MovieChat Forums > Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) Discussion > WORST ENDING EVER and WORST FATHER EVER

WORST ENDING EVER and WORST FATHER EVER

posted 10 years ago by TheEightiesAreBack
57 replies | jump to latest

Let me get this straight...

...He leaves his 3 kids and wife behind to go with aliens? Really? A father has a responsibility to provide for his children. Spielberg messed up big time. Let's just leave children fatherless and the mother all alone to pay the bills. Great logic.

And for the record, children don't have a choice when their mother drives them away.

I guess when the kids are at their high school graduations and their father is not there... They can tell their friends their pops went crazy and left them.

Either that or those kids are going to have psychological problems from their father abandoning them.

Worst ending ever!

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

His wife was unreasonable. I understand why he wanted to, LITERALLY, get as far away from her as possible.

[–] Who (5146) 3 years ago

Barry came back.

The WW2 pilots came back

Some other people from earlier times came back too

By that we can assume Roy probably came back too. Maybe he met up with his kids when they were teenagers or adults. His wife was an awful cynical bitter person. I feel more sorry for the kids being raised by her and her sister.

There could have been a sequel about Roy, but that may have taken some of the magic and mysterious wonders away from this film.

[–] mnphotoguy99 (442) 3 years ago

There are parents and adults today that are abandoning their families to sit in Dallas, TX waiting for JFK and JFK, Jr. Some are doing the same to attend a defeated former guy’s rallies. As crazy as it seems, it happens.

[–] April-151-CT (10210) 2 years ago

What makes people think he was going to be away for good???? They brought all the other people back. I'm sure they brought Roy back too. He was just going on a journey/vacation. They had no reason to keep him forever. Just like they had no reason not to come back. They'd already been there repeatedly. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[–] BillySlater (4255) 2 years ago

The pilots were gone for 30 years. Its a stretch to say that Roy would be conveniently dropped back off in 1-2 years. He left knowing he could be leaving for decades. That is complete selfishness and to those who say, "his wife left him therefore he has carte blanche", he could still have been a Father figure in his kids´ lives.

[–] Owlwise (1536) 2 years ago

I think you're looking at this film far too literally. It's a secular/technological version of a classic archetypal theme: the Encounter with the Transcendent. When that beam of light from the heavens hits Roy, he's as changed & transformed as Saul of Tarsus becoming St. Paul, or Moses going up Mt. Sinai following the light of the burning bush. And he leaves his family (as his family has already left him) just as the young Prince Gautama leaves his family to pursue enlightenment & become the Buddha. All previous earthly concerns are now as straw. Ray has been chosen & called to something higher, and he must pursue it to the end.

[–] [deleted] 2 years ago

He did abandon his family, but the Aliens were messing with his head. The guy couldn't even focus on simple tasks without the draw of being with the aliens getting the better of him. It's cultish

As for worst ending ever: nope. The Devil Inside has this beat.

I still feel bad for his wife and kids.

[–] mikethemartian (6888) 2 years ago

The aliens had a shark problem and needed his help.

[–] AndyKing1967 (39182) 7 months ago

I think they’re gonna need a bigger boat.

[–] Melton (5002) 7 months ago

I agree. I haven’t seen the film for 20 years but I remember being underwhelmed.

A dude witnesses a UFO which damages his brain and makes him abandon his family? Seems like a pointless and tragic ‘story’ 🤷🏻‍♂️