![]() |
Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd head to the past and back in the ever beloved Back to the Future |
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Cast: Michael J Fox (Marty McFly), Christopher Lloyd (Dr
Emmett “Doc” Brown), Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines-McFly), Crispin Glover
(George McFly), Thomas F. Wilson (Biff Tannen), Claudia Wells (Jennifer
Parker), James Tolkan (Gerard Strickland)

Set in 1985, Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) is a your typical
teenager, cool, loves rock music, has a great girlfriend Jennifer (Claudia
Wells) – and is worried he’s going to turn out like his parents, his weak
father George (Crispin Glover) bullied by his supervisor Biff (Thomas F.
Wilson) who never amounted to anything and his depressed mother Lorraine (Lea
Thompson). His friend, eccentric scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher
Lloyd) ropes Marty into tests of his latest invention – a time travel machine
built into a DeLorean car. When the first test is interrupted by angry Libyan
terrorists – furious that Doc used their investment and stolen plutonium to
build a time machine rather than a bomb – Doc is killed and Marty escapes in the
DeLorean, accelerating to 88mph and accidentally throwing himself thirty years
into the past. There he meets his parents, disrupts their first meeting and
finds his mother falling in love with him and his father a weakling who he has
to teach how to become a man and win his mother’s love – all while finding the
help of the younger Doc to return him to 1985.
Back to the Future
has a tricky concept but a remarkably simple story which revolves around
completely relatable ideas and questions. Who hasn’t wondered what your parents
were like when they were young? Would you get on with them? How different would
they be from the adults you know? These ideas are all caught – and told with
maximum comic and dramatic impact – in Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s superbly
constructed script.
The secret really is in the cooking of that script – nearly
five years in the making – where every single scene serves a clear purpose, and
all the plot points sprinkled through the first twenty or so minutes or
brilliantly pulled into effect in the rest of the film. With skilfully swift
and economic story telling us all the information we need to know about Marty,
his interests and skills, his parents – not to mention all the hundred and one
other things happening in the film – so that as each careful plot point
sprinkled through the film comes into effect it’s instantly satisfying and
convincing. As director Zemeckis also gets a perfect conveying of the film’s
tone of light comedy, even more surprising since it frequently touches on
darker themes (murder, incest and rape for starters!) but never once feels like
it’s tone is falling all over the place.
The film has a brilliant Frank Capraesque film of the
strength of how one person can make a difference – both for good and bad. By
arriving in the past – and with his confidence, bravery and shy decency – Marty
at first ruins his parents meeting and then (almost without realising it)
builds up both of them to head-off the mistakes they will make in their lives.
Most obviously in his coaching of the timid and frightened George into someone
who will have the confidence to make his own choices and go after the things he
wants. The grooming of luckless loser George into someone who will stand up
(eventually) against the brutality of Biff (a swaggeringly vile Thomas F
Wilson) is particularly affecting, Crispin Glover to be commended for making a
character who is wimpish and frustrating but not unlikeable. Lea Thompson also
does great work as a sweet young girl, who’s more daring than she appears.
The film’s real success though is tied directly into the
casting of Michael J Fox in the lead. Fox was born to play this role, the film
effectively a showcase for his timing, ability to throw just enough shade and
emotion onto scenes to keep them real, and above all his almost unparalleled
skills as a light comedian. Originally unable to play the role due to a
scheduling clash with his sitcom Family
Ties, Fox was only bought on board after three weeks when backup choice
Eric Stoltz proved unsuitable for the role (by his own admission). The entire
film was shot either at night or the weekend to allow Fox to shoot after this
9-5 commitment to Family Ties was
finished. And thank goodness because Fox makes the film.
He also has superb chemistry with Christopher Lloyd
(graciously stooping for the whole film so he could fit in the same frame as
the famously diminutive Fox). Lloyd, another great comedian with the instincts
of a natural actor, channelled Einstein and conductor Leopold Stokowski as
Brown, making him a larger than life eccentric who still feels like a real
person. These two actors spark off each perfectly, adding a huge amount of
comic and dramatic force to their rat-a-tat dialogue. Fox’s skill in
understanding the light drama tone – and making what was already a very strong
script comedy gold – as well as his ability to be immediately relatable to
viewers is what makes the film an eternal success.
That and it’s simple themes. The joke of travelling back in
time and having your mum accidentally fall in love with you is perfectly
judged, being just the right amount of icky (Fox’s horrified discomfort is
hilarious) without being unsettlingly disturbing. The reconstruction of the
tone and vibe of the 1950s is perfect – with Marty’s more hip 1980s style
juddering up against the picket fence Americana of the past. There is plenty of
humour from watching Marty “invent” everything from the skateboard (in a
hilarious but gripping chase sequence) to rock and roll music. But it all works
because the film is very heartfelt and genuine and very sweet.
Not only that but when it wants to be it’s also exciting and
dramatic. The final resolution of George’s rise to manhood carries a real sense
of threat as well as a cathartic moment of violence. The film’s final sequence
as Doc and Marty race against time to channel a lightning strike to get the
Delorean back to 1985 is truly exciting, helped as well by Alan Silvestre’s
perfectly judged musical score (and thank goodness for executive meddling that nixed
Zemeckis original idea of a Nevada test site and the time machine being built
into a fridge). It all works as such an entertaining package you don’t even
think about the fact that, as Marty returns to a radically altered family life
in 1985, he won’t share any memories with his parents and siblings.
With a star actor taking on the role he was born for – and
Fox was never better again, perfectly charming, endearingly sweet, cocksure and
cool – Back to the Future has been
entertaining audiences for almost 35 years – and it will carry on entertaining
them the more we head into the future.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.