Post by petrolino on Dec 7, 2018 1:49:07 GMT
In 'Back To The Future', American teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) auditions at his local Battle of the Bands but is rejected. Marty's shown a time machine by inventor Doctor Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd) that's powered by plutonium. When Libyan terrorists arrive on the scene armed with machine guns, intent upon reclaiming their stolen plutonium, Marty climbs inside Doc's time-hopping DeLorean and is transported back to 1955. In order to get back to the future, Marty must work with Doc to fix the past, and in doing so, hope to fix the future.
"In the very first draft of 'Back to the Future', Marty and Doc traveled to the future in a pickup truck (perhaps Marty’s cool new truck from the end of the film?); the big climax didn’t happen at the clock tower, but at a nuclear test site. Eventually, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale decided that the time machine chamber had to be something a little more “dangerous,” deciding on the DeLorean DMC-12 as the perfect fit. By the time filming rolled around, the beleaguered car company had gone bankrupt, but even that didn’t stop the production from acquiring the three models necessary to make the movie.
Lorraine’s crinkly, very pink Enchantment Under the Sea Dance outfit is one of Lea Thompson’s signature looks from the film, but the dress drove actress Lea Thompson mad. It was uncomfortable and tight, and Thompson often spent off-times during shooting walking around in her '50s-era underwear to just get away from the thing. Yet Thompson recognized the value of the dress, ultimately keeping one version for herself once filming wrapped. That certainly came in handy once filming on the sequels began, because no one could locate the stored version, and Thompson had to bring in hers from her own collection!"
- Kate Erbland, Mental Floss
"Ronald Reagan was offered the role of Hill Valley's mayor in 'Back to the Future III'. While that didn't work out, Reagan did quote the original film in his 1986 State of the Union: "Where we're going, we don't need roads."
- Jason English, Mental Floss
"He's an idiot. Comes from upbringing. Parents are probably idiots too. Lorraine, you ever have a kid who acts that way I'll disown you."
'Unforgettable' - Nat King Cole
'Back To The Future' is a science-fiction fantasy about time travel that's directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg who'd previously backed Zemeckis' comedies 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand' (1978) and 'Used Cars' (1980). The opening title sequence attempts to reel viewers in by using every aspect of technical filmmaking. Clocks and timers denote time travel while playing with rhythm, pictures connect history to the present, amps power the narrative's engine room and random artefacts colour in the time continuum like a graphic equaliser bar. There's a very tasty jukebox on display that'll make your mouth water for some raw rock 'n roll. Huey Lewis And The News chime in hard on an off-beat, powering through the clock cacophony with irresistible 'Future' theme 'The Power Of Love'. Rube Goldbergesque contraptions are activated, bringing to mind the modified survival contraptions seen in Spielberg's own adventure 'Raiders Of The Lost Ark' (1981) - Joe Dante's 'Gremlins' (1984) and Richard Donner's 'The Goonies' (1985) are two more films co-produced by Spielberg that dabble in Goldbergian cartoon imagery. 'Back To The Future' emerged around the time of 'A Nightmare On Elm Street' (1984), a supernatural spider web weaved by booby trap specialist Wes Craven. Zemeckis' spectacular journey with state-of-the-art effects really begins here, bolstered by a bigger budget than he'd had previously. He repaid Spielberg's good faith in full, turning a $19,000,000 genre picture into a $389,000,000 box-office superbuster.
"The 'Back to the Future' script was rejected 40 times before Universal bought it. Disney declined after saying it was a “movie about incest” referring to the 1955 scene in which Marty kisses the 18-year-old version of his mother. (It didn’t seem to stop Disney from buying the 'Star Wars' films in which siblings Luke and Leia share a kiss.) In the iconic opening sequence that shows dozen of clocks ticking and tocking, all running 20 minutes fast as part of a Doc Brown experiment, there’s one clock quickly shown that depicts a man hanging off the minute-hand of a large clock, just as Doc would do later in the movie. It’s actually an homage to the 1923 silent film 'Safety Last'! starring Harold Lloyd."
