The original release of "Back to the Future"

It was big with both. Ronald Reagan had it brought to the White House (his favorite TV show was "Family Ties," apparently), and he loved it.

Ronald Reagan, the actor?

Big with adults too. It was a good movie for the times, but I haven't seen it in ages and don't know how it would hold up today.

It was a big hit movie at the time, but I was a teenager and did not know of any "adults" who went to see it. The adults were probably parents who took their kids.

I made my parents take me to see The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and they didn't like it. My mother said "It was so loud, and I could hardly understand what that little green guy was saying."

After that, they found somebody else to take me to the movies.

Saw a good chunk of it on cable the other day and it seems to hold up. And damn if Michael J. Fox isn't pretty darn charismatic and sexy in it.

Back in my day, the pictures didn't TALK AT YA! They let ya read along QUIETLY with 'em!!

I loved it at the time, but I think part 2 is better now. I hate part 3, which tosses out most of the futuristic stuff, and might as well be called Back To The Past.

If Marty McFly went back in time and altered the future, and created an 'improved' timeline leading up to a 'better' 1985...then shouldn't there have been a Marty McFly living that 'improved' life up to that point...when time-traveller-Marty flies back in to the new improved 1985, does he just replace him, or what?

Big with everyone.

This is when Michael J Fox became a huge star.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

Are they re-releasing this in theaters? I thought I read somewhere they were. I hope so, I was too young to see it when it originally came out. BTW, call me crazy, but I am convinced they never intended Eric Stoltz to finish the picture. They hired him to buy time until Fox was available.

Its one of those film where every time you watch it you notice something you missed the last time. The last time I watched it I realized how often time and how it is measured or expressed is sneaked the story. Examples:

The shoot out in the mall parking lot takes place near a ONE HOUR photo booth

Marty's time traveling status is nearly given away when the alarm on his DIGITAL WATCH goes off.

Doc Brown reveals he came up with the idea of the flux capacitor after falling off a ladder while trying to hang A CLOCK

Marty, disguised as a space alien, wakes up his father by playing 1984

Even though I hated every frame of it, I acquiesce, it was a huge summer hit with families.

[quote] call me crazy, but I am convinced they never intended Eric Stoltz to finish the picture. They hired him to buy time until Fox was available.

It's not crazy. There is a lot of evidence which points in that direction.

They should have Obama play in the remake and call it Black To The Future.

It was also around the time when VCRs were becoming more common. At that time, the movie rental selection was not great, so we (high school age) ended up renting this one multiple times because there was not a lot of choices. I grew up in a small town, so it is possible that added to why there were not a lot of movies to rent.

Never saw any of that.

No one liked Stoltz and his method acting. Some of the work he did is online. It isn't bad acting, but it didn't mesh with the story.

Tell us more about the Eric Stoltz conspiracy theories.

The thing that stood out for me on re-watching "Back to the Future" was just how many of Marty McFly's lines started with "Doc". By the end of the film it was like a broken record; Doc, Doc, Doc every other line. The lack of dialog made an otherwise memorable film unwatchable. Rent it some time and play a drinking game taking a shot every time Marty says Doc. You will be drunk in 15 minutes. I have no idea if Fox was showing symptoms of Parkinson's as early as 1985 when they filmed this, but the film's script sure made it easy for him to remember his lines. If in doubt, just throw in a Doc. Nearly every line was him screaming Doc running around like a chicken with its head cut off.

Ok, I thought Crispin Glover was hot in this, Pre-Mrs. McFly knew it too. Love this movie, certain scenes still crack me up.

Huge hit. MJF was also on the #2 TV show at the time "Family Ties".

MJF was not yet exhibiting Parkinson's. That would be a few years later.

Why didn't Lea become a bigger star?

[quote]Tell us more about the Eric Stoltz conspiracy theories.

They wanted Fox for the part from the very beginning. When the studio gave them the go ahead they stipulated production must start at a certain date. The problem was Fox was not available because of his commitment to the TV show. So they start filming with Stoltz. After a few weeks they go to the executives with the footage they have already shot. They had all the high action scenes completed (the skateboard chase, the shoot out at the mall, the race against the lightening strike). The executives are impressed with what they are seeing. Then they show them the scenes where Stoltz actually has to act. And yes, he is not very good. The executives are not pleased. "What can you do to improve this?" Well, as luck would have it, they just learned Fox is available. Seeing they had a hit on their hands and knowing Fox is already a big name they give the go-ahead to replace Stoltz. How much of Stoltz's poor performance is due to his inability to get the character? How much is due to him not getting the help he needed from a director who never wanted him in the first place?

Lea should have been a much bigger star. I saw her in Cabaret a few years back and she was divine. I had no idea she could sing that well. Actually, I'd say she sang a little too well for the character.

My understanding is that Stoltz actually filmed half the movie before they fired him. Zemeckis is friends with Spielberg so they let him recast.

Thanks R24 - she sounds wonderful there.

I also think she looked better in the 90s than she did in the 80s.

[quote]My understanding is that Stoltz actually filmed half the movie before they fired him.

I think it was more than half. Stoltz is in the movie, but its all the long shots where you cant really tell who it is. Some of the scenes with Lloyd and Thompson are a patchwork of shots taken with Stoltz with Fox inserted in when needed later.

Actually he still wasn't available but the show was a few weeks away from hiatus and Fox did double duty rehearsing the sitcom during the day and shooting the move at night for a few weeks so it made more doable.

At the beginning when Marty plugs in the electric guitar and goes flying across the room, that's Stoltz.

R29 Correct. I think the rule of thumb is: if you dont see the face, its probably Stoltz

Interview with Tom Wilson aka Biff. He confirms that almost the whole movie had been shot by the time Stotlz was let go and Fox brought in.

He also talks about Stoltz's performance and behaviour. Apparently he was an ass.

According to the American Film Institute catalog, linked below, filming started on Nov 26, 1984. Eric Stoltz was fired in early January, about five weeks into filming.

Zemeckis must have really hated Stoltz to release that footage on the Blu-ray.

I heard an interview with Crispin Glover, where he said he kind of had a problem with the implicit message in the film. The idea that 'success' and a better life meant necessarily being wealthier, and the symbolism of Marty's parents playing tennis and everything when he returns to the 'improved' 1985 rubbed him the wrong way.

He implies that he protested and talked producers and writers down from what they originally wanted, and seems to hint that they wanted an even fancier display of wealth, with possibly black maids and the like.

And what is the basis of Doc Brown and Marty McFly's friendship? That's quite an age gap. Is Doc molesting Marty?

We're past 2015 now. It got some things wrong, but other things sort of right.

I agree with r2. I only watched the films as a kid, but I remember being bored by part 1, but loving part 2.

(R7, I meant, not r2.]