Back to the Future is a 1985 American
science-fiction adventure comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and
written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. It stars Michael J. Fox as teenager
Marty McFly, who is sent back in time to 1955, where he meets his future
parents in high school and accidentally becomes his mother's romantic
interest. Christopher Lloyd portrays the eccentric scientist Dr. Emmett
"Doc" Brown, Marty's friend who helps him repair the damage to history
by helping Marty cause his parents to fall in love. Marty and Doc must
also find a way to return Marty to 1985.
Zemeckis and Gale wrote the script after Gale mused upon whether he
would have befriended his father if they had attended school together.
Various film studios rejected the script until the financial success of
Zemeckis' Romancing the Stone. Zemeckis approached Steven Spielberg, who
agreed to produce the project at Amblin Entertainment, with Universal
Pictures as distributor. The first choice for the role of Marty McFly
was Michael J. Fox. However, he was busy filming his television series
Family Ties and the show's producers would not allow him to star in the
film. Consequently, Eric Stoltz was cast in the role. During filming,
Stoltz and the filmmakers decided that the role was miscast, and Fox was
again approached for the part. Now with more flexibility in his
schedule and the blessing of his show's producers, Fox managed to work
out a timetable in which he could give enough time and commitment to
both.
Back to the Future was released on July 3, 1985, grossing over $381
million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1985. It won
the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the Saturn Award for Best
Science Fiction Film, and the Academy Award for Best Sound Effects
Editing, as well as receiving three additional Academy Award
nominations, five BAFTA nominations, and four Golden Globe nominations,
including Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy). Ronald Reagan even
quoted the film in his 1986 State of the Union Address. In 2007, the
Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film
Registry, and in June 2008 the American Film Institute's special AFI's
10 Top 10 designated the film as the 10th-best film in the science
fiction genre. The film marked the beginning of a franchise, with two
sequels, Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part
III (1990), as well as an animated series, theme park ride, several
video games and a forthcoming musical.
Plot
Teenager Marty McFly is an
aspiring musician dating girlfriend Jennifer Parker in Hill Valley,
California. His father George is bullied by his supervisor, Biff Tannen,
while his mother Lorraine is an overweight, depressed alcoholic. While
dissatisfied with Marty's relationship with Jennifer, Lorraine recalls
how she met George when her father hit him with a car.
On October 26, 1985, Marty meets his scientist friend, Dr. Emmett Brown,
at a shopping mall parking lot. Doc unveils a time machine built from a
modified DeLorean and powered by plutonium stolen from Libyan
terrorists. Doc demonstrates the navigation system with the example date
of November 5, 1955: the day he conceived the machine. A moment later,
the Libyans arrive and kill him. Marty escapes in the DeLorean, but
inadvertently activates the time machine, and arrives in 1955 without
the required plutonium needed to return.
There, Marty encounters the teenage George, who is bullied by classmate
Biff. After Marty saves George from an oncoming car and is knocked
unconscious, he awakens to find himself tended by an infatuated
Lorraine. Marty leaves and tracks down Doc's younger self to help him
return to 1985. With no plutonium, Doc explains that the only power
source capable of generating the necessary 1.21 gigawatts of electricity
to power the time machine is a bolt of lightning. Marty shows Doc a
flyer from the future that recounts a lightning strike at the town's
courthouse the coming Saturday night. Doc instructs Marty to not leave
his house or interact with anyone, as he could inadvertently change the
course of history and alter the future; because of this, Doc refuses to
heed warnings from Marty about his death in 1985. Marty realizes that he
has prevented his parents from meeting and Doc warns Marty that he will
be erased from existence if he does not find a way to introduce George
to Lorraine. Doc formulates a plan to harness the power of the lightning
while Marty sets about introducing his parents, but he antagonizes Biff
and his gang in the process.
When Lorraine asks Marty to the upcoming school dance, Marty plans to
have George "rescue" Lorraine from Marty's inappropriate advances. The
plan goes awry when a drunken Biff attempts to force himself on
Lorraine. George arrives to rescue her from Marty, but finds Biff
instead. George knocks out Biff and Lorraine follows George to the dance
floor, where they kiss and fall in love while Marty plays music with
the band. Satisfied that he has secured his future existence, Marty
leaves to meet Doc.
As the storm arrives, Marty returns to the clock tower and the lightning
strikes on cue, sending Marty back to October 1985. He finds that Doc
is not dead, as he had listened to Marty's warnings and worn a
bullet-proof vest. Doc takes Marty home, then departs to 2015.
Marty awakens the next morning to find his family changed: George is a
self-confident, successful author, Lorraine is physically fit and happy,
his brother David is a successful businessman, his sister Linda works
in a boutique and has many "boyfriends" and Biff is now an obsequious
auto valet. As Marty reunites with Jennifer, the DeLorean appears with
Doc, dressed in a futuristic outfit, insisting they accompany him to
2015 to fix a problem with their future children. The trio get inside
the DeLorean and disappear into the future.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future