- Chris Chase, USA Today
“‘Back to the Future” has one unfortunate scene, a scene of violence involving a Libyan terrorist. That scene regrettably snaps us back to the present, but it doesn”t last long enough to disturb what is an otherwise jewel of an entertainment, a throwback to the classic Hollywood scripts of 40 or more years ago.”
- Gene Siskel, The Chicago Tribune
"A radio ad in the opening scene mentions Statler Toyota, the car dealership with the Toyota 4x4 seen in 1985 Hill Valley's main square (in the improved 1985, Marty later owns the truck). There's also a Statler dealership in every iteration of Hill Valley throughout the 'Back to the Future' trilogy: Honest Joe Statler's Fine Horses in 1885, Statler Studebaker in 1955, and Statler Pontiac in 2015. The sticker on the amp Marty plugs into in Doc’s garage says “CRM 114,” which is a nod to director Stanley Kubrick. In Kubrick's films, the CRM-114 Discriminator is a fictional radio device in 'Dr. Strangelove'. It’s also the homophone "Serum 114," the experimental drug given to Alex (Malcolm McDowell) in 'A Clockwork Orange'; and it’s the serial number of the Jupiter explorer in '2001: A Space Odyssey'."
- Sean Hutchinson, Mental Floss
- Chris Chase, USA Today
“‘Back to the Future” has one unfortunate scene, a scene of violence involving a Libyan terrorist. That scene regrettably snaps us back to the present, but it doesn”t last long enough to disturb what is an otherwise jewel of an entertainment, a throwback to the classic Hollywood scripts of 40 or more years ago.”
- Gene Siskel, The Chicago Tribune
"A radio ad in the opening scene mentions Statler Toyota, the car dealership with the Toyota 4x4 seen in 1985 Hill Valley's main square (in the improved 1985, Marty later owns the truck). There's also a Statler dealership in every iteration of Hill Valley throughout the 'Back to the Future' trilogy: Honest Joe Statler's Fine Horses in 1885, Statler Studebaker in 1955, and Statler Pontiac in 2015. The sticker on the amp Marty plugs into in Doc’s garage says “CRM 114,” which is a nod to director Stanley Kubrick. In Kubrick's films, the CRM-114 Discriminator is a fictional radio device in 'Dr. Strangelove'. It’s also the homophone "Serum 114," the experimental drug given to Alex (Malcolm McDowell) in 'A Clockwork Orange'; and it’s the serial number of the Jupiter explorer in '2001: A Space Odyssey'."
- Sean Hutchinson, Mental Floss
Claudia Wells & Michael J. Fox
'What Will My Future Be' - Patti Page
The screenplay for 'Back To The Future' could easily tie itself in knots but it's intelligent, playful and well structured. I mentioned 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', a film that impacted horror cinema greatly; both of these projects saw their scripts knocking around Hollywood for several years, being continually rejected, which allowed their respective writers time to sculpt them to near-perfection. Co-writers Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis tie ideas of chance and fate in with themes plucked from Greek mythology, ancient philosophy and classical revengers' tragedies, again reinforcing the notion of a major timeline. There's a strong Oedipal subtext that elevates the movie above your typical family picture and provides a cold dose of reality that's refreshing. The dialogue is teeming with scientific theory and grand ideas; does the "Florence Nightingale effect" for example, explain the nature of so many of life's odd couplings? The dialogue also ably reflects the rise of 1980s skateboard culture, while fully respecting its historical roots in 1950s California.
"Cinematographer Dean Cundey initially made his name for his regular, quite brilliant work for John Carpenter. He then lent his distinctive lensing talents to Robert Zemeckis' 1984 adventure 'Romancing The Stone', and collaborated with him again on 'Back To The Future' and its sequels. Thanks to the book Back To The Future : The Official Book Of The Complete Movie Trilogy' (1990), we know now that, not only is Cundey a genius when it comes to lighting and composition, but he also has his own line in cheesy jokes.
In a chapter devoted to special effects, Cundy and Zemeckis briefly talk about the process of using Vista Glide, a motion-control system developed by ILM. It's the piece of equipment which allowed Michael J Fox to play three members of his own family - seemingly in one shot - in Part II. To align the separate shots which are later blended into one, the Vista Glide camera's aligned to a cross on the wall - its operators apparently refer to this cross as "home".
