When looking at a film such as this one I have to mentally step back to the summer of 1982 and remember what it was like being five years old and sitting in a dark movie theater with my family around me and seeing it for the very first time. I remember that experience well even though that was more than forty years ago and I was very young. It is the earliest memory that I have of seeing a film in the theaters. My parents like to joke about how they took me to see Superman II and that I didn’t want to leave the theater so they stayed for a second showing. That may be so but I don’t remember that; I would have been only four and I barely have any reliable memories of anything going that far back. So, summer of 1982. I don’t remember if I was aware of what the movie was I was going to see that evening but I do remember that shortly after the movie started I was scared because there was some sort of shadowy creature running through the brush and crying out in, what sounded to my little ears, anger. I eventually stopped being afraid and the film enchanted me the same way it did millions of people that summer. My parents didn’t have a lot of disposable income so I only got to see it once in theaters and not again until much later when we got a VCR and they taped it from somewhere.
In the early 2000’s, likely because of the popularity of the Star Wars Special Editions a few years prior, Steven Spielberg released a special edition of E. T. that removed some of the offensive dialogue, digitally replaced guns with walkie-talkies, and added back several deleted scenes. Watching this version feels like seeing a director over-correcting something that wasn’t really a problem in the first place. Even Spielberg realized this and has elected to leave that version unreleased in any further home video formats making it a curiosity only. What we currently have in high definition formats is the glorious original theatrical version as it really should be viewed. If you simply must see the altered version it is still out there just don’t expect anything sharper than standard definition DVD.
Fast forward a second time to about 2016 and thanks to Fathom Events E.T. was on the big screen again. For the first time since that original showing in 1982 I was sitting in a theater and this movie that I felt I had mostly outgrown was once again mesmerizing me. Something about that environment, sitting in a dark theater with a bunch of strangers, took me back to my childhood and I was once again being delighted by a movie. I knew all the beats yet I felt like that little kid again seeing all of this for the first time. While there is nothing inherently wrong with watching this on a television at home there is no substitution for watching it as it was originally intended. I replicated that as best as I could at home by watching it again this morning in my theater room, projected at 150 inches and broadcasting in 7.1 surround. Even so, I would have rather spend the ticket money and gone to a real theater.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is one of those films that defined a generation of kids who grew up in the 1980’s. When it released it was one of the most successful films of all time and the image of the aliens became iconic. There were plushies in stores everywhere of him as well as action figures, posters, sequel books, and more. It was not uncommon for kids that October to be sporting E.T. costumes for Halloween. Kids were mimicking the iconic line “Phone home,” in that croaky voice, extending their index finger and pretending it was glowing. But, like all things, eventually a new generation grew up behind the current one, a generation that didn’t grow up with E.T. Mania and now it’s looked at more with nostalgia than anything else. The day in the theaters watching it as an adult I was surrounded by others roughly my age. No one had brought their kids. Everyone there was there to relive their childhoods, not introduce it to the new generation. As for me, my children are mostly grown up now but when they were much younger I watched it with them. I’ve never shied away from introducing them to older films and this one was no different. They enjoy the movie but do not have the nostalgia for it the way I do. To them it is just another movie.
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial is the story of an alien stranded on Earth. This alien, nicknamed E.T., was part of a group of explorers who fled when some men almost catch them traipsing around the terrain of southern California. While the ship takes off, E.T. is left behind, unable to get back to the ship in time. He hides out in the backyard shed of a nearby house where he is discovered by a young boy named Elliot (Henry Thomas), who is initially terrified of him but eventually realizes he means him no harm. Elliot hides him in the house, introducing him to his older brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton) and younger sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore). Their mother Mary (Dee Wallace) remains blissfully unaware of the alien’s presence as she takes care of the kids and deals with the aftermath of her husband running off with another woman. E.T. eventually figures out a way to send a message to his people to arrange for a pick-up but his time is running short as he is dying and the government is rapidly narrowing in on his precise location.
Steven Spielberg has gotten a reputation for depicting broken families in his films. This has been attributed to his own parents divorcing when he was young. People have read into the broken home as Spielberg working through his own issues on the subject. Whether that is the case or not the issue with the absent father doesn’t amount to much. It is used to show Elliot’s insensitivity on the subject and Gertie’s lack of understanding over what happened to their father. Other than that nothing else is really done with it and it amounts to absolutely nothing beyond explaining why there is not father present. For all it is used he could have just as easily been dead or constantly traveling for work. Spielberg would go this same route in other movies including more recently in his autobiographical film The Fablemans.
