Close Encounters of the Third Kind

 On this date in 1977, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was released.

The score for the film was composed, conducted and produced by John Williams, who had previously worked on Spielberg's "Jaws" (1975). Williams wrote over 300 examples of the iconic five-tone motif for "Close Encounters"—the five tones are used by scientists to communicate with the visiting spaceship as a mathematical language—before Spielberg chose the one incorporated into the film's signature theme.

The synthesizer used to play the five notes was an ARP 2500. ARP Instruments' Vice President of Engineering, Phillip Dodds, was sent to install the unit on the movie set and was subsequently cast as Jean Claude, the musician who played the sequence on the huge synthesizer in an attempt to communicate with the alien mothership.

Spielberg initially included Cliff Edwards' original "When You Wish upon a Star" from "Pinocchio" (1940) in the closing credits; the song influenced Spielberg's writing style, saying "I hung my story on the mood the song created, the way it affected me personally." After a Dallas preview where several members of the audience audibly snickered at the inclusion, the song was dropped and replaced with Williams' orchestral version of it.

Williams was nominated for two Academy Awards in 1978, one for his score to "Star Wars" (1977) and one for his score to "Close Encounters," He won for "Star Wars," though he later won two Grammy Awards in 1979 for his "Close Encounters" score (one for Best Original Film Score and one for Best Instrumental Composition for "Theme from Close Encounters"). Much like his two-note "Jaws" theme, the "five-tone" motif for "Close Encounters" has since become ingrained in popular culture.