Back to the Future (1985)

"17 year old Marty McFly got home early last night. 30 years early."

Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Produced by Bob Gale, Neil Canton
Written by Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover
Music by Alan Silvestri
Cinematography: Dean Cundey
Edited by Arthur Schmidt, Harry Keramidas
Production company: Amblin Entertainment
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date: 3 July 1985 (United States)

Running time: 116 minutes
Country: United States
Budget: $19 million
Box office: $389.1 million

"Back to the Future" is a science-fiction adventure comedy film directed and co-written by Robert Zemeckis. This is the first instalment in the "Back to the Future" film series which follows a young man who is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, and must make sure his high-school-age parents unite in order to save his own existence.

Cast

• Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
• Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown
• Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines-McFly
• Crispin Glover as George McFly
• Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen
• Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker
• James Tolkan as Mr. Strickland
• Marc McClure as Dave McFly
• Wendie Jo Sperber as Linda McFly

The first time I'd seen "Back to the Future" was in my childhood days. But, let's face the truth, the film turned out so great that it's interesting to rewatch even nowadays! Yes, some scenes are overacted, special and visual effects are are ridiculous by the highest standards, however these reasons don't seem convincing enough to forget about this masterpiece in the science fiction genre.

Advantages

• Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
• Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown
• Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines-McFly
• Crispin Glover as George McFly
• Music
• Robert Zemeckis
• Logical timelines

Disadvantages

• Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen
• Some scenes are overacted

"Strangenesses"

• Time travelling

Clue Moments

• The time machine
• The Libyans
• The car accident
• The party
• Biff 
• Darth Vader

The DeLorean time machine is a fictional automobile-based time travel device featured in the Back to the Future franchise. In the feature film series, Dr. Emmett Brown builds a time machine based on a DeLorean DMC-12 car, to gain insights into history and the future. Instead, he ends up using it to travel over 130 years of Hill Valley history (from 1885 to 2015) with Marty McFly to change the past for the better and to undo the negative effects of time travel. 

The control of the time machine is the same in all three films. The operator is seated inside the DeLorean (except the first time, when a remote control is used), and turns on the time circuits, activating a unit containing multiple fourteen- and seven-segment displays that show the destination (red), present (green), and last-departed (yellow) dates and times. After entering a target date, the operator accelerates the car to 88 miles per hour (141.6 km/h), which activates the flux capacitor. As it accelerates, several coils around the body glow blue/white. Surrounded by electrical current similar to a Tesla coil, the whole car vanishes in a flash of white/blue light seconds later, leaving a pair of fiery tire tracks. A speedometer shows when the car reaches 88 mph. Various proposals have been brought forth in the past by fans of the movie franchise for why the car has to be moving at 88 mph to achieve temporal displacement, but actually the production crew chose the velocity simply because they liked how it looked on the speedometer.

Observers outside the vehicle see an implosion of plasma as the vehicle disappears, while occupants within the vehicle see a quick flash of light and instantaneously arrive at the target time in the same spatial location (relative to the Earth) as when it departed. In the destination time, immediately before the car's arrival, three large and loud flashes issue forth from the point from which the car emerges from its time travel. After the trip, the exterior of the DeLorean is extremely cold, and frost forms from atmospheric moisture all over the car's body.

Soundtracks

1. Huey Lewis - The Power Of Love
2. Lindsey Buckingham - Time Bomb Town
3. Alan Silvestri - Back To The Future
4. Eric Clapton - Heaven Is One Step Away
5. Huey Lewis - Back In Time
6. Alan Silvestri - Back To The Future Overture
7. Etta James - The Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry)
8. The Starlighters - Night Train
9. The Starlighters - Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine)
10. The Starlighters - Johnny B. Goode
11. Johnny Ace - Pledging My Love
12. The Four Aces - Mr. Sandman

Quotations

* * *

Dr. Emmett Brown: If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you're gonna see some serious sh*t.

* * *

Marty McFly: Hey, Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

* * *

Marty McFly: Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a DeLorean?
Dr. Emmett Brown: The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some *style?*

* * *

George McFly: Lou, give me a milk.
[dramatic pause]
George McFly: Chocolate.

* * *

Marty McFly: If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything.

