BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

bACK TO the future (1985) movie

Genre              |   Science Fiction

Classification   |   PG

Running time   |   116 minutes

Released         |   3 July 1985 

cast

Michael J. Fox ... Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd ... Dr. Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson ... Lorraine Baines
Crispin Glover ... George McFly
Thomas F. Wilson ... Biff Tannen
Claudia Wells ... Jennifer Parker
Marc McClure ... Dave McFly
James Tolkan ... Mr. Strickland
Casey Siemaszko ... 3-D
​Billy Zane ... Match

director

Robert Zemeckis

writer

​Robert Zemeckis ... (written by) &
Bob Gale ... (written by)

cinematographer

Dean Cundey ... director of photography

music

​Alan Silvestri

film editor

​Harry Keramidas ... (edited by)
Arthur Schmidt ... (edited by)

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box office result

Worldwide             $​​​​​​​381,109,762  

Australia                 $​​​​​ not available

North America       $​​​​​​​​210,609,762   

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movie minutiae

​Universal Pictures head Sid Sheinberg did not like the title "Back to the Future", insisting that nobody would see a movie with "future" in the title. In a memo to Robert Zemeckis, he said that the title should be changed to "Spaceman From Pluto", tying in with the Marty-as-alien jokes in the film, and also suggested further changes like replacing the "I'm Darth Vader from planet Vulcan" line with "I am a spaceman from Pluto!" Sheinberg was persuaded to change his mind by a response memo from Steven Spielberg, which thanked him for sending a wonderful "joke memo", and that everyone got a kick out of it. Sheinberg, too proud to admit he was serious, gave in to letting the film retain its title.

​Thomas F. Wilson disliked working with Eric Stoltz, finding him a little too serious and aggressive. Before Stoltz was released, they had already filmed the near-fight between Marty and Biff in the high school cafeteria. During takes of this scene, Stoltz would push back on Wilson so hard that Wilson got bruises. Although in real life, Wilson was nothing like the bully that Biff is, he wanted to get his revenge. He had planned to get back at Stoltz by giving him a real punch in the gut during the scene where he pulls Marty out of the car at the dance. Stoltz was fired before Wilson got that chance.

Executive producer Steven Spielberg initially had some reservations about hiring composer Alan Silvestri, having been unimpressed by his score for ROMANCING THE STONE (1984). During a preview screening, in which the film was accompanied by a temporary track that only used part of Silvestri's score, Spielberg commented to Robert Zemeckis that a particularly grand cue was "the sort of music the film needed", unaware that it was indeed one of Silvestri's cues.

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related movies

BACK TO THE FUTURE:
PART II
​(1989)

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) MOVIE IMAGES

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Posters

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BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) STORY SYNOPSIS

Small-town California teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is thrown back into the '50s when an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) goes awry. Traveling through time in a modified DeLorean car, Marty encounters young versions of his parents (Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson), and must make sure that they fall in love or he'll cease to exist. Even more dauntingly, Marty has to return to his own time and save the life of Doc Brown.

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 16 August 2016

​​Pop Movee Rating

In the summer of 1985 BACK TO THE FUTURE premiered to audiences in the United States. In the months that followed, the story of Marty McFly, played by the wonderful Michael J. Fox, travelling back in time from 1985 to 1955 wowed audiences around the world. In the years that have passed since the film’s release, Back to the Future has come to be regarded as a classic in the Science Fiction/Fantasy genre. The screenplay, penned by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, told a great story and it’s almost impossible to fault the writers plotting as the ramifications of Marty’s adventure back through time has unanticipated effects on the future (in 1985). Despite its intricate plotting, BACK TO THE FUTURE has an incredible amount of heart; thanks largely to the chemistry between Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown.

The film opens with Marty dropping by Doc Brown’s home/laboratory to feed his pooch, Einstein. It's clear that Doc is an inventor, as his elaborate, but slightly malfunctioning, dog food tin opening mechanism shown in the opening scenes suggests. Marty decides to avail himself of another one of the Doc’s inventions; a wall-of-sound speaker bank that Marty plugs his guitar into and blows himself across the room with the strum of one chord. Picking himself up off the floor, Marty answers the phone ringing across the room and is relieved to hear Doc on the other end. After a brief exchange about a shonky bomb the Doc has built for Libyan terrorists, the conversation between the two is interrupted by a room full of ringing alarms. Doc exclaims that his experiment has worked and that every click is fifteen minutes late! Marty suddenly realises that this means he’s late for school and runs the risk of detention at the hands of Principal Strickland.

This opening sequence is extremely clever, providing a huge amount of exposition in a very short period. It establishes Doc Brown without him even having to appear on screen. It tells the viewer that Marty’s a loyal friend but has some personal management issues that see him in trouble more often than not. The viewer learns that Marty plays guitar; a big plot point for the film’s finale. Zemeckis and Gale manage to cram their opening scene with a huge amount of information that helps the viewer understand much of what later happens in the film.

