Michael J. Fox plays Marty McFly, a teenager living a somewhat bleak life in the town of Hill Valley in 1985. His father George (played by Crispin Glover), is timid and meek, constantly bullied by his supervisor, Biff Tannen (Played by Thomas F. Wilson). His mother Lorraine (played by Leah Thompson) is an overweight alcoholic. Marty himself is struggling in high school, but his supportive girlfriend Jennifer (played in this film by Claudia Wells) encourages him to follow his dreams to become a rock star.
Christopher Lloyd plays Marty's best friend Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown, a mad scientist who has recently unveiled a new invention; a time machine built out of a DeLorean. During the demonstration in a shopping mall car park, the pair are accosted by Libyan terrorists, whom the Doc conned into acquiring the plutonium needed to power the time machine. After the Doc is gunned down, Marty tries to escape in the DeLorean and accidentally triggers the time machine, leaving him stranded in the Hill Valley of 1955 without the plutonium needed to make a return trip. He encounters a teenage George being bullied by a teenage Biff, and stops him from being hit by a car being driven by Lorraine's father. Which prompts Lorraine to become infatuated with him.
Marty eventually finds the younger Doc Brown, and convinces him that he's from the future. They devise a plan to get Marty back by powering the time machine with a bolt of lightning set to strike the clock tower in the town square. Unfortunately, Marty's saving of George has jeopardised his own existence, so he has to get his parents together. That, in turn, results in him repeatedly antagonising Biff.
You'd think that Marty trying to get back to his own time would be a simple enough story without the need to incorporate the other plot threads. However, they've managed to produce one of the most tightly-written scripts I can think of. Every minor detail or conversation in the film is important. For example, Marty is walking through the square with Jennifer when they encounter a campaign to not repair Hill Valley's clock tower after it was struck by lightning in 1955. Marty uses the flyer he's given to determine when he and the younger Doc Brown can use a bolt of lightning to power the DeLorean.
Even the minor details come back full circle. Marty watches the time machine's demonstration at the Twin Pines shopping mall. Doc explains that the farmer who used to own the land wanted to grow pine trees. When Marty goes to 1955, he runs over one of the pine trees while escaping from the shotgun-wielding farmer who mistook him for an alien. When he returns to 1985, the mall is now called "Lone Pine".
I love the comedy in this film too. One of my favourite moments involves Marty convincing George to ask Lorraine out. When George initially refuses, Marty poses as an alien using his radiation suit and a Van Halen tape. And speaking of music, Alan Silvestri's score compliments the film nicely.
Sorry, I've not really reviewed this film but rather gushed about it. It's a classic, and since I'm reviewing all the films, I felt obliged to do a piece on this one. It never struck me as a film that needed sequels. But I'll talk about the first of those tomorrow.
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