Back to Back

Tomorrow, a new Blu-ray edition of the Back to the Future trilogy is being released to celebrate the original film's 25th anniversary. But as a special treat, that first film was also run in theaters for two performances -- one Saturday afternoon, and the other tonight.

I'm in the process of remaking my top 100 movie list. (A long, slow process.) But Back to the Future was my #1 the last time around, and I can't imagine it won't still be after I'm through this time. I had to go see it again in a theater, with an audience.

Part of what makes a film special to a person is the circumstances in which they first see it. Back to the Future was the first movie I ever saw twice in one day. My mother and I had heard good word of mouth about it, and I was on summer break from school. So one afternoon, she, my then five-year-old sister, and I all went to see it. (I honestly don't recall what we did with my then one-year-old brother.)

We all loved, loved, loved the movie, even though my Mom chewed her own fingernails down to nubs during the action-packed climactic sequence. So when my Dad got home from work that day, we told him that he had to see this movie, and we all went back out that very night to do just that.

It's entirely possible that I could have seen practically any movie under those circumstances and positively adored it. But Back to the Future stands completely on its own merits too; that personal story is just the little boost to put the film in the top slot on my list.

Back to the Future has one of the tightest, most intelligent scripts ever written for a feature film. There is virtually no scene in the movie that isn't working on multiple levels, setting up dominoes to be knocked down later. In the very opening sequence, a slow pan across Doc Brown's sea of clocks, you get foreshadowing of Doc hanging from the clock tower at the film's pivotal sequence, a mention of the truck Marty wishes he owned, and a reference to the Libyans who stole the plutonium to fuel the time machine -- all before any character appears on screen.

All the film's exposition is delivered effortlessly, from a dinner that tells us all we need to know about how Marty's parents got together, to Doc's demonstration of the plan to get Marty home. It's all woven so tightly together that I once read that Robert Zemeckis almost cut the famous "Johnny B. Goode" sequence from the film before seeing how it killed in a test screening -- he saw it as an unnecessary stalling of the breakneck plotting.

In the final act, the movie delivers one "the whole audience cheers" moment after another, from George punching out Biff, to kissing Lorraine for the first time, to the successful return to 1985. And in that final time-traveling sequence, it's a text book example of the perfect extended action sequence. Problem piles on top of problem, all intercut for maximum tension, all put on a literal ticking clock.

And throughout, the movie is funny! Seeing it with an audience made me appreciate all over again just how funny a movie Back to the Future really is. And that's not just a testament to a clever script, but to an absolutely exceptional cast. Michael J. Fox is at his most charming; Christopher Lloyd displays rubber-faced perfection; Lea Thompson is a flawless blend of sweet and naughty; Thomas F. Wilson is a quintessential bully; and Crispin Glover's awkward gooberocity manages to steal scene after scene despite the incredible skills of that powerful group.

Alan Silvestri's score is one of the finest for any film ever made. The liner notes for my copy of the full soundtrack (not the original album release -- though I do love me some Huey Lewis and the News) says it was the largest orchestra ever assembled for Universal Studios. It's a grandiose, larger than life sound, and it makes the movie -- which is actually rather tiny if you really stop and just look at it -- bigger for it.

The themes, from the rousing overture to the softer themes for Marty and Doc, to the wonderful growling bass piano of Biff's theme -- they're all unforgetable. If you've ever scene the movie, even it was years ago, I'm sure you can hum one or all of them from memory. And the pulsing, relentless cue for the big finale is a literally pitch-perfect 10 minutes that... well, makes you want to chew your fingernails down to nubs. Alan Silvestri has had a long career with many great scores, but this film is his masterpiece.

The film is such a thoroughly satisfying ride, full of exhilaration and laughs, that it's only later that you can even catch a moment to stop and ask questions like "what happened to the Libyans after they crashed their van into the Photo-mat?" or "Did Marty's parents ever have a 'hey, wait a minute' moment around the time their son turned... oh, fourteen-ish... and looked unnervingly like the young man who brought them together?"

In short, I regard Back to the Future as a perfect movie. Even though its sequels didn't match the same greatness (how could they have?), they're still solid efforts that in no way detract from the original. And while I still had a vivid memory of seeing it on the big screen before, I was thrilled to do so again, and would eagerly do so again any time the opportunity presents itself...

In the future!