E.T. Phones Home A Billion-Dollar Movie

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2001)

Nearly twenty years since it was first released on the world, Steven Spielberg's 1982 sci-fi/fantasy masterpiece E.T.: THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL remains one of the greatest movies ever made. This is one of those films that makes us feel and think at the same time.
Its story of a very benign alien being accidentally left stranded on Earth and protected by a ten year-old boy (Henry Thomas) from government agents is so well known it doen't really have to be discussed. E.T. is, alternately, magical, fantastic, suspenseful, and sometimes even a bit terrifying. And sprinkled throughout the film are singular moments that really stand out as some of the most unforgettable scenes in cinematic history; by this time, I think we know what those are. For me, perhaps the most priceless scene is the introduction between E.T. and Gertie (Drew Barrymore), where she screams her head off, It is one of the very few times where I've wanted to laugh and scream at the same time!
Spielberg's film, though scripted by Melissa Mathison, is almost painfully autobiographical, given what the director has said about his childhood. Like Spielberg, Thomas' character goes through life minus a father, even though his mother (Dee Wallace) does her best. He feels isolated and picked upon in school, as Spielberg frequently did. There is also plenty of religious symbolism that probably doesn't need any analysing and was probably unintentional. In any case, looking past the fact that it won four Oscars--for sound, sound effects editing, special effects, and John Williams' legendary music score--and has grossed over $1 billion, E.T. is a masterpiece of the cinema, pure and simple, and it will always be that way.