No movie captures the 1980s better thanBack to the Future. If you grew up in this era,Back to the Futureis nostalgia-filled to the brim and overflowing. If you’re younger, the film is a good look at what the decade was like. You’ll not only see the styles and pop culture fads of the time but also hear what music was like in the ’80s, like the still-awesome music byHuey Lewis and the News.Back to the Futurewas and is simplycool, and much of that goes toMichael J. Foxas Marty McFly.
Fox was at the peak of his career, a television icon fromFamily Tieswho was now taking over the multiplex as well. It wasn’t just the star that was cool, but also his ride. Nothing beats that slick, metallic DeLorean with its gullwing doors. It wasn’t only a car like few had ever seen, but in a time travel movie,the DeLorean was a time machine completely different from what we were used to. Without a change between page and screen though, the DeLorean’s inclusion would never have been, andBack to the Futurelikely wouldn’t be the classic it is now.
Back to the Future
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
‘Back to the Future’ Underwent Many Changes That Made the Movie Better
Before it became the beloved film that it is today,Back to the Futurehad to go through some growing pains. The most well known example of the alterations it went through was the choice of Marty McFly.Michael J. Fox was wanted for the character, but with his busy schedule onFamily Ties, it couldn’t be.Eric Stoltzwas the second choice for the lead inBack to the Futureand was actually cast. Many scenes had already been filmed when producerSteven Spielbergrealized Stoltz wasn’t the right fit. He was a fine enough actor, but his lines came out more serious, rather than light and funny like they were looking for. It was then brought back to Fox, who pulled double duty, filming for both TV and a movie on the same day for weeks on end. Suddenly, the guy who was already a household name for appearing as Alex P. Keaton on our TVs every week became more known forBack to the Futureinstead.
The film changed in other positive ways as well.In a 2010 interview with CNN,Bob Gale, who co-wroteBack to the Futurewith directorRobert Zemeckis, talked about the small but very important changes that happened between the screenplay and the final product.Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown characterwas originally called Professor Brown. Universal headSid Sheinbergrequested the change to “Doc,” saying kids wouldn’t like a character named Professor Brown. Professor Brown sounds more dry and rigid, like something out of a ’50s movie, while Doc Brown is more modern and relaxed.
Sheinberg also wanted the name of Marty’s mother changed to Lorraine in honor of his wifeLorraine Gray, best known for playing Ellen Brody inJaws. Another alteration that had a big impact was changing who Doc Brown’s pet would be. In the script, Einstein is not a dog, but a chimpanzee. Sheinberg said no movie with a chimp ever made money and asked for Einstein to be changed to a dog instead. It’s another small but significant change for the better. A chimp and a Professor Brown would have madeBack to the Futurefeel hokey. For a time travel movie, it reeked of the cheesiness of decades past. So didBack to the Future’s original time machine itself.
‘Back to the Future’s Time Machine Was Originally Very Boring
TheBack to the Futuretime machinewasn’t always going to be a DeLorean. Sadly, it was going to be something much less interesting, a choice that, if kept in, would have made the movie dull. Bob Gale told CNN, “Way back in that second draft, it was going to be a ‘time chamber,’ not unlike a refrigerator, and Doc Brown had to carry it on the back of his truck. When we started figuring out how to make the movie,Bob Zemeckis had a flash of inspirationand said, ‘It should be mobile. It should be built into a car. It could be a DeLorean.'”
An immobile machine is what we’d seen in so many time travel movies, from decades before to even in the ’80s itself. InBill & Ted, the time machine is a phone booth. The movie is fun because of its wacky characters and the crazy scenarios they’re put in,but the phone booth time machine isn’t all that fascinating, other than being a relic from its time. The TARDIS fromDoctor Whois much the same way, with the time machine appearing as a police call box. While it’s much more advanced than what Bill and Ted’s contraption could do (more of a spaceship than a time machine) it was still somewhat limited. A chamber as a time machine forBack to the Futurewould have turned the filminto something completely different. So many scenes wouldn’t exist at all. Time really would have changed.
The DeLorean Made the Time Machine a More Active Part of ‘Back to the Future’s Plot
Having a cool car as a time machinepreventedBack to the Futurefrom feeling like anotherschlocky time travel movie. That clichéd sci-fi approach would have limited the film’s appeal to a mass audience. The DeLorean made time travel cool. As Doc Brown says in the finished film the first time we see the DeLorean in the Twin Pines Mall parking lot, “The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style.” The DeLorean is the perfect time machine because itbecomes an active participant in the plot. There’s only so much you’re able to do with a boring, passive, immovable box. The DeLorean was its own character. It had its own fascinating and realistic design. A fast car makes everything so much more exciting.
Every time that car appears on-screen, our hearts pump faster, we lean forward in our seats, and our eyes grow wider. A time travel movie just became a fun action flick with fast cars. Imagine how many scenes wouldn’t exist without it! The Libyans couldn’t chase a box through a parking lot. Marty couldn’t drive a box out of a barn in 1955 that he had just wrecked into. you may’t race a box down a street toward an impending bolt of lightning. A flying car inBack to the Future IIis much cooler than a flying refrigerator. Or how about that epic finale at the end ofBack to the Future III? You’re not pushing a chamber down a railroad track. A time chamber is clunky and repetitive, but the DeLorean opens things up.It allowedBack to the Futureto move out of a narrow frame and spread its focus wider. It gave moviegoers something we’d never seen before, and we haven’t been able to forget it since.
Back to the Futureis available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.
