If Spielberg will be remembered for any one film, it will most likely be his foray into the world of dinosaurs. But not even the image of a T-Rex's footsteps vibrating a glass of water has a patch on some of the most iconic moments in cinema as seen in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.

Riding the wave of his early success, Richard Dreyfuss returned to work with Spielberg again, two years after the success of Jaws. Dreyfuss plays a young family man called Roy Neary, who one evening sets out to investigate a power outage when his truck stalls. Moments later the street is lit up by a series of small flying objects. From then on Roy's life changes as visions plague his mind.

Tension

Spielberg maintains a perfect level of tension, as we wonder who or what it is that's causing a series of unexplained phenomena and more importantly, why they are doing it.

While Neary sets about finding the missing piece of a jigsaw puzzle he doesn't understand, a young mother has her child abducted in one of the creepiest scenes you'll ever see. The fact that Spielberg can make a scene so utterly scary using little more than a light under a door and a self-starting plastic toy robot, is a testament to exactly how amazing his talents are and were.

Scrutiny

The scale of the film is immense, and even 26 years later, the effects stand up to close scrutiny, especially the big finale and the opening shot of a long lost aircraft carrier, discovered resting in the Mojave desert.

It's arguably Spielberg's best work, and for some is considered his most personal as he explores family themes that he touched on five years later with E.T. For most though, it's an enlightening, touching and downright terrifying movie that is probably the best of its kind.

Richard Phippen