E.T.
I remember
when E.T. came out. Not because I watched the movie at the time, going to the
cinema was not something we did a lot, but the E.T. figures were the rage. Like
in frenzy rage. Most of my classmates would have a figure or a doll, the bigger
the better. Some with light in the finger and some who would say the famous
line “E.T. phone home”. The fad did not last, none does in second and third
grade, but while it lasted, there was nothing else in the world.
E.T. is a
classic movie that holds up well, here 41 years later. I watched it last night
with my wife and son and it still keeps us engaged, we still feel that lump in the
throat and my son would grip my arm and not let go. Mind you, we have all
watched it before and not just once. It is the quintessential family movie.
E.T. is an
extra-terrestrial botanist who gets left behind on Earth when his spaceship must
leave in a hurry. He seeks refuge in the shed of a suburban house and is discovered
by ten-year old Elliot (Henry Thomas). Elliot lives in the house with older
brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton), younger sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore) and
recently separated mother Mary (Dee Wallace). E.T. and Elliot befriend each
other and are soon linked on a mental level, sharing their emotions. The
children keep E.T. as a secret and Mary only late discovers the alien, ignorant
mostly through her own distraction.
The alien
needs to go home and while learning to communicate with the children, he builds
a communicator to call his spaceship, which they rig up in the forest. It is during
this excursion we get the famous shot of Elliot and E.T. on bicycle, sailing
past a full moon. It is almost too late for E.T. though. Something on Earth
does not agree with him and he turns very ill. Through their link Elliot shares
the illness. At this point agents of, presumably, a government agency, enters
and takes over E.T. In their hands E.T. finally succumbs. Or does he? Will his
spaceship arrive in time to save him?
Steven
Spielberg famously explained that the story of Elliot and his family is based
on his own childhood and how he dreamed of meeting an alien. A fantasy he also
lived out in “Close Encounters”. This connection with Elliot and his family is
clearly felt in how fleshed out they are in the movie. This looks and feels
like a real family with none of the glamour or crisis of most other movie
families. The biggest issue for them is the absent father and the very mundane
stresses of just getting along. The ordinariness of this family is what makes
the encounter with the fantastic being which is E.T. work so well. We feel it
is us meeting the creature and experiencing the adventure. There is nothing
spectacular about these children beyond the love they share with E.T. and each
other and that love we feel as well. This is what makes this so solid a family
movie.
It is amazing
how well E.T. holds up after all these years. Look past the dated haircuts and
it looks and feels very modern. Part of that can be ascribed to Spielberg’s
very talented team, but a large part is also that E.T, the movie, has been
admired ever since and has stood as the beacon of what a family movie should be
like. A lot of this movie has been imitated, copied or inspired countless times
ever since. Make it look and feel like E.T. and you have done it right. Even
Spielberg himself has used it as his golden standard. This admiration runs the
risk of making the original look cliché, but it is so good that it stands above
that. 41 years down the line, E.T. is as effective as it was back when we all
ran around with a doll with a light bulb in the finger.
I should
mention the most famous actor to come out of this movie, Drew Barrymore. We all
know what an astonishing career she has been having, and there, as little
Gertie, we can see where it all came from. I think few people can watch E.T.
and not fall a bit in love with that little girl.
1982 starts
very strong and I have a wonderful program ahead of me for the next few weeks.
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