Today we take it for granted but back in the late 70s and 80s, summer was the dawn of the movie blockbuster. Previously, summer was considered the doldrums for releasing big films as studios assumed audiences were either outside in the sun or on summer vacations. But that all changed with Steven Spielberg's JAWS in 1975. With JAWS, filmmakers and studios discovered that if you made a film with a big concept and good special effects, audiences would come in droves to see it even in the summer. Following JAWS, there was usually a blockbuster film or two every summer after like CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977), STAR WARS (1977), SUPERMAN (1978), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (1981), or BATMAN (1989).
One surprising summer blockbuster film was Robert Zemeckis's BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985). Unlike some summer blockbusters, it wasn't laden with special effects or set in outer space. But it did involve time travel. I was home from college that summer. My parents were out of town for the weekend. I invited a young lady I hadn't seen since high school to go see BACK TO THE FUTURE with me. I think we were both surprised by what a funny, engaging, creative film BACK TO THE FUTURE was. Giddy from the entertainment we had just seen, we returned to my house to take a dip in my parents jacuzzi. It was all nice and decent with just a hint of naughtiness like BACK TO THE FUTURE.
For director Robert Zemeckis (FORREST GUMP), BACK TO THE FUTURE would set him on a trajectory that would probably make him second only to Steven Spielberg (who produced BACK TO THE FUTURE) as one of our most creative, high concept directors. Like Spielberg, Zemeckis came out of film school, directed a couple of clever but not very profitable first films in the Beatles inspired I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND and the subversive USED CARS (1980). Zemeckis was on the verge of possibly never directing a feature film again when Producer Michael Douglas chose Zemeckis to direct ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) starring actor Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito. ROMANCING THE STONE's combination of action, comedy, and romance showed Zemeckis could make both an entertaining and profitable film. In a way, ROMANCING THE STONE was a modern Indiana Jones film and Zemeckis would catch the eye again of Steven Spielberg, the guy who gave us RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK.
Zemeckis and his screenwriting partner Bob Gale had written Spielberg's only box office dud at the time, the World War II comedy 1941. But Spielberg, who got a second chance from George Lucas with RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, would give Zemeckis and Gale a second chance as well. BACK TO THE FUTURE also had the good fortune of starring Michael J. Fox, an up and coming young actor who was the star of the hit NBC TV comedy series FAMILY TIES (1982 -1989). Fox would replace Eric Stoltz (MASK) who was originally cast as Marty McFly but let go early in the filming process and the rest is history.
The film is set in the fictional town of Hill Valley in 1985 and begins with high school student Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) stopping by on the way to school to visit his friend, the eccentric inventor Dr. Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Doc Brown's not at home but he telephones Marty with a mysterious invitation to meet him at the Twin Pines Mall after midnight. Marty goes to school where his band performs in the "Battle of the Bands" contest. But they're disqualified by the High School Audition Judge (rock star Huey Lewis who also provides the films two hit songs - Power of Love and Back in Time) for playing too loud. At least Marty has the weekend to look forward to as he and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker (Claudia Wells) are secretly going camping. But when Marty arrives home, his hopelessly inept father George McFly (Crispin Glover) has not only damaged Marty's wheels for the weekend but George's annoying boss Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) is chewing George out for wrecking the company car. Marty's mother Lorraine (Lea Thompson) arrives home from her brother's parole hearing (he's not getting out) and pours herself a cocktail. Just another day in the life of Marty McFly.
That night, Marty rides out to Twin Pines Mall on his skateboard. Doc Brown unveils his newest invention - a DeLorean Time Machine. Doc plans on using his dog Einstein as his test subject to go one minute back into time. Marty video tapes the proceedings. To achieve the maximum speed of 88 miles per hour, Doc has "borrowed" some plutonium from Libyan terrorists to fuel the flux capacitor that powers the car. The test time jump/drive is a success. But the Libyan terrorists show up to the mall where they confront and shoot Doc for his treachery. Marty jumps into the DeLorean where he's chased by the Libyans. Marty speeds away, reaching that magic speed of 88 miles per hour. There's a flash of light and Marty's now in the countryside where he crashes into a barn. He looks at the settings in the car. Marty has gone back to November 1955. A farmer and his family chase Marty away, believing he's a spaceman from another world.
Unsure where he's landed, Marty stumbles into the Hill Valley town square where everything has changed back to 1955. Marty steps into a diner and bumps into his father George as a high school student. He witnesses Biff and his gang including 3-D (Casey Siemaszko) and Match (Billy Zane) bully his father. Marty follows George and finds him peeping on his future mother Lorraine who's dressing in the window. George is supposed to get hit by a car driven by Lorraine's father Sam Baines (George DiCenzo) which will introduce George to Lorraine and lead to their marriage and kids. But Marty pushes George out of the way. Marty's struck by the car, disrupting the timeline, possibly ensuring that Marty will never be born. Marty recovers at the Baines house where Lorraine develops a crush on her future son. Marty hightails it out of the Baines home and locates Doc Brown's house. Young Doc Brown is just as eccentric as 1985 Doc Brown. Doc is skeptical of Marty's time travel story until Marty show him the DeLorean.
Marty and Doc try to figure out how to get Marty back to 1985. They can't steal plutonium (the Manhattan Project probably isn't loaning any out) but Doc believes lightning could generate enough power. Marty remembers that a bolt of lightning struck Hill Valley's Clock Tower back in 1955 which will happen the following night. So as Doc Brown calculates how to infuse the DeLorean with the power of lightning to send Marty back to the future, Marty plays matchmaker to his future parents George and Lorraine so they will fall in love like they were supposed to and fix Marty's timeline. Lorraine asks Marty to the high school Enchantment Under the Sea dance. Marty devises a plan that will make George a hero and Lorraine fall in love with him. But time is running out. Will Marty get his parents back together (and teach the Hill Valley teenagers a little about rock and roll)? Will Marty make it back to 1985 and if he does, will anything have changed in either his or his family's life? Zemeckis and Gale creatively solve all these questions in the last third of the film.
