Richard Dreyfuss – “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” (1977)
Though they only worked together three times, very early in the director’s career, few actors feel quite as Spielbergian as Richard Dreyfuss, first with the nerdy Hooper in “Jaws,” then with probably his very best performance, as Everyman hero Roy Neary in “”Close Encounters Of The Third Kind.” An ordinary lineman, Neary glimpses something that may or may not be a UFO while at work, and swiftly becomes haunted by subconscious images of a mountain. The film’s unusual for the genre by focusing more on domestic drama than effects, and Dreyfuss is exemplary at showing that while Neary may look like your average American, he’s clearly never fit in —not with his family, and perhaps not on planet Earth either. The turmoil and obsession is heartbreaking, and darker than many give Spielberg or Dreyfuss credit for.
Melinda Dillon – “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” (1977)
Trivia: who was the first actor nominated for an Oscar for a Spielberg movie? As you’ve probably guessed from the placement of this capsule, it wasn’t Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, Goldie Hawn or anyone similar, but “Close Encounters’ supporting player Melinda Dillon. Recommended to Spielberg by Hal Ashby, who’d worked with her on her breakthrough “Bound For Glory,” Dillon plays Jillian, a single mother who, like Neary, is tormented by alien visions and whose son Barry is soon abducted by the creatures. In his early days especially, Spielberg wasn’t really seen as a women’s director, but between Dillon and Hawn in “Sugarland Express,” that’s unfair —she’s excellent here, bringing curiosity and a big dose of raw emotion to a movie that has plenty of the former but not always much of the latter.
Harrison Ford – “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” (1981)
Few filmmakers have had a greater impact on pop culture than Spielberg, but the most immediately recognizable of all his creations has to be fusty archaeology professor/secret badass adventurer Indiana Jones. But would it have been the same with Tom Selleck in the role, as originally planned? Such is the brilliance of Harrison Ford’s performances in both “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” and its sequels (well, maybe not ‘Crystal Skull’), that you’d doubt it. It’s the kind of performance that doesn’t often get much credit, in part because of how easy Ford makes it look, taking the roguishness of Han Solo and building a complete and rounded figure around it. Indy’s professorial qualities aren’t just his day job, they’re a key to him —Ford makes his curiosity the character’s driving force. Between that and an almost Chaplin-ish physical vulnerability that’s often overlooked, the result was one of cinema’s most beloved heroes.
Karen Allen – “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” (1981)
The female leads of the Indiana Jones franchise weren’t always the highlights —“Temple Of Doom” brought Kate Capshaw’s shrill Willie Scott, and “Last Crusade” yielded Alison Doody’s underutilized femme fatale Elsa Schneider. So it was perhaps only when she returned to the franchise with “Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull” that it underlined how vital to the success of “Raiders” that Karen Allen’s Marion Ravenwood was. Jones’ one-time love, running a bar in Nepal when we meet her, Marion is as smart and capable as Indy is, never even coming close to being the damsel in distress that so many similar pictures might have made her, but Allen also finds something else there —a little girl who’d been swept off her feet only to have her heart shattered, and yet a woman who misses the more adventurous life. We’re reluctant to say many nice things about ‘Crystal Skull,’ but Marion’s return was the clear highlight.
