steven@ism70.UUCP (07/01/85)
BACK TO THE FUTURE
Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and
Crispin Glover.
Also Starring Thomas F. Wilson, Marc McClure, Wendi Jo Sperber,
George DiCenzo and Frances Lee McCain.
Directed by Robert Zemeckis. Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob
Gale. Produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton.
Photographed by Dean Cundey. Production Designed by Lawrence G.
Paull. Edited by Arthur Schmidt and Harry Keramidas. Music by
Alan Silvestri. "The Power of Love" performed by Huey Lewis and
The News. Visual Effects Produced at Industrial Light and Magic.
Makeup Created by Ken Chase.
From Universal Pictures (1985).
This will undoubtedly end up being the best picture of the
summer, and from where I sit, perhaps the best picture I'll see
all year, so, yes, I recommend that you see it.
Eighteen year old Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox of TV's _F_a_m_i_l_y
_T_i_e_s) hangs around eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett Brown
(Christopher Lloyd), see, and one night Dr. Brown demonstrates
his latest invention: a time-traveling DeLorean. Marty gets
propelled back 30 years into the year 1955, where he meets his
future mother and father as teenagers. Mom (Lea Thompson) gets a
crush on Marty. Marty has to teach his nerdy dad (Crispin Glover)
how to meet this girl otherwise Marty'll never get born.
"Nobody knows anything," goes William Goldman's familiar axiom of
guessing audience taste. And indeed, the script was written in
1980 and rejected by every studio in town. "Too soft," they said,
as _P_o_r_k_y_'_s and company racked up mega-grosses. "Send it to
Disney," they said. "Too risque," said Disney. It took Robert
Zemeckis' involvement in _R_o_m_a_n_c_i_n_g_ _t_h_e_ _S_t_o_n_e to convince people
in Hollywood that he could do a successful movie without Steven
Spielberg. Zemeckis and his writing/producing partner Bob Gale
were the first of Steven Spielberg's proteges, doing _I_ _W_a_n_n_a_ _H_o_l_d
_Y_o_u_r_ _H_a_n_d and _U_s_e_d_ _C_a_r_s under his auspices, and writing _1_9_4_1 for
Spielberg. (Interestingly enough, Zemeckis was set by
Zanuck/Brown to direct _C_o_c_o_o_n, but Twentieth Century Fox insisted
he be replaced. _R_o_m_a_n_c_i_n_g_ _t_h_e_ _S_t_o_n_e, ended up, of course, being
Twentieth's biggest moneymaker of last year.) But, as Don
McGuire, who wrote the original story for _T_o_o_t_s_i_e and spent years
on it, says, "You hang with a good idea cause it stands out like
a gold ring in a shitheap." And Zemeckis hung with _F_u_t_u_r_e because
it was his favorite idea for a movie. Apparently Spielberg
arranged the deal at Universal with Frank Price and Sean Daniel
there, then just left Zemeckis alone.
So, what makes it so good? Great premise, great execution. The
premise alone is practically bulletproof. It's an extremely
intriguing idea. Not only are there myriads of opportunity in the
idea alone for action (the time-travel stuff), comedy
(then-and-now, superior position where the audience knows why
Marty is _s_o uncomfortable around this young girl, etc.) and real
romance, it also has a clear structure and ending built in. It's
genuinely warm and extremely funny because the situations are set
up so well. There's not as much gag-lines and jokes, per se, as
there are wonderful situations fraught with possibilities that
pay off. If _C_o_c_o_o_n works on the Grandpa factor ("Hey, it's neat
seeing someone like my Grandpa being this happy and having this
cool an adventure!"), then _B_a_c_k_ _t_o_ _t_h_e_ _F_u_t_u_r_e's charm lies in the
Mom and Dad factor ("Yeah, my parents are pretty cool and I can
talk to them on their own level and help them out in a really
neat way.").
Zemeckis and Gale's screenplay has one of the most intricately
constructed plots I've ever seen; in its own way, _B_a_c_k_ _t_o_ _t_h_e
_F_u_t_u_r_e rivals _C_a_s_a_b_l_a_n_c_a or _N_o_r_t_h_ _b_y_ _N_o_r_t_h_w_e_s_t or _C_h_i_n_a_t_o_w_n or
_B_o_d_y_ _H_e_a_t as the kind of tightly plotted story that everyone in
Hollywood aspires to write but few succeed at. Everything
introduced in the first twenty minutes or so is used later on to
advance the story with economy and style.
And _B_a_c_k_ _t_o_ _t_h_e_ _F_u_t_u_r_e builds and builds the way great plots do.
One of the things that I think _C_o_c_o_o_n didn't have was a something
extra beyond the initial conceit. In this day and age of ten
million dollar advertising budgets, you can be pretty sure that
your audience is gonna shuffle into the theater knowing something
about the plot. In _C_o_c_o_o_n, people going in knowing that the
aliens make the old-timers feel younger. Okay. What happens next?
Nothing, really, beyond the _C_l_o_s_e_ _E_n_c_o_u_n_t_e_r_s-style ending. I
think that Joe Dante does it right in _E_x_p_l_o_r_e_r_s. There, your
audience will walk into the theater knowing that kids build a
spaceship. They get a "What happens next" when the kids fly into
space and encounter alien life. The audience enjoys the film
because they get more than they expected. Same with _B_a_c_k_ _t_o_ _t_h_e
_F_u_t_u_r_e (no details from me). Kids and time machine might be a
good enough high-concept for some filmmakers, but meeting the
parents really makes it special. This time, the answer to "What
happens next" makes the picture zoom off the scale. The pacing of
the story leads step by step towards a very satisfying ending.
Michael Fox replaced Eric Stoltz (_M_a_s_k, _T_h_e_ _W_i_l_d_ _L_i_f_e) about a
month into shooting. I suspect it's because Stoltz has shown a
tendency to underplay his roles. Plus, with his neatly cut red
hair, dressed in Madras shirts and creased pants as he was in _T_h_e
_W_i_l_d_ _L_i_f_e, he looked too fiftiesish: very Richie Cunningham.
Fox's flair for hitting just the right note in a broad comedy
situation has served him well on _F_a_m_i_l_y_ _T_i_e_s and he fits
perfectly into the tone of the proceedings here. Crispin Glover
steals the show as George McFly, Marty's well meaning but
hopelessly insecure Dad. Dad's been taunted by bullies his whole
life, and it sure is sweet to see him turn things around. Glover's
got great timing and some fantastic body language. Lloyd and
Thompson are very good.
On the technical side, Zemeckis demonstrates additional flair for
action direction in two or three rousing sequences. Dean Cundey
provides impeccable lighting (check the depth in the parking lot at
the mall) and Lawrence Paull effectively captures the ambience of
1955 with a beautifully detailed production design. Trivia: look for
a science fiction magazine with the title "Amazing Stories" and check
out Huey Lewis at the band auditions (He says "Next!").
Four stars out of four.