Back To The Future appreciation and critique

George wasn't anywhere near the level of jerk towards Biff that Biff had originally been to him.

And, as I mentioned earlier... considering that George and Biff are still on relatively good terms, after Biff basically tried to rape Lorraine, then I'd say Biff got off pretty easy in the end.

 

The whole point is that Biff is now subservient to George. He's polishing his car, taking orders from him, and George is taking no BS (not even about how many coats of wax are on his car).
This part of the movie is simply to demonstrate that the tables have turned and George has continued to stand up for himself, while the former bully has been put in his place.

 

I've been reading this thread as the BACK TO THE FUTURE movies were always favorites. Ironically we stopped into a Target store today to pick up an odd item or two and in the Blu-ray section, they had a huge number of titles on sale, I guess for Father's Day. I spotted and picked up the BACK TO THE FUTURE trilogy on Blu-ray for $14.99. Even the cashier couldn't believe the price!

We just watched the first movie this afternoon. What a great upgrade from the DVD version!

Harry

 

Actually, I don't think Biff got off at all.

That's a great deal!

 

Don't you find the irony in that?

 

Great scott!. Here are finally in 2015 folks. We live in the FUTURE!
So I thought it was a good time to dig out the trilogy, sit back and enjoy. Just watched the first one. What a gem.

 

Where's my flying car?

Darryl

 

LOL! I remember back in the 60's there was talk of flying cars back then appearing in the future! yea right, we're going backwards....

 

You would have thought that rich-guy Biff would have been able to lure Lorraine back a lot sooner than he did...

 

I still love this flick, watched it more than a few times as a VHS rental with my boys many moons ago. One of the few rare modern classics that should endure the test of time IMO. 11 & 111 are ok, but 1, WOW! The blu ray looks stunning!

 

All three movies look great and are bona fide classics as far as I'm concerned. As I said a lot earlier in this thread, time-travel stories are very difficult to get right, but Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale really did it right in these films.

 

I'm happy to hear praise of 2 & 3, too many folks trash them IMO. Obviously the first one is the real winner, but 2 & 3 still are pretty cool and look very good. I've got the blu ray trilogy and all 3 look stunning on my big flat screen.

 

Total agreement. These films are richly entertaining, and as a time-travel story fan I adore all three.

 

This past Christmas I've reaquainted myself with BTTF. It was at least a decade since I last saw them, and I ended up getting the Blu-Ray trilogy set. A classic in every way. The first one is nearly perfect in my mind. I hope that this series never gets remade. It's perfect and timeless as is.

 

I'm surprised there's been no reboot.

Darryl

 

The ONLY way I could see a new BTTF movie working was with participation from Zemeckis/Gale and MJF and Lloyd, and all have gone on the record of saying it's not gonna happen, so unless there is a change of heart the next few years, I doubt it. A reboot would likely miss the entire point of what made the original trilogy special. Some movies don't need to be rebooted or remade.

 

I've never watched II and III from start to finish, just bits and pieces of them. Can't say why, just have never felt compelled. I do find the first film to be one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen, and I never want to think about it too deeply. I just enjoy the ride!

 

I wrote an analysis of the first film years ago in a cinema studies course in college. The theme of the assignment was something about describing a modern film that follows the classical Hollywood cinema formula, and I chose 'Back to the Future.' I just went back and found it in my archives, and it's rather meandering, but I'll post it in case anyone is bored.

Spoiler

Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future is a magical film that seamlessly incorporates science-fiction, comedy and action. It follows the classical Hollywood cinema formula quite closely through its narrative structure and character development. The film actually feels a lot like the Frank Capra classic It’s a Wonderful Life. Not only do both films deal with similar subject matter, but they both evoke the same types of feelings from the audience. As a filmmaker, Zemeckis has clearly been influenced by Capra’s work. While most Zemeckis films do not reach the same levels of syrupiness that many of Capra’s films are known for, (Capracorn is the technical term) they share similar themes and often call to mind feelings of nostalgia and sentimentality. Back to the Future is not quite in that category, but the comparison is certainly apt. The narrative is centered around seventeen-year-old high school senior Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his adventures through time from the year 1985 to 1955 and back again. Hence, the fitting title, Back to the Future.

The film begins in October 1985 where Marty learns that his eccentric friend Doc Brown, played with maniacal fervor by Christopher Lloyd, has created a time machine out of a 1982 DeLorean DMC-12. As Doc Brown puts it, “The way I see it, if you’re going to build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” Well, when Doc is demonstrating how the DeLorean works, we learn that it runs on plutonium. Of course, plutonium cannot be easily procured, so Doc had to purchase it from some Libyan nationalists. Doc apparently ripped off the Libyans during the exchange and they come for retaliation. Marty is forced to escape from the Libyans in the DeLorean after they shoot Doc and begin pursuing Marty. The DeLorean breaks through time when it reaches eighty-eight miles-per-hour and Marty ends up in 1955. This is due to the fact that Doc had arbitrarily set the dials for 1955 when he was demonstrating how the DeLorean worked.

