Past Perfect: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Home movie gems from the past few decades that need some dusting but never get old.

Believe it or not, there are men and women walking amongst us who haven’t seen this yet. I found one recently, but the situation was remedied within a few days. Whether watching it now, as an adult, can have the same immense impact as it had on my generation back in the 80s is debatable, but nostalgia or not, it’s hard to deny that this is a technically marvellous and emotionally splendid film. I grew up watching it, and feeling incredibly cool on my bike as a result, and I rediscovered some of that magic when I took my younger sister to the cinema to watch it when re-released in 2002. Since then I’ve caught it a few times on TV, and occasionally get the urge to watch the DVD. There’s always new lines or scenes to appreciate fully, and laugh-out-loud moments that never grow old. And then, as things come to a boil, there’s possibly the best fifteen minutes of film music ever composed, and one of the all-time best examples of the perfect marriage between what you see and what you hear. The escape, the chase, and the goodbye that will leave you in bits.