Is is my imagination or does Colin Firth’s character have more than a passing resemblance to J. Allen Hyneck?
I saw an article about the movie that pointed out that people today would probably doubt the recordings of the aliens, believing them to be faked. And would everyone stop everywhere to watch the coverage?
Was looking forward to this film. Didn’t enjoy it at all.
I found I didn’t really care about any of the characters, didn’t see the point of the chases and action scenes. This could have been a much more interesting movie, but it had none of the charm or wonder of Close Encounters or even Men in Black. A wasted opportunity, I’d say.
I have a question, which I’ll put in a spoiler:
We see archival footage that’s supposed to be President Nixon going to see the aliens at a military base in Florida. For no apparent reason, he’s met there by a “big TV star” who I’m guessing was meant to be Jackie Gleason. They both get to see the aliens. What’s this all about? Is this part of UFO lore in some way? Why Jackie Gleason, of all people?
Yes, it’s a well known story in UFO circles. And there’s not much more to it, either. The story goes that Nixon took his friend Gleason to see alien bodies one night.
Yeah I was surprised to find out that was a “real” thing in that it is told as fact in the UFO/UAP community (of which Stephen Spielberg is a part which I think was a reason this movie is lackluster. He is just too close to the source material).
Jackie Gleason was known to be interested in UFOs and Nixon supposedly wanted to impress him.
Huh. I had no idea what part was actually true! (Or rather a true rumor that existed before the film.) I thought that was one of the stupider parts of the film, like there is this whole govt conspiracy but then tv celebs are just being taken there and yet the story still doesn’t get out?
Do you suppose the producers didn’t name Gleason by name for legal reasons? Or because they figured younger audiences would have no idea who he was?
I’d never heard any of that rumor until this thread. I’m not saying it’s not out there; only that it’s new news to me.
My first thought upon reading of it here was that the rumor-starter picked Nixon as the offending president because he was Evil Politician personified.
My, how quaint.
Doubt it. In the credits, Bob Greenberg is credited as “Jackie Gleason”.
Supposedly (and this may have been said in the film, I don’t remember), the Nixon incident is what convinced the Powers that Be in the Secret Government/Industrial Cabal to no longer let Presidents in on the secret going forward.
Yes, Daniel explicitly said to Jane that the true Powers That Be decided after this incident to stop revealing the existence of extraterrestrials to future presidents. He notes that the reasoning was that presidents become civilians again after only eight years at most.
I found it to be okay but nothing too profound.
The only part I thought was really good was the performance by Courtney Grace who played the woman reporting live on the disclosure and was trying to remain calm, was left speechless, and still had to report. Great stuff.
The rest just never reached that emotional level.
Yes, this exactly! That was the only scene that actually moved me. I wasn’t that thrilled with the rest of the film, but I will admit I had tears during her scenes.
I wish that had been the beginning of the movie. That was the movie I was hoping for, I guess. It’s been explored before, but I could have been interested in Spielberg’s vision of what happens after we got the big news.
Kind of weird a character we never met before got to have the emotional climax of the movie. Could they not have introduced her earlier?
Inna and I saw this yesterday and I have thoughts…
- The climax involving two people trying to get to a TV station is definitely a choice. One that made more sense in 1986 than 2026, imho.
- Why would you make your main character a wanna-be news anchor… and then have the news-anchoring at the end of the movie be someone else?
- How the hell did Boyfriend just show up at the news station? And Jane, for that matter?
- The ending of Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001 novelization had the Star Child coming to Earth in the nick time to stop WW3. Spielberg was just on a podcast to discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey for over 2 hours. This 2+ hour movie ended with aliens coming in the nick of time to stop WW3. I don’t think these three sentences are unrelated.
I got the feeling the Boyfriend was just watching the broadcast from another location. But it was weirdly edited, I have to admit.
I have no idea if there’s any purposeful connection, but that final line/ word is the same as the final line/ word in the earliest written version of the Atra-Hasis flood story:
…
I shall sing of the Flood to all people:
Listen!
It comes at the very end, but it’s referring to the story that had just been told.