E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (film)
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is a renowned American science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg, first released in 1982. The film follows the story of a young boy named Elliott who discovers a stranded alien, affectionately named E.T., and helps him find a way to return home. Set primarily in suburban California, the film reflects Spielberg's childhood experiences and sense of wonder about the universe. Notably, the film features innovative special effects created by Carlo Rambaldi, with E.T.'s design costing $1.5 million and involving multiple puppets for realistic movements.
The narrative is notable for its portrayal of aliens as benevolent beings, contrasting with other contemporary films that depicted extraterrestrials as hostile. "E.T." quickly became a box-office success, earning over $13 million within the first three days of release on a budget of $10.5 million. The film received critical acclaim, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Original Score by John Williams, and is recognized for its cultural impact, including a significant boost in sales for Reese's Pieces candy. It has since been preserved in the National Film Registry for its historical and aesthetic significance and is frequently listed among the greatest films of all time. Key themes include childhood innocence, friendship, and the longing for connection, resonating with diverse audiences across generations.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (film)
- Release Date: 1982
- Director(s): Steven Spielberg
- Writer(s): Melissa Mathison
- Principal Actors and Roles: Henry Thomas (Elliott); Drew Barrymore (Gertie); Peter Coyote (Keys); Robert Macnaughton (Michael); Dee Wallace (Mary)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a classic American science fiction film. This story of a boy named Elliott who helps an alien return home was an instant box-office hit. The film also earned glowing reviews from the critics. E.T. had a budget of $10.5 million and earned more than $13 million in the first three days after its release. It is considered to be one of director Steven Spielberg’s greatest successes.
The film was inspired by Spielberg’s childhood, including his parents’ divorce and his suburban home. The movie takes place in the suburbs, primarily in Elliott’s house and backyard. Spielberg often gazed at the stars as a child and felt a sense of awe. He brought that sense of wonder to the film, making the aliens peaceful botanists. In contrast, other films of the late twentieth century, such as the movies in the Aliens franchise, portrayed aliens as violent enemies.
Made in the 1980s, the film reflects many elements of the time. The children ride BMX bicycles, eat Reese’s Pieces, and play with toys from Star Wars.
Ten-year-old Henry Thomas won the role of Elliott after a six month search. The voice of E.T. came from two women, primarily Pat Welsh, and it was also the creation of sound effects, including the sound of an otter’s cry and a dog’s bark. Three aliens figures were constructed to handle the role of E.T. Carlo Rambaldi built them at the cost of $1.5 million. He and ten assistants controlled the mechanisms. Another crew had worked on an E.T. figure before Rambaldi. This other figure cost $700,000 and was unsuccessful.
The movie went through three titles before the final one was selected. The first was Growing Up, followed by A Boy’s Life, E.T. and Me, and finally E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
Plot
A spaceship sits in a dark mountain forest. Trucks roar up, and a little alien runs away. The spaceship manages to escape the people in the trucks, but in the process, it leaves without him.
Meanwhile, young Elliott goes outside to pay for a pizza delivery. He hears noises in the family’s shed and tosses in a baseball. Something rolls the baseball back out. That night, Elliott keeps watch, but the alien runs away when he sees the boy. The next day Elliott searches the forest and drops Reese’s Pieces for the alien. He hurries away when he sees a man searching the area.
That night, Elliott lures the alien into the house with more candy and hides him in his room. Elliott shows the alien his toys and introduces him to his brother and sister. Michael and Gertie agree to keep the alien a secret.
While the children are in school, the alien begins learning about Earth from television. He learns about telephones and finds circuits on the back of Gertie’s Speak and Spell. Elliott names the alien E.T. when he hears the visitor speak. E.T. says he wants to "phone home." A government van sits outside the house, listening to their conversations.
