A 'Future' Triple Feature

Where to begin on the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985-1990)? Much of my fascination with 1980s movies and the magic of cinema stems from this perfect film trilogy. In honor of the 40th anniversary of both the original movie and the in-universe date of October 26th, 1985, a.k.a. the day Marty McFly accidentally traveled back thirty years to November 5th, 1955, in a heavily modified DeLorean, I have taken on the challenge of reviewing all three entries in this iconic trilogy. Spoilers will be covered for those who have not yet seen every film, but at this point in popular culture, these plot details should be common knowledge. With that said, 'see you in the future' or 'in the past', so to speak.

Back to the Future (1985)

This film begins with time, literally. The first thing the audience hears is not Alan Silvestri's orchestral score or the movie's theme blasting over the main title, but the sound of synchronized ticking clocks. Said clocks belong to Dr. (or "Doc") Emmett L. Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd) in his old garage, where the audience learns through iconic cinematographer Dean Cundey's masterfully-executed visual exposition, that he lives in the garage after a fire burned down his mansion in 1962 (presumably caused by one of his experiments gone wrong), and in it, hides an mysteriously and illegally obtained container of plutonium and stores an oversized and significantly over-powered amplifier for his teenaged friend Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) to play his electric guitar on.

Doc Brown calls Marty on the phone, asking him to help out on a new science project on Saturday, October 26th, 1985, at the Twin Pines Mall in Hill Valley, California, at 1 in the morning. Just then, all the clocks simultaneously strike 8:00 AM, only for Doc to reveal that he, for some reason, had intentionally set all of them 25 minutes slow, and Marty rushes off, late for school (for the fourth time in a row), while Huey Lewis & The News' Oscar-nominated tune "The Power of Love" blares in the background.

From there, we meet Marty's loving and supportive girlfriend, Jennifer Parker (played by Claudia Wells) and their authoritative high school principal, Mr. Strickland (played by James Tolkan), as Marty and his rock band, The Pinheads, audition for a band competition, only to be cut off and dismissed as "too darn loud" by one of the judges (played by Huey Lewis himself, in a hilarious cameo). Upon arriving home that night, Marty finds his father's car wrecked in an accident involving his meek father, George McFly (played by Crispin Glover), and his demeaning boss, Biff Tannen (played by Thomas F. Wilson, or Tom Wilson). Marty explains to his father that he had planned on using it for a date with Jennifer, whom his alcoholic mother, Lorraine (played by Lea Thompson), disapproves of, while reminiscing about the day they met and fell in love thirty years prior.

Marty arrives at the Twin Pines Mall early Saturday morning and discovers Doc and his latest experiment, a heavily modified DeLorean capable of time travel upon acceleration to 88 miles per hour. After a successful test run with Doc's dog Einstein as its first passenger, traveling exactly one minute into the future, Doc explains how the time machine works, how he conceived of how to successfully make time travel possible through the invention of the Flux capacitor thirty years ago on November 5th, 1955, and the plutonium required to power it.

As Doc is preparing for another trip, the Libyan terrorists whom Doc hired to steal the plutonium for him, only to be ripped off by the latter in exchange, show up and gun Doc down. As a means of escape, Marty jumps into the DeLorean. When he speeds up to 88 miles per hour with the DeLorean's destination time accidentally set for November 5th, 1955, he arrives at the same location, albeit thirty years ago, and when it was still a farm owned by the Peabody family that grew pine trees, thus the name of the future mall.

After the Peabody family mistakes Marty for a space alien (due to him still wearing his yellow radiation suit), he makes a run for it in the DeLorean, while accidentally running over one of the Peabodys' signature pine trees in the process. Suddenly, the DeLorean runs out of plutonium on the road, thus leaving Marty seemingly stuck in the past. Marty then hides the DeLorean behind a billboard promoting his future neighborhood, Lyon Estates, and walks into town.

Upon arriving in Hill Valley circa 1955, Marty witnesses a teenage George McFly being bullied by a young Biff Tannen in Lou's Cafe (an aerobic fitness center in the present). Still in disbelief at what he is seeing, Marty follows George, where he discovers George spying on his crush, Lorraine Baines, from up in a tree, only to fall from said tree onto the road. Marty shoves his future father out of the way of an oncoming car, gets hit himself, unintentionally rewriting his family history in the process. From there, Marty, with the help of a younger Doc Brown, must find a way to both get 'back to the future' while also helping his parents fall in love, after a young Lorraine finds herself infatuated with her future son.

First off, the performances here are all strong, with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd being the standouts. Fox exudes and brings a great deal of charm, charisma, likability, and levity to the character of Marty McFly, which makes him the ideal '80s protagonist. There really isn't much I can take issue with from a character perspective; other than that, there really aren't character flaws within him.

