Episode 4: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Justin:

In a 7-year period between 1975 and 1982, Steven Spielberg made JAWS, an iconic, perfect movie that permanently scarred people from going into the water, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, an iconic movie that many consider the best ever made about alien visitation to Earth, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, an iconic adventure movie that established one of the most popular characters ever created in pop culture history, and the one we covered today, E.T., an iconic “kids” movie about a boy and his best friend, who just happens to be an alien stranded on Earth trying to get home. Those four combined to make nearly $2 Billion at the worldwide box office and established the young Spielberg (who aged from 29-36 in those years) as the next IT director. When you consider the images he brought to life in just that 7 year period, from Chief Brody realizing the chum worked and that they needed a bigger boat to the aliens communicating with humans via music; from Indy being chased out of a cave by a gigantic ball of rock to I’ll...be...right...here, it’s arguable he could have hung it up then and retired a legend. But as we all know, he has proceeded to give us another nearly 40 years of mostly hits, with equally iconic movies littered throughout his filmography. I don’t think it’s controversial to suggest that Steven Spielberg is the most important director of modern cinema and when you add it all up, it’s impossible not to suggest that Spielberg is a true visionary, and to borrow a word I intentionally overused earlier, the literal definition of a Hollywood icon.

Pete:

TBD