Richard Dreyfuss In François Truffaut's The Goodbye Girl

Nevertheless, Richard Dreyfuss is believable as the confused eyewitness to UFOs, he is best known for films like American Graffiti (1973), Jaws (1975), and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). “Dreyfuss worked his way up through bit parts in The Graduate (1967), and later won a Best Actor Oscar in his first romantic lead as an out-of-work actor in The Goodbye Girl (1977)” (IMDb). The Neary character represents the audience’s point of view as he begins a journey down a path of wonderment and seeking truth, even though his family and the government shun him or block his attempts to discovering the real nature of the aliens he is drawn to. His distraught wife, Ronnie Neary, is played by actress Teri Garr, she best known for her roles in
Young Frankenstein (1974), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Tootsie (1982), and Dumb & Dumber (1994). Jillian Guiler, the mother whose son is taken by aliens is played by earthy Melinda Dillon, best remembered for Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), A Christmas Story (1983), and Magnolia (1999).

Famous French director François Truffaut (1932–1984) played Claude Lacombe, an extraordinary and multitalented “director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film critic, as well as one of the founders of the French New Wave.
In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry, having worked on over 25 films. Truffaut's film The 400 Blows (1959) came to be a defining film of the French New Wave movement. He also directed such classics as Shoot the Piano Player (1960), Jules et Jim (1961), The Wild Child (1970), Two English Girls (1971), Day for Night (1973) and The Woman Next Door (1981). Truffaut‘s first American film was an 1966 adaptation of Ray Bradbury's classic science fiction novel Fahrenheit 451, showcasing Truffaut's love of books. His only English-speaking film was a great challenge for Truffaut, because he barely spoke English himself. This was also his first film shot in color“
(Wikipedia).

6. (Final thoughts)

The major appealing factor in the film for me and audiences back in 1977 is that the aliens themselves are peaceful and not out to get us, but instead seem to want to embrace us or guide us to better things.
To achieve this feat, Spielberg did two things, first he invented a way for the aliens and humans to communicate by using, “mathematically organized and musically set images and tones and montage, Close Encounters transcends all racial and religious divisions of humanity in a language that translates itself. Spielberg mentions that aliens communicate through lights, colors, and music” (Schneider 190). And secondly, the extraterrestrials have collected and returned all the missing people from history, none are worse for wear, and haven’t aged a
day!

From the very start of the film it hooks you in with a big mystery regarding the ominous long lost Flight 19, when the missing airplanes suddenly reappear in the Mexican desert looking still new as if pulled out of time. The seriousness of the air traffic controllers dealing with a UFO about to collide with one of our passenger planes. The spooky assortment of toys coming to life spontaneously by the mere presence of aliens and UFOs in the vicinity, lineman Roy Neary’s close encounter on the road with a pair of lights in his rear window that rise above his truck revealing a shadowy hovering UFO, the police car flying off the highway in its hot pursuit of a floating alien glowing sphere (low to the ground, probe) that left the main road, soared up into the sky, vanishing, and the climatic scène of the massive Mother Ship seen hovering over Devil’s Tower, all of which is outstandingly done. I really enjoyed this film, nothing before or since has can come close to this amazing film about encountering aliens who only wish to be our friends, with perhaps the exception of Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), another impressive science fiction film about an alien stranded on Earth. Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind both came out in 1977, both bolstered a more positive vibe regarding the sci-fi genre with adventure, humor, and optimism. Both films ushered in a new milestone in Hollywood films that began an era of sci-fi fantasy blockbusters. What makes Close Encounters of the Third Kind so appealing are its striking pre-digital special effects, its visually stunning colors and sound, and its uplifting take on the old alien invasion theme by making the extraterrestrials peaceful explorers. Additionally, its has action, mystery, and awe-inspiring message, the film takes us on a ride into UFO country and never lets you down, all the way to the remarkable ending with the dazzling Mother Ship is well worth seeing again, and again.