The greatness of 'Back to the Future' is both obvious and defies explanation

Rating: 9/10 (22 March 2017)

"Back to the Future" is a quintessential '80s movie and '50s throwback that's fun for people of any and all ages, but it's also the first film to harness the concept of time travel in a universally human way.
Time travel is both a critical and unessential part of the movie. Nearly everything that makes the movie fun and interesting comes from the time travel conceit, but the reason Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels into the past is accidental. Instead of traveling into the past to improve his life or fix a mistake – a much more obvious kind of wish fulfillment – Marty is inadvertently forced to save someone else's life, and ultimately preserve his own existence.
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale aren't necessarily searching for something profound with their screenplay, which is kind of what makes its deeply resonant and occasionally insightful moments so much more effective. The joy of watching the film is being entertained by the fun of it all and kind of incidentally uncovering the moments that move you or make you think with each viewing. Before you know it, you're biting your nails waiting for Marty to patch everything up in the space-time continuum and make it to the clock tower on time. Zemeckis' direction isn't particularly noteworthy, but he really works the emotional turning points of the script, maximizing the "payoff moments" for the audience.
The cultural phenomenon of it all starts with Marty McFly. It's crazy to think that filming had been going on for weeks with Eric Stoltz playing Marty and only when that didn't work out did Fox get the part. He just exudes cool and in a timeless manner that allows "Back to the Future" to hold up more than 30 years later. He's tremendously likable, he rides a skateboard in an awesome way that we still haven't seen in the movies since, and he's brazen and defiant of authority in the way that most teenagers only dream of. Outcasts in the '50s couldn't stand up to bullies like Biff (Thomas F. Wilson) yet Marty does and becomes an instant hero in the eyes of anyone who's ever been bullied.
The dynamic between Marty and the teenage version of his father, George (Crispin Glover) lies at the heart of the "Back to the Future." Although their relationship could definitely have been given more attention in the present day scenes, the fact that we know he's a man who gets completely walked over as an adult suffices. Really, it's George we identify with – the science-fiction nerd who struggles with rejection – and Marty represents the confident version of ourselves we so often strive to be. The wish fulfillment of the movie is about seeing the physical embodiment of that projection of ourselves (in Marty) making the weak George a stronger person.
Marty's reactions with his younger mother (Lea Thompson) go the more comical, Oedipal route, but also there is this idea that our parents were teenagers too once, and they had their own struggles with contemporary living and authority. The fact that Marty has to help her and his father fall in love requires the kind of empathy we so rarely have for our parents as teenagers, and so much of the emotion of the film comes from watching that play out (not to mention the wish fulfillment of the popular Lorraine falling for the meek George).
Then there's Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), who is essentially the movie's mascot. He's thought of as a main character and everything builds toward saving him, but he's not all that integral to the human element of the story. He facilitates a lot of exposition, however, and it's his compassion toward Marty in the '50s timeline that endear us to him as much as it is his memorable lines, fabulous expressions and winks toward the camera.
The iconography of the film really defies explanation. The DeLorean, Marty's outfit/skateboarding, the Huey Lewis soundtrack and, most importantly, Marty rocking out to "Johnny B. Goode" at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance, are so effortlessly perfect yet inessential components to the film's success. What this suggests is that the right combination of story and talent can infuse even the smallest details of a film with a paradigmatic energy that makes that detail feel classic or quintessential. In spite of stalling the plot, the "Johnny B. Goode" scene works because of the schism in time rooted in the time travel story. Marty's line "your kids are gonna love it" perfectly encapsulates that sentiment.
In this way and others, "Back to the Future" defies most models of great filmmaking. It both captured the zeitgeist of its era (and of the '50s) while creating its own. Its footprint on culture is unmistakably large and its timelessness is both mystifying and yet ingeniously apropos.
~Steven C
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