Sunday, April 28, 2024

Don't Make a Scene: Close Encounters of the Third Kind

The Story: "Watch the Skies."*
 
That was the "working title" of Close Encounters of the Third Kind,  a project Steven Spielberg was developing after The Sugarland Express, but delayed in order for him to go "shark-hunting." Jaws' subsequent success allowed him to have final say on CE3K, even while production got bogged down and the budget started heading skyward.
 
"Watch the Skies" might have been a more appropriate title, as few movies, short of Westerns, have had so much sky fill the frame, filled with stars, airplane lights and the occasional unidentified "source" to admire and wonder at. One could almost hear David Lynch's portrayal of John Ford barking at the young Spielberg "When the horizon's at the bottom, it's interesting!" when he's lining up the shots. Very few films allowed that much sky, far less have it filled with stars.
 
It's only natural in Spielberg's early "what-the-hell-is-going-on?" portions of the film that he have a scene at an air traffic control tower, where there are people whose job it is to literally "watch the skies" and juggle the flight patterns of dozens of aircraft criss-crossing each others' flight-paths. Even in so controlled an environment--guys in suits sitting around watching screens--he manages to ramp up the tension with overlapping dialogue (a lot of it is technical jargon and mere speculation, anyway) and a minimal amount of camera movement. The tight quarters even allows him a neat trick--a movement of depth along the monitoring men that maintains focus on the individuals talking by merely including them in the frame. It's subtle and commands the viewers' attention with a minimum of ostentatious "director's moves."

Spielberg was always good. But, he got better--and subtler--the more movies he made.

The Set-Up: It's "early days" in the movie. An elite team of scientific investigators, lead by Claude Lacombe (director François Truffaut) is investigating strange anomalies—the first we see is his group arriving in the Sonoran Desert, where they discover what appears to be Flight 19, which went missing, without any trace, over the Bermuda Triangle in 1945. A local villager states that "the sun came out last night and sang to me."
 
Cut to Air Traffic Control at Indianapolis Center...
 
Action!
 
Note: radio transmissions in this scene are in italics.
 
CONTROLLER #1: Harry, 
CONTROLLER #1: keep an eye on that point-out. He's on 122.5.
CONTROLLER #1:   I'll be right back.
AIR EAST PILOT:
Indianapolis Center, you have any traffic for Air East 31? 
HARRY:
Air East 31 , negative. The only traffic I have is a TWA L-10- 11 in your 6:00 position...range 15 miles...
HARRY:
...
and an Allegheny DC-9 in your 12:00 position, 50 miles.
HARRY:
Stand by, 1. I'll take a look at broadband, over. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Air East 31 has traffic 2:00, slightly above and descending.
HARRY:
Air East 31, roger. I have a primary target about that position now. 
HARRY:
I have no known high altitude traffic. Stand by ,1, I'll check low, over. 
HARRY:
Dick, will you check low altitude and see if they know who this is. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Center, Air East 31. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
The traffic's not lower than us. He's 1:00 now, still above me and descending. 
HARRY:
Air East 31, can you say aircraft type? 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Uh...Negative, Center, uh, no distinct outline. Uh...
AIR EAST PILOT:
To tell you the truth, the target is rather brilliant. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
 
It has the brightest anti-collision lights I think I've ever seen. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Alternating white to red. The colors are a little striking. 
TWA PILOT:
Center, this is TWA 517. 
TWA PILOT:
Traffic now looks like extra-bright landing lights. I thought Air East had...
TWA PILOT:
...his landing lights on. 
CONTROLLER #1: It could be a satellite re-entry. 
HARRY: Air East 31, I have...
CONTROLLER #3: Speed’s not high enough for a reentry.
HARRY: ...a primary target now in... 
CONTROLLER #2: Could be space junk, maybe.
HARRY: ...your 10:00 position......five miles, over. 
CONTROLLER #2: I’ve never seen anything like that. 
AIR EAST PILOT: Affirmative, 31.  
CONTROLLER #3: How about an SR-71?
HARRY: The traffic is proceeding....
CONTROLLER #2: No, not at that altitude.
HARRY: No altitude readout.
CONTROLLER #2: Traffic’s really moving though. 
AIR EAST PILOT: Roger, Center. It doesn't appear he'll be a problem. He's going to descend about 1500 feet below me. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Wait a second! Stand by, one. 
AIR EAST PILOT
(over warning pings):
Okay, Center, Air East 31. The traffic has turned. He's heading for my windshield. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
We're turning right immediately and making...
AIR EAST PILOT: ...
flight level 3-5-0 now.
HARRY:
Air East 31, Descend and maintain flight level 3-1-0. Break Allegheny Triple-4, turn right 30 degrees (immediately). 
CONTROLLER #3: Get on the horn to the 45th Recon Wing and...
HARRY: Traffic about 2-0 miles heading your direction.
CONTROLLER #3: ...see what the hell they could be testing up there.
CONTROLLER #2: This is Indianapolis Center. 
HARRY: An Air East Jet descending to make 3-1-0. Over.
CONTROLLER #2: Do you have test operations in restricted area 2508? 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Air East 31, roger. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
The traffic is quite luminous and exhibiting some... 
AIR EAST PILOT:
...
non-ballistic motion. Over.
HARRY:
Roger, Air East 31. Continue descent at your discretion. Over.
AIR EAST PILOT:
Okay, Center. Descent at pilot's discretion is approved. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
The traffic is approaching head-on, ultra-bright and really moving.  
AIR EAST PILOT:
And right by us! (static) Right now! 
TWA PILOT:
Now that was really close. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Air East 31 is out of 340.... 
SUPERVISOR:
Ask if they want to report officially.
AIR EAST PILOT: ...in the traffic pattern.
HARRY:
TWA 517, do you want to report a UFO? Over. 
HARRY:
TWA 517, do you want to report a UFO? Over. 
TWA PILOT:
Negative. We don't want to report. 
HARRY:
Air East 31 , do you wish to report a UFO? Over. 
AIR EAST PILOT:
Negative. We don't want to report one of those, either. 
HARRY:
Air East 31 , do you wish to file a report of any kind? Over.
AIR EAST PILOT:
I wouldn't know what kind of report to file, Center. 
HARRY:
Air East 31, me neither. I'll try to track traffic to destination, over.
 

Words by Steven Spielberg (and Hal Barwood and Jerry Belson and John Hill and  Matthew Robbins


Close Encounters of the Third Kind is available on DVD, Blu-Ray and 4kHD on Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
 
Here's something interesting: today's scene
followed by a deleted scene of the flight's being met by Lacombe's team after they land.


* The source for this was from the Howard Hawks-produced version of The Thing (From Another World) from 1951. These are the final words of that film: "And now before giving you the details of the battle, I bring you a warning: Everyone of you listening to my voice, tell the world, tell this to everybody wherever they are. Watch the skies. Everywhere. Keep looking. Keep watching the skies."

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