Michael J. Fox Goes Back to the Future in This Classic 1980s Movie

There is nothing more fun than time travel movies. And none are more enjoyable than the classic 1980s movie, Back To The Future.

Bob Gale wrote this hoot of an action flick that takes us back in time with high schooler Marty McFly, played brilliantly by Michael J. Fox.

Director Robert Zemeckis, crafts a rollicking, almost swash buckling tale of paradoxes and oxymorons as Marty McFly gets to do what many of us have fantasized about.

Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis met while the two were attending the USC Cinema School. They worked on several projects together before coming up with the idea for Back To The Future.

During an interview, Bob Gale explains that the two were, "drawn to each other. I wanted to write and he wanted to direct".

Zemeckis and Gale collaborated on a film titled "Used Cars" in 1979 which they did for Steven Spielberg.

It was in 1980 that the two wrote Back To The Future. Bob Gale explains in an interview how during a visit with his father, the idea of Back To The Future came to him.

While browsing through his dad's high school year book, he wondered what it would be like if the two were friends during that time period.

After writing Back To The Future, Gale and Zemeckis tried to pitch it to the film studios. No one was interested. The two continued to work on other projects but always kept trying to get Back To The Future off the ground.

Then in 1984, they took their idea to their pal Steven Spielberg. He loved it and the rest is history. No pun intended.

The film begins as Marty McFly's good old buddy, Dr. Emmit Brown, played by Christopher Lloyd, has created a time machine from a Delorean, complete with time control panel and the Flux capacitor which makes time travel possible.

Marty and "Doc" begin the adventure in Hill Valley. Our first oxymoron. Twin Pine Mall is the scene where the time experiment is set to take place.

You have to stay on your toes through this movie and keep your eyes open. We see Twin Pine Mall later on, but it has changed.

The Doc explains that when "this baby hits eighty eight miles per hour, you're going to see some serious s___".

It seems that eighty eight miles per hour is the speed at which the Delorean will travel in time.

As Doctor Brown prepares to leave on his journey thirty years into the future, he has to fuel up. It seems the Delorean time machine needs more than high test. It needs Plutonium to produce the 1.21 giga watts necessary to break the time barrier.

Little does Marty know that a group of Libyans are after the Doc for stealing their Plutonium in exchange for a bomb. Turns out the bomb was a case full of shiny pinball parts.

Marty and Doc dawn their radiation suits and hoods as Doc is about to embark into the future. But just then, the Libyans attack. They kill Doctor Brown and if not for a Libyan mis-fire, Marty would have bit the dust too.

An interesting thing occurred during the filming of this scene. According to everything.com, there is a figure of a person on the hill behind Marty as the Libyans are about to shoot him. When asked if this was planned, Robert Zemeckis replied, "it was just a fortuitous error". Plus, the Delorean's body is constructed of stainless steel panels which we all know makes it perfect for time travel.

This error fit perfectly though as it appears to be Marty in a later scene after he returns from the past.

Thankfully Marty makes it into the Delorean and drives off, accidentally activating the Flux capacitor. Down shifting and fish tailing around the mall's parking lot, Marty decides to see if the Libyans can keep up to ninety miles per hour.

Zemeckis zeroes us in on the dash board speedometer as it climbs closer and closer to eighty eight miles per hour. Suddenly, Marty McFly is no longer in the Twin Pine Mall parking lot. His Delorean is bouncing rough shod through a field, wipes out a scare crow and smashes through a barn.

Slowly, Marty realizes that he has traveled back to the year 1955. And now the adventure begins.

After meeting his father George, played by Crispin Glover, Marty is accidentally hit by his grandfather's car. He awakes to find himself in his seventeen year old mother's bed room. It isn't long before Marty sees that his mother has a crush on him. Marty's mother Lorraine is played wonderfully by Leah Thompson.

Next stop for Marty is Doc Brown's house. He convinces the Doc that he is from 1985 and has been sent back through time in the Doc's time machine. Now the job becomes sending Marty back to the future.

Doc and Marty come up with a plan to use a lightning bolt from an upcoming storm to generate the power they need. The trouble is that the storm is a week away. Marty must spend a week in 1955.

Now that his young mother has the hots for him, Marty must devise a plan to make sure his parents get together or he will not exist. They must kiss for the first time at "The Enchantment Under The Sea Dance".

One of the main hurdles is arch nemesis, Biff. Biff is the big, dumb, school bully who takes particular pleasure in picking on Marty's dad, George. Marty instigates a fight and a classic chase scene through downtown Hill Valley, that ends with Biff crashing his car into a manure truck.

Finally the night of the big dance arrives and through a series of twists and turns, Marty's mom and dad kiss for the first time. Now, Marty has to go back to the future.

Back at town square, the bungling Doc Brown is getting things ready for the impending lightning bolt that is scheduled to hit the clock tower. They will channel the power into the Delorean and send Marty back to 1985.

As Marty and the Delorean are bearing down on the town square, the Doc is still fumbling with the cables that will bring the power of the lightning to the time machine. In an exciting conclusion and just in the nick of time, everything comes together and Marty and the Delorean are sent back to the future.

Marty arrives back at the mall in Hill Valley. But it's no longer called Twin Pine Mall. Now it's Lone Pine Mall. He's too late to save the Doc as he watches the Libyans shoot and kill him. He sees himself and the Delorean disappear as the Libyans crash their truck.

But all is well when Doc Brown sits up and reveals that he is wearing a bullet proof vest!

The next morning, Marty wakes up thinking the whole thing was a dream. Until he sees what his family has become. His brother and sister are now well dressed business people. Then his parents walk in. Also well dressed and no longer the total nerds they used to be. It's a wonderful life now and Marty is happy.

Just then, there is a flash and loud noise as the Delorean materializes in the drive way. Doc Brown gets out and explains that something has to be done about Marty's kids in the future. So Marty, his girl friend Jennifer and Doc Brown get into the time machine. But there is something different about the Delorean. It flies now.

So off they go back to the future and the set up for the sequel, Back To The Future II.

Twenty four years and two sequels later, we all love the Marty McFly character played by Michael J. Fox. However the original cast did not have Fox in it. According to hurt elbow.com, the producers wanted Michael J. for the part, but he was busy with his TV series "Family Ties". Actor Eric Stoltz was originally cast to play Marty.

Nearly five weeks of filming had taken place before director Robert Zemeckis realized it wasn't working. He wasn't happy with Stoltz's performance. After consulting with the other producers, it was decided that Stoltz would be let go and they would work around Fox's TV schedule.

Here are just a few interesting "bloopers" or maybe you could call them oversights, that I discovered at www.fastrewind.com.

In the "Clock Tower" scene when the Doc is hanging from the cable, he is wearing Velcro sneakers. They were not invented yet.

The guitar that Marty is playing at the high school dance wasn't invented until 1957.

When Marty first confronts the Doc back in 1955, he tells him that Ronald Reagan is president. The Doc surmises that Jane Wyman is first lady. However, Ronald Reagan divorced Jane Wyman in 1949 and married Nancy Davis in 1952.

Marty and his mother's family are eating dinner and watching the classic Honeymooner's episode "The Man From Space". That episode originally aired on December 31, 1955. One month after Marty arrived in 1955.

You can purchase this classic 1980s movie from the following:

Barnes and Noble

Amazon.com

Buy.com

NBC Universal Store

Target.com