Who can blame him, did you see those brats. And don't even get me started on his wife, she jumped ship on him the moment things started to go wrong. No wonder he bailed.

Saw the movie again recently, not having seen it in years. Dreyfuss was so annoying - both the character and the actor. I would have been relieved if aliens actually took him and kept him out of movies for good.

Everyone says Roy abandoned his family, he missed them growing up, worst father ever!!
Did we watch the same movie? Not that I blame her after Roy starts throwing plants and garbage into the house through the kitchen window, but she is the one who took the kids and left. Then we see Roy pleading with her days later over the phone (with his built-to-scale model of Devils Tower looming in the background), saying that he'll do anything (presumably to get her and the kids back). The conversation is one-sided, but it sounds like she's saying she wants a trial separation (Roy: "What? How long??"). Then he sees the news footage showing that his visions actually are showing him a real place. Ronnie has dumped him and now he has proof, a real place he can go to see what the hell is happening.
Even though he probably saw the pilots and other people who had been abducted years before, he probably didn't put that together. All he knows is that he's seeing something wonderful and magical. As he climbed the ramp, it probably never entered his mind that Einstein was right; maybe he didn't even know Einstein's theory. Maybe he thought that he'd be back in a short time and would keep trying to reunite his family. If he returned at all, he would have thought he was only gone a week or maybe a month. But decades would have passed here on Earth.

Not that anyone has asked me to rewrite the script, but perhaps Spielberg could have showed him struggling more, if not outright Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice. There was enough slow time of shots of the crowd gaping slack-jawed, that a scene with him desperately trying to contact his kids and have atearful farewell or something like that. I mean, soldiers, cops, astronauts and astronautesses have to follow their destiny. I guess, other than that I agree with so many threads that the aliens changed his brain somehow. All of this is supposed to be the job of the writers not the audience, but as a student once in creative writing, I know one has a deadline and must get something turned in and one prays that others do not analyze it too much. Even our Constitution had gaping holes. I am USA cit not Brit.

hahaha - with a precise half rest between the quarter notes.

Now as a father I have a hard time with Roy leaving his family. Watching the movie again i notice that the aliens imprinted such a strong drive for Roy (and others) to get to Devils Tower.
I guess how I justify Roy leaving is the imprint was a big part in making Roy feel ok with leaving his family behind. Maybe they will return him back to the point of his departure so he really didn't leave them at all. (assuming time travel).
I dont give half a hump if your innocent or not, so where does that put you?Shephard Book

Maybe he can convince the aliens to abuct his family so he doesn't have to leave them.
And how exactly would he do that? With a C-minor or an F-sharp?
I dont need you to tell me how good my coffee is.
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Maybe he can convince the aliens to abuct his family so he doesn't have to leave them.

lol and the next thing they find out is that he's gone away in space
I'm from Paris
TEXAS

Roy never leaves his family; they leave him (perhaps "justifiably" so but, nonetheless, they do)
Exactly!
He tries to include them in his new found discoveryBut they just think that he's gone mad, and abandon
him

Indeed. had his wife and kids still been in his life at that point, I wonder if Roy could have left them.
I dont need you to tell me how good my coffee is.
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Almost seems like he viewed the younger version of himself as Roy.to me, anyways.
Couldn't agree more. And it could only have been the Spielberg that existed before the birth of his first child. After that, he was never the same person- as if anybody could be after a life-altering event like becoming a parent.

I believe that in one of the first drafts of the film, it was Roy's wife and kids who were at Devil's Tower and not Jillian and Barry. In the making of special, Spielberg mentioned that Steve McQueen was one of if not THE first choice to play Roy, and sent McQueen the script to read. McQueen later told him that he couldn't play the role because of that farewell scene at the end. McQueen revealed that one thing he'd never been able to do on camera is spontaneously start crying, and that' what Roy does at the end. He looks back at his family and begins crying as he starts up the ramp to the ship.
Once again, Spielberg said that the ending of Close Encounters is something he could have only done in the early part of his career. As a single guy just started in the business, it was no big deal.
Later on, he became husband, father, producer, studio head, Oscar winner.now with more maturity and responsibility, he'd never have Roy get on the ship and tear ass off to anywhere.
Almost seems like he viewed the younger version of himself as Roy.to me, anyways.

The scene where he argues with his wife over the phone was supposed to tie up that loose end. she essentially leaves him with the kids, so he has no ties to hold him back.

He may have thought a lot about his kids and what he was venturing into. Sometimes life offers you an opportunity that supersedes family, friends, etc. I know that's not a popular sentiment and everyone wants to think that your kids are everything, the whole world, blah blah blah. But everyday kids make it through this world without one or even both of their parents and ultimately, what did Roy have to offer but a lifetime of regret had he not taken the aliens up on their offer.
And who knows? Roy may be the one to save their civilization, making his sacrifice a noble one.
Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans.
I dont need you to tell me how good my coffee is.
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