One Final Thought: E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Apr 24

Written by: Brian J. Sumner

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There’s nothing more frustrating than watching a film for the first time that has been dubbed a Hollywood Classic and realizing that said film isn’t hitting you the way a classic should. You end up spending more time trying to see the attributes and qualities that would classify a film in such a high regard rather than just enjoying the film for what it is. In retrospect, I guess that’s what makes a movie reviewing experience different as you go from person to person, taking in their critiques and opinions versus yours, all the while trying to gauge two separate things;

One, Is the movie technically sound?

And two, do I even like this film?

Both equally important with regard to ones own personal movie viewing habits but liking a film isn’t necessarily as important as technical aspects of a film when determining if a film is overall great. The example I have, which just so happens to be the topic of choice for this One Final Thought, is the Steven Spielberg film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. While it is still regarded as a technical marvel due to its use of groundbreaking (for the time) special effects blended with an upbeat, coming of age story surrounding the emergence of an extra terrestrial being (we’ve all been there, am I right?), and yes, I will admit, from a technical standpoint there is nothing wrong with the film, BUT, it just doesn’t resonate with me. It’s technically good while also not being enjoyably good at the same time. Confused yet?

If we step back and look at the film concept and overall story execution, there’s a lot of positives that can be observed. An extra terrestrial being, accidentally left behind during an intergalactic pit stop on Earth, is taken in by a curious kid who recruits his siblings to help protect him from local law enforcement and federal investigators long enough to make contact with his family to have him picked up and taken home. Sprinkle in a little whimsy, add a dash of sci-fi intrigue, mix with a cup of PG humor and you’ve got yourself a pretty solid recipe for a hit!

And it was a hit…..critically.

Amongst your movie savants, professional critics, and auteurs (who seem to have convinced themselves they know more about cinema than your average, blue collar movie goer) E.T. was and is a big success. However, if we look at the data from popular movie review websites, the numbers just don’t add up.

While IMDB’s meta-critic gave a 91% and Rotten Tomatoes Tomato-Meter ranked E.T. at 98%, audience scores scored much lower, tallying in at 7.8 for IMDB and 72% for Rotten Tomatoes. What does this tell us?

The audience wasn’t as enamored with the film as the critics were.

Granted, 7.8 and 72% aren’t necessarily horrible scores, but we’re not talking about your average, run-of-the-mill movie. We’re talking about E.T. A film that has been elevated to this lofty status in the minds eye with regard to overall execution of story and public perception due to nostalgia. But the overall numbers don’t reflect that with regard to the movie going audience. In my opinion, the numbers seem to indicate a modest(at best) ranking with regard to the idea of a nostalgia-based film. It’s very interesting, to say the least.

So why doesn’t E.T. resonate with me? Why didn’t I feel the goodness of the overall story? Why wasn’t I “reduced to a blubbering mess by the end credits”? These are thoughts that I have been churning over in my head, repeatedly, ever since we released Episode 10: Wormhole during Season One of our official relaunch of the show. My co-host, Jim Miller, was completely blown away by the fact that I hadn’t seen E.T. (or at least remembered seeing it) and I’m not so certain he was fond of my assessment of the film.

My ranking was a low 4 out of 5, only because I felt that the film was technically and technologically sound, but I had trepidation’s about the story. In fact, I leaned heavily towards a 3 out of 5 , but being that there isn’t anything officially wrong with the movie (other than it just doesn’t hit with me) I decided to keep the score at a 4 because I still feel it’s a film people should watch at least one time.

I always felt as if something was missing from the film……that one thing that would catapult the overall enjoyment of the film to a much higher plateau and create that cohesiveness with the story.

What was it? What was missing? What is that one thing??

The more I pondered it, the answer became quite evident when I listened back to Episode 10 and our breakdown on the second half of the show. I had made mention of the idea that I felt the “man with the keys” was going to end up being Elliot’s dad, which in turn would’ve added a whole other ripple to the story and created so many more avenues and possibilities for storytelling. So hypothetically, within the existing storyline, rather than Elliot’s father sleeping around on his wife, perhaps he was cheating on his wife with his research work. It would be an easy story to tell about a man so driven by his work he leaves behind his family for his research.

Being that Keys was a scientist who had devoted his life to finding E.T. after a similar encounter with the alien being, when he was a child would have created this unearthed bond within the estranged relationship of father and son, thus creating a catalyst for the father to understand that his work isn’t more important than his family. Elliot gravitated to E.T. so much because there was that void left in his life when his father left. When an emotional emptiness is created like that in such a devastating way, you can only hope that a child turns to something creative and fruitful to help him along in life, whereas so many other children who are fatherless go down darker paths.

It’s been chronicled many a time on our podcast the importance of fathers and men stepping up to be father figures and what that void can leave behind. Films such as Boyz N The Hood, The Outsiders, and American History X have shown us all the darker aspects of not having a strong, male role model to be there and give a young impressionable child guidance and love. Other films such as Field of Dreams and Hook have given us insight into what it means to learn from the sins and errors of fathers so that we can be better to our kids. Cinema, throughout time, has given us so many wonderful examples of how to not only be a great father but to also be a great man.

**E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial** ©1982 Universal Pictures

So many aspects of the storytelling within E.T. lent itself to go down that avenue and create a whole world of emotional content that would’ve gone hand in hand with the existing film structure. Scenes like the “death of E.T.” and the reuniting with E.T.’s family on the ship would’ve held a higher impact and brought more punch to their overall meaning if in those moments of sorrow and sadness, Elliott had his estranged father there to share that experience. I think having that ripple added to the story would have been the exact thing needed to take this film to greater heights than it already achieved. Steven Spielberg’s greatest asset as a storyteller is his long term vision for the evolution of the story towards its end goal but his greatest weakness from the films of his I’ve watched (through a critical eye on this podcast) is his inability to fully bring together an overall story when matters of the heart are involved.

But what do I know? I’m a blue collar movie reviewer in Southwest Indiana.

I think when it’s all said and done, this film doesn’t fully deliver for me because I do not have the built in nostalgia that is prerequisite to overlook the glaring issues with the overall story. That being said, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a film that deserves a ton of praise and respect for its efforts during its time but it’s also a film, in hindsight, that definitely could’ve excelled further than it did and that’s my One Final Thought.

Brian J. Sumner is the Host of Dude, What?!, author of The Secrets of Dr. Killiecrankie, lover of the Big Dipper (an Owensboro, KY ice cream shop not the Constellation) & a closeted fan boy of Steven Spielberg.