Which do you Prefer? Jaws vs. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

[WampaRat 1,096]

Two Early Spielberg Classics. Two Monolithic Scores in the John Williams cannon. And two scores that I don’t really listen to a ton.

 

Just for fun: Which do you prefer?

[King Mark 3,223]

Since the  LLL CE3K release my appreciation went waaaay up  and I listen to it a lot. I think it's better than Jaws now

[Bellosh 1,947]

Jaws is my favorite film of all time.

 

Jaws for all three.

[Jay 32,059]

Well both are 5 star films with 5 star scores, so I love both, and this is just choosing one masterpiece over another

 

I suppose I enjoy watching Jaws more, it's more fun, more easy breezy, more amusing.  I've probably seen it over 10 times already.

 

Close Encounters is amazing, but I don't watch it as often.  It's also confusing because different cuts have a different impact and just the existence of different cuts means each person's ideal cut is somewhere between any of them.  I've probably only seen it 5 times or so, but I do love it every time

 

So Jaws is more of a favorite, though both films are of course great.  Close Encounters has more ambition, scope, and emotional climax, but Jaws is amazingly lean and enjoyable.

 

Both scores are incredible.  I love listened to both frequently.  But let's be honest, Close Encounters is one of the finest compositions mankind has ever crafted.  Jaws is "just" a really fantastically great one.

[Bespin 7,002]

The child in me would have voted Jaws regarding the movie.

 

The old picky thing I've become now vote for CE3K all the way.

 

BTW I now find Jaws score very intrusive in the movie, but it's okay, after all it was meant to overshadow Bruce's many many defaults!

[Edmilson 4,969]

Close Encounters for all three questions.

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,479]

Jaws Jaws Jaws

[Bellosh 1,947]

Jaws is so good that even the mothership in close encounters played the jaws theme

[MrScratch 293]

Damn you for making me choose between these two.... I will mull this over.

[Bespin 7,002]

7 minutes ago, Bellosh said:

Jaws is so good that even the mothership in close encounters played the jaws theme

 

Pinocchio is so good that... oh wait a minute!

[Bellosh 1,947]

The mothership just fucking loved American Pop Culture!

[WampaRat 1,096]

I’ve only been able to listen to the “collectors edition” CE3k. 
 

How’s the LLL version in comparison? I was actually really curious about the “double LP” listening experience that Matissino created from John Williams original album plans.  

[Bespin 7,002]

5 minutes ago, WampaRat said:

I’ve only been able to listen to the “collectors edition” CE3k. 
 

How’s the LLL version in comparison? I was actually really curious about the “double LP” listening experience that Matissino created from John Williams original album plans.  

 

The Collector's Edition with his revised ending is outdated.

 

The Matessino Edition will, how Americans say it... get the shit out of you!

[Jay 32,059]

23 hours ago, WampaRat said:

I’ve only been able to listen to the “collectors edition” CE3k. 
 

How’s the LLL version in comparison? I was actually really curious about the “double LP” listening experience that Matissino created from John Williams original album plans.  

 

The sound quality is noticeably improved - it just sounds astonishing.

The new disc 1 program is an improvement over the 1998 program as well.

 

A complete chronological edit that combines tracks from disc 1 and disc 2 together is utterly sublime.

[Thor 5,963]

Crazy impossible. Both films and scores are such masterpieces. But I had to give the edge to CE3K on 1 and 3, and JAWS just barely on 2. But one shouldn't be forced to make such outrageous choices!

[Bespin 7,002]

2 minutes ago, Thor said:

Crazy impossible. Both films and scores are such masterpieces. But I had to give the edge to CE3K on 1 and 3, and JAWS just barely on 2. But one shouldn't be forced to make such outrageous choices!

 

WARNING, IT'S A REVIEW BASED ONLY ON THE OSTs! 

[Thor 5,963]

Hardly a review. But yeah - it should go without saying that I obviously have the OSTs in mind for the third poll option. Nothing else exists to me.

[Datameister 1,691]

Jaws for all three. I loved it on first viewing/listening and that's never changed. CE3K has been more of an acquired taste for me, but I'm definitely acquiring it. The LLL release helped. Dunno if it'll ever fully catch up with Jaws for me...we'll see. But both films and scores are iconic for good reason.

[Tom 3,711]

Excellent poll question.  Close Encounters for everything, but they are both masterpieces.   Both scores keep you enjoyably off-balance and anxious throughout, but the musical payoff to CE may never be surpassed (and, no, not even ET pulled that off).  I must see a live to projection version when such things return.  

[Marian Schedenig 6,502]

Both are absolute classics. But there's a special quality about CE3K, both film and score (and the former partly because of the latter) that transcends most other things that can be measured against to it.

[SteveMc 2,672]

Regarding scores, CE3K is probably JWs magnum opus.

 

Regarding movies, Jaws is more immediate, precise, and has aged a whole lot better.

[Jay 32,059]

28 minutes ago, SteveMc said:

has aged a whole lot better.

 

Even the haircuts aren't too dated from what I remember 

[Datameister 1,691]

The kids' haircuts are more dated than the adults'. Both films still feel very, very 70s to me, but in a way I like.

[Bellosh 1,947]

that's some bad hat Harry

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,479]

 

Jesus H. Christ

[Bellosh 1,947]

can you tell me if there's a good restaurant or hotel on the island?

[Gruesome Son of a Bitch 6,479]

Yeah, you walk straight ahead

[bruce marshall 1,260]

Love JAWS.

Not a fan of either score

[danbeck 87]

Jaws, Jaws and Jaws.

