Roy Neary is just your average guy working his nine-to-five as an electrician when he has a paranormal experience involving an UFO. This can mean only one of two things: He's a character in a scien...

Claude Lacombe is the French scientist tasked by the UN to lead the investigative team that looks to discover the truth about the strange phenomena witnessed around the world. Chances are you think...

Single mom Jillian Guiler has a rough time of it in Close Encounters. She receives an otherworldly sunburn; her son is almost hit by a truck; she tries to fend off an alien invasion of her home and...

Ronnie is a foil—that is, a character designed to offer a contrast to another character. That character is Roy. Whereas Roy has a childish curiosity, Ronnie has no desire to shake up her reality...

Barry is another stock Spielberg character, who serves to teach us the advantage of childlike curiosity and an innocent worldview. Granted, he's only three years old, so he's got an advantage. Even...

David Laughlin is the guy that follows Lacombe everywhere he goes like a bearded, bespectacled beagle. At first glance, his role in Close Encounters is simple: He's a translator, so he says everyth...

Large and In ChargeSome dads insist they know what's best for the kids—you know, unreasonable stuff like not going to a midnight movie the night before the SATs, or thinking that a bag of Doritos...

Don't you hate it when your dad starts building mud-and-garbage sculptures in the living room? Annoying, right?For Neary's poor kids, the UFO phenomena and their father's erratic behavior are a bit...

Larry Butler's the third wheel who joins Roy and Jillian for their daring trek up Devils Tower. Like them, he's been plagued by visions of a mountain, resulting in an incessant urge to doodle it. O...

Farmer is a UFO enthusiast who sports a plaid shirt and the remains of a once grand set of locks. He also believes in Bigfoot, which he claims can make "a sound I would not want to hear twice in my...