History YMMV / CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind

* AwardSnub: It received eight Oscar nominations, but Best Picture wasn't one of them.

*** The Special Edition Laserdisc and VHS ends with a beautiful instrumental rendition of "When You Wish Upon A Star", which gets quieter and quieter, and at the end segues into a choir singing the five notes. One suspects John Williams wanted to [[SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel sing the audience to sleep,]] and he did a good job of it. Starting with the Collector's Edition Laserdisc, all cuts would use the theatrical credits music.

*** The Special Edition Laserdisc and VHS ends with a beautiful instrumental rendition of "When You Wish Upon A Star", which gets quieter and quieter, and at the end segues into a choir singing the five notes. One suspects John Williams wanted to [[SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel sing the audience to sleep,]] and he did a good job of it. The Blu-Ray and 4K versions use the theatrical credits music.

*** The Special Edition of the main theme ends with a beautiful rendition of "When You Wish Upon A Star", which gets quieter and quieter, and at the end segues into a choir singing the five notes. One suspects John Williams wanted to [[SugarWiki/SweetDreamsFuel sing the audience to sleep,]] and he did a good job of it.

** Listen carefully for musical {{Shout Out}}s to ''Film/{{Jaws}}'' (when the mothership is communicating with the Devils Tower base) and ''{{Disney/Pinocchio}}'' (when Roy is being led into the ship).

* EarWorm: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpsEqINeMS4 Bah bi bah bom baaaaaaa]]. That is all.

* ValuesDissonance: NewAge faith in [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens alien intelligence]] as a benevolent [[PowersThatBe Higher Power]], and in the [[EverythingTryingToKillYou sterile void of space]] as {{Heaven}}, doesn't resonate much any more (especially not after ''Franchise/{{Alien}}''), to say nothing of the hatred that comes down these days on a parent who abandons his family to pursue some other goal. That last point has been rather controversial, though, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment to say the least]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/LanceHenriksen, who is familiar to fans of the original ''Film/TheTerminator'' and then three films in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, is among the personnel gathered on Devil's Tower.

* TonalLanguage: The aliens teach humanity a five tone greeting, essentially using a five letter word for greeting: H-E-L-L-O. During the "Dark Side of the Moon" scene, the aliens then try to give more "words," teaching the people present their language. Only problem: the only thing the people can say is "Hello" back. The aliens seem to get frustrated by completing the third "Hello" sequence like, "Yes, yes, 'hello', now let's try another word, Ok?"

* YouLookFamiliar: Carl Weathers, who would have been already well known from ''Film/{{Rocky}}'' the previous year, turns up as a soldier who Roy tries to talk his way past at the train station.

*** The Special Edition of the main theme ends with a beautiful rendition of "When You Wish Upon A Star", which gets quieter and quieter, and at the end segues into a choir singing the five notes. One suspects John Williams wanted to [[SweetDreamsFuel sing the audience to sleep,]] and he did a good job of it.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The spaceships are still pretty damn impressive.

** Is Ronnie a sympathetic woman trying to deal with her husband's eccentric behavior? Or a shallow, dismissive, self-centered woman that unfairly blamed Roy for destroying their family?

* ValuesDissonance: NewAge faith in [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens alien intelligence]] as a benevolent [[PowersThatBe Higher Power]], and in the [[EverythingTryingToKillYou sterile void of space]] as {{Heaven}}, doesn't resonate much any more, to say nothing of the hatred that comes down these days on a parent who abandons his family to pursue some other goal. That last point has been rather controversial, though, [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment to say the least]].

* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/LanceHenrikson, who is familiar to fans of the original ''Film/TheTerminator'' and then three films in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, is among the personnel gathered on Devil's Tower.

* RetroactiveRecognition: Lance Henrikson, who is familiar to fans of the original ''Film/TheTerminator'' and then three films in the ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' franchise, is among the personnel gathered on Devil's Tower.

* HilariousInHindsight: The humans who enter the mothership at the end are dressed in red jumpsuits and sunglasses, which in hindsight look like cheap versions of the aliens' outfits from the ''{{Series/V1983}}'' miniseries (in which the aliens did ''not'' turn out to be cuddly, friendly greys).

* HarsherInHindsight: Six years after ''Close Encounters'' was released, Colorado suffered a '''real''' toxic-gas spill following a train crash that forced an emergency evacuation, much like the cover story that was used in the film to justify evacuating the Devil's Tower area.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Compared to ''Series/TheXFiles''. Which came along sixteen years later.

* HilariousInHindsight: The humans who enter the mothership at the end are dressed in red jumpsuits and sunglasses, which in hindsight look like cheap versions of the aliens' outfits from the ''Series/V1983'' miniseries (in which the aliens did ''not'' turn out to be cuddly, friendly greys).

* HilariousInHindsight: The humans who enter the mothership at the end are dressed in red jumpsuits and sunglasses, which in hindsight look like cheap versions of the aliens' outfits from the original ''Series/{{V}}'' miniseries (in which the aliens did ''not'' turn out to be cuddly, friendly greys).