Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future is a classic picture. It’s also kind of the perfect movie. Everything that’s set up leads into something else, and nothing is left hanging. It’s an engaging story with memorable characters who you’ll be happy to see on a rewatch.
Teenager Marty McFly is friends with the eccentric scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown, who claims to have built a time machine out of a DeLorean. After things go wrong (as they often do with Doc and Marty), Marty ends up traveling thirty years into the past, and must make sure his parents fall in love or he will cease to exist. Along the way, Marty invents a few things, gets out of some scrapes, and generally does his best with what he has.
Back to the Future showcased both the past (the 50s) and the present that is now past (the 80s). In doing so, Zemeckis created a timeless piece of work that has aged well regardless of the dates stamped on the script.
Back to the Future
1985
dir. Robert Zemeckis
116 min.
Screens Saturday, 11/30, 7:00pm @ Harvard Film Archive
Part of the ongoing series: Make My Day: The Cinematic Imagination of the Reagan Era
Screens on 35mm!