Was Roy Neary wrong to get on that ship?

It's a cookbook!

I remember watching this film as a child, and being thankful that my father was nothing like the main character. I wondered what his kids were going to think when their father disappeared, if the government was going to make up some lie to tell his family, etc.

With that said, Roy was a selfish person and a mediocre father and husband. Leaving with the aliens as the right thing for him to do, considering his mindset. He's a good example of arrested development. He seemed alienated from his own family, to the point that perhaps he regretted being married and having children. For him, it was the right decision. He wasn't thinking of his family at all.

Dreyfuss, given his reputation, ensured that his Neary character would blow up the mothership and fleet as completely as the code fed into the invaders' ship in "Independence Day."

Good points r2. My parents had their ups and downs including separations, and my father's tendencies to corporal punishment, but I can't imagine either of them abandoning their kids. My father was the type to insist the whole family come along.

Everyone knows you never, EVER get on the spaceship with aliens

I wonder which room he got.

I was 17 when this was released and thought how brave but scary it was for him to leave. I mean he was leaving earth behind. I didn’t care for his family and honestly didn’t give them much thought. So I kind of envied him.

Today, it’s 50/50.

Teri Garr was young and hot and even with the kids, I figured she got a better guy after Roy left. He wasn't attractive, screamed at her and the kids, had a blue collar job... he wasn't exactly a catch.

Of course, I also imagined that after the world ended, there was a nice lady optician who fixed Burgess's glasses for him and you know... took care of his other needs, when that Twilight Zone episode ended to my intense dissatisfaction. It's kind of what I do.

I seem to recall Teri's character cutting her losses, packing the kids into the car and driving away.

Yeah, he abandoned them, but he had pretty much already done that way before he got anywhere near a UFO.

The Marriage thing wasn't working. She only wanted Missionary in the pitch dark. He needed more something crazy something strange and fresh to get him through the night. He had to go.

It was recently on TCM and I watched it for the first time in years (I was ten when it was released and loved it) and my main takeaway in the scene where Roy enters the ship is how specific Richard Dreyfuss’s gait is.

Separately, I was reminded that Spielberg is so good at pulling out really naturalistic performances from children - lots of overtalking and funny but realistic lines. And the actor who played Roy’s older son has the most moving scene at the table when Roy is trying to explain that he’s going to be OK. I don’t know if was ever in anything else.

It was the right decision

It's a perfect Sci-Fi film.

Leave the crazy sex orgy in space shit to the sick, sick fucks who imagine Roy's nubile hands gently moving across the

He might only have been an hour on their planet but it's 2024 if he returns.

Roy was literally alien by the time he entered the ship though, when he returned the hand jive and smiled goodbye to Francois as the hybrid at the end of the picture, we learned the price of throwing his lot in with the aliens. You had to be one!

The worst part is that it would take at least seven years if not longer for him to be declared legally dead.

So, not only did he abandon him family, but it left them in legal limbo. His children would be denied survivors benefits because he wasn't legally dead. His wife would not be entitled to anything. If they owned a home, she couldn't sell it. She would have a difficult time with any future mortgage loans or even refinancing the existing loan. No insurance payout if he happened to have life insurance. No access to any retirement accounts or pensions from his job.

Sure, he screwed them over emotionally by abandoning them. But, he really screwed them over financially.

I am sure he was the most visited attraction at their zoo.

[quote] Sure, he screwed them over emotionally by abandoning them. But, he really screwed them over financially.

Nah the government would pay the family off for their absolute silence about what happened to Roy. They would probably also move them to another state with new identities so that the neighbours wouldn’t ask questions. Same would happen to Jillian and her little brat, Barry.

R16, good point, but I assume the government would have some form of contract allowing volunteers to dispose of personal assets.

The thing that struck me was that among those "summoned" by the aliens there was a distinguished-looking elderly lady. She got passed over and I felt so sorry for her. She was closer to the end of her life on earth and would have possibly brought more experience to the table as a representative of humanity.

Instead a truck driver whose family hated him was picked.

you guys are taking all the fun out of one of my favorite movies from childhood!

How was the presentation OP? Worth seeing on a big screen?

Was it even totally his choice though? He was obviously receiving some sort of telepathic message in the form of visions but Drew him to The landing site so he may not even have been in full control of his actions.

Hi, R21. The presentation was great -- instead of the usual previews, they showed a brief film on the 100-year history of Columbia Pictures (the narrator sounded like Tom Hanks, though I could be wrong). After that they showed another short film with lots of behind-the-scenes footage of the making of "Close Encounters." (It's almost startling to see how young Spielberg was.) From most of the clips featured, they appeared to have a really good time making the film (all the usual problems notwithstanding, of course).

[quote]Roy was a selfish person and a mediocre father and husband. Leaving with the aliens as the right thing for him to do, considering his mindset. He's a good example of arrested development.

Though I can't say he was right to leave his family, I can't quite agree with this assessment of his character as a whole only because there was no real indication before the events of the film that he was a bad person who didn't care about his family. His gradual descent into madness was strictly due to an event over which he had no control -- the aliens basically fucked with his head and that was the catalyst for all of his behavior in the film. Up to that point, one could assume that he was basically a normal guy who loved his wife and children. But that's my take anyway.

[quote]Nah the government would pay the family off for their absolute silence about what happened to Roy. They would probably also move them to another state with new identities so that the neighbours wouldn’t ask questions. Same would happen to Jillian and her little brat, Barry.

