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Rod Lurie recommended The 400 Blows (1959) in Movies (curated)

 
The 400 Blows (1959)
The 400 Blows (1959)
1959 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Les Quatre cents coups, better known as The 400 Blows, a film that every man can relate to, because every man once was a boy. It also bears the historical importance of being among the first films of the Nouvelle Vague, along with Breathless. [The last shot] is one of the few freeze fames that I think really works in the history of film. When you do a freeze frame, you have the opportunity to find the exact shot that you want — no guessing. And [director Francois Truffaut] used it to the full effect."

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
1977 | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
1977's other great fantasy movie is somewhat forgotten, relatively speaking, probably because it wasn't franchised to death. Scientist Francois Truffaut and everyman Richard Dreyfuss both become aware of the impending visitation of alien beings, must decide how to react.

Not really much of an SF movie, strictly speaking, but it works brilliantly as a both a thriller-drama and a fantasy film. Always seems to me to be a film about what it means to find faith and surrender yourself to it: ordinary guy Roy finds the transcendental and unknown inserting itself into his life, finds himself becoming devoted to it, willing to sacrifice everything to it. Great performances from the leads, but it's really Spielberg's film, containing some of his neatest moments of directorial legerdemain. Still one of Spielberg's most iconic movies, 40+ years on.