Principal cast
Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, François Truffaut as Claude Lacombe, Teri Garr as Ronnie Neary, Melinda Dillon as Jillian Guiler, and Bob Balaban as David Laughlin
Film 64 of 244 on the Screen Path
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
We are not alone.
About the film
Close Encounters of the Third Kind at a glance.
Screen Path places this 1977 film at stop 64 in one curated journey through cinema. The learning experience adds context before you watch and deeper analysis after.
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Key craft credits
Douglas Slocombe (director of photography), Vilmos Zsigmond (director of photography), William A. Fraker (director of photography), Michael Kahn (editor), and John Williams (original music composer)
- Director
- Steven Spielberg
- Release
- 1977-12-14
- Runtime
- 137 minutes
- Genres
- Science Fiction and Drama
- Country
- United States
- Quiz
- 50 questions
The Screen Path journey
Before. After. Remember.
The featured film is watched outside Screen Path. The app provides the learning experience around it: a guide, an analysis, and a quiz with explanations.
01
Before you watch
Start with a spoiler-free video guide to the context and filmmaking choices worth noticing.
Spoiler-free02
After the film
Return after watching for a deeper video analysis of craft, meaning, and legacy.
Contains spoilers03
Quiz yourself
Answer 50 questions with clear rationales designed to make the ideas stick.
50 questions in this journeyWant to try a complete journey on the web? The Citizen Kane page includes the spoiler-free guide, after-film analysis, and a sample quiz.
Try Citizen Kane →Film data and images provided by TMDB. This product uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB.