E.T. the Extra Terrestrial

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Thirty-five years ago, my Mother took me to the theater to see my first movie on the big screen. Today I was fortunate enough to have that opportunity again. A local theater was screening it this week, so I took some fond childhood memories, and a box of Reese’s Pieces and enjoyed a movie-going experience that is really quite difficult to replicate. Steven Spielberg’s E.T. was released in June of 1982 and was the highest-grossing film of the year, and also - of all-time. Beating Star Wars - which took the top spot from Spielberg’s Jaws - it would hold that title until eleven years later when he would inevitably lose it...to himself, for 93’s Jurassic Park. A common thread that any film nerd can pick up on between all these films is, of course, the music of John Williams. It’s my personal opinion that his work on E.T. is up there as some of his absolute best. When an alien species that is on Earth to harvest biological specimens of the floral nature, an sudden human presence causes them to flee unexpectedly. One of them unfortunately is not able to make it back to the ship before its hastey egress, and is left behind, only to find itself lost in wonder at what the rest of this strange world has to offer. When he stumbles into the backyard of a California suburb, he’s soon to cross paths with a young boy named Elliot, a fateful colliding of worlds that will equally affect them both, for the rest of their lives. I went into this expecting some of its age to show, and while the composite work on the flying scenes are not the best looking all these years later, it’s easily overlooked amidst what the remainder of this film has to offer. It’s a really powerful story at its core; centering on childhood wonder and innocence, as well as a child’s ability to possess a sense of empathy outside its nature. I honestly can’t recall the last time I saw E.T. - it’s possible that I haven’t seen it since the eighties, or even the early nineties. What I can say, is thirty-five years did not diminish my adoration of this film. I had absolutely no trouble locking into to Henry Thomas’s protagonist, Elliot, and his immediate empathetic/telepathic relationship with E.T., which is the key ingredient to this story working - the bond between a kid and his newfound otherworldly pal. It’s a brilliant plot device when you really need your audience to care about this kid and his friendship with this alien, and Thomas sells every scene like an ace. The emotion and wonder of their relationship is on point, and there’s even some humor to be mined between the two of them and Elliot’s siblings - most notably - Drew Barrymore’s Gertie. These wonderful performances that the children in this film provide are a byproduct of one of Spielberg's many strengths as a director- his ability to direct very young actors to cultivate extremely genuine and realistic dialogue and interaction within a scene. Francois Truffaut, whom starred in Close Encounters, mentioned to Spielberg during filming that he should continue to work with young children in the future, because he was obviously very good at it. Thankfully, he took that advice to heart, and has done quite well as a result. God, I love this movie. It’s the magic of film making and visual storytelling at its absolute best. If you love movies and have not seen it, and you can appreciate the classics - especially if you have young children - you have got to sit down with it sometime. I adore it, it’s one of the greatest films of all-time, but more importantly - my childhood.

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