This is a revolutionary film. It's revolutionary in the sense that it suggests, as few films have, the extraordinary sensory potential of the medium.

["Close Encounters"] attempts to conquer fear of the unknown with love. Maybe the movies will begin to lead us away from their early '70s nightmare visions to a new, more benign fantasy world. As a filmgoer sated with violence, I'm ready.

Simply a thoughtless exercise in instant self-gratification. Actually, I felt sorry for this muddled movie with its childlike vulnerability.

The magnificent film’s enduring place in cinematic history is surely down to Spielberg’s canny reckoning that third kind encounters work best viewed ... through everyday folks caught up in the starry-eyed spectacle.