"In the McFly farmhouse of 1885," the book reads, "Dean Cundey suggested the cross be affixed over the fireplace because 'home is where the hearth is...'" Get your coat, Mr Cundey.
- Ryan Lamble, Den Of Geek
In a chapter devoted to special effects, Cundy and Zemeckis briefly talk about the process of using Vista Glide, a motion-control system developed by ILM. It's the piece of equipment which allowed Michael J Fox to play three members of his own family - seemingly in one shot - in Part II. To align the separate shots which are later blended into one, the Vista Glide camera's aligned to a cross on the wall - its operators apparently refer to this cross as "home".
"In the McFly farmhouse of 1885," the book reads, "Dean Cundey suggested the cross be affixed over the fireplace because 'home is where the hearth is...'" Get your coat, Mr Cundey.
- Ryan Lamble, Den Of Geek
"The scientific and mechanical basis for Wells’s version of time travel has greatly influenced and informed modern day time travel narratives in both fiction and film. Indeed, filmmaker Robert Zemeckis names both The Time Machine and Charles Dickens’s 1843 novella A Christmas Carol, both Victorian imaginings of the possibilities of the future, as the best time travel stories ever written (Zemeckis). This influence is clearly evident in the 1980s, a decade steeped in revisionism and nostalgia, particularly in Richard Donner’s revisionist version of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol in Scrooged (1988). Scrooged, a postmodern update of Dickens’s novella, also references Back to the Future in its time travelling sequence where the protagonist visits 1955 in a taxicab with The Ghost of Christmas Past. However, the past in Scrooged can only be viewed (like a ‘re-run’) and is closed off to influence (contrary to Back to the Future’s active changing of past events). Interestingly, Zemeckis also directed an adaptation of A Christmas Carol in 2009, and has frequently cited Frank Capra’s film It’s a Wonderful Life (Capra) as a time travel narrative which directly influenced the second act of Back to the Future Part II (Zemeckis); in this alternate present (1985A) sequence, Marty, like George Bailey (James Stewart) in Capra’s Pottersville sequence, experiences a nightmare vision of his home town under the grotesque grip of the (now wealthy) town bully. It’s a Wonderful Life, like Back to the Future Part II, conjures up an alternate timeline in which our protagonists were never born, or are wholly absent from the horrific ‘present’.
Zemeckis is also indebted to Pal’s 1960 film adaptation of The Time Machine, from which Back to the Future, Zemeckis’s most memorable and successful film to date, occasionally borrows imagery and references. However, the Back to the Future trilogy, despite its release and success 90 years after Wells’s novella The Time Machine, also illustrates a keen awareness of other Victorian time travel stories more broadly: like Twain’s Hank Morgan, Marty is knocked unconscious in each instalment of the trilogy and comes to in his new world disorientated and confused, momentarily convinced his current adventure has been a ‘horrible nightmare’. This is a reoccurring visual joke in the trilogy but also explicitly cites earlier time travel tales where dreaming or unconscious states results in time travel."
- Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, ‘There’s Something Very Familiar About All This’ : Time Machines, Cultural Tangents, And Mastering Time In H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine And The Back To The Future Trilogy'
Zemeckis is also indebted to Pal’s 1960 film adaptation of The Time Machine, from which Back to the Future, Zemeckis’s most memorable and successful film to date, occasionally borrows imagery and references. However, the Back to the Future trilogy, despite its release and success 90 years after Wells’s novella The Time Machine, also illustrates a keen awareness of other Victorian time travel stories more broadly: like Twain’s Hank Morgan, Marty is knocked unconscious in each instalment of the trilogy and comes to in his new world disorientated and confused, momentarily convinced his current adventure has been a ‘horrible nightmare’. This is a reoccurring visual joke in the trilogy but also explicitly cites earlier time travel tales where dreaming or unconscious states results in time travel."
- Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, ‘There’s Something Very Familiar About All This’ : Time Machines, Cultural Tangents, And Mastering Time In H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine And The Back To The Future Trilogy'
"In the very first draft of 'Back to the Future', Marty and Doc traveled to the future in a pickup truck (perhaps Marty’s cool new truck from the end of the film?); the big climax didn’t happen at the clock tower, but at a nuclear test site. Eventually, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale decided that the time machine chamber had to be something a little more “dangerous,” deciding on the DeLorean DMC-12 as the perfect fit. By the time filming rolled around, the beleaguered car company had gone bankrupt, but even that didn’t stop the production from acquiring the three models necessary to make the movie.
Lorraine’s crinkly, very pink Enchantment Under the Sea Dance outfit is one of Lea Thompson’s signature looks from the film, but the dress drove actress Lea Thompson mad. It was uncomfortable and tight, and Thompson often spent off-times during shooting walking around in her '50s-era underwear to just get away from the thing. Yet Thompson recognized the value of the dress, ultimately keeping one version for herself once filming wrapped. That certainly came in handy once filming on the sequels began, because no one could locate the stored version, and Thompson had to bring in hers from her own collection!"
- Kate Erbland, Mental Floss
Crispin Glover
'The Wallflower' - Etta James
Michael J. Fox is aces as Marty McFly, a charismatic cat leading 9 charmed lives who usually manages to land on his feet with tail intact. This pugnacious, balls-to-the-wall skate freak's a perfect match for Christopher Lloyd's mad scientist Doc Brown. There are immersive, multi-layered portraitures etched by character players Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover as Marty McFly's parents Lorraine & George who suggest the inevitable hypocrisies of parenting as old folks warning kids not to do the things they enjoyed doing as kids. Back in the past, Lorraine's revealed to be a vivacious dreamer with an addictive personality, while George is a stammering, indecisive nerd who's frittering away his potential. Thomas Wilson captures the challenged duality of a cowardly bully as boorish blowhard Biff Tannen who's hamstrung by his lack of insight and limited vocabulary.
'I love you!'
555-4823
555-4823
“Consistently compelling, witty and imaginative, this time-travel fantasy offers more rapturous fun than a gaggle of goonies... Michael J. Fox is smashing. He can reduce an audience to convulsive laughter simply by trying to convince a nonplussed citizen of the '50s that Ronald Reagan occupies the White House in 1985.”
- Peter Travers, People Magazine
"The similarities between the megalomaniacal billionaire hotel-casino owner with hair the texture of cotton candy, a penchant for surgically enhanced arm candy and outsize ambitions that appears in 'Back to the Future Part II' and the one presently appearing on the presidential campaign trail? Not so coincidental after all! 'Back to the Future Part II' screenwriter Bob Gale confirmed in an interview with the Daily Beast that Donald Trump was the inspiration for the character he and director Robert Zemeckis created back in 1989.
“We thought about it when we made the movie! Are you kidding?” Gale told the Daily Beast. “You watch Part II again and there’s a scene where Marty confronts Biff in his office and there’s a huge portrait of Biff on the wall behind Biff, and there’s one moment where Biff kind of stands up and he takes exactly the same pose as the portrait? Yeah.”
In the movie, Biff Tannen – Hill Valley’s number-one citizen, America’s greatest living folk hero and Marty McFly’s arch nemesis – resides in a palatial penthouse atop a casino, which bears a striking resemblance to the Trump Plaza Hotel, which opened its doors five years before the film premiered. “Yeah,” Gale said. “That’s what we were thinking about.”
The only thing Gale and Zemeckis seemed to have gotten wrong was Biff’s signature insult — it’s “butthead” not “loser.” Still, pretty close, and as Gale noted, “We don’t have Jaws 19, but we have Sharknado 3.”
- Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone
"Forget 3-D movies — in Back to the Future's 2015, holograms are the newest trend at the multiplex. When Marty steps into Hill Valley’s Clock Tower Square, he sees a Holomax Theater marquee advertising 'Jaws 19', directed by Max Spielberg (oldest son of 'Back to the Future' producer Steven). Even Hollywood's rapid sequel machine wouldn't have been fast enough to get a 19th Jaws installment in theaters by October 2015. Advances in technology would have to be just as fast, if not faster, to make holographic movies a reality within the next year. Hiemstra explains that holographic projections are still “fairly crude,” but the giant holographic shark that appears to eat Marty outside of the theater is not too far off from reality: As Rogers notes, interactive digital ads already interact with pedestrians in the real world.
