E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Movie Review

Spielberg's exquisite enchantment, one of the most popular films in history, portrays a limpid-eyed alien stranded on Earth and his special bonding relationship with the young children who find and try to conceal him from grownup authorities. A modern fairy tale providing warmth, humor, and sheer wonder, this was conceived as a second chapter for “Night Skies,” a much-discussed but never-filmed thriller about close encounters of an unfriendly kind. That was scrapped, and E.T. went into production under the smokescreen title “A Boy's Life.” An immediate smash and cultural phenomenon, it held the first-place spot as the highest grossing movie ever. At least until a later Spielberg hit replaced it – Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg has declared he will never sequelize this (more power to him), but an authorized followup did appear in print, E.T. – The Storybook of the Green Planet, by William Kotzwinkle. Creature design by Carlo Rambaldi; Debra Winger contributed to the throaty voice of E.T.

1982 (PG) 115m/C Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace Stone, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton, Peter Coyote, C. Thomas Howell, Sean Frye, K.C. Martel; D: Steven Spielberg; W: Melissa Mathison; C: Allen Daviau; M: John Williams; V: Debra Winger. Academy Awards ‘82: Best Sound, Best Visual Effects, Best Original Score; Golden Globe Awards ‘83: Best Film – Drama, Best Score; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards ‘82: Best Director (Spielberg), Best Film; National Society of Film Critics Awards ‘82: Best Director (Spielberg); People's Choice Awards ‘83: Best Film; Writers Guild of America ‘82: Best Original Screenplay; Nominations: Academy Awards ‘81: Best Film Editing; Academy Awards ‘82: Best Cinematography, Best Director (Spielberg), Best Picture, Best Sound. VHS, Beta, LV MCA, APD, RDG