Essentials: Back to the Future

Year: 1985
Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy
Directed: Robert Zemeckis
Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, Claudia Wells, Marc McClure, Wendie Jo Sperber, James Tolkan
Production: Universal Pictures

Lou: You going to order something, kid?

Marty: Ah, yeah. Give me a Tab.

Lou: I can't give you a tab unless you order something.

Marty: Right. Give me a Pepsi Free.

Lou: You want a Pepsi pal, you're gonna pay for it.

Within that one single exchange between Back to the Future’s (1985) protagonist Marty (Michael J. Fox) and the neighborhood soda jerk there are so many things going on. Marty has traveled back thirty years into the past and is slowly coming to terms/panicking about where he is and how he got there. Studebakers and old Mustangs drive by the window, the future mayor of Hill Valley (played by Donald Fullilove) mops behind him and a younger version of his father (Crispin Glover) sits right next to him. Yet all the audience is supposed to pick up is that the lingo in Hill Valley circa 1955 is completely different than what he’s used to which leads to this hilarious exchange.

RIP 1982-1987

While Pepsi Free no longer exists and Tab is…well Tab, the fact still remains that Back to the Future remains the epitome of a timeless classic. It’s a classic based on its plot: a teenager who has befriended an oddball scientist (Christopher Lloyd) goes back into the past with his time machine and has to get back. It’s a classic based on its sub-plot: said teenager messes up his mother and father’s first meet and has to make the two fall in love before he’s never born. It’s a classic because of its state-of-the-art special effects which really haven’t aged all that much and it’s confident direction led by Robert Zemeckis. Finally it’s a classic because of its humor and heart. How many times have you seen time travel in a movie and ask yourself honestly, whose done it any better?

Back to the Future made full fledged movie stars out of its likable leading man Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Lloyd’s Doc Brown is an unforgettable character that is permanently etched in this writers head. He’s the gold standard of mad scientist that all future lab-coated eccentrics have to reach before I can deem them worthy. Fox’s lovable Marty is smart, creative and surprisingly full of energy. Up until that point Fox had a regular gig on Family Ties (1982-1989) and had to work both projects averaging five hours of sleep for three months to finish the picture; it’s a wonder he doesn’t look like a wax statue.

It is said that Robert Zemeckis had tried for months to get a meeting with Steven Spielberg before finally bursting into his office unannounced and showing him his USC student film. Spielberg (German for childhood hero) would go on to executive produce his first few movies including the solidly acted box-office failure Used Cars (1980). Around that time, Spielberg also produced films by Joe Dante, Chris Columbus and Kevin Reynolds, but it was Robert Zemeckis who left the biggest mark on cinematic entertainment. It was his attention to detail and early adoption of computer generated special effects in Back to the Future that established Zemeckis as a technical wunderkind. Zemeckis would follow the success of Back to the Future with the equally inspired Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) and has since become a producer/director himself.

Responsible for this tragedy

Yet Back to the Future remains a timeless package of an auteur at his zenith. A tight, clean story told with energy and panache. It has no equal and will likely never be pushed off its perch as the king of unfettered quality entertainment. In the realm of childlike wonder, Spielberg may be king but his best film is arguably not one he has directed himself but one her produced. And that production is 1.21 gigawatts of awesome.

Final Grade: A