On a behind-the-scenes trivia note, Michael J. Fox almost didn't play Marty McFly because, despite being director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale's first pick, Fox had a prior commitment to the television sitcom Family Ties (1982-1989). Zemeckis and Gale then cast actor Eric Stoltz as Marty. However, as production went on, Zemeckis and Gale realized that Stoltz's dramatic roots and his portrayal of the character weren't working for the movie they had in mind. Zemeckis and Gale then fired Stoltz and replaced him with Fox, who now had to go back and forth between filming Family Ties during the day and Back to the Future during the night. This only adds to Fox's performance in this movie, as his energy, screen presence, and comedic charm are unrivaled here.

Christopher Lloyd steals the show in his own unique way, with his character's endearing wide eyes and ever-eccentric personality, all while being a true friend in the process. Doc Brown is a character who, as a child, left an undeniable impression on me, and as I have grown older, I have come to appreciate him even more, thanks to seeing Lloyd's range as a character actor in other works like Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) (also directed by Robert Zemeckis).

The supporting cast delivers in spades as well, with Lea Thompson excelling as both teenage and adult Lorraine. The former's strong-willed yet sincerely lovestruck and dreamy-eyed demeanor towards Marty only adds to the comedic awkwardness of Marty's young mother falling for him. Crispin Glover's socially awkward and hilarious performance as George McFly is so uniquely memorable that it is hard for others to top. Although given his working relationship with the filmmakers, it is no surprise that Glover wants little to do with the franchise. More on that in my review of Part II. This movie's protagonists needed to have an antagonist as strong as them character-wise, and Tom Wilson's portrayal of the toxic and controlling bully, Biff Tannen, makes for one of the ultimate '80s movie villains. Despite not having too much character backstory himself, Biff would continue to play a significant role in the trilogy moving forward.

Moving on to the technical aspects of this movie, Robert Zemeckis's efficient yet skillful direction, combined with Bob Gale's immaculate screenplay and instantly quotable dialogue, make for a winning combination not just in this film but for its subsequent sequels. The way Zemeckis simultaneously directs this film's actors in a funny and heartfelt manner, alongside the impressive array of practical visual/special effects and in-camera stunts, is a testament to how strong his filmmaking talents are. Regarding the film's writing, Gale's imaginative spirit and wit within the dialogue, character moments, and action sequences continue to be unmatched years later, and I am envious of how he and Zemeckis accomplished this.

The visual effects for this film are stellar, especially given how relatively limited this movie's budget was and the rushed nature of the post-production phase. The practical effects involving the DeLorean time machine itself and its time-traveling sequences have aged incredibly well, along with the extensive usage of scenes filmed at Courthouse Square on the Universal Studios Lot in Universal City, California. All these in-camera assets and locations succeed in giving the movie a 'timeless' quality, so to speak.

Speaking of timeless, Alan Silvestri's larger-than-life, energetic, and instantly recognizable musical score for this film is one for the cinematic history books and one that stands proudly alongside John Williams' orchestral scores for other classics like Star Wars (1977), Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1978), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Also, the two original songs written and performed by Huey Lewis & The News, "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time", are genuine earworms that have continued to stand the test of time.

All in all, the original Back to the Future is one for the ages in terms of memorability and enjoyment. Save for the scenes involving the Libyan terrorists, this movie has aged magnificently well. It is truly an example of 1980s movie magic that is still as thrilling, funny, and heartfelt as when it was originally released 40 years ago. How do the sequels fare? Keep on reading to hear my thoughts on them.

Final Score: 10 out of 10

Back to the Future Part II (1989)

First off, Back to the Future Part II (1989) is my least favorite entry in the trilogy. That is not to say that this is at all a bad movie or a bad sequel, for that matter. Rather, Part II is to Back to the Future (1985), what The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is to Star Wars (1977). With that out of the way, on with the review.

Part II kicks off during the final minutes of the original movie, albeit a reshot version of them, where Marty McFly (once again played by Michael J. Fox), having returned to 1985 from 1955, is about to take his dream truck out for a spin with Jennifer (now played by Elizabeth Shue, due to Claudia Wells dropping out to tend to her ailing mother), when Doc Brown (again played by Christopher Lloyd) arrives in an ungraded (and now flying) DeLorean from thirty years in the future needing Marty's help in preventing his son Marty McFly Jr. (also played by Michael J. Fox) from getting in trouble thanks to Biff Tannen's grandson Griff Tannen (both played by Tom Wilson).

