Why Back to the Future is the Perfect '80s Movie and How It Nearly Didn’t Happen

Photo by Roger Ce on Unsplash

If you aren’t familiar with the iconic '80s movie Back to the Future, you need to be. This movie was probably one of the best movies of all time, and it was a perfect movie for the '80s. Many people said it was ahead of its time. The cast, the jokes, the humor, and even the storyline are all perfect for the setting.

Even with how much we all love the movie, it’s sad to think about the fact that it almost didn’t get to be produced and released. But it did! If you’re wondering what makes the movie so perfect and why it almost didn’t happen, keep reading below!

 

The Perfection of Back to the Future

There is just something about futuristic designs like these that tend to catch people’s eyes. And when Back to the Future was finally released in 1985, all of the things that they saw in the future were certainly unique.

Of course, now we have surpassed the year that Marty and Doc traveled to, and some things never did happen. That doesn’t take away from the thrill of the movie and just how great it was at the time.

Even if you never watched the films in the '80s or '90s when it was so popular, you could watch it now and still love it. There is just something about it that draws people in. The plot certainly has a lot to do with it. The jokes and the cast are also huge factors.

There are obvious reasons why the movie was Oscar-nominated after it was released. From the beginning of the show, you immediately get attached to the characters. You build up the suspense and the storyline, and then suddenly, it all comes crashing down with excitement and crazy events.

The thing is, the plot isn’t overly complicated or even thrilling, but they were able to bring the story to life in a way that intrigues the audience and leaves them wanting more.

The simplicity of the movie is one of the reasons that in the '80s, and indeed now, the film was so well utilized when it comes to merchandizing and tie-ins, which helped to cement the movie as a classic, both in terms of the critical success of the movie as well as the financial pull it secured.

As you watch the movie, you see a lot of interlocking puzzle pieces, and some of them you don’t catch until you go back and watch it again. The ticking clocks are hard to miss, but they do add to the movie’s depth and story.

One of the things that truly perfected the movie was that it took us back to a time that is long gone. While 1955 was almost ¾ of a century past, it was only about 30 years past when the movie came out. For young people, that was a lifetime ago and even more so now. Plus, it gave a stunning look into the future at the time.

Now, if you watch the movie, it’s incredibly informative as to what life was like in the 1950s and the 1980s as opposed to modern-day 2023, right? It’s history to remember. We laugh a bit at the things we recognize and the things that never happened in the “future” of the story, but that doesn’t take away from the affinity of the film.

To Think, It Almost Didn’t Happen!

If you have seen Back to the Future and you enjoy the movie as much as nearly everyone who has seen it, you might be surprised that it almost flopped. Robert Zemeckis was the director, and he put a lot of work into this film. He presented the film to several studios and got many rejections.

He heard rejections from big-name studios like Disney and more. The film was rejected more than 40 times before it was finally picked up. Universal Studios was the winning studio, and their investment later paid off when it took the stage as the highest-grossing movie of the entire year.

Why did it get rejected? At the time, the most popular comedy films were all quite raunchy. The rejection reason was that this comedy wasn’t raunchy enough. By the numbers, it’s clear people were looking for something better, though.

 

Final Thoughts

Not only did Back to the Future prove to be the perfect hit with the records it took, but the movie eventually became a franchise, and there are now three films in the series. It will forever hold a dear spot to people who experienced it in the '80s and people who choose to watch it now. The movie is still surprisingly good with graphics and quality, even though it’s now more than 40 years old.

If you haven’t seen the movie, now is the time! You won’t regret it.