An Even Closer Encounter

Kevin Costner’s now talking about throwing in a little more footage to “Dances With Wolves” to produce the film, or TV miniseries, he really wanted to make in the first place. Francis Ford Coppola created a whole new video version of “The Godfather” I and II, which many thought improved upon films already considered classics. And Steven Spielberg, who dazzled some and bored others with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” in 1977, always felt rushed in having put together his epic tale of extraterrestrials.

Universal gave him a chance to re-do the original with a special edition of “Close Encounters” reissued in 1980. The Criterion Collection laser-disc edition of “Close Encounters” offers one of the few opportunities to see both versions and watch the directorial mind at work. With a programmable laser-disc player you can view his first and second cuts side by side. For the second version, Spielberg took 16 minutes from the two-hour-plus film and replaced it with seven minutes excised from the original and six minutes of new material.

The three-disc edition was struck from pristine originals, in this case a 35-millimeter interpositive of the special edition and a new interpositive from the original camera negative on previously trimmed scenes. All that, along with digital, Dolby Surround sound from the original 35-mm magnetic four-channel mix makes the home-viewing experience more fascinating than the initial theatrical one.

In addition to the added, re-edited footage, there are interviews with Spielberg and special-effects whiz Douglas Trumbull, archival stills and plenty of shots of mattes and actors Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban reacting to “things that aren’t there.”

Which encounter is the better? Only a spoilsport would tell.

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” the Criterion Collection distributed by the Voyager Co., 1351 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica 90401, (213) 451-1383; in digital Dolby Surround sound, 135 minutes, three discs, full-feature (CAV) letterbox format, $125.