One of the most popular films (based on box-office returns) of all time, Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is a heartwarming fable of a boy and the gentle alien he befriends. With enormous, expressive black eyes and a face said to be based on those of poet Carl Sandburg and Albert Einstein set upon a long, almost reptilian neck supported by a strangely dumpy little body, the Extra Terrestrial came to Earth with a shipload of others to gather plant specimens for research. Unfortunately, something happens and the little alien is left alone on a strange world. He ends up hiding out in the backyard of ten-year-old Elliot. At first frightened and then charmed, Elliot, and later his little sister, decide to help the kindly stranger contact his ship, but first they must keep him hidden from their mother and teach him to communicate. Genuinely touching and filled with an infectious childlike wonder that has brought tears and laughter to audiences the world over, E.T. has truly become a family classic.