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These two movies were on back to back on Sunday. They both date from 1978 or so. They both feature John Williams' scores, which came up recently in the BBC4 feature about Music of the Movies (tying in nicely with the Proms).
It occurred to me that both movies were both upbeat and optimistic: in the face of cynicism and doubt, the earnest and genuine characters, the 'believers' if you like, prevail.
Christopher Reeve plays Superman utterly straight, gentle and untroubled by the aggressiveness of Metropolis. He manages lines like, 'Not at all commissioner, we're on the same side!' with a totally straight face...and carries it off.
In Close Encounters, the innocents emerge unhurt (the lead woman gets her toddler back), and noone is shot by the military - they're gassed but it's to put them to sleep, not kill them.
It occurred to me that it would be very hard to make the same movies with the same tone today.
Partly because of watching these on the weekend I've had the Superman overture running through my head (blaring trumpets BAAA-BA-BA-BA-BAAAAAAH, BAAAAA-BAAAAA-BAAAAAAH....); and I just picked up Robert humming one of the Star Wars tunes, also by J. Williams.
It occurred to me that both movies were both upbeat and optimistic: in the face of cynicism and doubt, the earnest and genuine characters, the 'believers' if you like, prevail.
Christopher Reeve plays Superman utterly straight, gentle and untroubled by the aggressiveness of Metropolis. He manages lines like, 'Not at all commissioner, we're on the same side!' with a totally straight face...and carries it off.
In Close Encounters, the innocents emerge unhurt (the lead woman gets her toddler back), and noone is shot by the military - they're gassed but it's to put them to sleep, not kill them.
It occurred to me that it would be very hard to make the same movies with the same tone today.
Partly because of watching these on the weekend I've had the Superman overture running through my head (blaring trumpets BAAA-BA-BA-BA-BAAAAAAH, BAAAAA-BAAAAA-BAAAAAAH....); and I just picked up Robert humming one of the Star Wars tunes, also by J. Williams.
