10 Random Things I Love About Back to the Future

Back to the Future is one of my all time favorite movies, which is probably for the best considering how weirdly tied to my life it has always been. First, there's the fact that it was released on July 3rd, 1985, which just so happens to be the day I was born (so, yeah, today both Back to the Future and me turn 28, woo!) Second, and perhaps weirder, is the fact that when I was 3, dad and I moved onto one of the main streets that Back to the Future was filmed on (Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena, CA for those of you who are interested). Remember the scene where George falls out of the tree while spying on Lorraine? Yeah, I used to walk by that tree and that house every day on the way to high school.

Though the view wasn't always this good.

So, much as I did for another of my childhood classics, Jurassic Park, today I shall honor 10 Random Things I Love About Back to the Future.

1. The Unexplained Giant Amplifier

I love the fact that Doc Brown has a giant amplifier in his lab for no particular reason, and that Marty, heedless of the fact that Doc's not had the greatest track record as an inventor, turns the amp up to levels that should probably have killed him and plugs his guitar into it. Destroying the (presumably very expensive and time-consuming to build) amp and being blown across the room was really the best case scenario here.

Also, obscure Stanley Kubrick references for the win!

2. Damn! Damn, Damn!

I couldn't find a good picture of Doc saying his favorite swear word while cursing Marty's timing at the end, but still... say it with me people... 

3. Old Man Peabody's Farm & Causality

One of my favorite little time travel jokes in the movie comes from the mention of how the test site at the beginning of the movie, the parking lot for the Twin Pines Mall, used to be a farm run by an old crazy man named Peabody who had a thing for growing pine trees. Well, when Marty travels back in time, he accidentally runs over one of the twin pines out in front of the farm.

Later, when Marty comes back to the future, without any fanfare whatsoever, the mall's name has suddenly changed to:

A simple little joke that never ceases to make me laugh.

4. How Differently This Movie Plays When You're a Kid and an Adult

Back to the Future is widely considered one of the greatest family movies of all time if the fine people at ABC Family are to be believed, and if they don't know family I don't want to know who does. I can see why this is the case; it's got some great jokes, some physical comedy (hey, look at Biff getting covered in crap!), and some of the most iconic adventure scenes of all time.

What's often ignored, however, is that much of this plot hinges on attempted incest, voyeurism and rape that very nearly undoes the fabric of the universe. Sure, when you're a kid it's funny to see Michael J. Fox's mom trying to make out with him, but when you're an adult and realize the implications it suddenly gets a lot weirder than funny. George is also made out to be a peeping tom, which is more or less shrugged off as a joke even though I'm pretty sure it was still illegal back in 1955. Then there's the fact that, right up until the point that George comes to the rescue, it's made pretty clear that Biff was going to rape Lorraine in the car. Now, I love a good heroic arc as much as anyone, but was it really necessary to go *this* far? Couldn't George have just impressed Lorraine by beating up Biff because he was just a jackass? 

No matter. Watching this movie as a kid and then rewatching it as an adult really adds to the experience, even if that experience is now filled with occasional awkward silences.

Hey look! Biff's gang is being casually racist again!

5. Biff

Really, is there a better 80's teen movie villain than Biff Tannen? He's rude, he's violent, and the way that he messes up every clichéd joke he ever attempts to say is still makes me laugh like hell. Thomas F. Wilson brings a tremendous amount of charm to what would otherwise be a generic bully character, and proves himself to be a great sport after letting his character's trademark be that he will be buried in manure at some point during every Back to the Future movie. I remember back just after we'd moved down to South Pasadena, they were filming part of Back to the Future Part II on our street. We got a chance to watch them film the scene where Biff tosses a kid's ball up onto a nearby balcony, and between takes he would come out and say hi to all the neighborhood kids who'd come to watch. Though I didn't get to say hi myself (I was a shy kid, what can I say), I was told he was a really nice guy.

"Now why don't you make like a tree... and get the hell out of here."

6. Your Cousin? Mar-vin Ber-ry?

Though this joke is kinda awesome, at the same time it creates a rather odd time travel paradox where the song Johnny B. Goode apparently only exists because of time travel. Though this probably should have done some damage to the space-time continuum, it's still a fun gag.

7. Doc's Model

Like any good mad scientist obsessed with accuracy, Doc likes to make models to demonstrate his plans. Of course, also like any good mad scientist, his models rarely work properly, and occasionally burst into flames. Watching Doc go from "confident scientist" to "guy trying to make sure his garage doesn't burn down" is one of the great little comedy moments in this film.

"You're instilling a lot of confidence in me, Doc."

8. Darth Vader From the Planet Vulcan

I can relate to George McFly. While I can't claim to have been as awkward as he was in high school, I was pretty close there, and if the fate of the universe rested on my successfully having to ask the prettiest girl in school out to prom... yeah, I'd probably have needed someone posing as an alien threatening to melt my brain to get me to do it, and even then that'd probably have been after I asked him how much melting my brain would hurt. Marty's combination of pop culture references, a radiation suit and some torture by 80's heavy metal will always make this one of the great 80's movie scenes.

9. The Finale

A lot of films like to end with a race against time, but very few of them are quite as literal as Back to the Future's. In order to get back to 1985, Marty has to get the time machine up to 88 miles per hour and strike a wire at the precise instant a bolt of lightning hits the clock tower, all while Doc struggles to keep the wire in place in the middle of a violent windstorm. You know everything is going to work out, but it is all so tightly paced and the music so thrilling that it keeps you on the edge of your seat up until the last moment. 

10. Roads? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads!

Greatest. Closing. Line. Ever.

BONUS 11th ENTRY:

Yeah, you'll never watch the series the same way again, will you?

So, can anyone truthfully tell me that they wouldn't want a time-travelling DeLorean? If you remember and love Back to the Future, or have your own favorite random moment from it, sound off in the comments below!

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