The great movie scenes: Steven Spielberg's JawsĮ.T. For others, it is an illustration of “ Reaganite entertainment”, upholding the sanctity of the nuclear family but distrustful of bureaucratic interference and governmental surveillance. is a modern-day fairy tale or a Christian parable.

Paternal lack and the strains it places on families is a familiar trope in Spielberg’s films, from Jurassic Park (1993) to Catch Me If You Can (2002) to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989).Īll we know is that Elliott’s father is “in Mexico, with Sally”: left behind is a stressed mother and bickering siblings. The alien plays another role too: it fills the void of the absent father. as the “best Disney film Disney never made”.

It is small wonder that Variety praised E.T. In E.T., Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore as brother and sister Elliott and Gertie bring credibility and pathos to their roles, fitting seamlessly into the southern Californian ‘burb culture recreated so fondly by the director.įrom this moment, Hollywood realised the marketing potential of “cute aliens” whether Ewoks, Grogu or Toy Story’s “Little Green Men”. Many of his films feature young children at their centre – think The BFG (2016), A.I. One of Spielberg’s great underrated talents is his direction of children. He’s not playing sport, or going out with girls or getting into trouble. The DNA of both stories would make their way into this film. From Jaws to Star Wars to Harry Potter: John Williams, 90 today, is our greatest living composerĪfter the breathless trio of Jaws (1975), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Spielberg wanted to make a more intimate film about his isolated childhood in suburban Arizona as he came to terms with the divorce of his parents.Īt the same time, he had commissioned a script about a suburban family terrorised by a group of aliens with one befriending the family’s son.

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