What is worth noting about this scene is that it begins in the Twin Pines Mall parking lot in 1985 and ends in Old Man Peabody’s farm in 1955. These places occupy the same plot of land, just in different periods in time. It is common in time travel stories for the time traveler to travel to a specific place and time. For instance, in Mark Twain’s novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, a man goes to sleep in Hartford, Connecticut in the 1880s and wakes up in Britain during King Arthur’s reign in the medieval period. Back to the Future screenwriters Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale subscribe to the H.G. Wells premise of time travel, where one can only travel through time, not time and space.

While in the year 1955, Marty finds the Doc of 1955 and convinces him that he is indeed from the future and that Doc is the only person who can help him get home. Marty also accidentally prevents his parents from falling in love by pushing his father out of the way of a car. Originally, Marty’s mother Lorraine had fallen for his father, George, after her father hit him with the car. Now that her father had Marty with the car, she developed an attachment to him. Doc refers to it as the Florence Nightingale effect. A befuddled Marty comprehends this by asking, “Whoa, wait a minute, Doc, are you telling me that my mother has got the hots for me?” By changing the course of this event, Marty has endangered his own existence. As a result, Marty must not only work with Doc to develop a means to get him home, after all, there is no plutonium available, but he must also figure out a way to get his parents together. This proves to be a difficult task as his father is somewhat timid and nerdy.

Eventually, Marty comes up with a plan to take Lorraine to the school dance himself, and then have George come and save the day when he pretends to take advantage of her. Things do not quite work out that way due to the intervention of the school bully, Biff. Biff’s cronies take Marty and lock him in a trunk so that Biff can make time with Lorraine. He is drunk and begins forcing himself upon her when George shows up and acts courageously for the first time in his life. Lorraine falls smitten to George after his heroic act to save her and Marty’s existence is secured.

Meanwhile, Doc realizes that the same amount of electricity generated by plutonium needed to power the DeLorean can also be generated by a bolt of lightning. Fortunately, earlier in the film (back in 1985) Marty happened to receive a flyer from a woman trying to raise money to preserve the town hall’s broken clock:

“Save the clock tower, save the clock tower. Mayor Wilson is sponsoring an initiative to replace that clock. Thirty years ago, lightning struck that clock tower and the clock hasn't run since. We at the Hill Valley Preservation Society think it should be preserved exactly the way it is as part of our history and heritage.”


The flyer featured a picture of the clock, showing the time in which it stopped working, as well as the date of the storm in which lightning struck it. This information proves to be quite valuable for the climactic scene. Doc attaches a metal hook to the flux capacitor in the DeLorean. That is the mechanism that powers the vehicle. Doc then connects an electrical wire from the top of the clock tower to a metal line which runs over the street. The plan is for Marty to get the DeLorean up to eighty-eight miles-per-hour at the time the lightning strikes. The hook on the back of the DeLorean would then snag the metal wire with the electricity passing across it which would send Marty back to 1985. Well, despite the difficulty of the plan and its reliance on impeccable timing, it works flawlessly.

Back in 1985 Marty realizes that things are somewhat different than they were when he left them. His parents are much healthier and more successful than they were prior to his adventure. His siblings are also in much better standing. The overall quality of life is better for Marty and his family due to the actions that Marty took while in 1955. In particular, the impact that Marty made on his father brought out a courageous side of him that had previously lain dormant. This newfound virility has transformed his father’s life and, thus, improved the lives of the whole family. There have been distinct character transformations that have taken place due to values that Marty instilled in his parents. This is an interesting aspect of the film as the child is responsible for teaching life principles to the parents. Marty is better for the experience as well, though. He now has a better understanding of who he is and where he is going in life.

At the beginning of the film, Marty seems to be a well-adjusted kid who is trying to make the best of his given situation. He comes from a very humble upbringing. His neighborhood is in a seedy part of town. There are tall electrical towers just beyond his backyard which hover over his home. Both of his older siblings still reside at home, one works at Burger King and the other is unemployed. He has an uncle in prison, his mother is an overweight alcoholic and his father is an embarrassment. Marty seems to have a tough time in school, as he is frequently reprimanded by the principle for tardiness. Despite these shortcomings, however, Marty has a beautiful girlfriend, is the lead singer and guitarist of a talented rock band, and has a natural exuberance about him. Even when the principle calls out Marty and his family by claiming, “No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley,” Marty replies, “Yeah, well the history is gonna change.”

Still, it is clear that Marty’s home life leaves him with much to be desired. Perhaps this is why Marty has befriended Doc Brown who is over forty years his senior. While the origin of their relationship is never revealed, it seems that they have been friends for a long time as they are quite natural and comfortable together. It is as if Beaver Cleaver has grown up and maintained his relationship with Gus the fireman all the while. Marty and Doc share a rapport that is very similar. Doc is a social outcast who is borderline crazy, but Marty accepts him and they clearly share a deep affection. By the end of the film Doc realizes just how important Marty is to him.

