"Yeah well, history is gonna change."

Rating: 8/10 (8 February 2013)

Here's a movie that was entertaining when it came out in the mid-Eighties and once again when I watched it today. The issue I have is with the IMDb ratings system that ranks this picture in the number #48 spot as I write this, with "Citizen Kane" at #45 and "Vertigo" at #51. For me, this doesn't compute. No one can justify to me how this comedy, sci-fi flick gets honored as one of the Top Fifty movies of all time.
Well hopefully, my minor little rant doesn't spoil things for you. I do like the film for it's players and the clever way Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) manages to navigate his way through the Fifties. I became a Christopher Lloyd fan right from the get-go when he made his debut in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", and his Reverend Jim character in the 'Taxi' TV series was one of the most original ever. He's got the perfect look and attitude for a crazed scientist and it would have been cool to see him work with classic icons of the horror genre like Karloff, Lugosi and Chaney. That would have been something.
The thing that bugs me about the characters a bit are the way George McFly (Crispin Glover) and Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) are portrayed. They're really more like caricatures, though Biff as the town bully had a certain amount of credibility even if he was annoying. I had forgotten how attractive Lea Thompson was as Lorraine Baines, Marty's future Mom but sporting a major crush on him that conjured up all kinds of potential icky situations, but they were handled tastefully for the most part. The biggest kick for me was when Marvin Berry (Harry Waters Jr.) called his cousin Chuck to check out the new music sensation.
So yeah, this is a fun movie and a generally family friendly one that would have been better served if some of the language had been toned down a bit. Some of the time travel stuff goes over the top, like the scene where Marty returns from 1955 and sees himself in the present about to do the time jump. Stuff like that just makes me think about the concept too much. As for the very ending scene, that has got to be about the most blatant set up to scream 'sequel' that I've ever seen.