Didn't anyone feel that the producer wanted to make this more about race then the event itself? I felt the story could have been told without hearing all about these issues.
I don't know a lot about anything but I know a little about practically everything
Vincent Price
I agree with you. If this were remade, it would focus more on the important issues.
shareI thought about the "RACE" issue, and decided I LIKED that aspect of the film. USUALLY, we're given some WHITE GUY to recount his "Close Encounter" of some kind. It was REFRESHING to have a "Person of COLOR" as the abductee for once!
shareI can understand that part of it. Having the main character black was based on historical fact, but the ambiance of the film as a whole was I feel more about the fear of white people and the insensitivity of white people without prove that some of the scenes in the film (the dinner with friends) even happened. It threw the main topic (ufo abduction) into the second message and not the main.
I don't know a lot about anything but I know a little about practically everything
Vincent Price
I guess it could be interpreted that way in today's eyes, but this event was in 1961 and inter-racial marriages were somewhat of a shocker, and was still an eyebrow-raiser even in 1975 when the movie was made. (I lived through that period.)
I read the book years ago and this movie followed it quite closely, but they left out one telling point that made me believe it was real.
If I remember correctly, Barney was being interviewed and a reporter asked if he wasn't doing it for publicity. Barney (somewhat in exasperation, I think) told the guy something like, "Look, I'm a black man married to a white woman. I don't NEED any publicity!"