The best film of 1985

Rating: 10/10 (23 March 2008)

BACK TO THE FUTURE is the rarest of movies. It has every element imaginable in it and going for it: science fiction, fantasy, humor, action, thrills, family ties (pun intended!), and an assortment of great, oddball characters.
Michael J. Fox (in his greatest accomplishment as an actor) is Marty McFly, a 1985 Hill Valley guitar-playing high-schooler who aspires to be a rock 'n roll star. He is the youngest child of working-class parents George and Lorraine McFly (Crispin Glover and Lea Thompson in their best roles). George is working a dead-end job for his mean boss and high-school rival Biff (perfectly cast Thomas F. Wilson). George never realized his dream of being a science-fiction author due to primarily a lack of confidence and Marty doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. Marty also has a super hot girlfriend Jennifer (sexy Claudia Wells; I liked her much better than Elisabeth Shue in the sequels in the same role). And finally, last but not least, Marty has a mentor Dr. Emmett 'Doc' Brown (embodied by the great Christopher Lloyd in a performance that should have won him an Academy Award).
Doc is a genius yet oddball scientist (what scientist isn't a little quirky?) builds a time machine composed of a DeLorean (remember that car? the Edsel of the 80s) and then the fun begins. At the town mall one night, Doc and Marty test out his time machine on Doc's dog Einstein and then Marty mistakenly (won't spoil it for those who haven't seen the movie) is transported back to 1955 in the machine and must figure a way to return home.
But Marty screws up along the way to finding the young 1955 version of Doc and sets the process in motion that keeps his parents from meeting and falling in love, thereby endangering his very existence. So he and Doc have dual missions: to make his parents meet and fall in love and to fix the machine (damaged during the time travel) and get Marty, as Doc would say 'back to the future!'
This is my favorite film of director Robert Zemeckis. WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT and FORREST GUMP were both overrated and don't have that 're-watchability factor' that BTTF has, even though both films garnered perhaps more critical praise and acclaim in their time. But BTTF is complete, utter, enjoyable fun from beginning to end. I still find myself today being impressed by the way Michael J. Fox convincingly carried this film, at Crispin Glover's manic, hilarious, comic acting style, at how sexy Lea Thompson was in this film, and finally, at Christopher Lloyd's brilliant characterization of Doc Brown.
But more impressive is the fact that even though I've seen the film a lot of times, I'm still excited by several of it's signature scenes: young Biff and his gang chasing down a skateboarding Marty, Marty's wonderful rendition of "Johnny Be Good" at the Enchantment-Under-The-Sea dance, and of course the pulse-pounding, thrilling climax of Marty and Doc trying to put history back in order and send Marty back to the future.
It's strange that there really has been no film like this since it came out in 1985. Maybe too difficult to re-create the magic of this one. There have been a lot of time travel films, but I believe this may be the best one in all of film history! Forget about the unequal sequels. This film is the standard by which all fantasy (and time travel) films of the modern era should be measured.