Forgive me for shouting, but I do. I really, really do.
The summer of 1982 was prime time for science fiction and fantasy films (not to mention non-genre films, like Victor/Victoria) It gave us
**Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan
Bladerunner
The Thing
Poltergeist
Conan the Barbarian** (Not great, but better than I expected)
**Atomic Cafe
Firefox**
…and I heard about this other Steven Spielberg show, besides Poltergeist. There was merchandizing for it everywhere. I avoided it, not wanting to spoil the film. Spielberg had proven that he knew how to use special effects, create memorable images, and tell a story. I was willing to forgive Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After all, he’d given us Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark. So I went to see E.T., hoping for the best.
Blechhhhh!
I know that all moviemakers manipulate their audiences. It’s their job, after all. But when they do so in such a blatant way I am strongly repulsed. The movie fairly dripped with treacle. I never saw the Sense of Childlike Wonder that everyone else seemed to see. I saw klunky humor and alien abuse and false endings that rang really false. I never saw it again.
Only now our four year old daughter, MilliCal, is in love with it. Twenty years after this thing should have been staked in its grave, it’s calling out to envelop my soul through my daughter. And I will have to take her to see it.
Maybe I’ll like it a little more this time. But don’t count on it.
P.S. – what really drove the nail in was that syrupy Neil Diamond song. Don’t tell me that it had no direct connection with the film. That only makes it worse.
We’ll be hearing it again. A lot. Count on it.
I’m lucky. Neither of my kids is in the least bit interested in it. My 8 year old thinks ET is “creepy” and the last thing he would have done is take it home with him.
I forget who said or wrote this about ET, but they described him as "a pesky interstellar “Benjy”, and they wre rooting for the scientists to “slit him up a treat.”
My ex-wife had an E.T. toy when she was young. She swears it opened up it’s eyes, turned it’s head and looked at her one time. Since that moment, she can’t even think of E.T. without going into hysterics. :eek:
maybe I should send her a free pass to the re-release…
I don’t hate ET, but I do think the movie is greatly overated. It’s an okay movie, and I’m glad Speilberg resisted the temptation to make sequels. But this whole changing-guns-into-walkie-talkies thing has made the re-release very unappealing to me, to put it lightly.
When I saw that movie in 1982, I had to resist the urge to periodically shout, “Kill the monster!” just to counteract some of the syrup being poured all over.
A couple of notes:
I think the movie might have been improved if E.T. had looked more alien, less like a dried-up little man with enormous blue eyes. If he had looked like a big cockroach with constantly moving feeding tendrils, and the kids had still learned to identify with him, that would have been something.
For a Jewish director, Spielberg sure poured on the Christ symbolism.
This may be the worst of all John Williams, overblown, saccharine, derivative, ham-fisted scores.
One of the annoying things I knew this film would cause is that the term “E.T.” is now identified with a specific fictional character, rather than being known as an abbreviation for “Extraterrestrial”.
I don’t actually know the ages of any of the previous respondents, but I was nine years old when E.T. first hit the theaters. Thus, I can authoritatively offer a child’s-eye viewpoint on this movie.
Bleeaaarrgh!
What a miserable, wretched waste of film. The characters were both unbelievable and, apparently, brain-dead. The alien was completely without visual or emotional impact. The gadget-building was unreasonable. The entire thing was drowned in saccharine-based syrup. As for a sense of “child-like wonder”…bleh. I saved my wonder for more worthy things.
I spent most of the movie hoping the alien would eat the kids, thereby contributing to the evolution of humanity.
I remember when this awful movie came out, everybody and their brother (including a few reliable friends of mine) described it as “the Wizard of OZ for our generation” among other things. After tons of hype I relented and took my 7-yr-old sister(I was 17 at the time) to see it.
Imagine my dismay when, 10 minutes into the movie one of the characters refers to another as “penis breath”. Nice family movie, eh?
Things seemed to go ok until the scene where the scientists/guys in spacesuits arrive WITH NO WARNING!!!
So imagine these big scary spacesuit guys show up and my sister starts crying,“Who are they? What are they doing?”.
