Turner Classic Movies continues its annual 31 Days of Oscar. This week my pick is Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1976). Steven Spielberg’s alien encounter masterpiece garnered him his first Oscar nomination.

This movie is particularly relevant to me right now because it’s about pursuing your dreams. Richard Dreyfuss plays a man who has an encounter and then becomes obsessed with getting to Devils Tower, Wyoming. If you’ve ever had a dream you’ll relate to his character as you feel his aching to achieve his goal. He pursues it at all costs resulting in the destruction and abandonment of his family. Spielberg has said he would have ended it differently if he had made it later in life. Close Encounters almost plays as a warning not to pursue your dreams at all costs. If you achieve them but have alienated everyone around you, what’s the point?

As you watch, pay attention to all of the Pinocchio references throughout the film. When You Wish Upon A Star even shows up in the score at one point.

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977) – Saturday, February 20 at 8:00pm EST
A blue-collar worker’s encounter with a UFO leaves him a changed man.
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Terry Garr, François Truffaut, Melinda Dillon Dir: Steven Spielberg C-137 mins, TV-MA