What was once Lou’s Café has become Café ’80s in 2015. 'Back to the Future Part II' was on-target about the current 1980s nostalgia, but the film was off when it placed workout bikes in that café. Hill Valley of the future is also notably devoid of obese people — not quite an accurate depiction of modern America — but a turnaround for Fast Food Nation may be less far-fetched than some think. The economics of obesity could be in for a change. “By the end of this decade, your insurance premiums will be very dependent on how healthy your lifestyle is,” Rogers says. Miniature wireless devices will track calorie intake and calorie output, so “the idea of working out will not just be a healthy thing, but it will save you a lot of money.”
- Emily Rome, Mental Floss
- Peter Travers, People Magazine
"The similarities between the megalomaniacal billionaire hotel-casino owner with hair the texture of cotton candy, a penchant for surgically enhanced arm candy and outsize ambitions that appears in 'Back to the Future Part II' and the one presently appearing on the presidential campaign trail? Not so coincidental after all! 'Back to the Future Part II' screenwriter Bob Gale confirmed in an interview with the Daily Beast that Donald Trump was the inspiration for the character he and director Robert Zemeckis created back in 1989.
“We thought about it when we made the movie! Are you kidding?” Gale told the Daily Beast. “You watch Part II again and there’s a scene where Marty confronts Biff in his office and there’s a huge portrait of Biff on the wall behind Biff, and there’s one moment where Biff kind of stands up and he takes exactly the same pose as the portrait? Yeah.”
In the movie, Biff Tannen – Hill Valley’s number-one citizen, America’s greatest living folk hero and Marty McFly’s arch nemesis – resides in a palatial penthouse atop a casino, which bears a striking resemblance to the Trump Plaza Hotel, which opened its doors five years before the film premiered. “Yeah,” Gale said. “That’s what we were thinking about.”
The only thing Gale and Zemeckis seemed to have gotten wrong was Biff’s signature insult — it’s “butthead” not “loser.” Still, pretty close, and as Gale noted, “We don’t have Jaws 19, but we have Sharknado 3.”
- Tessa Stuart, Rolling Stone
"Forget 3-D movies — in Back to the Future's 2015, holograms are the newest trend at the multiplex. When Marty steps into Hill Valley’s Clock Tower Square, he sees a Holomax Theater marquee advertising 'Jaws 19', directed by Max Spielberg (oldest son of 'Back to the Future' producer Steven). Even Hollywood's rapid sequel machine wouldn't have been fast enough to get a 19th Jaws installment in theaters by October 2015. Advances in technology would have to be just as fast, if not faster, to make holographic movies a reality within the next year. Hiemstra explains that holographic projections are still “fairly crude,” but the giant holographic shark that appears to eat Marty outside of the theater is not too far off from reality: As Rogers notes, interactive digital ads already interact with pedestrians in the real world.
What was once Lou’s Café has become Café ’80s in 2015. 'Back to the Future Part II' was on-target about the current 1980s nostalgia, but the film was off when it placed workout bikes in that café. Hill Valley of the future is also notably devoid of obese people — not quite an accurate depiction of modern America — but a turnaround for Fast Food Nation may be less far-fetched than some think. The economics of obesity could be in for a change. “By the end of this decade, your insurance premiums will be very dependent on how healthy your lifestyle is,” Rogers says. Miniature wireless devices will track calorie intake and calorie output, so “the idea of working out will not just be a healthy thing, but it will save you a lot of money.”
- Emily Rome, Mental Floss
Christopher Lloyd & Lea Thompson in 'Dennis The Menace'
The technical aspects behind 'Back To The Future' are off the chart. Dean Cundey's cinematography is enveloping, propelled by pacy, fluid camera movements. Alan Silvestri's sprightly music score carefully balances talkative instrumentation and compliments an infectious rock and pop soundtrack. Robert Zemeckis marshals the action like a seasoned professional and the special effects are out of this world.