I think "Close Encounters" was a film that (perhaps unintentionally) really set up a lot of different questions that one would walk out of the theater with -- first and foremost, what would the government do about Jillian and Barry, two ordinary civilians who had been part of such an extraordinary event and keeping them from talking about it for the rest of their lives. (Moving them to another state and changing their identities might not have been enough given that Barry, being a child, would be difficult to control.) And frankly, how much of a life could they both possibly have anyway after witnessing something so incredible -- you'd think it would've had to seriously fuck them up to a certain extent and make it near impossible for them to lead normal lives ever again. R18, as for Roy's family, you could be right but truth be told, why would the government feel any need to do anything whatsoever to buy their silence? Ronnie and the kids were long gone by the time Roy left to pursue his visions and had no idea where he was or what was going on -- as far as they knew, he had just disappeared and could've been dead somewhere and would've had no reason to expect any kind of payoff and/or settlement from the U.S. government.

By the way, when I got home, I was reading some history on the film and there was speculation leading up to the 1978 Academy Awards that Cary Guffey might be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. He wasn't but if he had been, he would have been the youngest nominee in Oscar history at age 5. (Melinda Dillon was nominated for Best Supporting Actress.) Guffey was also Kubrick's first choice to play Jack Nicholson's son in "The Shining" but couldn't because he was already committed to another film.

[quote]I am sure he was the most visited attraction at their zoo.

No, he's just another ingredient in their soup with me.

I agree with R22: it was less a choice than a compulsion beyond his control, and it made for a beautiful ending, which I hope Spielberg never re-edits.

What was he doing for his family on Earth… aside from cracking up and being a hysteric?

Jettison him!

He got on the ship to learn the Kodaly hand signals, so he could give up his job and become a music teacher 🎶.

They were not welcoming to the ship, it was an invite to a play party, notice they already got their cloths off.

You just know Grandpa Joe would leap out of that bed and get on that flying saucer too!

Why does everyone assume he is going either for good or even a prolonged period? The aliens have just returned a whole group of earthlings, including the Cary Guffey character who has only been gone, what?, a few weeks? Roy Neary does not get on the spaceship alone but at the end of a long line of scientists or astronauts. Are we to assume they are all abandoning their families? Also, the aliens are shown to be completely benign by this point—they are not going to keep Roy if he wants to return to his family.

This is one of my favorite movies. Since 1977 I may not have liked every Spielberg movie but I cannot think anything too critical about him—he made Close Encounters. If I had to come up with the best fifteen minutes in all my moviegoing, my first thought would be the whole Devils Tower sequence.

I've never been comfortable with this film, and my issues with it go in conflicting directions. For example, the idea of leaving with extraterrestrials fills me with dread, and yet, as R19 has remarked, the elderly woman was passed over and didn't get to go (neither did quite a few others unable to get past the roadblocks put up by the gatekeepers); that too bothers me. It left me agitated, and I have largely put it behind me, although across the decades I have seen it again, perhaps a total of ten times. My feelings about it have not improved.

I have an intense dislike of Richard Dreyfus, and now, at this distance, almost fifty years out, I can no longer distinguish whether I dislike him because of 'Close Encounters,' or whether I dislike 'Close Encounters' because of him. Due to my parent's overly censorious nature, I didn't see 'Jaws' until well after I'd seen 'Close Encounters,' and I couldn't stand Dreyfus in that, either.

Maybe it's because I found Roy Neary so distasteful. The novels/novelizations of both 'Jaws' and 'Close Encounters' contain depictions of sexual violence (rape) on the parts of the characters played in the films by Dreyfus. Back in the 70s, I frequently read the novels either just before or just after seeing the film in question. And ugly rape situations seem to have been common in such novels. My memories of the films and the novels seem to blur together.

I no longer have strong emotional reactions to anything anymore, but back in the 1970s, I did. Negative opinions formed back then tend to have stayed with me, sans the emotion. 'Close Encounters' no longer upsets me, but I still don't care for it.

Are you joking? Fuck that family. Go Roy go!

[quote]Why does everyone assume he is going either for good or even a prolonged period?

Because those pilots that came off the mother ship were from the planes they found in Mexico from WW1?. They didnt age but that would have been at least a 40 year flying saucer ride.

I wouldn't go anywhere with those freaks OP

I’ve got to say what I feel. Luke Skywalker was equally snotty for abandoning Beru and Owen Lars on Tattooine.

r14 is correct.

but opposite too. the ww2 soldiers and such had not aged.

R35, you are aware that Beru and Owen were dead, right?

[quote] changing their identities might not have been enough given that Barry, being a child, would be difficult to control.

I read an interview with the kid who played the part and he doesn’t remember anything about the filming so presumably IRL him wouldn’t remember anything about the aliens.

Jesus, talk about overthinking— and ruining the joy of a classic film along the way.

[quote] Because those pilots that came off the mother ship were from the planes they found in Mexico from WW1?. They didnt age but that would have been at least a 40 year flying saucer ride.

Likely due to time dilation where travelling at relativistic speeds slows the passage of time for those on the spaceship. A few years may have passed aboard the ship but for everyone back on it’s been 40 years. In Barry’s case it’s likely either the aliens never really left earth / our solar system, or from Barry’s perspective he was abducted just a few minutes ago.

I saw the movie w my mom. Asked her if she’d go. She said, “No. I’d send your father. “

They were an awful family anyway. Besides, given what happened to the last abductees, he’d probably come back thirty years later without having aged a day.

I have the DVD signed by Richard Dreyfus and Teri Garr. Thanks CHILLER!

It’s been a few weeks since we’ve had a quality thread on Teri Garr.

I was watching an old movie last night and it said in the IMDB trivia section that one of the minor performers was Teri Garr’s dad.

I knew her mother was once a Rockette, but I didn’t know her father was in the arts, too.

nepo baby!

[italic]G-damn [/italic]nepo baby…!

Teri Garr was terrific in everything I ever saw her in, nepo or not.