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Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Themes, Legacy, Music & Science

Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a 1977 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Richard Dreyfuss, Melinda Dillon, Teri Garr, Bob Balaban, Cary Guffey, and François Truffaut. The film depicts the interconnected stories of Roy Neary (Dreyfuss), an everyday blue-collar worker in Indiana whose life changes…

Language: English [EN]
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind topic overview

The analysis highlights Themes, Legacy, Music and Science as prominent areas in the source structure around Close Encounters of the Third Kind. 1 topic appears in more than one source area, which can help identify connections that are less obvious in a linear reading.

Related topics
285
Source areas
8
Connected nodes
298
Extracted relationships
93
Concept neighborhoods
46
Bridge connections
298

What this topic covers Research coverage

Source areas are shown by the number of related topics found in each part of the analysis. Use smaller areas too: they can reveal specialized angles and content gaps.

Production · 102 topics
Overview · 44 topics
Release and reception · 36 topics
Cast · 28 topics
Legacy · 27 topics
Themes · 18 topics
Music · 16 topics
Plot · 15 topics

Smaller areas are not necessarily less important. They contain fewer connections in this analysis and can be useful for finding specialized angles or coverage gaps.

Key facts & relationships

High-confidence facts extracted from structured source data. Use them as anchors for further research.

Box office
$306.9 million
Budget
$19.4 million
Cinematography
Vilmos Zsigmond
Country
United States
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Distributed by
Columbia Pictures

Explore all related topics Closing gaps

Browse the complete topic structure, not only the most central items. Less prominent entities and concepts can reveal missing angles, specialized context and useful research gaps. Each item opens a new analysis centered on that subject.

Overview

Plot

Cast

Production

Music

Themes

Release and reception

Legacy

Bibliography

Advanced semantic analysis

Deeper signals for content research, entity SEO and topical coverage. The plain-language headings explain what each technical view is useful for.

How Close Encounters of the Third Kind connects Entity context

The extracted context around Close Encounters of the Third Kind shows recurring relationship patterns in the source. For example, Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Almería, An Actor's Diary, Applause Theatre, Balaban, Bob, Cinema Books, Close Encounters, Delacorte Press, Encuentros, España, González Hevia, Grupo Editorial Círculo Rojo, HarperCollins Publishers Inc, ISBN, Klastorin, La, Leoncio, Leslie, Me, Michael Another extracted example is Close Encounters of the Third Kind → AFI Catalog, America's Film Legacy, Black, Close Encounters, Daniel Eagan, Encounters, Feature FilmsClose Encounters, Filmsite, IMDbClose Encounters, ISBN, Landmark Movies, Matt Zoller Seitz, MetacriticClose Encounters, National Film Registry, National Film RegistryClose Encounters, Rotten TomatoesClose Encounters, TCM Movie Database, The Authoritative Guide, Third Kind. Use these groups to spot repeated connection types before inspecting the individual relationships.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Top relations

related to Further reading · 34
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Almería, An Actor's Diary, Applause Theatre, Balaban, Bob, Cinema Books, Close Encounters, Delacorte Press, Encuentros, España, González Hevia, Grupo Editorial Círculo Rojo, HarperCollins Publishers Inc, ISBN, Klastorin, La, Leoncio, Leslie, Me, Michael
related to External links · 19
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → AFI Catalog, America's Film Legacy, Black, Close Encounters, Daniel Eagan, Encounters, Feature FilmsClose Encounters, Filmsite, IMDbClose Encounters, ISBN, Landmark Movies, Matt Zoller Seitz, MetacriticClose Encounters, National Film Registry, National Film RegistryClose Encounters, Rotten TomatoesClose Encounters, TCM Movie Database, The Authoritative Guide, Third Kind
related to Reissues and home media · 19
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Anyway, August, Close Encounters, Columbia, Columbia Pictures, Earth, Gobi Desert, He, In, On, Roger Ebert, Special Edition, Spielberg, SS Cotopaxi, The Special Edition, They, Third Kind, This, Why
Starring · 4
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon, Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr
Produced by · 2
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
Production companies · 2
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Columbia Pictures, EMI Films
Box office · 1
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → $306.9 million
Budget · 1
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → $19.4 million
Cinematography · 1
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Vilmos Zsigmond
Country · 1
Close Encounters of the Third Kind → United States

Important terminology

Use these terms to understand the vocabulary surrounding the topic, not as a checklist for keyword stuffing.

