(Ever notice how E.T. kind of looks like, well, Ed Harris?)
CAST: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore, Robert McNaughton, C. Thomas Wallace.
DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one seriously long-distance relationship - straight ahead.
In 1979, Ridley Scott’s ALIEN came out and kicked some serious ass at both the domestic and international box offices - and whatever touchy-feely impressions about extraterrestrial life created by STAR WARS and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND in 1977 immediately went down the toilet. Indeed, watching ALIEN’s beast - looking like a cross between a praying mantis and a scuba tank - decimate the crew of a spaceship, one-by-bloody one, was enough to have anyone think twice about what kind of life might be out there in the stars.
Which is probably why uber-director Steven Spielberg decided to create E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL in 1982 - as a way to make the world believe again in the “Warm and Fuzzy” version of little green men from beyond the moon, which ALIEN single-handedly eradicated. Did he succeed? Well, the answer is mostly “yes.” Meaning, everyone loved E.T. - unless you grew up in Southeast Asia, where most people couldn’t figure out what the fuck Americans and Europeans found so adorable about a shambling thing that looked like a cross between: (1) a monkey; (2) a dinosaur; (3) beef jerky; and (4) Ed Harris when he looks surprised. Think I’m on crack about that last bit? Watch any movie with Ed Harris in it, and tell me that he doesn’t bear a resemblance to E.T. Don’t get me wrong: Harris is very cute, but when he looks shocked or pissed, he looks like everyone's favorite alien.
Anyhow, the kid heroes of our movie - Elliot, Gertie, and Michael - are all American (Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymoore, Robert McNaughton), so therefore they are enamored by E.T. - as opposed to repelled by him - when they discover that his mother ship leaves him behind during, I guess, an intergalactic botany field trip. As you can imagine, in the grand tradition of kids everywhere, they keep E.T.’s discovery from their harried mom (Dee Wallace). Which is probably a good thing considering Pops just left the family for Mexico and, presumably, a senorita with a margarita.
Anyhow, E.T. proves to have a, well, rather out-of-this-world effect on the kids and their house. To wit: (1) he revives a dead geranium; (2) he develops an emotional and intellectual link to Elliott; and (3) he attracts the attention of a bunch of relentless government agents led by the bizarrely named Keys (Peter Coyote). Turns out Keys and his cohorts were the ones who interrupted E.T.’s little intergalactic botany trip from the beginning that saw him getting left behind by his homies. And as the story goes on, Elliott and his gang slowly realize that E.T. is trying to - gasp - get his pals to come back for him.
How can E.T. “phone home”? He can barely waddle down the hall? What will Elliott, Gertie, and Michael do to help him? Can three kids trump interstellar astro-physics? And what happens when Key and his cronies sniff out E.T.’s whereabouts? And what happens when E.T. starts deteriorating? Will his fellow extraterrestrials return to Earth in time to rescue him? And how will Elliott handle saying goodbye to his scaly, slimy, bug-eyed pal?
How, I ask you? Sniff. Stop looking at me when I’m crying like a little bitch…
BUT, SERIOUSLY: Few films capture the magic of a child’s discovery of something new and unexpected like E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL. From the dialogue-free opening sequence showing E.T. and his friends being interrupted during their mission by the shadowy government agents, to Elliott and his siblings’ gradual discovery of the special creature in their midst, to the final chase between the agents and the kids on their bikes leading to the returning Mother Ship, this film is a love letter to the friendships of childhood. These relationships are usually at their purest, because they are still untainted by the complexities of adulthood and real life - and E.T. vividly illustrates that magic.
What’s even better about this film is how believable the kid characters are. Elliott, Gertie, Michael, and Michael’s friends are all convincing and authentic. Too often, kid characters in films are unbelievably precocious and articulate beyond their years. These characters are not. They struggle for words, they fumble their actions, they make silly mistakes, they don’t always get along. In other words, they’re real kids - and Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymoore, and Robert McNaughton succeed in making them extraordinary through their ordinariness.
Peter Coyote and Dee Wallace have solid turns as the conflicted adults, but this film belongs to the kids - especially Elliott. It’s his friendship with the little alien that is the soulful center of E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL. Anyone who’s ever been a kid and loved something you believed was extraordinary will relate to this film. And who among us hasn’t been through that? In the end, this film is a classic valentine to that kind of connection.
