'Back to the Future' has been a favorite film of mine since I was ten years old. That was my age when it was originally in theaters and I chose it over 'Weird Science' one fateful evening. In all the years since, I've probably paid more critical attention to the film's sequels and the other works of Robert Zemeckis, mostly because the original film was nearly perfect in my mind.
This past weekend, I was able to revisit 'Back to the Future' with an audience of mostly families. It wasn't screened on film, but it was a solid presentation from DVD with surround sound. I wasn't surprised that the film still held my attention, but there were some things that took me by surprise and even a couple things that made the movie seem oddly dated.
For those who may not remember, 'Back to the Future' is a time-travel fantasy that follows Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) on an accidental trip back in time via a time-travelling Delorean invented by Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). While stuck in 1955, Marty has to contend not only with getting back to his own time, but he also must rectify the mistake of interferring with his own parents' meeting. If Marty can't get them together, he may cease to exist.
One of the things I always loved about 'Back to the Future' was that the script was quite dense and so many small things paid off later in the story. But watching now, I see things in the film that are a bit over the top and shouldn't really work. Looking back, the film goes out of its way to paint Doc Brown as an eccentric - the giant amplifier and the "25 minutes slow" clock experiement in the opening scene stretch credibility - and one can even note that Christopher Lloyd was more restrained in the sequels. The film is prone to cheap physical humor as well - I now know that kids love to see Michael J. Fox fall over. And seriously, as fun as the "Johnny B. Goode" scene may be, does it really serve a purpose to the story? But when it comes down to it, these flaws somehow add to the character of the film - things that shouldn't work just do. In serving story and logic, there are things in the film that should righfully be cut. But if they were gone, the film just wouldn't be as "fun."
Another thing that surprised me was that the dialogue, while quite clever, was not as smart as I had remembered. The performances go a long way toward selling this material, however. Michael J. Fox may oversell a look or two, but he is often spot on with Marty's incredulous reactions to the 1950s world he find himself thrust into. Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson play the parents in the present (1985) and the past. The makeup that subtly ages the actors still holds up to scrutiny. Glover comes off the most impressive in distinguishing three incarnations of George McFly, with Thompson infusing her 1955 incarnation with a bit too much innocence at times.
One thing that impressed me on review of 'Back to the Future' was the use of music - particularly balancing hit pop music of the day with score. In fact, it's many minutes in to the film when you first hear actual score music, and that accompanies the introduction of the Delorean time machine. Up to that point, you only hear contemporary songs. In fact, unlike the first sequel to this film, the "theme" music doesn't play with the opening titles. Holding back the score until then helps characterize the present day in contrast to 1955, for one thing. I think this should be a lesson to filmmakers not to overuse score.
While not on the record about such things, I think that director Robert Zemeckis would probably regret some of his choices in 'Back to the Future.' Zemeckis' previous work at this point had been very broad, including a screenplay for the bombastic Spielberg comedy '1941' and the dark comedy 'Used Cars.' His work with building character has much improved since, culminating in the Oscar-winning 'Forrest Gump.' As previously mentioned, the characters in 'Back to the Future' are sometimes played too broadly. And there are several moments in the film that come off as sight gags that interrupt the flow of the story, complete with over-the-top knowing looks or double takes. These are things I don't think would have been satisfactory to the director just a few years later.
Some of Zemeckis' recurring motifs are quite present, however. Zemeckis will often play with the idea of taking a familiar scene or person and changing the context. In his debut, 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand,' a group of teenagers are present at the Beatles' debut on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' In 'Forrest Gump,' the title character is thrust into an endless string of historical situations, showing up in newsreels and familiar events. In 'Back to the Future,' Marty returns to the present 10 minutes early to witness a scene from earlier in the story from a new perspective. While a lot of directors would re-use footage the audience had seen before, Zemeckis gives completely different views of the sequence, from Marty's perspective. Zemeckis also adds a lot of detail to his scenes that makes them interesting for multiple viewings. I had never noticed, until now, a couple times that Crispin Glover blended into the action behind other characters and slipped away quietly. The dressing of the famous "town square" set on the Universal back lot is impeccable for both 1955 and 1985 and one of the few instances, in my opinion, where a backlot street seems realistic.
Quite apparent from this film as well is Zemeckis' ability to captivate an audience with suspense and action. 'Back to the Future' contains more than one showstopper moment. The build-up of George's confrontation with arch-nemesis Biff is perfectly designed (resulting in applause at the screening I attended), as is the following sequence at the "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance where Marty begins to fade from existence. These pale in comparison, however, to the big finale where Marty and Doc must contend with various obstacles to make sure the time machine and a bolt of lightning intersect at a single crucial moment.
All of the sequences I just mentioned are so well planned that you can't help but get caught up in the excitement. The story shines in the invention of complications to all the obstacles and adding them at the crucial moment. As an audience-friendly comedy, the ending of 'Back to the Future' is never really in question. But even though you probably know the ultimate resolution, you forget about it with each of the unexpected smaller crises that come up as you are racing to that resolution.
In the end, the sense of fun, good performances and a true sense of excitement carry 'Back to the Future' much further than other films of its ilk. Despite the flaws that I can now pick out on hindsight, 'Back to the Future' is still a very watchable, entertaining film.