ftitle%2F4492%2Fclose-encounters-of-the-third-kind%2F&psig=AOvVaw1RsTOfjiuYXqH19r_6uLvl&ust=1682610090209000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CBEQjRxqFwoTCNCs2pbxx_4CFQAAAAAdAAAAABBQ)
The derailment of a train near Devil's Tower in Wyoming, which is broadcast on television news, shows Roy, Jillian and other people that this is the mountain that appeared in their mental images and by different ways they and others head to the place.
In the end they get that other scientists along with the government have arranged a rendezvous with the aliens in that place, which is with all the necessary infrastructure for the big event.
Columbia Pictures executives were not so confident about the success, but the more than 400 million in box office proved them wrong, saving the studio from bankruptcy in the process.
[Image](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=closeencountersofthethirdkind2022&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=)
The film made the extraterrestrial theme fashionable, which a few years later Spielberg himself would bring back to fruition with the success of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, obtained 8 Oscar nominations, winning Best Cinematography and was the first time that this director was a candidate for the statuette as Best Director, something he finally achieved in 1994 with Schindler's List, repeating in 1999 with Saving Private Ryan.
[Image](https://www.intofilm.org/films/2775)Perhaps in the 21st century and with the advanced technology and special effects, as well as the frequency of the theme, its value may not be so appreciated, but this production opened the doors for other types of science fiction stories, which in that year saw the birth of the successful Star Wars saga.
