Back to the FutureThe past is a blueprint for the future, and Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) is forced to make some changes to the layout of it when he finds himself stranded thirty years in the past, inadvertently altering key events between his parents and jeopardizing his own future existence. Back to the Future is a story about time travel, true love, and learning about oneself through adversity. It is an adventure set across two points in the space-time continuum, from Marty's present in the town of Hill Valley in 1985, and the past of 1955. Culture shock and nostalgia blend together for a science fiction film that is anything but formulaic.
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Speaking of nostalgia, Back to the Future holds a special place for me as a movie I watched over and over as a kid--edited for television, sure; although, as George McFly (Crispin Glover) learns, sometimes you have to swear. Back to the Future is also by design a trip down memory lane--even during its debut--for those who grew up in the Fifties, faithfully crafted to depict a small town (Hill Valley) of days gone by. An important stylistic element of Marty's trip to the past is to produce a kind of dramatic irony, since he is keenly aware of events to come. Even when he lets some little nugget of foresight slip, it gives him a decidedly progressive and insightful attitude, which just comes with having the benefit of thirty years on everyone else. But Marty does not abuse this knowledge; on the contrary, he is only interested in returning to his rightful time, after an unfortunate trip following an assault by disgruntled Libyan terrorists over some foisted plutonium for the time machine results in his one-way ticket to the past. Marty's only hope to return home is none other than the inventor--or eventual inventor--of the flux capacitor (which makes time travel possible), Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Doc cautions Marty against interfering with the current state of the timeline any more than he has, especially when it comes to divulging key information about Doc's tragic fate in 1985. Humorous observations about perceptions of the future from the vantage point of 1955 are not designed to imply that people had no vision in the past, but that as an audience familiar with the state of events from Marty's time, it is ironic that their impressions of things to come can be either so very wrong, or so very right. Even more ironic is seeing this movie now from the year 2015, marveling and sighing at the impressions the film had of what our year would be like. Those shadows of the future--which are for Marty merely the status quo--resonate when we see them manifested in the past in the likes of George McFly and Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson), since George is--and was--a browbeaten wimp, while Biff is the embodiment of an absolute jerk and bully, who has been pushing around George for a very long time. The big surprise for Marty comes with his mother, Lorraine McFly/Baines (Lea Thompson), who comes across to her children as a bit of a repressed prude--with a penchant for vodka--to the point that Marty tells his girlfriend, Jennifer (Claudia Wells), that she must have been born a nun, only to be revealed later to have a bit more of a wild streak to her. After Marty's good-intentioned effort to prevent his future dad from being hit by a car, Lorraine falls for Marty--convinced his name is Calvin Klein, by his underwear she had no problem catching a few glimpses at--and attempts to seduce him with a kind of Lolita-like feigned virginal innocence, concealing a tigress ready to pounce, much to Marty's chagrin. Maybe there are some things it's okay for a mom to lie about to her kids.
What sets Back to the Future apart from so many other zany science-gone-rad sci-fi flicks of the Eighties is that the film possesses an almost neurotic attention to detail, minutiae which might seem inconsequential at first, but even small things are revisited time and again. Phrases and images alluded to at one interval, show up again or are spun a little differently when they re-emerge, in the past or future, a phenomenon which gives the sense that time is like a fabric, one which can be folded and the pattern remains the same. The best example of this is arguably the famous clock tower itself, which is destined to be struck by lightning at exactly 10:04pm. One might think that Hill Valley has all too perfect of a set of records of this relatively inconsequential event, but don't forget that the object which holds the salvation for Marty's abandonment in the past is, itself, a clock, one which would mark the exact moment it was fried perfectly; it's more than just a clever metaphor. Back to the Future is also very self aware, with references subtle and not-so-subtle throughout. Ever wonder why the Battle of the Bands judge looks suspiciously like Huey Lewis, the one who tells them that they're "just too darn loud"? And a personal favorite acknowledgment to Stanley Kubrick's works comes in the "only noticeable by obsessives" nod found on Marty's huge amplifier, with a knob labelled "CRM-114". And Doc's assertion that the president in 1985 (Ronald Reagan) must be an actor, so that he can look good on television comes across as a little too prophetic, as the way people perceived politicians as visual icons emerged after John F. Kennedy debated Nixon on live television only several years later...whoever the hell John F. Kennedy is. Watching Back to the Future--with a noticeable amount of product placement--one wonders just how massive the surge of popularity was for the famous DeLorean among collectors following this film's release; you'll still have to wait another thirty years for a flying one. The great characters and their foibles all make them seem larger than life and also so endearing. Doc Brown's the quintessential mad genius, excelling in scientific breakthroughs, but a little deficient when it comes to social interaction, such as when he describes the Enchantment Under the Sea dance as a "rhythmic ceremonial ritual". And for George McFly--who parrots Marty's own self-abasement and fear of rejection--who doesn't love the scene where he finally gives Biff what he has coming? (Biff, I suppose.) But the best message in Back to the Future comes with that lesson Marty teaches George--and himself--that confidence means that you have the ability to accomplish anything when you put your mind to it. It is hard; it comes first from the will to achieve, to try, and to know that there is the real chance of failure, but that life is more than just avoiding headaches--it's about grabbing hold of your dreams with both hands, even if it means letting a 1.21 gigawatt bolt of lightning run through you to do it.
