When we have to turn the clocks back on Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner, we do so in a big way. Join us this week, when we put pedal to the metal in Doc Brown’s tricked-out DeLorean for a time-traveling discussion of “Back to the Future” (1985).
Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s tight, Academy Award nominated screenplay is a clever inversion of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Also, it celebrates a kind of knowing affection and fosters empathy across a generational divide. Incredibly, no studio wanted anything to do with it. It was finally Steven Spielberg who produced, after the success of Zemeckis’ and Gale’s “Romancing the Stone.”
The film sports career-defining performances by Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and especially Crispin Glover. All the predictable summer movie set pieces are there, but this is one blockbuster that is genuinely driven by characters and story.
With just the right balance of innocence and sophistication, “Back to the Future” capped a golden age of Spielberg summer movies that began with “Jaws” in 1975. It’s an era that, without a time-traveling DeLorean, will never come again.
It’s a reminder to “fall back” this weekend, as we pick up an extra hour. We’ll “make like a tree and get out of here,” on the next “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner.” Biff will join you in the comments section with the Turtle Wax (two coats!), when we livestream on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, this Friday evening at 7:30 EDT!
Leave a Reply