For taking time out from making polemics like RECOUNT and GENERATION KILL to show the original unaltered version of E.T.
Happened to catch the last 15 minutes this morning, which by the way is maybe the best 15 minutes of motion picture ever captured on film... certainly top 5. And as the army of government agents converged on the empty van in the park at the end, I felt excitement suddenly replaced by annoyance and my attetion was drawn away from the story as I looked at the hands of the agents, expecting to see flashlights and radios being held, for some unexplainable reason, the way one might hold a gun.
I can't tell you how annoyed I was when I heard Spielberg was going back into the film to change all the guns to flashlights and radios. You want to grab him by the lapels and ask him who, exactly, he thinks he's protecting. Because when I was 14 and I fantasized about being a hero on some mission or another, the bad guys chasing me always had guns. That's part of what made them the bad guys, fer crissakes!
Without danger, there is no adventure. Why are we so anxious to take the drama and excitement out of people's lives these days?
Repeat after me Steven... it's only a movie. Let us be scared a little. Really, it'll be OK.
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The weird thing I remember about that revision is that it was at the request of Drew Barrymore.
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