Director Robert Zemeckis tends to shoot a lot of medium close-up shots which always focus on the actors, but also emphasize the backgrounds. His camera is usually moving as well, and not always fluidly. It is usually following his restless characters who are rarely standing still. Therefore, set decoration is very important to this film. In the early scenes in the McFly residence, the camera focuses on Marty as he talks to his father, but it slowly pans around Marty as he moves about. Zemeckis wants us to see the tacky furniture and campy knickknacks that decorate the living room. This is clearly an average American family without much taste, hovering around the lower middle-class. Similarly at the end of the film, after the transition has occurred, the camera again pans around the living room in a similar manner, but the furniture is much nicer and the décor appears to be classy.

There are two striking scenes which center around the dinner table. One scene takes place in 1985 at the McFly dinner table, and the other in 1955 at the Baines dinner table (Lorraine’s family). They both hearken back to the dinner sequences of John Ford films. In Ford films, particularly Stagecoach, The Searchers,and The Quiet Man, the camera is placed in a stationary position overlooking the dinner table and those who occupy and surround it. There is often a lot of commotion at the table, with people running around and engaging in all sorts of activity. In Back to the Future, the people sit at the table, glued to the television set with nary a movement to be seen among them. Meanwhile, the camera restlessly paces around among them. These sequences seem to be purposely anti-Ford and are really the only sequences of the film where the primary characters are not on the move.

Zemeckis uses a similar technique with his camera while filming the town square. In 1985 we follow Marty through the streets as he hangs on car bumpers while riding his skateboard. This establishes that the town is kind of rundown. It is not a cesspool, but there is some graffiti, a pornographic movie theater, and a bum begging for change. All of this is captured with slow panning shots as Marty careens through town. When Marty is back in 1955, the town appears to be brand new. At first the camera is above, looking down at Marty as he stumbles through town in awe; but soon Zemeckis employs a shot-reverse shot technique in which we see Marty in a medium close-up followed by a first-person shot from Marty’s perspective. All the while the camera is slowly moving.

This use of the camera gives us the feeling of searching. The camera is soaking up every bit of the intricate set designs. Just as Marty is awestruck by how different his town is in 1955, so too are we. The set decorators went to great lengths to recreate 1955. From the automobiles and costumes to the storefronts and interior decoration, it is like stepping into a time warp. Zemeckis knows how amazing this all looks and he wants to show it off. The constant movement of the characters and constant movement of the camera give the audience the feeling that time is the preeminent issue overriding this film. Right from the start of the film, the camera is searching. It pans across Doc Brown’s workshop, exposing all sorts of interesting inventions and assorted clocks which tick rhythmically. In one long take the camera covers the entire room and actually circles back to where it began. The moving camera actually seems to complement the pacing of the film. There are very few scenes which linger longer than they should as the plot is always driving the narrative forward. All the while Zemeckis is searching with his camera, just as Marty is searching for his way home. Somehow the form and the action strike a perfect balance that is rarely seen in the cinema.

Clearly, the film follows the classical Hollywood cinema formula. Our protagonist, Marty, faced a serious dilemma which he met head-on. Not only did he grow as a result of his experiences throughout his journey, but he enriched the lives of those around him. Being only seventeen years of age, Marty is not the prototypical hero of classical Hollywood cinema, but he is affable enough that the audience can easily identify with him and root for him. While the narrative may be rather technical at times due to the science fiction elements of the picture, the story is still easy to follow and it flows with effortless pace. Back to the Future is classic American cinema in its purest form. Surely, it would make Frank Capra and Billy Wilder proud.

 

The first film is one of my all time favorites. Sentimentally, it's very important to me. 1985 was a watershed year in my life and BTTF is a big part of the '85 landscape, along with New Coke, Live Aid, Hurricane Gloria, finding the Titanic and much more.
Strangely, I saw both sequels when they both appeared, but have never bothered to watch them again, though I have seen bits and pieces of both films on cable through the years. I liked the second film, though the plot was somewhat confusing and Elizabeth Shue as Jennifer didn't work for me. I thought part 3 was okay, but not being a big fan of Westerns, I found it somewhat uninteresting.
I'm making a point to watch both films again soon.

 

One of the things I love about this trilogy is the dialogue... there are so many funny exchanges and great lines, especially from Doc.... this one just popped into my head a few minutes ago:

Marty: That's right, Doc. November 12, 1955.
Doc: Unbelievable that old Biff could have chosen that particular date. It could mean that that point in time inherently contains some sort of cosmic significance... almost as if it were the temporal junction point for the entire space-time continuum! On the other hand, it could just be an amazing coincidence.

 

Definitely one of the all time, good-time (no pun intended) movie going series. I rewatch the series every few years.

 

Love the sharp intake of breath when Doc realizes the gravity of the situation.

Darryl

 

Just popped in Part 1, gonna do a trilogy marathon.... not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

 

I liked the trilogy as a teenager, now that I'm 41 I see as a product of the 80's and not a well scripted one, it bores me.

 

Great Scott! As someone who is older than you, I still find the series charming, funny and warmhearted and love re-watching it every few years.