26/50x2: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

It's sad really, that I had to put a film like this on a list for me to actually force myself to sit down and watch it. I am a big fan of science fiction, extraterrestrials and, for the most part, enjoy the work of Steven Spielberg.

So, I should have seen this film in the 90s when I started really getting into movies, but alas, I did not. And, it sort of kept getting pushed back until it got to the point where I needed an excuse to get me to watch it. And, I finally did.

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Close Encounters of the Third Kind stars Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary is a family man from Indiana, who works as an electrical lineman. One night bright lights pass by him, so bright in fact that it leaves burn marks on the side of his face.

Roy wasn't the only person to witness this experience, as he is one of a few dozen that begin to have visions and odd experiences. Roy becomes so infatuated with UFOs and an image of a mountain that his wife, Ronnie (Teri Garr) leaves him and takes their three children with her.

Roy forms a bit of a bound with another woman, Jillian (Melinda Dillon) and her small son as the three of them have shared this experience together.

On a television broadcast, Roy and Jillian see a train wreck at Devil's Town and begin to realize that the mountain image in his head is real - so they start heading towards the area. As many others are stopped by the Army, the two of them are persistent and manage to make their way up the mountain in time for the arrival of the UFOs.

As the UFO lands, dozens of people exit the ship - including Jillian's son who was taken earlier - as well as pilots from a Flight 19 that had disappeared years before, only they had not aged a bit.

Roy is selected to be apart of a few scientific members to possibly join the aliens on their UFO. Roy ends up being the lone person the aliens select to join them and he walks with them onto the alien spacecraft.

Of course, I knew what most of this film was about. It was nice to fill in a lot of the missing pieces though. I had seen many of the iconic scenes, including the potato mountain and the lights/music that is played to try and communicate with the aliens. And, I have seen many of these same scenes parodied more than a dozen times in other films.

But, it was great to finally see the film in its entirety. Though it is from the 70s (releasing the same year as Star Wars) it sort of holds up. I mean sure, you can tell it was filmed in the 70s, but the overall premise is still fun to watch to this day - and the special effects aren't too bad either.

The film itself is iconic, so of course I went in with high expectations, which usually presents the death of a film because it can't live up to those expectations. Here, though it may not have lived up to them, it certainly didn't fall that far from it. It was a very well done film and certainly entertaining - I am sure in the 70s this was even more breathtaking to look at then it is now.

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36/50: Young Frankenstein

Like a lot of the older films on my list, I really feared watching this movie because I had really high hopes for it and had heard great things. That is why I sort of held off in watching it - that and I really enjoy Gene Wilder.

Anyway, Wilder plays Dr. Frankenstein, one of the descendents of the other Dr. Frankenstein, in Young Frankenstein. He tries to distance himself from that family even going so far as pronouncing his name differently.

But, he ends up being lured back to Transylvania and continues his grandfather's experiments after inheriting the castle. He finds a backroom where his grandfather was doing his reanimation projects and becomes infatuated with it - then begins to try and perfect his grandfather's experiment.

Teamed with his partner, Inga (Teri Garr) and his servant, Igor (Marty Feldman), Dr. Frankenstein steals a body and creates The Monster (Peter Boyle).

I have to admit, a lot scared me about this film. It is old; it is filmed in black and white; and Mel Brooks is sort of hit or miss with me. But, this one was a hit.

It definitely had a lot of the Brooks' humor - for instance the horse whinnying every time Frau Blucher's (Cloris Leachman) name is said, that had me laughing each and ever time. I really found myself laughing a lot.

Wilder was in true form, I can honestly say I can't think of another actor that could have played this part. He was so over the top and his voice gets so loud and crazy when he gets excited. Just amazing.

Peter Boyle was great as The Monster. He didn't have many lines, but almost stole the show. The song and dance number (which I had actually seen before) was outstanding. I was also not familiar with Marty Feldman, but he was awesome as Igor - his facial expressions were so funny.

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