Review of Back to the Future (1985) by Patrick M — 14 Aug 2013

Maybe the most rewatchable movie there is, "Back to the Future" is great family-fun and one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen.

Marty Mcfly (Michael J. Fox) is a teenager living in the 80's who's accidentally sent back in time to the 50's and after complicating his mother and father's soon to be relationship he must find a way to re-unite them for his own existence depends on it.

If only for the skateboard scene only, this movie provides some of the funnest scenes you will ever find. The performances are very energetic and are hard to take your eyes off. It's a 116 min roller coaster ride you'll want to get on again once it ends.

By the way here's an astonishing story I found online (I'm not sure whether it's true or not):

------------------------------------------------------------.

I worked at Amblin' in the 80's when all this went down, and here is what really happened.

Bob Zemeckis was given a firm start date by Universal. This was before he had any real power in the business; they said 'you will start on this date or we won't make the picture'. Michael Fox was not technically available, and Universal refused to shoot around his sitcom, so Bob cast Stoltz.

Steven Speilberg then told Bob that there was a way to get Fox after all, which was to do this; don't give Stoltz any direction, print the least funny takes, and assemble a rough cut to show Sid Sheinberg and the Universal execs. It was a gamble he was sure would work - the execs would not be pleased, but they would be too far in to back out, and would then acquiesce to shooting around Fox's tv schedule.

To Bob's credit, he was uneasy with this approach, but it was a tough time for him. He was struggling with Bob Gale (who also wanted to direct), and going through a rough patch in his marriage, among other things.

I've kept my mouth shut over the years because this is how the business works- it's not for the faint of heart.

However, I find it a bit reprehensible that they are now making even more profit off this ugly little event by releasing the footage that by design was never meant to be good in the first place.

Harvey Keitel shot a considerable amount of Apocalypse Now, but why don't we see Francis Coppola releasing that footage?

Because he's got class. The one thing that all the riches in the world cannot buy.".

------------------------------------------------------------.

Whether the story's true or not, I still think no one could've been better as Marty McFly than Michael J. Fox, he's just too fun to watch.

I'd recommend it to anybody, specially anyone who liked "Star Wars", "Groundhog Day", "Looper", "Wall-e", or "Jurassic Park".