The advantage that BACK TO THE FUTURE had over other films is that one of its writers was also its Director...

Robert Zemeckis has gone on to have a distinguished career as a Director, but BACK TO THE FUTURE was very early in his career, so it’s surprising to see that he has such great control of the material. Zemeckis did benefit from having experienced Cinematographer Dean Cundey working alongside him. Cundey had spent the late 1970s and early 1980s working with John Carpenter on HALLOWEEN (1978), ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK (1981) and THE THING (1982); three very different but visually impressive films. Zemeckis also had the benefit of Steven Spielberg as a Producer on BACK TO THE FUTURE at a time when he was still making Summer Blockbusters for kids and young adults. Spielberg’s sensibilities were, without doubt, a major benefit to both Zemeckis and the production as a whole. Despite Spielberg’s involvement in BACK TO THE FUTURE, the film is absolutely regarded as a Robert Zemeckis movie; unlike Tobe Hooper’s POLTERGEIST (1982), where Spielberg's involvement crossed the line and he became the pseudo-Director.

Zemeckis demonstrates a really good understanding of character and action, balancing the two to serve both plot and story well. He gets great performances from just about everyone except for Claudia Wells who plays Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer. She comes across as very one-dimensional and her lines are delivered with little genuine emotion. On the other end of the scale, both Christopher Lloyd and Thomas F. Wilson, as Marty’s 1955 nemesis Biff, go really big with their performances. Wilson does a sterling job as Hill Valley’s resident bully, but, in reality, is just a buffoon who is able to push people around because of his huge physique. Marty manages to gain the upper hand on Biff in the film’s mid-point set-piece action sequence, but makes an enemy in the process. He spends the remainder of the film avoiding him in an effort to pull off the plan that he and Doc have hatched to get him back to 1985. The other notable performance is Crispin Glover as Marty’s dad, George McFly. Glover is a wonderfully skilled character actor and he successfully plays three different version of George in the movie; two versions in the alternate 1985 timelines and his younger self in 1955. Along with Fox and Lloyd, it’s hard to imagine any other actor as George and his relationship with Marty helps to develop both character and plot in a way that result in both father and son having changed for the better in the future.

It would be remiss not to talk about the film’s Clock Tower set-piece that takes place at the end of its 1955 sequence.

Not only is it a great piece of genre film-making, it's a great piece of film-making period.

Utilising the Universal Town Square to full effect throughout the 1955 sequence, it’s no surprise Zemeckis and Gale choose to use it as the bookend for Marty’s departure point from the past back to his present. Zemeckis doesn't miss the opportunity to redefine the relationship between Marty and Doc at this moment, resulting in a friendship that Doc can't enjoy for another three decades until he reconnects with Marty in the future. There’s a sadness-tinged irony to Marty’s departure as both he and Doc understand the ramifications of Marty returning to 1985 result in Doc’s demise at the hands of the Libyans. That is until Marty makes the obvious connection to what he’s about do: change the future by going home earlier to save Doc. Simple, just reset the time settings on the DeLorean. Zemeckis and Gale don't let Marty (or the audience) off that easy. So begins the Clock Tower countdown sequence that really is edge-of-the-seat stuff (even though everyone knows what the right outcome should be…) Among all the elements that make this sequence great, the best is Alan Silvestri’s bravura musical score. Silvestri has never been as highly regarded as John Williamson, Jerry Goldsmith or James Horner, but his contributions to movie scores in the 1980s and 1990s was impressive and he has written some of the most memorable themes for film's sober the last fifty years. (It’s recommended to purchase Intrada’s expanded edition of the BACK TO THE FUTURE score to get a full appreciation of the work he did on this film.)

Back to the future is a modern classic...

It's not dramatic and offers a Pollyanna-ish view of the world that suggests there is good and there is bad (but not evil). Events in the real world regularly suggest otherwise, but it would be unfair to deny the film its charm and sweetness. The plot is watertight and the production values are first-rate.

It's easy to see why it went on to become a critical and commerical success; earning the title as the Number One movie globally in 1985.

There’s a moment in the film, when 1955 Doc realises that he's sent Marty back to 1985. Christopher Lloyd chases the DeLorean’s Fire tracks down Hill Valley’s Main Street, screaming with success. He turns back to the camera and at that moment everyone gets to see Doc’s humanity come through in the realisation that he's not just created history but he's said goodbye to a friend and with some assurance that he will never see him again. It's one of the greatest and one of the most under-rated moments ever captured on film. That’s why BACK TO THE FUTURE is such a wonderful film. Among its time-travelling, nostalgia-laden, popcorn entertainment, it never loses its humanity.

BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) USEFUL LINKS

Back to the Future - Wikipedia
Back to the Future (1985) - IMDb
Back to the Future (1985) - Rotten Tomatoes

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