Close Encounters of the Third Kind Scene 32 Summary

  • The UFOs are gone, as the synthesizer plays the 5-tone phrase. Everyone's watching the skies. It's dead quiet.
  • Lacombe stands alone in the middle of the landing site.
  • Suddenly, the mother ship makes her grand entrance, and don't ask us how a city-sized spaceship managed to stay hidden behind Devils Tower because we haven't a clue. Movie magic? Stealth technology?
  • As it flies overhead, Neary finds his way onto the site. One technician looks like he's going to grab him, but he's just bumping him on his mad dash to the Porta-Potty. Not everyone's taking this well.
  • The ship lands near the site; everyone puts on sunglasses to deal with its brilliant light.
  • Everyone starts walking slowly toward the ship, and a voice on the speakers tells everyone except special teams to keep a distance of 25 meters.
  • The synthesizer player begins playing the five-tones.
  • The mother ship sputters a bit the first time—it's hard to play the tuba.
  • It finally responds to the 5-tone phrase, blowing out the windows of the control tower in the process. The musical conversation continues, as the aliens are teaching the humans a basic tonal vocabulary.
  • In the middle of all this, Jillian climbs down onto the site. She watches, giggling. Roy's laughing, too.
  • After the government computer recognizes the tonal message, it takes over the synthesizer, and a conversation of lights and sounds rocks the Casbah.
  • You know how your teachers always told you that music is a universal language? They were right.
  • If you listen to the last few seconds of the mother ship's conversations, you'll hear that two-note shark theme from Jaws. A little Spielberg inside humor.