Steven Spielberg named Vittorio De Sica's Miracle in Milan as the direct visual ancestor of E.T.'s bicycle-across-the-moon shot. De Sica's film ends with the poor taking flight on flying broomsticks. Spielberg transforms this into Elliott and his friends cycling through the moon on bikes — a direct quotation, legally approved, of De Sica's image of transcendence through childhood innocence. Miracle in Milan is available on Criterion Channel.
Films That Influenced E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
