Close Encounters of the Third Kind – Special Edition

The years since 1977 have shrunk Star Wars, but Close Encounters looks more classic than ever, an insane burst of cinematic optimism which somehow combines Disney and '50s SF and the imagery of junk food into the most persuasive (if arrested) version of the American dream yet accomplished. Now Spielberg has added some new special effects, but more importantly, he has cut and altered the central section concerning Dreyfuss' obsession with the image of Devil's Tower, Wyoming. These scenes, formerly hysterical and unconvincing, are now more potent, leaving Truffaut's slightly mannered performance as one of the film's few awkward areas. It is now also easier, following Spielberg's 1941, to see why Close Encounters works so well: the child's bedroom scene where all the toys come alive has more adrenalin in it than a dozen demolitions.