Movie Review: Back To The Future Parts 1-3

9/10, 7/10, 7/10

There are many reasons why I married the lady I did; her baking skills, the quality of her company, the fact I've been keeping her drugged....

But for an object lesson in good marriages, take a look at what we spent Valentines Day evening doing - watching the entire Back To The Future trilogy in one sitting, following our extremely tasty valentines dinner (thanks for the cheapish nosh, M&S)!

Many women would file for divorce instantly, but not Mrs Algo. Oh no. We had great fun.

For many fans, Part 3 is the weakest film, seemingly from a different planet to its prequels, in which for giggles we transplant the main characters to the Old West in order to have them root round in the clichés of that period - they have a gun fight! a lynching! a hoe down! woohoo!

There are a couple of issues I have before I go any further. First of all, this film isn't as bad as all that. It's great fun - and a cut above most other movies from that period in its commitment to detail and its story arc. It also works considerably better as the conclusion to an epic story rather than as a film in its own right - I'm not saying the whole six hour marathon should be the only time you watch part 3, but just that you'll enjoy it a lot more that way. You feel that the makers have "earned" this denouement to their crazy tale.

The second issue is that this and the second part were filmed pretty much back to back and so we get one of the most consistent film to film connections you could wish for which is a welcome change from the massive reshoot for the start of Part 2.

One thing I didn't like (and this is proper fanboy stuff) - in the old west, Seamus McFly's wife (Marty's Great Great Grandmother or something) is played by the same actress who plays Marty's mum. This is a bit of joke casting to show parallels I know, but I couldn't help the image that he's a "slacker" because the family is so inbred. Also, while Fox's irish accent is all litle people stereotyped, Lea Thompson's is all over the fricking place, and while at best it sounded like Mrs Doyle's in Father Ted at worst it sounds faintly Austrian.

The mother's looks are similar to the joke, in the second part, that Marty's kids are both played by Michael J. Fox (as if clones rather than kids) it's amusing, but a little weird...

And about that reshoot in the second film, it looks a lot worse when you put the first and second movies together since, like us, you can play the "new shot", "old shot" game. Elizabeth Shue is also not much cop in the part - it's a silly, throwaway part anyway, but I subscribe to Wayne Campbell's "I know it's a small part, but...." philosophy.

She's barely in part 3 anyway, sleeping on a bench in 1985 while our heroes mess about on horseback (where did Marty learn to ride, anyway?) and go toe to toe with Buford Tannen.

Ah yes.... the Tannen family. I like this kind of long term hatred they have for the McFlys ("No McFly ever amounted to anything in the history of Hill Valley") and this bears out over the course of the films.

Biff, Griff, Buford etc are all played by the hilarious Thomas F. Wilson, who manages to do cantankerous old man, bionic nutter, school jock bully and mad dog western cowboy equaly well. All the parts, as with all of the films' characters, are fairly broadly drawn and do little in the way of development throughout the pictures length. What they do is provide comic relief for the most part, and drive the plot along.

It is future Griff who is the lamest. The whole future segment is a little silly for my tastes (especially since it supposedly takes place in 2015 - duh!) and as I say, I can't get used to the kids looking exactly like their dad.... (shudder). So I'll be controversial and say this is the section that gets the lowest marks from me.

Also, the sequels introduce what is the worst plot device in the whole story - one word:

"CHICKEN?"

I mean, if he's that auto-responsive it says "mental illness" to me, rather than being afraid of people thinking he's a coward. Especially since it appears to have been passed down the family (along with the genes for looking identical to your ancestors). I suggest that anyone suffering from this kind of automatic response to goading needs therapy, preferably the kind available in this time period.

The blue screen work to have two Martys and two Biffs in the 1955 section of part 2 is looking fairly ropy these days, as is some of the eyelines between them (excusable since these days it's all done with computers and directors can get immediate feedback from their monitors and say... "look a little more to your left, Mike!" rather than getting into the editing suite before you can see they're a bit off.

Part 2 and 3 are marked by a level of ambition both technically and storyly (heh...) that means the plots intertwine well and all is kept together despite the films' shortcomings to make the two sequels a fine way to spend your time.

They cannot live up to, however, the sheer exuberant genius of the original movie. Where the sequels are loose and ambitious, the first movie is deceptively simple and tight. We're not in the business of stunt casting Marty as his own father so the genius of Crispin Glover, who deserves easily as many plaudits as anyone involved, gets to shine through. Equally at home as the bullied or the success - he's the real star of the show here.

Almost as good is Lea Thompson as Lorraine - props to her for working hard on both young and old Lorraine equally, meaning the whole plot works better - since she is the absolute centre of the story, with anything less than a great performance here, the whole shebang could have fallen apart.

Of course, Michael J Fox and Christopher Lloyd get to have all the fun, but Lloyds mania occasionally goes to far (a straight to the camera "Back... TO THE FUTURE!") and Fox's age is just hilariously wrong ("see you in thirty years.. I guess I'll be... 47..." - yeah right).

Of course, these are but minor smudges on the glass case housing the Mona Lisa, and this is going to be one of those films that retains its fans for many, many years.

It's tough to know what else to add that isn't just plot rehash or technical issues arising from its date of release. I'm just going to leave it at this:

Back To The Future is one of the best movies made in the 80s. It may well be the most fun. And next time you watch it, consider watching the six hour version - its a lot of fun!

Til next time folks, I am as ever...

A

P.S. I am now on Twitter, if that's your bag - algo81