Important terminology

film spielberg close encounters mothership edition third roy time kind release 1977 released ufos also special one columbia million version

Close Encounters of the Third Kind relationships Subject–Predicate–Object triples

TTTA extracted 93 structured relationships around Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Examples in this analysis include Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Box office → $306.9 million and Close Encounters of the Third Kind → Budget → $19.4 million. The table shows each extracted connection, where it came from and its confidence.

SubjectPredicateObjectConfidenceSrc
Close Encounters of the Third KindBox office$306.9 million1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindBudget$19.4 million1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindCinematographyVilmos Zsigmond1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindCountryUnited States1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindDirected bySteven Spielberg1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindDistributed byColumbia Pictures1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindEdited byMichael Kahn1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindLanguageEnglish1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindMusic byJohn Williams1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindProduced byJulia Phillips1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindProduced byMichael Phillips1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindProduction companiesColumbia Pictures1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindProduction companiesEMI Films1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindRelease dateNovember 16, 1977 (1977-11-16)1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindRunning time135 minutes (Theatrical version) 132 minutes (Special Edition) 137 minutes (Director's Cut)1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindStarringRichard Dreyfuss1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindStarringTeri Garr1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindStarringMelinda Dillon1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindStarringFrançois Truffaut1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third KindWritten bySteven Spielberg1.00infobox
Close Encounters of the Third Kindis a1977 American science fiction drama film written and directed by Steven Spielberg0.90text

Related concept clusters Concept neighborhoods

The concept neighborhoods around Close Encounters of the Third Kind bring nearby vocabulary together. In this analysis, examples include Encounters, Kind and Third. Use the clusters to find adjacent concepts and terminology that may deserve separate research.

  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind
    • Encounters
    • Kind
    • Third
    • Spielberg
    • Film
    • Edition
    • Star
    • Made
    • Released
    • Extraterrestrials
    • Production
    • Cut
  • close encounters of the third kind
    • Encounters
    • Third
    • Kind
    • Spielberg
    • Film
    • Truffaut
    • Million
    • Spielberg's
    • Edition
    • Star
    • Made
    • Released
  • steven spielberg
    • Jaws
    • Edition
    • Production
    • Script
    • Version
    • Columbia
    • Release
    • Scenes
    • Special
    • Also
    • Time
    • Third
  • richard dreyfuss
    • Truffaut
    • Lacombe
    • Kind
    • Third
    • Roy
    • United
    • Production
    • Cut
    • Fiction
    • Films
    • Jillian
    • Pictures
  • columbia pictures
    • Pictures
    • Million
    • Production
    • Release
    • United
    • Time
    • Edition
    • Films
    • Jaws
    • Special
    • Spielberg
    • Film
  • close encounters
    • Encounters
    • Kind
    • Third
    • Spielberg
    • Film
    • Edition
    • Star
    • Made
    • Released
    • Production
    • Cut
    • Fiction
  • 32nd british academy film awards
    • Spielberg
    • Time
    • Third
    • Kind
    • Pictures
    • First
    • Columbia
    • Cut
    • Made
    • Million
    • New
    • Also
  • american film institute
    • Spielberg
    • Time
    • Third
    • Kind
    • Pictures
    • First
    • Columbia
    • Cut
    • Made
    • Million
    • New
    • Also

Connections between topic areas Semantic bridges

For Close Encounters of the Third Kind, one of the stronger structural bridges in this analysis connects Close Encounters of the Third Kind with Production. Bridges highlight paths between different parts of the map and can reveal research angles that are easy to miss in a flat list.

Min side: 3
Close Encounters of the Third KindProduction · splits 196 ⟂ 103
Close Encounters of the Third KindOverview · splits 254 ⟂ 45
Close Encounters of the Third KindRelease and reception · splits 262 ⟂ 37
Close Encounters of the Third KindCast · splits 270 ⟂ 29
Close Encounters of the Third KindLegacy · splits 271 ⟂ 28
Close Encounters of the Third KindThemes · splits 280 ⟂ 19
Close Encounters of the Third KindMusic · splits 282 ⟂ 17
Close Encounters of the Third KindPlot · splits 283 ⟂ 16
Close Encounters of the Third KindBibliography · splits 295 ⟂ 4

Map overview Semantic statistics

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Nodes299
Edges298
Triples93
Avg. degree1.99
Density0.006689
Components1

Source & methodology

TTTA analyzes the structure around Close Encounters of the Third Kind to surface related topics, entities, relationships, concept neighborhoods and bridge connections. Use the map to explore areas such as Themes, Legacy, Music & Science, including less central topics that may reveal useful research gaps. Automatically extracted connections are research leads rather than rewritten encyclopedia content.

Source: Wikipedia — Close Encounters of the Third Kind · EN edition · Analysis: TopicsToTalkAbout

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