Spoiler:
One of the best bits is where ET hides in the toy cupboard pretending to be a toy. Seemingly as a homage Stripe in Gremlins does almost the same thing in the Dept Store, with an stuffed ET on the same shelf.
TRIVIA: MARS Candy was given an offer by Spielberg for the use of "M&M's" for the movie "E.T."...they declined. Therefore, Spielberg went to Reese's and asked for the use of "Reese's Pieces". On a gamble, they consented...after the movie, the sale of Reese's Pieces skyrocketed.
I'll bet MARS Candy fired the guy that rejected Spielberg.
I've always been surprised that too many people seemed to think this would flop, at least the DVD documentry gives me that impression. M & Ms are mentioned in the storybook, which I was guess was adapted from a early draft of the script. Slightly ironically it was the first time I had heard of M & Ms as they hadn't been pt on general sale in the UK at the time. I don't think you can get Reese's Picees even now.
More trivia - Columbia Pictures passed on making ET and went with Starman instead. Wonder if the suits who made that deal had any regrets. Or kept their jobs.
E.T. has been playing on HBO of late, and is available "On-Demand" for the next few weeks. After avoiding any sort of play on the pay- cable channels for ages.
When E.T. is boarding the spaceship to go home (c'mon, almost everyone on Earth has seen this flick, either in theaters, home video or on TV, so I'm not giving anything away) Mary (Dee Wallace) gets up twice from her kneeling position.
Oh great, now you RUINED it, Adam!
Mary (Dee Wallace) gets up twice from her kneeling position.
And before that, she's seen kneeling down twice, too.
HBO and Cinemax have been running this pic frequently over the past three years. It's the original version, too, not the PC-ized DVD version. It will be the original theatrical edit when this pic comes to Blu-Ray. I don't know the release date yet, though.
E.T. will come to Blu-Ray in October 2012, in (sort of) time for the pic's 30th anniversary; the exact date is yet to be determined. More here.
Back in '06, Richard Davies wrote above: I don't think you can get Reese's Pieces even now.
(Referring to their availability in the U.K. then)
quote:
Here in the U.S., Hershey's, the maker of "Reese's Pieces", now sells at least four types of "pieces". E.T. would be in hog heaven. Or, "candy heaven". 
More here.
Spielberg now regrets replacing the guns with walkie talkies for the DVD release, saying that the film is a product of its time, and should not be held to today's standards. Spielberg has also said that given different circumstances, he would have a different ending for Close Encounters.. ., one in which Roy Neary does not leave his family. More on that here.
An Orwellian style re-write.
My first Blu-Ray was ET, which has the guns restored.