- Overview
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.
- Release Date
14 December 1977
- DirectingSteven Spielberg
- Budget
$20,000,000.00
- Revenue
$306,889,114.00
- Stars
Videos
User Reviews
See moreIan Beale
23 June 2021
**Do the mashed potato!** Roy Neely is a gas repair man who has a close encounter with an alien craft and begins having strange visions of mashed potatoes, shaving cream and mud mountains. This all leads to Needy's marriage breaking up and he sets out to find the truth about his mashed potato visions. The climax at a mountain is breathtaking when Neely comes face to face with his destiny. One of Spielberg's best with a nice cameo by French director Francois Truffaut.
CinemaSerf
04 June 2023
I always remember as a child hoping/praying that if extra terrestrials ever did come to visit us, that they wouldn't arrive in America. Think "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) or most other sci-fi stories: the first things they would see when they opened their door would be guns, tanks, missiles, soldiers... This film takes a far more sophisticated approach to how we might engage with an alien species, and together with some super effects and a far more nuanced storyline leaves us with room for optimism that we might not just try to shoot first and ask questions afterwards - should anyone ever do arrive. Spielberg was still, in my view anyway, learning his craft when he wrote/directed this and that shows in the real paucity of pace for the first hour. Richard Dreyfuss is adequate, but the constantly amazed/perplexed looks on his face start to become annoying after a while. François Truffaut features now and again - largely as part of a parallel storyline - but really, this only begins to engage in the last thirty minutes when the threads all knit together giving us a clever denouement as the scientists discover an innovative, musical, way to communicate that doesn't involved threats and bullets. Oddly enough, even when I first saw this at the age of 9, I never got any sense of menace from our travellers and the absence of any substantial physical form for us to identify with seems to help keep the magic working. Not John Williams' finest work, I thought the score suffered from the slow rate of progress with the plot but the symbolism and curiosity of spirit this film engenders makes it still, just about, worth sticking though...
More Like This
Night of the Creeps
In 1959, an alien experiment crashes to earth and infects a fraternity member. They freeze the body, but in the modern day, two geeks pledging a...
See more
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster
After a meteorite unleashes a three-headed beast upon Tokyo, Mothra tries to unite with Godzilla and Rodan to battle the extraterrestrial threat.
See more
Pixels
Video game experts are recruited by the military to fight 1980s-era video game characters who've attacked New York.
See more
To Die For
Suzanne Stone wants to be a world-famous news anchor and she is willing to do anything to get what she wants. What she lacks in intelligence, she...
See more
Solaris
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of...
See more
To Kill a Mockingbird
Scout Finch, 6, and her older brother Jem live in sleepy Maycomb, Alabama, spending much of their time with their friend Dill and spying on their...
See more
Titanic
101-year-old Rose DeWitt Bukater tells the story of her life aboard the Titanic, 84 years later. A young Rose boards the ship with her mother and...
See more
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
An alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliot who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the...
See more
Independence Day
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold...
See more
Men in Black
After a police chase with an otherworldly being, a New York City cop is recruited as an agent in a top-secret organization established to monitor...
See more
Men in Black II
Kay and Jay reunite to provide our best, last and only line of defense against a sinister seductress who levels the toughest challenge yet to the...
See more
The Bodyguard
A former Secret Service agent grudgingly takes an assignment to protect a pop idol who's threatened by a crazed fan. At first, the safety-obsessed...
See more
Life Is Beautiful
A touching story of an Italian book seller of Jewish ancestry who lives in his own little fairy tale. His creative and happy life would come to an...
See more
A History of Violence
An average family is thrust into the spotlight after the father commits a seemingly self-defense murder at his diner.
See more
War of the Worlds
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young...
See more
Mars Attacks!
A fleet of Martian spacecraft surrounds the world's major cities and all of humanity waits to see if the extraterrestrial visitors have, as they...
See more
Taxi Driver
A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feed his urge...
See more
Predator
A team of elite commandos on a secret mission in a Central American jungle come to find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.
See more
Donnie Darko
After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a...
See more