directorscut
Posts: 9862
Joined: 30/9/2005
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Time to dust off an old write-up:
Back to the Future is in my ten top favourite films list. I grew up on the film and watched it many, many times. Although I've only started to compile lists of favourites in the last five years, I can tell you that Back to the Future has been a favourite of mine since I began watching films. Yet unlike other films from my childhood that I outgrew in terms of taste (or realised that they were simply rubbish), Back to the Future is a film that gets better as I get older.
Why is this film so good? For one the script is excellent. It is a perfectly constructed script with an intriguing premise that is used to its full potential. It has distinct and well-rounded characters and the dialogue between them sparkles. Small details are set up and are paid off with intelligence that satisfies the viewer and deepens the experience. The plot is deceptively simply, but it is cleverly and intricately put together and has many twists and turns. The time travel science is believable in the context of the film's reality and is actually a lot of fun. The film is also very economical. There isn't a gratuitous scene in the film (on the DVD commentary Zemeckis says the Johnny B. Goode scene is, but I believe it to be the defining scene for the character). I wouldn't be surprised if this script is considered one of the modules for comedy script writing in years to come.
The film's characters are portrayed by actors who are perfectly cast, which brings the most out of them. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd create a, memorable duo in Marty and Doc Brown. Although we never hear the back story of their relationship, through subtle scripting and wonderful work between Fox and Lloyd we do get a great sense of their friendship, which develops over the course of the film and through the timeline. The supporting cast (especially Glover, Thompson and Wilson) fill out the film extremely well and in both their eighties and fifties selves.
Zemeckis' direction is assured but not flashy. In his later films he had a tendency to show a few too many directorial flourishes, but in Back to the Future he merely finds the best angle for a shot and allows the story to shine and the actors do their thing. He is silent behind the camera, yet in total control of the proceedings. The comedy never feels forced and the drama never gets overbearing. The pace is perfectly set; the film never gets dull or loses focus of the story.
The story allows Zemeckis and Gale to delve into two key eras of twentieth century American suburban life – the Reagan eighties and the Cold War fifties. The film shows that despite the usual cosmetic changes over time, the eras were similar in many ways. Many have criticised the film for its apparent promotion of consumerism. In the end Marty gets the truck he wants. This is simply a statement of the times. Consumer culture wasn't just an eighties thing, it is still around us and has been around us since television went mainstream and the government wanted commodities to become attractive purchases for people in order to restart the economy after WWII. I'm sure George McFly would also love to have a car, but he doesn't have one because of the culture context in which he lives.
The score is another fantastic element of the film. I'm not a huge fan of Silvestri's – most of his scores sound the same and are usually the weakest element of Zemeckis' films with him. The main theme is the best and most memorable thing he has ever done. I simply cannot imagine the film without it. The score provides the film with the bombast that is not visible on the screen. The film is a small one, with simple shots and simple action scenes. The music adds a great deal of excitement in the action scenes and is also quite moving in the right places.
Back to the Future took the box office by storm in 1985 (inflation-wise we're talking Lord of the Rings numbers). It did so simply by fantastic word-of-mouth. The film has become even more popular over the years and is possibly one of the few mega-successful films that didn't suffer a backlash. It is a Christmas institution on TV (I can't remember a year when it hasn't been shown over the holidays). I have personally seen it more times than one would consider healthy. I believe Back to the Future is as fresh today as the day it was made. No matter how many times I see it I laugh. No matter many times I see it I pick up on something new. And no matter how many times I see it I'm still on the edge of my seat when Marty races towards the electro-current line. That is the sign of a great film.
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