"This year’s edition of the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Last Remaining Seats series — now in its 28th successful year — marked a milestone this weekend by returning to the long-unavailable United Artists Theatre on Broadway. I was delighted to host a screening of Back to the Future in this celebrated movie palace, which has been brought back to life as part of the trendy Ace Hotel chain. While hipsters waited for admission to its restaurant and club, Angelenos of all demographics packed the 1,600 seat theater to see a modern favorite, a mere 29 years old, that was the most popular movie of 1985. (It far outpaced other hits that year, which included Rocky IV, Out of Africa, and The Goonies.)
Three of the film’s actors joined me onstage: Lea Thompson, who plays Michael J. Fox’s mother, Claudia Wells, who plays his girlfriend, and Don Fullilove, who plays the future mayor of Hill Valley. They delighted the packed crowd with their upbeat memories of making the film—even when six weeks’ of production were scrapped to recast the leading role. (Wells had been shooting a TV series the first time around, so she never got to work with the original star, Eric Stoltz.) Thompson said that a day doesn’t go by when someone doesn’t talk to her about Back to the Future.
The film looked great on the giant United Artists screen, and played well, too — proving that ingenuity and imagination did exist even before CGI. Adding to the fun was the fact that the original DeLorean used in the movie was parked right in front of the theater on Broadway, with its memorable OUTATIME license plate. No one missed an opportunity to take pictures of the time-traveling car. (Special effects supervisor Kevin Pike, whose Filmtrix company built the “prop,” was also in attendance.)
As to the theater itself, which was closed to the general public during the long period when televangelist Rev. Gene Scott used it as his church, it is a marvel to behold. Inspired by Mary Pickford’s reaction to the 16th century cathedral at Segovia, Spain, it was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and completed in 1927. Quoting the Ace Hotel’s web page, “The grand entrance, intricate detail and awe-inspiring craftsmanship illustrate Pickford’s prescient instinct to house cinema in devotional dress. the ornately decorated open balcony and mezzanine overlook the expansive theater, orchestra and proscenium arch, while thousands of tiny mirrors glimmer in the vaulted ceilings.” You can read more HERE.
Not on display Saturday night was a surviving fire curtain which bears the theater’s official motto: “The film’s the thing.” In time, I hope the good folks at Ace Hotel will be inspired to restore the badly-faded frescoes on the walls that depict Pickford, Fairbanks, and Chaplin. Perhaps a year of successful concerts will fund such an endeavor."
- Leonard Maltin, 'Back To The Future - With Mary Pickford Looking On'
"One of the running gags in "Back to the Future" is the way the town has changed in 30 years (for example, the porno house of 1985 was playing a Ronald Reagan movie in 1955). But a lot of the differences run more deeply than that, as Marty discovers when he sits down at a lunch counter next to his Dad - who is, of course, a teenager himself. Because the movie has so much fun with the paradoxes and predicaments of a kid meeting his own parents, I won't discuss the plot in any detail. I won't even get into the horrifying moment when Marty discovers his mother "has the hots" for him. The movie's surprises are one of its great pleasures.
"Back to the Future" was directed by Robert ("Romancing the Stone") Zemeckis, who shows not only a fine comic touch but also some of the lighthearted humanism of a Frank Capra. The movie, in fact, resembles Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" more than other, conventional time-travel movies. It's about a character who begins with one view of his life and reality, and is allowed, through magical intervention, to discover another."
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
Three of the film’s actors joined me onstage: Lea Thompson, who plays Michael J. Fox’s mother, Claudia Wells, who plays his girlfriend, and Don Fullilove, who plays the future mayor of Hill Valley. They delighted the packed crowd with their upbeat memories of making the film—even when six weeks’ of production were scrapped to recast the leading role. (Wells had been shooting a TV series the first time around, so she never got to work with the original star, Eric Stoltz.) Thompson said that a day doesn’t go by when someone doesn’t talk to her about Back to the Future.
