I took my younger sister to see ET when it was first released
and it was so busy that we had to sit quite close to the front, on the left side of the screen.

During the ET-is-dead bit, sis sat there streaming tears while I vainly tried to show how little it affected me. And so, as casually as I could muster, I pretended to look round the cinema.

The whole crowd was in floods of tears. The sight of an auditorium full of people openly contorting their faces in varying degrees of sob is strangely unmoving, but quite bizarre. Never forgotten it.
(zebideedoodah likes florence but prefers venice, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 13:13, 8 replies)

my uncle had an allergic reaction to an ice lolly and his lips swelled up ... it was fucking hilarious
whenever anybody tries to tell me that ET is sad, all I can think of is a bloke with orange fishlips saying "thtop waffinnnmmng annn foe a nmmnbulunth!"
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 13:17, closed)

My dad and I never got as far as ET dying,
as five year old me demanded to be taken home before then, on the grounds that ET is really boring.
He's never forgiven me but, having watched it on TV since, I stand by my younger self's actions.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 14:07, closed)

Your dad has a shit son.

(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 15:41, closed)

Hello, Mr Spielberg.

( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 17:09, closed)

Hello.

(eViLegion Chief Commissioner of the Scottish Lunacy Board, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 18:19, closed)

Number Two Son?

(Richy_T hundreds if not thousands of dollars, Thu 14 Aug 2014, 20:41, closed)

Hahahahaha
I have hazy memories of the entire cinema in floods of tears as well, though I like you remembered to deploy an iron resolve and be impartial to such an outpouring of emotion, aged eight or something
( Harpago ¯\(°_o)/¯, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 15:29, closed)

I saw an interview with George Lucas, where he said that he loved the audience's sad reaction when R2D2 gets shot.
He waffled on about people sympathising with a non-human (in fact mechanical) character -- just like E.T., in fact.

When I saw Star Wars, the entire audience laughed at that scene...
(moon monkey is busy making memories worth repressing, Wed 13 Aug 2014, 15:44, closed)