Recommended for: Fans of an exciting and adventurous tale of time travel and learning to reach out and grab your destiny. It's a star performance which made a hit out of Michael J. Fox, and is so ingrained in the minds of movie fans that quote a line, and the world's bound to quote with you. See, you're already thinking of a few lines right now.
What sets Back to the Future apart from so many other zany science-gone-rad sci-fi flicks of the Eighties is that the film possesses an almost neurotic attention to detail, minutiae which might seem inconsequential at first, but even small things are revisited time and again. Phrases and images alluded to at one interval, show up again or are spun a little differently when they re-emerge, in the past or future, a phenomenon which gives the sense that time is like a fabric, one which can be folded and the pattern remains the same. The best example of this is arguably the famous clock tower itself, which is destined to be struck by lightning at exactly 10:04pm. One might think that Hill Valley has all too perfect of a set of records of this relatively inconsequential event, but don't forget that the object which holds the salvation for Marty's abandonment in the past is, itself, a clock, one which would mark the exact moment it was fried perfectly; it's more than just a clever metaphor. Back to the Future is also very self aware, with references subtle and not-so-subtle throughout. Ever wonder why the Battle of the Bands judge looks suspiciously like Huey Lewis, the one who tells them that they're "just too darn loud"? And a personal favorite acknowledgment to Stanley Kubrick's works comes in the "only noticeable by obsessives" nod found on Marty's huge amplifier, with a knob labelled "CRM-114". And Doc's assertion that the president in 1985 (Ronald Reagan) must be an actor, so that he can look good on television comes across as a little too prophetic, as the way people perceived politicians as visual icons emerged after John F. Kennedy debated Nixon on live television only several years later...whoever the hell John F. Kennedy is. Watching Back to the Future--with a noticeable amount of product placement--one wonders just how massive the surge of popularity was for the famous DeLorean among collectors following this film's release; you'll still have to wait another thirty years for a flying one. The great characters and their foibles all make them seem larger than life and also so endearing. Doc Brown's the quintessential mad genius, excelling in scientific breakthroughs, but a little deficient when it comes to social interaction, such as when he describes the Enchantment Under the Sea dance as a "rhythmic ceremonial ritual". And for George McFly--who parrots Marty's own self-abasement and fear of rejection--who doesn't love the scene where he finally gives Biff what he has coming? (Biff, I suppose.) But the best message in Back to the Future comes with that lesson Marty teaches George--and himself--that confidence means that you have the ability to accomplish anything when you put your mind to it. It is hard; it comes first from the will to achieve, to try, and to know that there is the real chance of failure, but that life is more than just avoiding headaches--it's about grabbing hold of your dreams with both hands, even if it means letting a 1.21 gigawatt bolt of lightning run through you to do it.
Recommended for: Fans of an exciting and adventurous tale of time travel and learning to reach out and grab your destiny. It's a star performance which made a hit out of Michael J. Fox, and is so ingrained in the minds of movie fans that quote a line, and the world's bound to quote with you. See, you're already thinking of a few lines right now.