The director’s lauded 1982 hit is a film about childhood empathy –four decades later, it’s still one of his most complete experiences
The director’s lauded 1982 hit is about childhood empathy – four decades later, it’s still one of his most complete experiences
The storybook simplicity of the film is key. For that, Spielberg commissioned Melissa Mathison, who’d previously written The Black Stallion, another spare children’s drama about the connection between a little boy and an orphaned creature. Mathison’s script is a model of economy and clarity, pared down to serve a story that really has no big twists and turns: Elliott meets ET, an alien lost in the woods after his spaceship leaves without him.
Working at the height of his powers, Spielberg gives ET a sentimental pull that would feel more manipulative if he wasn’t so strategically withholding. The John Williams score is one of his most famous and soaring, but Spielberg treats it like the shark in Jaws, doling it out in bits and pieces before allowing the audience to experience the whole thing.
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