E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

There are certain films that arrive at exactly the right cultural moment and somehow manage to stay there permanently. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, released in the summer of 1982 by Universal Pictures and Steven Spielberg's own Amblin Entertainment, is one of those rare cases. Built around a simple, almost fable-like premise, the film follows ten-year-old Elliott, a suburban California boy who discovers a stranded alien in his back garden, hides him from the government agents closing in, and, together with his older brother and younger sister, tries to help the creature find his way back home. It was the highest-grossing film of its time, and four decades on it remains one of the most discussed family films ever made. For anyone curious about where Spielberg's fascination with close contact between humans and the unknown began to crystallise, his earlier Close Encounters of the Third Kind is essential viewing alongside this one.

By 1982, Spielberg was already one of Hollywood's most commercially reliable directors, with Jaws, the aforementioned Close Encounters, and the first Indiana Jones film already behind him. E.T. was something of a more personal project, rooted in his own experience of his parents' divorce and an imaginary companion he invented as a child. The production, shot on practical locations and studio sets, kept the alien creature largely grounded in puppetry and animatronics, a choice that gives the film a physical warmth that pure digital work rarely replicates. John Williams, Spielberg's long-standing composer, provided a score that became as recognisable as almost any in cinema. The film's creature design and the mechanics of the government pursuit also owed something to a broader 1980s anxiety about authority and institutional power, themes that ran through a good deal of science fiction from that era. If you want to explore more of what the decade was producing alongside it, the site has a look at Re-Animator, a very different kind of 1980s genre film that shows just how wide the decade's tonal range really was.

The cast is led by Henry Thomas as Elliott, giving one of the more convincing and unaffected child performances you will find in a mainstream Hollywood production of the period. His two siblings are played by Robert MacNaughton and a then six-year-old Drew Barrymore as Gertie, whose natural, sometimes chaotic energy works entirely in the film's favour. Dee Wallace brings warmth and a quiet believability to the role of their mother, a woman navigating single parenthood while largely unaware of what is unfolding in her own house. Peter Coyote provides the human face of the government operation, polished but deliberately kept at a slight remove from the audience's sympathy. Spielberg's direction throughout keeps the camera close to child height, a conscious choice that places the viewer firmly in Elliott's world rather than the adult one pressing in around it. Fans of Spielberg's broader catalogue might also want to revisit Duel, his early made-for-television thriller, to see where his instinct for sustained tension and precise visual storytelling first properly announced itself.

This movie basically raised me. Must've watched it a hundred times as a kid, riding bikes with my mates afterward pretending we were hauling E.T. around in a basket. It’s amazing how something so simple (a boy and an alien becoming friends) can feel so magical and timeless. Sure, by today’s standards some of the effects and acting (especially the adults) are a little rough around the edges, but none of that matters. What Spielberg captured here is pure childhood wonder. That glowing finger. The bike flight across the moon. And John Williams’ score.... Perfection. It holds up not just as a kids' movie, but as a story about friendship, curiosity, and being kind to what’s different. I’ve shown it to my own kids now, and even without all the modern CGI gloss, they still got it. That’s magic. A true classic. Doesn't age. Just stays with you.

And that last point is the one that stays with me most. I've sat through plenty of films from this era that feel their age in ways that become distracting, effects and pacing choices that pull you out rather than draw you in. E.T. genuinely doesn't do that, at least not in any way that counts. The central relationship carries the whole thing, and Williams' score does the rest of the heavy lifting whenever words run short. For me, that combination of honest performance, restrained but well-judged spectacle, and real emotional weight is what separates films that entertain from films that last. If you're after another science fiction film that plays its genre elements fairly straight while reaching for something a bit more human, my take on Fire in the Sky might be worth your time. But honestly, there's not much that sits alongside E.T. It's its own thing. Always has been.

Rating: ★★★★  | Year: 1982  | Watched: 2025-05-14

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Trailer

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Related on Movies With Macca

More from Steven Spielberg: Duel (1971) · Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) · The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) · Jurassic Park (1993)
More from the 1980s: Nightmare City (1980) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Style Wars (1983) · Garlic Is as Good as Ten Mothers (1980)
More science fiction: Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) · Fantastic Planet (1973) · Nightmare City (1980) · The Long Walk (2025)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)