Back To The Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) July 28, 2006
Posted by Daniel Stephens in : Comedy, 1980s, Desert Island Films, Film reviews, Action/Adventure, Sci-fi/Fantasy , add a commentWhat would you do if you could go back in time and meet your parents when they were teenagers?
That’s the brilliant premise that Back To The Future is built on – the quintessential American Dream movie, which in its infinite time-travel wisdom, brims with as much nostalgia for the fifties as it does concern for the fears and politics of eighties Reagan-era Americana. It is without doubt Robert Zemeckis’ best film in a career very much underappreciated by critics. The mere fact Steven Spielberg got it off the ground may be a reason why Zemeckis, in many quarters, is seen as a knock-off Spielberg understudy. But it’s quite true, whilst Spielberg, Zemeckis, and of course George Lucas, all hailed from a childhood fed on late night fifties B-movies, science-fiction serials, and the television revolution, the others never did encapsulate the comforting nostalgia of the period like Zemeckis achieved so often.
It isn’t strange then that whilst Spielberg phoned home and had Richard Dreyfuss making mash potato mountains, and Lucas went off to fight a war in the stars, Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale would quietly concoct Back To The Future - the best science-fiction adventure ever made.
The reason the film is regarded so highly is not because of the near-perfect script (used in many film schools as the blueprint for writing character-driven, narrative cinema) but because it explores such a beautifully enriching idea that anyone can relate to. Like any great sci-fi, those questions of ‘what if’ are carefully investigated by Zemeckis’ warm touch and sprightly direction, from a screenplay infused with humour and intertextual references. The film also stands out from John Hughes’ ideas of the repressive parents, turning the notion on its head to reveal a rather cyclical sense of history and human nature.
Yet the film would be very different had it not been blessed with two such terrific leads. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd may have pushed their skills as actors further in other productions but they’ve never embraced their characters as well, or with as much comedic chemistry, as in Back To The Future. Lloyd’s Doc Brown is the kind of mad scientist living off a kinetic childlike energy, whose optimistic attitude and moral values suggest, given the chance, he’d make Frankenstein out of dead poets, Peace Corp Protestors, Vietnam heroes and JFK.
His energy is anchored by Fox’s wide-eyed teen who gets himself into a spot of bother, but what is actually happening is he’s having the adventure of a lifetime. Of course, one cannot go without mentioning the excellent support from Crispin Glover as Fox’s Dad, and Thomas F. Wilson as the school bully.
It is only when you evaluate all these component parts and pause to contemplate the filmmakers inspired use of time travel’s infinite possibilities, that the full sense of Back To The Future’s true genius prevails.
Of course, Back To The Future produced two sequels and it’s extremely difficult to look at them as separate entities. The original film is superior, but the second showed time-travel at its most dark and exhibited Zemeckis questioning the idea of such an ability having an adverse effect on a world that simply could not deal with it. The third showed us that second sequels are not always bad, eclipsing Back To The Future Part II by virtue of returning to the values and ideals that made the original such a joy. Forget your Indiana Jones, your Star Wars, your Three Colours, and your Lord Of The Rings – this is the finest cinematic trilogy there is.
The best thing to do is buy the box set and get all the films together. The best version is probably the region 1 edition as it has additional extras over other regions. However, both regions 2 and 4 contain DTS tracks for all the films, whereas the region 1 does not. NB. A new U.K edition adds an additional bonus disc and corrects the aspect ratio problems that occured on the early releases.