Then the best part, where they start defribillating ET to revive him. My sister has not realized that ET was dying as they weren’t very clear about that particular plot point. So, to her it looks like they are killing ET.
Again, nice family movie, eh?
Thank god my 6-yr-old has seen the commercial and is absolutely against anything having to do with it.
Oh my GOD. Cal!! You’ve got to be my soul-mate, or at least my sister ship. Have you checked your tags? Some time last year, I composed an anti-E.T. thread. Mine was a bit more random ramblings, since the movie hadn’t been re-released, though…
E.T. scares the hell out of me. He just looks WRONG. The fingers, ugh. The kids are super obnoxious, but then, kids often are. And I hate heart warming family fare.
And I see Spielberg’s added in a few wonderful new scenes. Bah. Probably going to advertise in every single new and wonderful scene.
Anyway, I sympathize with you if you’ve got E.T.-loving kids, but I think you can continue to hate it, can’t you? And if you can’t, you’ve got some help here on the SDMB.
I may be alone on this one, but it brings back wonderful memories for me. I was six and it was the first movie my parents ever took me to. I was in awe of everything, aliens, the loud sound-effects, the sappy story. everything. I just ate it up. Even the stupid Neil Diamond song brings back fond memories. That being said, it doesn’t stand the test of time. I’ve seen it again, as an adult, and it’s plot is see-through, Drew is quite possibly the anti-christ and the government would have sliced him up and killed Elliot and his family to keep them quiet.
But everytime I see the ugly little critter I smile. So I’m glad it’s being re-issued and I for one will go see it again.
I was eight when I saw this movie, and I liked it.
What I especially remember was walking out into the theater’s lobby afterwards and seeing half the people looking like they had just cried a river. Never saw that before, and that was my first indication of the potential power of a movie.
Even as a more cynical adult, I still like it, and plan on seeing it when it’s re-released.
I was six when my mom dragged me and the sibs to see E.T. All I really remember about it is that it scared the hell out of me! I wouldn’t even look at the screen for the first 20 minutes, and I’m pretty sure I watched the rest of it through my fingers. Months after I saw it I was still having nightmares that the aliens were coming to kidnap me.
That movie brings back a lot of bad memories for me. I definitely won’t be going to see it.
I also thought this movie was sappy and manipulative the one and only time I saw it, when it first came out. I thought that with all the hype, it must at least be pretty good, right? Wrong.
It was the first Steven Speilberg movie I didn’t like, and the one that made me notice how much he repeats himself, not so much plot-wise, but with elements like lighting, swellin John Williams music to telegraph emotional moments, etc.
Reading this thread makes me realize how young some of you young’uns are. 6-8 when E.T. came out?
I was about ten when I saw it. I thought it was a pretty good movie at the time. I can see it’s flaws better now that I’m older, but it IS a children’s movie and I can overlook some of it’s weaknesses. It’s not a bad movie, but I don’t think it deserves the hype it got.
I think part of it’s popularity was due to the fact it appealed to a broad range of ages. Both young children and the 10+ crowd can appreciate it, and it’s not totally without appeal for many adults.
Guess what? I’ve never seen it. I was around when it came out. I’m stil here, and it’s back. But I don’t ever intend to see it. Not EVER. The commercials are bad enough.
GAG.
My mom, who had to dissect such things in college, says ET looks like a tapeworm. I think he looks like a turd with eyes and limbs.
I hate E.T.
[list=A]
[li]It’s too icky-sweet. [/li][li]The plot is broken & disjointed.[/li][li]The “Government Guys In Space Suits” are right. The possibility of disease/contamination from an alien visitor would be dangerous. And if E.T. can eat Reese’s Pieces, his germs may be able to eat us. Three cheers for the Hazmat Teams![/li][li]The people in Hazmat suits are portrayed as sinister & menacing. Given recent political events, & the threat of biowarfare, is teaching young people that Hazmat Teams are evil & threatening a good idea?[/li][li] If E.T. had shown up in my old neighborhood, we wouldn’t have taken him home & hid him. We’d have beaten him up & stolen his wallet.[/li][li]Damn illegal aliens.[/li][/list=a]
