The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, June 16, 1982, Page 8, Image 8
'E.T.' bleni
By Richard Culbertson
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," director
Steven Spielberg's finest film, asserts that
room still exists in big-budget fantasy films
for more than blaster fights, hacking blades
and exploding spacecraft. Spielberg
("Jaws,"' Close Encounters of the Third
Kind," "Raiders of the Lost Ark") has
created a touching, witty, vitally human
film.
The film is about an alien inadvertently
stranded on Earth. The extra-terrestrial
finds refuge with Elliott (Henry Thomas), a
ten-year-old suburban boy who dubs the
other-worlder "E.T." Plenty of adversity is
manifested in the plot: a Mysterious
Government Agency is on E.T.'s trail, and
E.T.'s health grows steadily worse as the
length of his stay on Earth increases.
Elliott's confidants about the unorthodox
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Macnaughton) and his sister Gertie (Drew
Harry more -- John Barry more Sr.'s
granddaughter).
A SORT OF empathy grows between E.T.
and Elliott; Elliott, after all, is alienated
too. His father has just left the family for
another woman, he is the runt of the
neighborhood gang of kids, and he is faced
with the awesome, frightening prospect of
leaving childhood behind in the insecure
context of a broken home.
This film is imbued with a simple
humanity, a storybook quality in its enchanting
imagery: E.T.'s jury-rigged S.O.S.
transmitter is a Dr. Seuss-like amalgam of
children's toys and household bric-a-brac,
and one is reminded of "Peter Pan" when
Elliott and E.T., astride Elliott'sbicycle.fly
(thanks to E.T.'s psychokinetic abilities) in
silhouette across the face of the full moon.
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Keys (Peter Coyote) explains to Elliot t HThoi
"E.T." ere Dee Wallace and Drew Barrymore.
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Henry Thomas, starring as 10-year-old El
hiding place.
The delightful smuggling of E.T. to the
rendezvous with his rescue ship is effected
in a slightly tongue-in-cheek but thrilling
chase scene. The neighborhood kids, at
breakneck pace on their bikes, elude the gmen
in big, institutional automobiles.
The humor and pathos of "E.T." are not
forced or contrived. The suburban
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for rescue is itself something of a won
derland. A lot of humor inheres in the
situation of an alien plopped in the center of
middle class America: E.T. learns halting
English from "Sesame Street," plays
"dress-up" with Gertie, and encounters a
mas) why E.T. must be isolated. Also starring in
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liott, follows sounds that lead him to E.T.'s
six-pack of beer. Also inherent are moving
illustrations of E.T.'s loneliness: E.T., with
Elliott under the star-filled night sky, scans
the vastness above for some sign from
home.
AT ONE POINT a neighborhood kid
suggests to Elliott that E.T. needs merely to
"beam up." Elliott retorts by saying "This
is reality!" Oddly enough, given its fairytale
nature, the film does seem full of reality
? a key reason for the film's success. The
credibility of "E.T." is never in question,
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dialogue, the textural clutter of the
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ncredible
meticulously dressed sets, and a pervasive
fairy-tale sense of the incredible happening
firmly within the context of the credible.
Macnaughton and Barrymore are excellent
as Elliott's siblings, and Dee Wallace
is wonderful as Elliott's mother. Peter
Coyote, as Keys (a sort of grown-up Elliott),
is fine as the leader of the Mysterious (but,
in the end, not villainous) Government
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the child caught in the disintegration of a
home, but still able to learn the healing
magic of love.
The mechanical contrivance for the
stumpy alien (designed by Carlo Rambaldi)
leaves "Yoda" of the "Star Wars" cycle far
behind. A full, consistent range of articulation,
expression, movement and
mannerism make the "E.T." prop a full,
living character. The optical effects are
nicely subordinate to the story (a rarity)
and are handled by the always-competent
Industrial Light and Magic division of
Lucasfilm. John Williams' musical score is
skillfully crafted and perfectly suited to the
emotional content of the film.
SPIELBERG'S DIRECTION (from
Melissa Mathison's screenplay) maintains a
stronger sense of character and human
scale than his previous efforts. Allen
Daviau's photography is impressive and
controlled.
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" relies on no
"mind-bending" opticals, and instead explores
the bond between E.T. and Elliott in
the suburban milieu of contemporary
America. This luminous film is an evocation
of oeoole. of the Doienancv of childhood, of
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the limitless power of love on an individual
human scale, in a universe that is full of
magic.
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KEG O'NAILSl
SKlSk 3824 ROSEWOOD DRIVE
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