There was a time when Steven Spielberg could do no wrong. From the late 70’s through much of the 80’s he was the man who made magical family pictures and jaw-dropping action adventure films. From Jaws all the way until Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom he mostly made films that resonated with people and remain classics to this very day. 1941 was his only real misfire during this period and even that one is being reevaluated in more recent years. While his more recent stuff has steered away from family entertainment he hasn’t quite lost that sparkle and films like The BFG and Ready Player One still show that he is a kid at heart and still can tap into that well when he wants to. The Fablemans also shows that he remembers what it was like being a young filmmaker finding his voice. By 1982 he had found that, navigating the early part of his career where he focuses on scares and suspense, then action films like Raiders of the Lost Ark. He may not have directed Poltergeist but realistically he was very hands on in that film and it shows throughout. E.T. falls into that time period for him, a time in his life when it seemed like he could do no wrong.
Looking back on the film it becomes apparent that more than just nostalgia is at play when explaining its longevity. The story is fairly simple but there is more going on than just the basic plot. There are also some genuinely funny moments tied into an unexplained psychic bond between E.T. and Elliot. When E.T. raids the fridge and drinks a beer Elliot also gets drunk. This leads to a funny, but oddly out of place, sequence in science class where Elliot frees a bunch of frogs destined for dissection. He also steals a kiss from one of the girls in his class, a holdover from E.T. watching The Quiet Man on the television at home.
Late in the film E.T. appears to die while in custody of the government who have inexplicably set up house in Elliot’s home rather than transporting him to some private security hospital. The film never really explains if E.T. is faking death, legitimately died and comes back somehow, or was near death and the proximity of his spaceship magically revives him. In the moment it doesn’t really matter but it is a logistical plot hole that goes ignored. As kids we never thought about such things but watching this through adult eyes I have to wonder what was going on there. After he magically revives he’s completely fine again as if nothing happened and is able to do all the magical things from earlier like levitate objects high into the sky. This was showcased earlier when he flew Elliot on his bike into the woods, giving us the image E.T. is most known for. As Elliot, his brother and their neighbor friends are freeing E.T., being chased by government workers in their cars with guns (in the theatrical cut) he will do it again, this time levitating all of the kids and their bikes. John William’s music was beautiful up to this point but it is during this chase sequence and the flight of the bikes that that score really takes off. Spielberg has gone on record saying this sequence was so difficult to score because of all the math needed to make sure the music fit the edit that he ended up allowing Williams to conduct the music his way and then recut the film to match it up.
The film ends on the perfect note as Elliot returns E.T. to his ship and says goodbye. It takes a jaded viewer to not cry watching this moment. Even at five years old I heard lots of sniffling in the theater during this ending and it still works now. Spielberg has insisted he will never make a sequel or allow one to be made without him. That is a good choice as it allows this to remain a near perfect experience. There have, of course, been sequel novels, none of which have been any good. This is just the type of story that doesn’t need to be added to. The closest we have gotten was a short film made for television that stared Henry Thomas returning as an adult Elliot. E.T.’s race was of course seen in Star Wars: Episode I in a cameo. This was George Lucas repaying Spielberg for using a Yoda costume on one of the neighborhood kids during the Halloween sequence.
I cannot recommend E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial enough. Some movies I love purely for nostalgic reasons and not because they still hold up. I have a soft spot for Strange Brew even though I can acknowledge it really isn’t that good of a film. I just saw it at a time in my life that allows me to fondly remember and revisit it. E.T. is not like that. It still holds up as a good movie that I can put on for the family even if some of the insults the kids spout out are a bit cringeworthy. Henry Thomas is good for a child actor and Drew Barrymore was already showing a charisma that would carry her career well into the current day. This is a classic from the 1980’s that will always be in my collection and I can revisit often without getting tired of it. It’s a stroll down memory lane that I’m always willing to take.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy
Best Director: Steven Spielberg
Best Original Screenplay: Melissa Mathison
Best Original Score: John Williams (won)
Best Cinematography: Allen Daviau
Best Film Editing: Carol Littleton
Best Sound Effects Editing: Charles L. Campbell and Ben Burtt (won)
Best Sound: Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don Digirolamo and Gene Cantamessa (won)
Best Visual Effects: Carlo Rambaldi, Dennis Muren and Kenneth F. Smith (won)
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Release Date: June 11, 1982
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Rated PG
Starring: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore
Directed By: Steven Spielberg
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