When they arrive at Hill Valley circa 2015, comedic hijinks ensue, but soon afterwards, Marty takes a side trip to a futuristic antiques store and buys himself a sports almanac to know and get rich off correctly predicting 50 years' worth of every sporting event's results. When an elderly Biff overhears Doc and Marty's conversations about time travel, Biff takes the almanac, steals the DeLorean when they aren't looking, and travels back in time, creating an alternate nightmare version of 1985 upon Doc and Marty's return to the present. The duo must then travel back to November 12th, 1955 (the day Marty traveled back to 1985 during the climax of Part I) to undo the damage.

What Part II succeeds at is building off of what made Part I work by adding new layers to the time-travel dynamics in a simple and easy-to-explain manner, and utilizing highly innovative and cutting-edge digital effects from Industrial Light & Magic and cinematographer Dean Cundey, who incorporated the VistaGlide motion control camera system to multiply actors in the same shots seamlessly.

On a side note, I find it hilarious to think that human society would develop flying cars in 2015, when it has been over 10 years since the date Doc, Marty, and Jennifer traveled to (October 21st, 2015), and they are nowhere to be seen, as well as the idea that all the children of the main characters look the same as their parents. That said, this film did accurately predict some things that came to pass in the real 2015 onwards. For instance, our reliance on daily video conference calls like Zoom, the public's overwhelming love for 1980s nostalgia, Hollywood's never-ending trend of pumping out legacy sequels (hilariously exemplified by the 3D poster for Jaws 19, directed by Max Spielberg, Steven's son), and hyperrealistic 3D holographic posters and billboards (which can be found in major cities in Japan and China and New York City, New York).

Acting-wise, this film showcases the acting ranges of Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, and Tom Wilson. For instance, Fox portrays not only Marty, but also 2015's Marty Sr., Marty Jr., and Marlene, Marty's daughter. The results are simultaneously odd and hilarious, which adds to the overall goofy nature of this entry's first act. Fox also adds to Marty what I had noted in my Part I review: character flaws like buying the almanac for personal gain, and getting easily provoked by others upon being called 'chicken'. Nevertheless, he remains a highly engaging character who learns from his mistakes and grows as a person.

Thompson returns as Lorraine and displays some impressive dramatic range as she portrays Lorraine as an elderly grandmother circa 2015, Biff's wife in the Alternate 1985, and as a teenager circa 1955. The scenes involving her in the Alternate 1985 are the most impactful, for she finds herself forced to marry Biff after he had assassinated George McFly in 1973. She stands up to Biff, but is both physically and emotionally abused by her now-husband, a powerful billionaire who transformed the Hill Valley Courthouse into a casino, has the police cover up his involvement in George McFly's murder, and sends Lorraine's children to boarding schools overseas.

On the subject of Biff, Wilson has the most to work with as an actor, as he portrays Biff from four different eras and iterations: 1985, an elderly Biff circa 2015 (as well as his grandson Griff), an evil Biff from the Alternate 1985, and 1955-era Biff circa Part I (along with a vocal cameo as his own grandmother). The Griff scenes are really goofy, with him re-enacting the Lou's Cafe scenes from Part I, albeit with over-the-top and tech-heavy punk outfits and floating skateboards called hoverboards. The elderly Biff is initially played off like a joke, but upon his learning of the truth about Marty, Doc Brown, and the DeLorean, he proves to be quite cunning as he follows Doc and Marty, then waits until they are out of sight to steal it, and conveniently arrives just as an unsuspecting Doc and Marty head back to 1985.

The scenes involving the Alternate 1985 Biff are near-impossible for me to rewatch, given how Wilson's performance shares an uncanny resemblance to Donald Trump himself, which has personally traumatized me to the point that I can never get myself to rewatch this entry in the franchise. That said, these scenes were so effective that they have since forced me to remember specific plot/character details and moments from the movie for this review. For instance, the one specific detail is November 12th, 1955, the day Alternate 1985 Biff received the sports almanac from 2015 Biff, and the same day as the Enchantment Under the Sea dance and Marty's return to 1985 from the first movie.

Moving on to the technical aspects, there is much more technical and narrative ambition and scale in terms of Robert Zemeckis's direction, Bob Gale's screenplay, Rick Carter's production design, Joanna Johnston's costumes, makeup, and special/visual effects involved. Following the massive critical and commercial success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), it is abundantly clear that Zemeckis was given a higher production budget and thus filmed both Part II and Part III back-to-back, as evidenced by this film ending on a cliffhanger with the caption "To Be Concluded..." followed by a montage of scenes the filmmakers had shot so far for Part III.

