I think some of the special effects in Close Encounters hold up better than the new more expensive special effects is because they were better actually.
Individually the poor are not too tempting to thieves, for obvious reasons. Mug a banker and you might score a wallet containing a month's rent. Mug a janitor and you will be lucky to get away with bus fare to flee the crime scene.
I mean, gosh, my first tours I ever did were with the Ramones and Iggy Pop and Love & Rockets.