Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrialis full of tear-jerking moments from its title screen to the closing credits. But few really get the waterworks flowing like the climactic near-death scene, which Ultimate Classic Rock named one of the film’s most emotionally devastating moments for ’80s kids.
Released in June 1982, E.T. is a nostalgic classic that tells the story of Elliott, played by a young Henry Thomas, a kid whose blossoming friendship with a gentle, bottom-heavy alien becomes a life-changing event. Heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time, the gem has become one of the greatest family films of all time.
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The scene UCR calls out comes near the end of the movie, when the government’s containment effort escalates, and E.T. is taken into custody, where scientists attempt to examine him. Now separated from Elliott, his health rapidly deteriorates, with his body color turning a pale white signaling his life force is fading. At the same time, Elliott’s health begins to fade as we learn the two are sharing the same vital energy.
“To make matters worse, Elliott whispers, ‘I love you,’ to what appears to be a dead body. For kids in the theater, this was intense,” UCR writes. “I cried so hard during this scene that I used my brand-new baseball cap to wipe my face—and by the time I walked out of the theater, my face had turned blue from the dye.”
UCR’s writer wasn’t the only one emotionally wrecked from that scene and others like it in the movie. To ensure authentic emotional performances, Cinema Flashback shared, “Spielberg shot the film in chronological order, making the tearful farewell at the end a genuine reaction from the children who had bonded with the character.”
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Everyone from the actors to the crew was sobbing by the time Spielberg yelled cut. As if that isn’t enough, the film's origin story is another reason to grab the tissues.
Spielberg drew heavily from his parents’ 1966divorce and the loneliness and isolation he experienced afterward, imagining an extraterrestrial companion who could fill the void left by his broken family, combining those personal memories with an unrealized sci-fi project about a stranded, benign alien.
“Creative people in art or architecture or filmmaking or theater or writing are all products of a collection of impressions from our earliest memories,” Spielberg told American Cinematographer. “I’m inspired all the time, but my inspirations are a sum of all my parts, and all of my parts started back in 1947 when I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and kind of accumulated the dust or the pollen of my experience right up until E.T.”
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Decades later, Drew Barrymore, who played Gertie at age 6, still talks about E.T., describing the lovable character as her “first imaginary friend” and Spielberg as a “father figure.”
Spielberg’s sixth feature film was another box office smash. Grossing more than $600 million worldwide during its initial theatrical run, the global phenomenon eventually surpassed Star Warsto become the highest-grossing film in history at the time.
E.T. was no slouch on the awards circuit either.
At the 55th Academy Awards the following year, E.T. was nominated for nine Oscars and wonfour, including best music for John Williams’ masterful, symphonic score. The music was so beloved that Spielberg ultimately re-edited the ending of the film to accommodate the composer’s heartstrings-tugging score better.
According to The Film Music Society, Spielberg had Williams conduct the music while watching the final reel, then essentially cut the film to the music. So, for the riverbed scene, which bleeds into the finale, Williams deserves some of the credit. His sweeping score doesn’t just soundtrack the tearful goodbye; it practically tells the audience how to feel.
“At the time I was working on it, I don't think I really realized how truly great that film is,” Williams said. “It sets the most magical story in the most mundane of circumstances: the suburbs, a broken marriage, a couple of interesting kids. This little creature hidden in the bedroom, falling in love with these young Earthlings and vice versa—an unbelievable story told so skillfully, so expertly, that you buy it completely.”
One of the movie's most famous pieces of nostalgia--the Reese's Pieces-- almost belonged to another candy. M&M’s reportedly passed on the movie tie-in, so Spielberg and his team went to Hershey, which agreed to let the film use the chocolate company’s orange, yellow, and brown bits. The film’s exposure helped boost the candy’s sales dramatically. Perhaps tears of joy were in order there.
Today, the film is beloved for its flying BMX-bike sequence, its iconic Halloween night scene, and, of course, the dying scene that will always require tissues. The film’s emotional legacy still resonates 44 years later, with Spielberg still knowing exactly how to make fans cry.
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