BACK TO THE FUTURE made time travel films hip again. George Pal's THE TIME MACHINE (1960) starring Rod Taylor and based on H.G. Wells novel and then later Nicholas Meyer's TIME AFTER TIME (1979) in which Jack the Ripper (David Warner) steals H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell) time machine to go to modern day San Francisco were entertaining but serious time travel films. BACK TO THE FUTURE playfully and cleverly takes Marty back thirty years to when his parents were his age. Zemeckis and Gale introduce us to all the characters in modern time and then reveal them again as their younger selves with only Marty (and the audience) aware of their past and futures. BACK TO THE FUTURE also taps into the 50s era with science fiction and space invaders, the birth of rock and roll, and the rise of the teenager.
When dealing with time travel, time is a very important motif, something that's not lost on director Zemeckis. BACK TO THE FUTURE opens up with a tracking shot of at least fifty different types of clocks in Doc Brown's house. The clock tower in Hill Valley's town square plays an important role when Marty goes back to 1955 and needs to return to 1985. Marty is running out of time literally as a photo in his wallet reveals he and his older siblings brother Dave McFly (Marc McClure) and sister Linda McFly (Wendy Jo Sperber) are fading away. Marty must make his future parents George and Lorraine fall in love to reconnect his timeline so he and his sibling can be born. A clock ticking is always a great way to express suspense and Marty's dilemma at the end of BACK TO THE FUTURE makes the audience squirm as we have a clock ticking in our heads.
BACK TO THE FUTURE is a perfect example of what a well made summer blockbuster should accomplish with its audience. It should entertain, surprise, and delight. I felt all of those verbs and more as I sat watching BACK TO THE FUTURE for the first time that warm summer evening in July of 1985. Zemeckis and co-writer Gale set up many plot points in the first twenty five minutes of the film (a news story about plutonium stolen, introducing the modern Hill Valley town square, local citizens fighting to save the historic clock tower) and then gradually pay off those plot points throughout the film. Although BACK TO THE FUTURE is a comedy, it manages to throw in an Oedipus complex angle with Marty's mother Lorraine in 1955 developing a crush on her future son Marty. And Doc Brown may have taken the writers Zemeckis and Gale to the future as the film touches briefly on topics that will make headlines in 2001 and beyond: terrorists (9/11), bullying (the internet), and sexual assault (Harvey Weinstein and the #metoo movement).
The filmmakers struck gold with the casting of Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly. BACK TO THE FUTURE does not become the phenomenal success it was without Fox's breakout performance. Fox plays McFly with the perfect combination of boyish charm, self deprecating humor, and an underdog nerdishness. BACK TO THE FUTURE would propel Fox's movie career in more comedies like Herbert Ross's THE SECRET OF MY SUCCESS (1987) and Michael Caton-Jones DOC HOLLYWOOD (1991). Fox would be less successful as a dramatic actor in films like James Bridges BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY (1988) and Brian DePalma's CASULATIES OF WAR (1989). Fox's legacy is cemented with BACK TO THE FUTURE and its two sequels BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II (1989) and BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III (1990).
But Michael J. Fox is only one half of the success of BACK TO THE FUTURE. The other half is Christopher Lloyd's hilarious performance as oddball inventor Doc Brown. In a Q &A with Zemeckis and Gale, the co-writers mention John Lithgow was considered to play Doc Brown. Lithgow would have been fine but his take on Doc Brown probably would have been more bizarre and outlandish. Lloyd and Fox have great chemistry and Doc Brown and Marty develop a father/son relationship throughout the film that's endearing. Lloyd became a star with his whacked out role as Jim Ignatowski on the TV comedy series TAXI (1978- 1983). Besides appearing in the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy, Lloyd would appear as a Klingon commander in Leonard Nimoy's STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK (1984), as the villain Judge Doom in Zemeckis's cartoon extravaganza WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? (1988), and as Uncle Fester in Barry Sonnenfeld's THE ADDAMS FAMILY (1991).
All of Zemeckis's choices for the supporting cast for BACK TO THE FUTURE are spot on. Lea Thompson, who like Molly Ringwald and Demi Moore was one of the "It" girls of the 80s, escapes her nice girl image in films like ALL THE RIGHT MOVES (1983) to play Marty's not so innocent younger mother Lorraine as well as wear older makeup for fifty year old Lorraine. Crispin Glover's role as Marty's father George will be the most normal performance you will see from Glover who played more eccentric characters in films like David Lynch's WILD AT HEART (1990) and Glen Morgan's WILLARD (2003). And I don't know if I've ever seen Thomas F. Wilson in another film but he's perfect as big bully Biff Tannen, nemesis to both Marty and his father George.
I did a little math. If my grown kids were to go back to the future to stumble across CrazyFilmGuy in high school, they would have to go back to 1983. If I took the DeLorean to visit my father in high school, it would take me to 1955. The same year that Marty was transported to.
Of the trilogy, BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II is probably the craziest and most complicated of the three time travel films and BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III the weakest of the series as Marty and Doc Brown go back to the Wild West of 1885. Like the Big Mac or Coca Cola, the original BACK TO THE FUTURE is the real deal. The film introduces us to the world of Marty McFly and his eccentric friend Doc Brown. It charms us with the concept of going back into time and visiting our parents lives when they were young. And BACK TO THE WORLD introduced the world to actor Michael J. Fox who is forever associated with a time traveling DeLorean. As Doc Brown would say, "Great Scott!"