That said, not everything about Part II works from a production standpoint. Another notable actor from the original who does not return for this sequel or the next is Crispin Glover as George McFly, who reportedly asked for a higher salary for the sequel, but was denied, in addition to the filmmakers having a somewhat difficult working relationship with him during the original movie. As a result, for the scenes involving George McFly, the filmmakers replaced Glover with actor Jeffrey Weissman, who wore prosthetics that resembled Crispin Glover's face, and were only shown onscreen either obscured, upside-down, or far away. This infuriated Glover, who successfully sued the producers for using his likeness without his permission, thus setting the precedent within Hollywood and actors' unions like the Screen Actors Guild (now SAG-AFTRA) that forbids filmmakers from using actors' likenesses without their consent.

Once again, Alan Silvestri's musical score delivers as he introduces more mature-sounding cues and exhilarating action themes, especially during the hoverboard scenes in 2015 and when Marty is trying to retrieve the sports almanac from 1955 Biff. There is also significantly more pathos within the character themes, especially when Marty realizes his role in the Alternate 1985 becoming a reality, and when Marty is once again trapped in 1955 after the DeLorean, with Doc inside, gets struck by lightning and accidentally sent back to the year 1885. However, Doc, being Doc, writes Marty a letter that is then kept in storage for the next 70 years and given explicit instructions to be delivered straight to Marty at that moment. Upon realizing this, Marty rushes to 1955 Doc, having successfully sent Part I Marty back to 1985, much to Doc's shock and bewilderment.

Overall, while Part II may be my least favorite entry in the trilogy, it is still an important chapter in the franchise with its technical and storytelling innovations. It is also undeniable that without this movie, there would not be a satisfying conclusion to this saga. What are my thoughts on Part III? Like I said before, keep on reading to find out.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

Back to the Future Part III (1990)

As a cinephile, Back to the Future Part III (1990) is my second favorite in the trilogy. As a fan of this franchise, Part III is my personal favorite. If Back to the Future Part II (1989) is to the original what The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is to Star Wars (1977), that makes Part III the Return of the Jedi (1983) of the Back to the Future trilogy; narratively familiar to the original, but with enough enjoyment and cinematic skill on full display that succeeds in bringing the saga to an emotionally satisfying conclusion. Without further ado, on with the review.

Like Part II, Part III begins at the end of the previous movie, with the audience reliving the climax of Part I with the twist of present-day Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox), now stuck in 1955 again after present-day Doc Brown and the DeLorean were struck by lightning and accidentally sent back to the year 1885, running up to 1955 Doc Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd) after Part I's Marty successfully traveled back to 1985. Still in disbelief, Doc faints, and Marty drives him home.

Upon Doc waking up and freaking out some more, Marty explains to him what had happened thus far and shows him the letter present-day Doc sent him, dated September 1st, 1885, explaining that he has been living happily in Hill Valley as an Old West blacksmith and hid the DeLorean in an abandoned mine, for Marty's retrieval. As Doc and Marty are leaving with the DeLorean in tow, Marty stumbles upon a tombstone with Doc's name on it, marking his death by gunshot by Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (played by Tom Wilson) on September 7th, 1885, shortly after he wrote the letter, along with a dedication "by his beloved Clara." Marty then decides to take one last trip back in time to 1885 to save his friend from this tragedy. What follows is a rip-roaring journey through the Old West with encounters with familial ancestors, horseback riding, shootouts, train robberies (or science experiments, if you know what I mean), unexpected romance, and a name that will go down in film history: Clint Eastwood.

While this final entry in the Back to the Future trilogy is narratively a retread of the first movie, there is so much undeniable talent and craft both in front of and behind the camera that I cannot help but adore this film technically, aesthetically, and as a love letter to classic westerns and the western genre itself. From the beautifully-captured backdrops of the earthy-colored rock formations in Monument Valley, the rustic (and practically-built) wooden town structures complete with cameos from veteran western movie and TV actors, and cinematography that highly resembles an old-fashioned western rather than a Back to the Future movie, to Alan Silvestri's orchestral score that goes the emotional distance for this final installment to succeed. Just from seeing this movie, it is evident that director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Bob Gale, cinematographer Dean Cundey, production designer Rick Carter, costume designer Joanna Johnston, and composer Alan Silvestri were having a creative blast doing this movie, as they all go above and beyond for this grand finale. I will delve more into the technical aspects later, but first, the acting.

Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly continues to be a stellar protagonist, as he completes his character arc from Part II, where he matures enough not to get so easily provoked into a fight upon being called 'chicken' or 'yellow' as Buford Tannen retorts. He also becomes the voice of reason for Doc, a great reversal of Part I's character dynamics, which is a very poetic way to send these characters off. Fox also portrays Seamus McFly, Marty's Irish-born great-great-grandfather, continuing this series' trend started in Part II of multiplying actors in the same shots.

