Spielberg's Role: Director, Writer
US Release Date: 1977

Close Encounters was an amazing movie which got Spielberg his first Academy Award nomination for best director. Spielberg wrote the screenplay based on the film Firelight made by Spielberg as a teenager in 1963.

"Planes reported missing in 1945 suddenly appear in the Mojave desert. A commercial flight is buzzed by a 'bright' object that the pilot 'wouldn't know how to describe'. Roy Neary, while working one night, has a Close Encounter... The US Government determine where the visitors plan to land and create an elaborate cover-up to keep people away. However, a group of people, including Neary, share a vision which draws them to the place and a meeting with new, and old, friends."
-The Internet Movie Database-

In June of 1998, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was chosen as one of the 100 best American films in the 100 year history of cinema by the American Film Institute. Steven Spielberg had more movies honored than any other director, with 5. The other 4 movies were Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, E.T., and Schindlers List. Close Enouncters was ranked 64^th.