Back to the Future

Back to the Future is my all-time favorite movie. I know all the words to it and know the exact timing for each line. I’m a dork. I first saw the movie with my sister Lori and friend MaryAnnette at the Stamm Theater in downtown Antioch, California. (Sister Lori’s favorite scene was when Michael J. Fox was in his purple underwear.)  I remember the entire audience applauded when George knocked out Biff. That was a cool moment. I thought it was a good movie then, but I don’t remember exactly when or what it was that made it my favorite movie of all time.

Even though I’ve seen it probably hundreds of times, I always notice something new when watching Back to the Future. I just recently noticed that when Einstein is sent one minute into the future, he’s actually gone for a minute and twenty seconds. He left at 1:20 and was gone for one minute and 20 seconds. He returned at 1:21. Later in the film we hear about 1.21 gigawatts. I like numbers. There are patterns everywhere. Words are dumb.

Bloopers

There are also bloopers that you catch every now and again. Check out the scene where Marty goes to visit George as Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan (that always sounds like a bad word to me). In the first scene, he has a hair dryer tucked into his belt. Then it’s gone. Then it comes back again.

It always bothered me that Biff became so feminine at the end of Back to the Future. I understand he is a weaker person because of George knocking him out in 1955 at the dance, but you can be a weak person without acting all flamboyant and skippy.

Eric Stoltz

FYI, Michael J. Fox was always the first choice for the role of Marty McFly but when he couldn’t get away from Family Ties to do the movie, Eric Stoltz was cast. When director Robert Zemeckis realized that Stoltz just wasn’t Marty McFly, they begged again for Michael J. Fox. Michael was released then from Family Ties and was allowed to do the movie. Yay! Family Ties was strict though and demanded he not be written out or miss any episodes. He was not allowed to go on the Back to the Future promotional tours and had to do the movie filming at night and on the weekends. Reshooting the four weeks worth of the Stolz footage cost an additional three million dollars. Oopsie. I guess it doesn’t really matter since the movie grossed 1.21 gazillion dollars. See what I did there?

Trivia

• It was the top grossing movie of 1985. Duh.
• The Twin Pines Mall is in Industry, California and is called the Puente Hills Mall. I have to go visit….just because.
• Zemeckis tried to sell the film to Disney who turned it down for being too risqué. They didn’t like the idea of the mom hitting on the son. It is kind of gross but I’ve seen far worse in my soap opera.
• Singer Corey Hart was asked to screen test for the part of Marty.
• C. Thomas Howell was considered for the role of Marty.
• Ralph Macchio turned down the role of Marty because he thought the movie was about a kid, a car, and plutonium pills. Wax on wax off, Daniel dumbass.
• John Lithgow, Dudley Moore, and Jeff Goldblum were considered for the role of Doc Brown. I can kind of see it working with Goldblum. What about you?
• Doc’s phone number in 1955 is Klondike 54385. It’s still a 555 number since the letters K and L are both on the digit 5.
• When Marty is auditioning with his band in the beginning of the movie, the dorky judge who stands up and says “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud” is Huey Lewis. Huey’s music is featured throughout the movie.
• That’s Eric Stoltz in the driving scene when Marty is trying to escape the terrorists in the beginning of the movie. It’s too far away to see, but I would think they’d have used a stunt driver.
• Christopher Lloyd (Doc Brown) always wanted to do one more movie where he and Marty travel back to Ancient Rome.

Some of my favorite lines (and I know them all):

• George to Lorraine after he knocks out Biff: Are you okay? (I want all men to be this sweet.)
• George: Lorraine, my density has bought me to you.
• Doc Brown: If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you’re gonna see some serious shit.
• Marty: Wait a minute, Doc. Are you trying to tell me that my mother has got the hots for me?
• The bum: Crazy drunk driver.
• Doc Brown: 1.21 gigawatts!
• Biff: What are you looking at, butthead?

 

I watch a lot of time travel shows because of my love for Back to the Future. It fascinates me. I love the show Timeless. Have you checked it out?  I also used to love the show Cold Case, especially when they would go back to the 70’s. The movie Frequency was awesome.  I didn’t know there was a Frequency TV show. I’ll have to check it out on Netflix. What time travel movies or shows do you like?

Back to the Future is now [July 2018] 33 years old. Do you know what this means? Do you know what this means? It means I’m really old. Thanks for reading my thoughts on this awesome movie. Please check back in a few days for a new blog on a new topic. I appreciate you stopping in.