E.T. Page #7

INTERCUT:
KITCHEN

E.T. turns and walks into another wall as Harvey continues to eat the

potato salad on the floor.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott, now drunk, slides down in his chair.

INTERCUT:
KITCHEN

E.T. turns, walks, then collapses head first onto the floor.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott slides under his desk and falls onto the floor. The teacher doesn't

hear this because at that moment he pulls down a wall hanging which

contains pictures of a frog's anatomy.

INTERCUT:
KITCHEN

E.T. opens another can of beer.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott pulls himself up off the floor with a drunken smile on his face.

INTERCUT:
KITCHEN

E.T. gulps down another can of beer.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott, drunk, sits at his desk. He turns and smiles at the pretty blonde

girl across the aisle. She turns away from him with disgust.

INTERCUT:
LIVING ROOM

E.T. plays on the keys of a voice generating language game. He next presses

a button on a remote control which activates the TV set. A cartoon appears

with a cat getting its tail caught on fire. The cat screams and E.T reacts

with horror. He throws the beer can at the TV set.

[Laughter is generated, for while this under normal circumstances would be

inappropriate behavior, he makes sense given E.T.'s point of view.]

He then presses another button on the remote, and the image of a flying

plane appears on the screen. A spaceship next appears, and pulls the plane

up towards it.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

The teacher carries a jar of cotton balls soaked in chloroform, which he

drops into the jars containing frogs. He tells the children to immediately

put the lids on the jars. After telling the children that this won't hurt

the frogs, he places a cotton ball into the last two jars, one of which

belongs to Elliott. Elliott doesn't place the cover on his jar, but instead

sadly watches as the frog tries to escape. Slowly he places to lid on it,

as he gazes at the frog.

"Say hi. Can you talk? Can you talk? Can you say hi?" says Elliott.

[Elliott is making an emotional identification of the frog with E.T. by

attempting the same process of communication. The situation also creates

expectations in the audience that similar things will happen to E.T. once

he is captured.]

CLOSEUP:
FROG'S FACE

CLOSEUP:
E.T.'S FACE

[A cinematic technique which reinforces the identification of the frog with

E.T. This sets up the audience for E.T.'s operation. They expect the frog

to die, and they project these expectations to E.T. later in the story.]

INTERCUT:
LIVING ROOM

E.T. has a hangover as he hiccups and puts his hand on his head. He then

picks up the cartoon section of a newspaper. One cartoon strip has a

picture of a communication device with a caption stating "HELP, HELP."

On the TV monitor a woman is talking long distance n her telephone to her

Uncle Ralph in California. E.T. hears the sounds coming from the TV, then

turns to look at the monitor, where he sees a man talking into a phone in

his hand. The camera pans to a phone near E.T. A child in the TV program

picks up the phone, says hello to his uncle, then hangs up.

[This generates laughter because it's inappropriate behavior to just say

hello, then hang up.]

E.T. looks closer at the Buck Rogers cartoon. One cell has an image of a

man in a spacesuit setting up a transmitter. The next cell has him saying

"It works" as the communication device transmits "help, help!" E.T. lifts

up his head from the newspaper.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

"Save him" shouts Elliott. Elliott picks up his jar, unscrews the top, then

lets out his frog, screaming "Run for your life. Back to the forest! Run!"

[Another merging of E.T. and Elliott's feelings and thoughts. E.T.

presumably had the feeling of wanting to be saved by his friends, and this

feeling prompted Elliott to cry out.]

He next opens the jar of the girl besides him. Elliott struggles with one

student, then proceeds to turn over many of the other jars as he frees the

frogs. Some of the other children also free their frogs.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

E.T. studies the electronic circuitry of the language game. Suddenly John

Wayne comes on the screen. E.T. is fascinated with his image. It's a scene

from the movie "QUIET MAN." Maureen O'Sullivan huddles in a corner of the

room.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

A pile of frogs gather at the feet of a terrified little girl with blonde

braids. Elliott, drunk, staggers by her.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

E.T. continues to watch the TV monitor as the woman in the movie screams.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

A blonde girl who has a crush on Elliott screams when a frog is placed on

her shoes.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

The woman in the movie runs out the door. John Wayne grabs hold of her arm.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott grabs hold of the blonde girl as she runs out the door.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

John Wayne pulls the woman back.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott pulls the blonde girl back.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

John Wayne takes the woman into his arms.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott takes the blonde girl into his arms.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

John Wayne kisses the woman.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

Elliott, too short to kiss her, stands on the back of a student who was

crawling on the floor after a frog. Elliott kisses the girl.

INTERCUT:
LIVINGROOM

E.T., filled with fascination, watches the TV monitor.

INTERCUT:
SCHOOL

The children's hands poke through the windows and free the frogs by

throwing them out onto the grass.

[Elliott was able to accomplish his objective of freeing the frogs. This

sequence was structured to run in parallel in order to emphasize the

merging of Elliott and E.T.]

INT:
LIVING ROOM: DAY

A blanket containing aluminum foil, electrical toys and appliances is

pulled across the floor.Mary opens the door and yells hello. Harvey runs to

the front door. E.T walks out from behind the TV and kicks beer cans across

the floor.

[The alien quickly learns the appropriate behavior for drinking at home.]

Mary, with her arms filled with grocery bags and clothes from the cleaners,

walks into the kitchen. She is followed by Gertie, who sees E.T standing

near the refrigerator. Mary opens the refrigerator door, and knocks E.T. in

the head. He falls backwards onto the floor. Gertie helps E.T. up off the

floor. He walks past Mary as he goes back to the refrigerator. Mary still

doesn't see him.

[This increases the audience's tension. They are expecting E.T. to be

discovered by Mary, and they are expecting her to scream.]

Gertie keeps telling her that she wants Mary to meet somebody, but Mary

ignores her as she talks about how much the price of food has gone up in

one week. E.T. grabs a can of coffee from the kitchen table, then again

walks past Mary as she goes in the opposite direction. He goes back into

the TV room.

[The laughter's produced by Mary's failure to see the reality of the alien

who's right under her nose.]

Gertie is watching a language teaching program for children on the TV. The

program is teaching words that begin with the letter "B". The phone rings

as Mary accidentally kicks a can of beer across the floor. She answers the

phone with the beer can in her hand. The person on the phone tells Mary

that Elliott is intoxicated.

Rate this script:3.8 / 4 votes