On Halloween, Elliott puts a sheet over E.T., and they sneak out of the house. E.T. levitates the bicycle they are riding, and they soar across the night sky, silhouetted against the full moon. They set up the device E.T. has made to call his spaceship. The next day, Elliott is sick, and Michael discovers E.T. collapsed in a stream. Men in protective suits burst into the house. They run medical tests on E.T. and Elliott. Elliott improves, but E.T. gets worse and apparently dies. When Elliott is left alone to mourn him, E.T.’s chest starts to glow red, and he wakes up. The glow is a sign that the alien ship is coming back. Elliott and Michael steal E.T.’s medical van, then abandon it to join their friends on bicycles. Police and government men chase them, but the children make it to the spaceship. Elliott and E.T. exchange sad farewells, and the spaceship takes off, leaving behind a rainbow in the sky.
Significance
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was nominated for many awards. It was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won four. It won for best sound effects editing, best visual effects, best music, and best sound. The other nominations were for best picture, best director, best cinematography, best film editing, and best screenplay. It won a Golden Globe for best original score. Steven Spielberg was nominated for best director, Henry Thomas for new star of the year, and Melissa Mathison for best screenplay. John Williams won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts award (BAFTA) for best score. The movie was also nominated for eleven more BAFTAs, including one for Drew Barrymore, who played Elliott’s sister Gertie, and one for Henry Thomas as most outstanding newcomer to leading film roles. In addition to the many other awards won by the film, John Williams won three Grammy Awards for his music.
E.T was selected for the National Film Registry in 1994. The National Film Registry chooses films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant," and these films are then preserved in the Library of Congress.
In 1998, the American Film Institute (AFI) included E.T. in its list of the Greatest American Films of All Time. The movie was ranked twenty-fifth, and it rose to number twenty-four in 2007. AFI also ranked it as sixth in the list of Most Inspiring Films of All Time, fourteenth in Greatest Film Scores, and forty-fourth in Most Thrilling Films of All Time. "E.T., phone home" was listed fifteenth in Greatest Movie Quotes of All Time.
The camera work is unusual. Spielberg had the film shot from a low vantage point, the viewpoint of a child. This perspective is also the viewpoint of E.T. When E.T. is covered with a sheet, the audience sees the Trick or Treaters through two eyeholes, just as E.T. would see them.
The scenes were filmed in order so that the emotions in the movie’s finale would be more authentic. Spielberg also looked for authenticity in the medical scenes. He hired real doctors, nurses, and technicians and shot their scenes almost fifty times before he was satisfied.
Sales of Hershey’s Reese’s Pieces were said to have tripled in the weeks after the film’s release. Mars, the company that makes M&Ms, was first given the chance to be featured in the film but turned down the offer.
Awards and nominations
Won
- Academy Award (1982) Best Original Score ()
- Academy Award (1982) Best Sound ()
- Academy Award (1982) Best Sound Effects Editing ()
- Academy Award (1982) Best Visual Effects ()
- Golden Globe (1982) Best Original Score
- Golden Globe (1982) Best Motion Picture (Drama)
Nominated
- Academy Award (1982) Best Cinematography ()
- Academy Award (1982) Best Film Editing ()
- Academy Award (1982) Best Picture
- Academy Award (1982) Best Director: Steven Spielberg
- Academy Award (1982) Best Screenplay (Original): Melissa Mathison
Bibliography
Barsanti, Chris. The Sci-fi Movie Guide: The Universe of Film from Alien to Zardoz. Detroit: Visible Ink, 2015. Print.
E.T.—the Extra-Terrestrial: From Concept to Classic: The Illustrated Story of the Film and the Filmmakers. New York: Newmarket, 2012. Print.
Grant, Barry Keith. 100 Science Fiction Films. New York: Macmillan, 2013. Print.
Haley, Guy. Sci-Fi Chronicles: A Visual History of the Galaxy’s Greatest Science Fiction. Richmond Hill: Firefly, 2014. Print.
Schickel, Richard. Steven Spielberg: A Retrospective. New York: Sterling, 2012. Print.
Schneider, Steven Jay. 1001 Movies You Must See Bbefore You Die. Rev. Ed. Hauppauge: Barron’s, 2013. Print.