But, um, it was there, and Gaffer Tape is not a raving lunatic.
(Oh, and I'll cut Spielberg some slack for releasing the original version of E.T. along with his director's cut, but he is on the top of my despised revisionist list for not doing the same with Close Encounters. It boggles my mind. He wrote the film as well as directed it; you'd think he'd treat it with a little more respect. Bah.)
Edited to add: I cannot let the remark pass that Close Encounters was not seen by that many people on its intial release. It may not have been as huge a hit as Star Wars, but it was one of 1977's biggest hit movies - seen by millions.