Is the 1998 Director's Cut of Close Encounters of the Third Kind overwhelmingly better than the 1977 theatrical release, which I remember as quite possibly the hugest letdown of any film I have ever seen, proportional to the amount of anticipation? I vividly remember the buildup, the heartfelt endorsement by my favorite author, Ray Bradbury (on TV, not in print), huge write-ups in national magazines, and many details of that awful evening at the drive-in when my friend's mother took me and her youngest daughter and son to sit through an interminable succession of dramatically-rendered scenes amounting to a tale full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. My friend's little brother, a little older than the main boy in the movie, mercifully had the good sense and good luck to sleep through part of it but the rest of us just sat stunned and staring, hoping that it would eventually come together and amount to a meaningful narrative, as our hopes slowly deflated and our spirits were dashed and downcast though stopping short of crushed. We were at least momentarily amused by the little ball of light following the larger craft. I've never had the patience to sit through it since but when I have caught parts on TV the scenes I see have that same irritating, exasperating effect. The boy smashing the doll against the crib is nails on a blackboard Chinese water torture, and one of the few fairly brilliant moments--the director knew just when to have the father intervene before the audience totally lost its last shreds of patience and sanity.
~ I luv both versions of Jesus Christ Super Star. I watched the 2000 version more since I have that dvd.
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