My father and ET shared the last words I will never forget

The summer blockbuster is no longer what it used to be.

Oh, there is hope. ‘Inside Out 2’ made a nice hit at the box office, and many people will probably go see ‘Despicable Me 4’. Usually a surprise hit pops up somewhere (too bad it can’t be ‘Hit Man’, which moved to Netflix in the blink of an eye.)

In 2023 there was of course the Barbenheimer phenomenon, where ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ pushed each other to greater heights. The fact that they were both really good movies was nice, because there’s no real correlation between popularity and quality. That kind of success, in terms of ticket sales and cultural impact, will be difficult to repeat, but you never know.

What exactly is a summer movie?

What exactly is a summer movie? It doesn’t need to be set in the summer, although that helps. It’s more about creating a mood, especially when you’re younger and summer is a time to reset, take some time off, go on vacation.

The best of all time is without a doubt ‘Jaws’, the first real summer blockbuster that set the tone for everything that followed. Unless it’s “Star Wars: Episode IV – a New Hope,” although back then it was just “Star Wars.” Or could it be “Mad Max: Fury Road”? “Raiders of the Lost Ark?” Your mileage may vary, but these all say “summer” in some way.

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The best movie summer ever

What seems indisputable, however, is that 1982 was the best summer of movies ever. Here’s just a sampling of what came out that year: ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High’, ‘Tron’, ‘Night Shift’, ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan’ and John Carpenter’s version of ‘ The Thing.”

Pretty awesome, huh? But wait, there’s more. That summer started with a one-two punch that was the original Barbenheimer, priming the pump for one of the most entertaining months of cinema ever. (Of course, it didn’t hurt if you were young and unburdened and your summer job was painting gas meters for the local utility company. Not exactly a high-pressure job.)

“Poltergeist” was released on June 7. You can argue about the heavy hand Steven Spielberg had in making everything you want (Tobe Hooper is the official director), but who cares? What counts is what you see on screen: a ridiculously entertaining horror film that’s almost certainly scarier than you remember. It had a creepy trailer (“They’re heeerrre”) and at a time when pop culture wasn’t so fragmented, this was what people were talking about. That’s the perfect summer movie recipe.

Almost.

Because on June 11th just four days later, it got even better. Then “ET: The Extra-Terrestrial” came out. The film was huge, eventually becoming the highest-grossing film of all time (although it would be surpassed by Spielberg’s 1993 ‘Jurassic Park’, and then by a number of ‘Avatar’ and Marvel films). And it was everywhere. The little alien himself was on the cover of Rolling Stone and read an issue of Variety headlined “The Spaceman Who Saved Hollywood.”

‘ET’ is Steven Spielberg’s best film

It’s also Spielberg’s best film regardless of season, the perfect combination of all his strengths as a filmmaker. It even plays on what are sometimes his weaknesses, namely his tendency to turn everything into a sentimental story about trying to heal broken families. In this case, a film about the ultimate outsider who comes into the life of a boy whose parents are divorced, that sensitivity is essential.

Disagree on Spielberg’s best film? This also applies to our critic Brian Truitt. See how he ranks all of Spielberg’s films

To put a cliché: it appealed to people. It certainly appealed to me. I don’t remember how many times I’ve seen it, but at least once it was with my mother. Near the end of the film, as ET prepares to be transported back to where he came from, he and Elliot prepare for the inevitable. Of course, after everything they’ve been through, they’re sad to say goodbye. At one point ET says, “Be good.”

The first time I saw it I was shocked. My father had died about six months earlier. Those were his last words. They struck me at the time as small but important, and this seemed to confirm their wisdom. I wondered how my mother would take it. To say she was unsentimental is an understatement: as a church organist, she played Elton John’s ‘Funeral for a Friend’ at real funerals, without the mourners being aware of it.

She loved the line. Because it was great. Because the movie was great. That summer was amazing, and the “Poltergeist” and “ET” combo was a big part of that. That’s what you want in a summer movie: entertaining in the moment, but a key to memories you’ll never forget.

This article originally appeared in the Arizona Republic: Summer Movies: ET and the Best Year