* * *

George McFly: Last night, Darth Vader came down from Planet Vulcan and told me that if I didn't take Lorraine out, that he'd melt my brain.

* * *

Marty McFly: This is heavy.
Dr. Emmett Brown: Weight has nothing to do with it.

* * *

Lou: You gonna order something, kid?
Marty McFly: Ah, yeah. Give me- Give me a Tab.
Lou: Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something.
Marty McFly: Right. Give me a Pepsi Free.
Lou: You want a Pepsi, pal, you're gonna pay for it.

* * *

Biff Tannen: Since you're new here, I-I'm gonna cut you a break, today. So, why don't you make like a tree and get outta here?

* * *

Marty McFly: Look, Marvin, you gotta play. See, that's where they kiss for the first time on the dance floor. And if there's no music, they can't dance. If they can't dance, they can't kiss. If they can't kiss they can't fall in love, and I'm history.

* * *

Lorraine Baines: Marty, will we ever see you again?
Marty McFly: I guarantee it.

* * *

George McFly: I've never picked a fight in my entire life.
Marty McFly: Look, you're not gonna be picking a fight, Dad... Dad-Dad-Daddy-O.

* * *

Mr. Strickland: I noticed your band is on the roster for the dance auditions after school today. Why even bother, McFly? You don't have a chance. You're too much like your old man. No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley!
Marty McFly: Yeah, well, history is gonna change.

* * *

Dr. Emmett Brown: Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88 miles per hour, the instant the lightning strikes the tower... everything will be fine.

* * *

Linda McFly: Then how am I supposed to ever meet anybody?
Lorraine Baines: Well, it'll just happen. Like the way I met your father.
Linda McFly: That was so stupid! Grandpa hit him with the car.
Lorraine Baines: [wistfully] It was meant to be.

* * *

Dr. Emmett Brown: You've got to get your father and mother to interact in some sort of social...
Marty McFly: Wh-what? You mean like a date?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Right!
Marty McFly: What kind of date? I don't know. What do kids do in the '50s?
Dr. Emmett Brown: Well, they're your parents. You must know them. What are their common interests? What do they like to do together?
Marty McFly: Nothing.

* * *

Lorraine Baines: Anyway, your Grandpa hit him with the car and brought him into the house. He seemed so helpless, like a little lost puppy, and my heart just went out to him.
Linda McFly: Yeah, Mom, we know. You've told us this story a million times. You felt sorry for him, so you decided to go with him to the Fish Under the Sea dance.
Lorraine Baines: No, no. It was the Enchantment Under the Sea dance.

* * *

High-School Band Audition Judge: Okay, that's enough. Thank you, fellas. Hold it. Hold it, fellas. I'm afraid you're just too darn loud. Next, please. Bring up the next group, please.

* * *

Clocktower Lady: [interrupting Marty & Jennifer's kiss] Save the clock tower!

* * *

[concerning his audition tape]
Marty McFly: What if I send in the tape and they don't like it? I mean, what if they say I'm no good? What if they say, "Get outta here, kid. You got no future"? I mean, I just don't think I can take that kind of rejection. Jesus, I'm starting to sound like my old man!

* * *

Dr. Emmett Brown: You're late! Do you have no concept of time?
Marty McFly: Hey, come on. I had to change. Do you think I'm going back in that-that zoot suit? The old man really came through. It worked!
Dr. Emmett Brown: What?
Marty McFly: He laid out Biff in one punch. I didn't know he had it in him. He's never stood up to Biff in his life!
Dr. Emmett Brown: [looks at the restored picture, realizing the implications of what Marty just said] Ever?

* * *

Lorraine Baines: It's our first television set. Dad just picked it up today. Do you have a television?
Marty McFly: Well, yeah. You know we have... two of them.
Milton Baines: Wow! You must be rich.
Stella Baines: Oh, honey, he's teasing you. Nobody has two television sets.

* * *

Dr. Emmett Brown: You'll have to forgive the crudeness of this model. I didn't have time to paint it or build it to scale.

* * *
You may see the trailer here.

Plot: 9/10

Entertainment: 10/10

Acting: 7/10

Originality: 8/10

Music and Sound: 9/10

9/10

next Back To The Future Part II (1989)