"The future ain't what it used to be."
--Yogi Berra (1925-2015), baseball legend and philosopher
This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of seeing Back to the Future in a theater to celebrate its 40th anniversary. Putting aside the fact that the film is that old, it was an oddly moving experience. Obviously, I've seen the movie many times over the years, but I hadn't seen it in a theater since its original release. Before going, I noted the date (5 November) and realized that I would be seeing the movie on the 70th anniversary of the day that Doc Brown slipped and hit his head and came up with the idea for the flux capacitor. I still marvel at what one can achieve with a head injury.
I've often written in these weekly "sermons" about the "transportative" quality of music (my word, copyright pending)--that strange ability to transport you to another time and place, even if it's just in your own mind. I don't think I ever realized it before, but films can be as transportative as music. Watching it on that big screen, I felt like I was eleven years old again and completely entranced with the magic of movies. I couldn't wait to start sixth grade to tell my friends about this really cool movie I saw--twice!--over the summer starring the guy from "Family Ties."
Seeing it again, I noticed things that I wouldn't have noticed when I was a kid and probably couldn't have noticed watching it on a television screen over the years. For example, when Marty McFly first walks into the diner and encounters his father, he reaches into his pocket and puts some change on the counter. If you look among the coins, you'll see a guitar pick. (I've also frequently wondered how many of those coins were minted after 1955.)
I've always appreciated the filmmakers' attention to detail with regards to the whole idea of the "space-time continuum"--how actions taken by characters in the film can change certain things between the beginning and the end of the movie--like the name of the mall, or the portion of the ledge on the clock tower that broke under Doc's weight. I don't know why it never occurred to me that Doc hanging off of the clock face was an homage to the 1923 Harold Lloyd film Safety Last!--especially given the fact that Doc had a clock that depicted it in his collection that could be seen at the very beginning of the film.
The whole experience made me nostalgic for my childhood and the 1980s in general. Watching those parts of the movie set in what was then the present, I found myself wondering if you can still find Kal-Kan dog food or Pepsi Free--not that I would go out and buy either of those things. I don't have a dog and the only thing more disgusting than Pepsi Free was Diet Pepsi Free, which can also be seen in the film. It was interesting for me to see how much things changed between 1955 and 1985, but it was almost surreal to see how things have changed between 1985 and 2025.
The one thing I've always credited the film for was my love for the music of Huey Lewis & The News who wrote not one but two songs for the film's soundtrack, receiving an Academy Award nomination for "The Power of Love." In fact, Lewis also had one of cinema's greatest cameo appearances, telling Marty's band through a bullhorn that they're "just too darn loud."
Nominated for three other Oscars--winning for Best Sound Effects Editing--the film was directed by Robert Zemeckis, who also co-wrote it with Bob Gale, and stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover, and Thomas F. Wilson in what could arguably be described as "career-defining performances." This week, I can't help recommend one of the biggest movies of my youth, Back to the Future.
As I said in my album rant, I'll be taking next week off from these for personal reasons but will return in two weeks. Until then, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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