1977: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Steven Spielberg launched his multi-million dollar movie Close Encounters Of The Third Kind in 1977. Not only was the movie loosely based on real UFO inci­dents, it also took its title from a classification system developed by the late Dr Alien J Hynek, since a CE3 is an encounter with alien beings. Further, one of the central characters, a French scientist played by Francois Truffaut, represented real-life ufologist Dr Jacques Vallee.

This was the first major movie to open up the stranger shores of the phenomenon to the general public. Poltergeist-like effects abounded, and a family of hillbillies were depicted with sinister MIB qualities. 

The UFO entities used closely followed the common description given by real-life witnesses. 

The plot met the general public's expectations by featuring the return of Flight 19 from the Bermuda Triangle. Yet, by the end of the movie, some commen­tators noted that nowhere was it stated that the enti­ties involved were extraterrestrial. Some ufologists saw the movie as part of a secret education program by the Government to slowly socialize the public into the reality of alien encounters. 

The skeptics predicted that the movie would act as a catalyst for thousands of bogus reports. The public would be even more ready to mis-identify weather balloons, aircraft landing lights and planets as spacecraft after seeing the movie. This did not happen, and should act as a salutary warning to those who believe the answer to the UFO phenomenon lies in the fields of sociology and psychology.