My favorite Spielberg movie, perfect pacing, perfect structure with suspense and tension rising until the fantastic ending (something Spielberg failed to repeat on Jurassic Park, which stalls after the Rex attack and only picks up again at the ending) great acting and one of the most brilliant scores ever composed. 
CEOTTK great movie and fantastic score but not as iconic as Jaws.

[May the Force be with You 2,032]

I went for Jaws as a movie but probably because I'm more familiar with it. I've seen it 10 times (inclueded four in theaters) while only 3 times for CE3K

For the score in film I've choose Jaws probably because it's more present.

Now for the OST, I've always find the OST program of Jaws superior to the one of CE3K but the LLL edition is superior to the Intrada one, so that's CE3K for me here

[Tom 3,711]

2 hours ago, danbeck said:

CEOTTK great movie and fantastic score but not as iconic as Jaws.

It is more iconic because it has three more notes.  

[GerateWohl 2,846]

Yes, both are brillant scores. Even though Jaws has this great shark theme the rest of the score is pretty much like golden age sea adventure pirate movie music. Anyway. Great combination, wonderful themes etc.

Still CEOT3K is all in all more original to me.

Probably, Jerry Goldsmith would laugh at the degree of innovation that JW brought to the genre with his score.

But apart from the service to the movies as usual the brillance lies - besides iconic themes and the pacing and drive the scores give to their movies - in the pure musical quality, that still makes me enjoy these score as a symphonic work of art.

 

By the way, I neither own the OSTs as CD (I only had the records) nor the LLL expansions.

Usually I just listen to the 20-track DECCA release of Jaws and the 26 track ARISTA release of Close Encounters.

For Jaws I am missing only the extended Shar Cage Fugue, but that one I have on the JW/Spielberg Boston Pops collection.

 

 

By the way. I was recently watching Close Encounters with my kids. And for them it was really a weird movie. They were definitely not used to so little spectacular action in such a movie. But they watched it until the end. But they were not very enthusiastic about it.

For Jaws they are too young. So, I cannot compare their reactions.

 

[Datameister 1,691]

CE3K is a weird movie!

[SteveMc 2,672]

12 hours ago, Datameister said:

The kids' haircuts are more dated than the adults'. Both films still feel very, very 70s to me, but in a way I like.

Both feel 70s, that is unavoidable, but CE3K is more grounded in the 70s.

While Jaws feels is rooted in dramatic and literary themes that give it a timeless foundation that is enhanced by the best of 70s era Hollywood techniques.  

[Jurassic Shark 9,784]

Jaws all the way.

[Disco Stu 15,475]

What's wrong with being dated anyway?  Why is that usually considered a bad thing?  A lot of older art that I love, one reason I love it is because it makes me feel transported back to that time and place.

[MrScratch 293]

Film - Jaws.  This movie has aged so well and still holds up to repeat viewing.

 

Score In Film - Jaws.  This was the toughest choice as both movies rely on their score in different ways.  Ultimately, Jaws gets the edge just because the film relies a little more on the music than CE3K does, in my opinion.  The music stands in for the shark through most of the runtime, it's truly a lesser movie without that score.

 

Score on Album - Close Encounters.  I don't listen to this score too often and I only listen to it in its entirety when I do.  This music is an experience unto itself.  I don't listen to CE3K casually, I will set aside some time out of my day to savor all of it.

[Jay 32,059]

Somehow for me, a film deliberately set in the past almost always has that effect, but sometimes a contemporary film can feel very dated if it features a lot of aspects there were only a brief fad, I guess.  Not sure if I can really define it, it's more of a feeling

[Jurassic Shark 9,784]

The CE3K theme has too many notes.

[Naïve Old Fart 7,963]

13 hours ago, SteveMc said:

Regarding scores, CE3K is probably JWs magnum opus.

 

[GerateWohl 2,846]

The great achievement of the CEOT3K is to be such a great and rich musical experience based on such an in its own synthetic and unadorned motif like these five notes. It is surely functional, like a ring tone. And Williams build such a score from it.

[May the Force be with You 2,032]

6 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

The great achievement of the CEOT3K is to be such a great and rich musical experience based on such an in its own synthetic and unadorned motif like these five notes. It is surely functional, like a ring tone. And Williams build such a score from it.

He did that too with Jaws but only with two notes...

So now the question is: what's more impressive writing an incredible masterpiece based on a two notes theme or on five tones? You have two hours...

[Jurassic Shark 9,784]

I always value quality over quantity.

[GerateWohl 2,846]

Just now, May the Force be with You said:

He did that too with Jaws but only with two notes...

So now the question is: what's more impressive writing an incredible masterpiece based on a two notes theme or on five tones? You have two hours...

Easy choice. The two notes from Jaws are cool on their own. That's easy. But these five notes are just... totally uncool. 

[May the Force be with You 2,032]

10 minutes ago, GerateWohl said:

Easy choice. The two notes from Jaws are cool on their own. That's easy. But these five notes are just... totally uncool. 

fixed

[WampaRat 1,096]

Cool to see the results. The overall consensus seems to be Jaws for the film and Close Encounters generally for the score. 
 

I had no expectations one way or another on the score side of things. I miiight have given the edge to Jaws. But now I need to go back and dig into CE3K again. 

[Bellosh 1,947]

Definitely one of the better and closer polls there's been.  Nice job @WampaRat

 

can be difficult here doing that

[Joni Wiljami 1,173]

1. Jaws for the film.

2 and 3   CE3K

 

Jaws is such a perfect movie with wonferful score. Out of the film it is almost unlistenable. CE3K is also wonderful film and the score is Williams' greatest ever, in the film and without it. 

 

[Jurassic Shark 9,784]

Better than The Book Thief?

[Joni Wiljami 1,173]

Yes. The Book Thief is second best. But you knew that.