The film looked great on the giant United Artists screen, and played well, too — proving that ingenuity and imagination did exist even before CGI. Adding to the fun was the fact that the original DeLorean used in the movie was parked right in front of the theater on Broadway, with its memorable OUTATIME license plate. No one missed an opportunity to take pictures of the time-traveling car. (Special effects supervisor Kevin Pike, whose Filmtrix company built the “prop,” was also in attendance.)
As to the theater itself, which was closed to the general public during the long period when televangelist Rev. Gene Scott used it as his church, it is a marvel to behold. Inspired by Mary Pickford’s reaction to the 16th century cathedral at Segovia, Spain, it was designed by architect C. Howard Crane and completed in 1927. Quoting the Ace Hotel’s web page, “The grand entrance, intricate detail and awe-inspiring craftsmanship illustrate Pickford’s prescient instinct to house cinema in devotional dress. the ornately decorated open balcony and mezzanine overlook the expansive theater, orchestra and proscenium arch, while thousands of tiny mirrors glimmer in the vaulted ceilings.” You can read more HERE.
Not on display Saturday night was a surviving fire curtain which bears the theater’s official motto: “The film’s the thing.” In time, I hope the good folks at Ace Hotel will be inspired to restore the badly-faded frescoes on the walls that depict Pickford, Fairbanks, and Chaplin. Perhaps a year of successful concerts will fund such an endeavor."
- Leonard Maltin, 'Back To The Future - With Mary Pickford Looking On'
"One of the running gags in "Back to the Future" is the way the town has changed in 30 years (for example, the porno house of 1985 was playing a Ronald Reagan movie in 1955). But a lot of the differences run more deeply than that, as Marty discovers when he sits down at a lunch counter next to his Dad - who is, of course, a teenager himself. Because the movie has so much fun with the paradoxes and predicaments of a kid meeting his own parents, I won't discuss the plot in any detail. I won't even get into the horrifying moment when Marty discovers his mother "has the hots" for him. The movie's surprises are one of its great pleasures.
"Back to the Future" was directed by Robert ("Romancing the Stone") Zemeckis, who shows not only a fine comic touch but also some of the lighthearted humanism of a Frank Capra. The movie, in fact, resembles Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" more than other, conventional time-travel movies. It's about a character who begins with one view of his life and reality, and is allowed, through magical intervention, to discover another."
- Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times
"Michael J Fox may have become a star in the wake of 'Back To The Future', but the series also owes a huge debt to Lea Thompson's superb set of performances. More than any other actor in the trilogy, she was the best at disappearing into the different roles she played. Look at how effortlessly she contrasts the defeated, boozing Lorraine McFly with the more successful 47-year-old Lorraine we see at the end of the first film. Then there's the 77-year-old Lorraine in Part II, and the Biffhorrific Lorraine, with her big hair and jewellery. Of her multiple roles, Lea Thompson had this amusingly direct comment: "My agent told me that in the movies women either play virgins, whores or mothers. The great thing about 'Back To The Future' is that I get to play all three."
- Ryan Lamble, Den Of Geek
- Ryan Lamble, Den Of Geek
"Ronald Reagan was offered the role of Hill Valley's mayor in 'Back to the Future III'. While that didn't work out, Reagan did quote the original film in his 1986 State of the Union: "Where we're going, we don't need roads."
- Jason English, Mental Floss
Thomas Wilson
'The Power Of Love' - Huey Lewis And The News
In 2007, 'Back To The Future' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". 'Back To The Future' (scheduled for 2019) is an upcoming stage musical with music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard that's being planned to premiere alongside the publication of an accompanying book by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale; the theatrical show will feature original music as well as hits taken from the original film, including the anthemic 'The Power Of Love'. Huey Lewis had been knocking around for some time before hitting it big, moving in the same circles as the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, Hall & Oates and Bruce Hornsby & The Range. Lewis was originally set to write the theme for another massive fantasy hit, 'Ghostbusters' (1984), but the gig went to Ray Parker Jr. of Raydio. In 2015, the United States Library of Congress selected 'Ghostbusters' for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it also to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". 'Back To The Future' is followed by the futuristic sequel 'Back To The Future Part 2' (1989) which is heavy on the product placement, and the wistful, old-fashioned installment 'Back To The Future 3' (1990) which was shot back-to-back.
