E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 Steven Spielberg film about an alien botanist who accidentally gets left behind on Earth.

10 out of 10 stars.  Do I really need to explain why?

This is one of those iconic films that everyone remembers.  You laugh, you cry, and you’re glued to the set.

On a dark evening in the California mountains a race of alien botanists have landed their ship to collect plant specimens.  One of them has wandered far from the ship and when human scientists appear the ship quickly takes off without him.  Left alone on a foreign planet, E.T. seeks refuge in a shed.

Meanwhile, that evening Elliot and his older brother Michael are playing Dungeons and Dragons with Michael’s friends.  He begs to play and is told if he gets the pizza, maybe.  While getting the pizza he sees and hears something in the backyard near the shed, so he goes to investigate.  What he sees is a goblin of some sort.  When he tells Michael and his friends, they make fun of him.  No one believes him.

The next day he leaves a trail of Reeses pieces candy to lure the goblin into the house.  And it works.  But once he has him inside he’s not sure what to do with him.  So he hides him in the closet.  He pretends to be sick and stays home from school the next day so he can be with E.T.  When Michael gets home from school he introduces him to E.T.  When their younger sister Gertie gets home, she meets E.T. by accident.  Now the three of them try to figure out how to get E.T. home.

There are several moments in this film that are the stuff of legends.  1.  E.T. gets drunk when he’s left home alone and since Elliot feels what he feels, Elliot appears drunk at school, lets all of the frogs loose in science class, and kisses the prettiest girl in class.  2.  When E.T. is left home with Gertie she dresses him up and teaches him to talk by walking Sesame Street.  3.  Elliot and Michael dress up for Halloween and get E.T. out of the house by pretending he is Gertie dressed as a ghost.  They sneak to the woods where E.T. uses the machine he’s constructed from Gertie’s toys and the telephone to “call home”.  He is found the next morning almost dead and being scavenged by animals.  Don’t worry, this one has a happy ending.  4.  When Elliot, Michael, and Michael’s friends save E.T. by bicycle and are chased by the government scientists, E.T. makes them fly over the forest.

A lot of exceptional movies were made in the 1980s.  This one’s at the top.

10 out of 10 stars.  Yes, he gets home.  Now playing on STARZ.