Two heartwarming stories about kids who meet… aliens!
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982; STARZ free trial or your library)
When badgered younger brother Elliot meets a lost extraterrestrial, the two form a friendship that lifts everyone in his life higher. “It’s Lassie Come Home,” my grandmother said. And she’s right. E.T. just wants to “phone home.” But what makes this movie so unique is its extremely simple story combined with constantly engaging special effects, believable kids, and unusually memorable visuals. E.T. the character is well hidden for the first half of the movie. They reveal him slowly, but the puppetry is top-notch. The child actors are very entertaining, particularly the extremely cute younger sister.
I rewatched this movie this summer after having not seen it for perhaps twenty years. I couldn’t believe how much of it I remembered. It’s a sticky movie. It sticks with you. And it was refreshing to see a rare Spielberg movie where, as in Close Encounters, the power of the special effects did not depend on violence and horror. It really is a family movie.
That said, there is some language and other crude dialogue that would never fly in a family movie in the 90s. But at its heart, the movie is about empathy—for strangers, for animals, and even for your brothers and sisters. The crude language at the beginning is setting the stage for how the love ET engenders will soften everyone’s heart.
One final note: like George Lucas with Star Wars, Spielberg would touch this movie up twenty years later. The belated CGI effects are not only a cheap cure-all, but they make E.T. look uncanny (too much facial expression). The added scene adds nothing. Stick with the 1982 version.
Lastly, this movie is seasonal, featuring a Trick-or-Treat!
For sensitive viewers: As mentioned, several moderate swear words and crude preteen language. Alcohol and accidental intoxication. The movie will also pull at your heartstrings because somebody might die!
The Rocket Man (1954; colorized but free on YouTube)
When a man from outer space visits small town America, a young boy (George Winslow) takes his ray gun and comic mischief ensues. This movie is just sweet and funny. It is surprisingly rich in memorable characters, clever dialogue, and plot twists. The alien literally carries the same helmet as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). I thought about recommending that one, which is a masterpiece, but this movie is just so much more fun! Low stakes, and hearts full of joy.
The characters are memorable because the actors make them memorable. The child actor was a flash-in-the-pan: his deep, croaking voice earned him the nickname “Foghorn,” and he starred in a handful of early 50s movies where his deadpan dialogue won him many laughs. (His cameo at the end of Monkey Business somehow makes that movie even funnier.) Unfortunately, boys’ voices change (though I’m not sure how his could get any deeper). He stopped acting in 1958 and lived a quiet life until 2015.
He is surrounded by a cast that all feels familiar rather than famous, sort of like small town neighbors. Spring Byington again plays a mother, as she often did from her first role in the 1933 Little Women to this movie twenty years later. (You may recognize her as the kitten-moving typist in You Can’t Take It With You.) Then there’s Anne Francis, who two years later would star in Forbidden Planet; and John Agar, Shirley Temple’s first husband. Finally, Charles Coburn is his always-funny self. He started his film career at the age of sixty, starring in comedies like Bachelor Mother and, rarely, dramas like In This Our Life. In this movie, he is 75, and as funny as ever.
Coming Up…
Next week will mark a full year of this blog! We will have two especially great movies, one of them from the 80s, along with the story behind the name of this blog.