Christopher Lloyd shines here as Doc Brown, as he displays much of the wide-eyed eccentricity and wisdom one would expect from him, as well as a new layer of emotional vulnerability and romantic charm. This is very much his movie, where he falls madly in love with the town's new schoolteacher, Clara Clayton (played by Mary Steenburgen), who bonds with her over their shared love of Jules Verne, science, and astronomy, leaving him conflicted about whether to stay behind with her or fulfill Marty and him's original mission to get back home in the present.

Speaking of Clara, Mary Steenburgen's Clara Clayton serves as a wonderful screen partner to Doc Brown, with whom they share good romantic chemistry, as her passion for science and astronomy comes through in a very intimate scene between the two under the stars. She also does most of her own stunts during the climax, where, after initially leaving town not believing the truth about Doc being from the future, she goes back for him and pursues him via horseback just as he and Marty are heading back to the future via their hijacked (or borrowed) steam locomotive.

Tom Wilson is clearly having tons of fun here as Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, the earliest known iteration of Hill Valley's town bully. With his greasy black handlebar mustache, short temper, trigger-happy nature, and great disdain for the nickname "Mad Dog", he provides some old-fashioned villainy to this entry, which is more than welcome here. While nowhere near as menacing as Part II's Alternate 1985 Biff, Buford is everything Biff wants to be.

Perhaps one of the movie's unsung standouts is Sierra Railway No. 3, the vintage and legendary steam locomotive that portrays the Central Pacific Railroad No. 131, which helps propel the DeLorean via rail up to 88 miles per hour (which can no longer operate under its own power without gasoline due to a hole in the fuel line). Sierra No. 3, currently residing and operating at Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown, California, where a good portion of the movie's western scenes were filmed (specifically, the 1885 Hill Valley scenes and the railroad scenes), makes the most of its screentime in one of its more popular film credits, among other titles like High Noon (1952), Bound for Glory (1976), and Unforgiven (1992).

Not only does the engine look and sound great on camera, but it does a majority of its own stunts during the incredibly filmed, edited, and choreographed climax, with all the pyrotechnic explosions going off on and around the engine's diamond smokestack shroud, running down the line at high speeds with the actors onboard, and rigged with wires and tubes to look like the boiler is fit to burst. However, the scene where the locomotive dives off the incomplete Shonash Ravine trestle, hits the bottom of the ravine, and explodes was accomplished via an impressively constructed 1/4 scale model of the locomotive from Industrial Light & Magic. Also, seeing Doc Brown's steam-powered time train, designed after the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) and built from parts of the same steam engine he wrecked, makes me laugh every time.

As for any negatives with this film, there is a lack of innovative storytelling methods in this movie compared to its predecessor, and save for Clara, there isn't a lot of screentime or character work for the other actresses in this series, like Lea Thompson, now playing Maggie McFly, Marty's Irish great-great-grandmother, and Jennifer (again played by Elizabeth Shue), who is still left behind on her front porch in 1985, and only accompanies Marty until the end. Other than that, this film is very much a must-watch.

In conclusion, Back to the Future Part III is a thrilling and heartfelt finale to this iconic film trilogy. While everyone has their favorite Back to the Future movie(s), mine would have to be Part I first, with Part III in a close second, and Part II last. While not the best movie overall, it is certainly far superior to most third entries in popular franchises and is the most emotionally satisfying way this trilogy could have ended. How satisfying? Just seeing the 'The End' caption puts to rest any fears of a Back to the Future Part IV, and that continues to put a smile on my face.

Final Score: 9 out of 10

Epilogue

There is no denying that the Back to the Future film trilogy has had a profound impact on my life as a cinephile and movie lover. The fact that it has been 40 years since the original movie was released, and 35 years since Part III came out, continues to blow my mind. If there is a perfect film series for one to introduce to their kids and create a new generation of fans out of, it's this one. For all of its critical, commercial, and cultural success, and being followed by an animated television series, a Universal Studios ride, tons of merchandise, fan gatherings and conventions, fan-organized events, theatrical re-releases and screenings, and a Broadway musical adaptation of the original film, there are still no plans for a fourth Back to the Future movie or a reboot/remake (so far), as director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale remain the gatekeepers to this franchise's IP. My only hope is that they stick to their promise until the end, for the last thing anyone needs is something that could be a tarnish to a perfect trilogy. To answer Marty's question at the end of Part III about whether Doc is heading 'back to the future', my answer is the same as Doc Brown's: "Nope. Already been there."