Star Wars (1977) v Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)

GWC Community Geek Deathmatch
#1

This year’s Academy Awards got me thinking about all the great films that didn’t win. For instance this year Argo, Django Unchained, Lincoln, Les Misérables, Life of Pi, and Zero Dark Thirty all competed for best picture. Argo won but the rest had to go home without the Best Picture award in their pockets.

In a moment of curiosity I went back in time to see how Star Wars did in the 1978 Academy Awards. It turns out it lost best picture to Annie Hall but won Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Effects, Visual Effects, Best Music, Original Score, and the Special Achievement Award. Close Encounters, on the other hand, had to settle for Best Cinematography and a joint Special Achievement Award with Star Wars.

Did the Academy get it right? Was Star Wars truly a better film than Close Encounters Of The Third Kind? Did Lucas actually beat Spielberg fair and square?

You decide!

#2

By the way John Williams did the score for both movies so he gets a special award for both winning and having two nominations for the same award!

#3

Close Encounters is great, but Star Wars is Star Wars. Anne Hall is also a very good movie for what it’s worth.

#4

Did the Academy get it right?

Remember the playground? That was probably your first social interaction experience with your peers. Alliances were formed. Lines were drawn. And labels were placed. These simple facets and procedures plague you throughout your life; Grammar school, High School, College, and the Workplace. The Academy Awards is the ultimate political popularity contest. Who is who? Who’s wearing who? The coolest of the cool people. The Academy gets it right for the Academy.

Was Star Wars truly a better film than Close Encounters Of The Third Kind?

Both films are coming of age films. At the start Luke Skywalker is a farmer and Roy Neary is a mid-western dad. By the end, Luke is a galactic hero gifted with mystical powers and Roy is transformed into a human-alien hybrid. Oh, no. Not the Hero’s Journey again, 'talos! At their core, they’re the same film. Star Wars sold more toys. Was it a better film, though? To be honest, I’m no film making expert. I know what I like. IMO, Star Wars creates a world and immerses the viewer into it. You want to travel to that galaxy far, far away. Close Encounters grabs you and throws you into an incredible experience. You don’t really want to be Roy and you’re a little frightened to get what he is going through on you. Both films stick with you. Star Wars sticks more.

Did Lucas actually beat Spielberg fair and square?

Close Encounters isn’t Speilberg’s best film. It’s a fun, entertaining, and intriguing film but not his best. Put Star Wars up against Jaws or Saving Private Ryan and it’s no contest who the better Director is.

#5

The Academy rarely gets anything right… Too much politics involved, elitist judges, and out and out snobbery against certain genres. That is why hardly anyone watches the awards show anymore.