1985
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown
Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines/McFly
Crispin Glover as George McFly
Screenplay by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Happy 69th birthday today to Huey Lewis, Oscar®-nominee (Best Original Song-The Power of Love) and cameo performer as the head judge for the band auditions at the beginning of the film. Lewis is a smart cookie; he scored a perfect 800 on his math SAT. He also coached his son’s tee-ball team in Corvallis, MT, the same year that I helped my dad coach my brother’s tee-ball team in Corvallis, MT. Yes. I coached a tiny baseball team against one of my favorite performers.
Back to the Future is the story of a high school kid whose biggest issue is having a car to take on the camping trip this weekend, but his bozo dad isn’t capable of doing anything right, so he’s embarrassed. By his dad. Like LITERALLY every single high school boy ever. He’s got a crazy friend, Doc Brown (Lloyd; Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Addams Family), who’s dabbling in time travel, and wouldn’t you know it? HE CAN ACTUALLY TRAVEL THROUGH TIME– except he doesn’t actually do it! Marty (Fox; Family Ties, Back to the Future II) is the second passenger in the time machine, and he goes back to the day Doc discovered time travel in their hometown, but through a series of misadventures, Marty interacts with his parents before they meet each other, and now his existence could be erased. Because his mom has the hots for HIM instead of his dad. Yeesh. Teenagers.
This is one of my favorite feel-good 80s movies. I mean, really—who doesn’t love BTTF? I have some friends who are absolutely apeshit over it. Can you guess why? Here are some of my reasons:
- Christopher Lloyd. He is absolutely PERFECT as the mad scientist with a heart. What a complete nutball! He’s got great lines, nonverbals, and it’s truly a great performance. I’m sure we can all hear him shrieking “1.21 JIGOWATTS?!” with a bandaid on his head.
- The soundtrack. The Power of Love and Back in Time by Huey Lewis and the News anchor a great set of songs from several decades (the great thing about time travel films—you have so much music to choose from!). The Johnny B. Goode scene at the Fish Under the Sea dance is awesome. The score is pretty badass as well; Alan Silvestri gave us one of the most recognizable themes in film.
- The script. It is so funny! I love everything Crispin Glover (Charlie’s Angels, Willard) does with George McFly. All of the scenes with Biff are so fun—Marty standing up to him, which then helps George stand up to him, makes for some fun drama. Look for a Billy Zane (Titanic) cameo in the manure truck scene.
Weepy Meter: 1/10 it’s sweet at its heart. The music is fantastic. You might tear up a little.
Man Meter: 10/10 He owns it.
Overall Rating: 8/10 BTTF was nominated for FOUR Oscars®! Hard not to like a movie with those kinds of accolades. Obviously they weren’t acting noms, but Mad Max: Fury Road didn’t get any, either. And George Miller cleaned up with a stack of golden men. <shrug>
Photo credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/mediaviewer/rm2477095680
See a movie OUTSIDE your comfort zone. 