This timeless classic was released 30 years ago this weekend and remains as fresh and original as it did back on July 3 1985. We've hopped into our time-travelling DeLorean to recall the TEN reasons why it is still one of the greatest family movies of all time.
10. Michael J Fox
It seems unthinkable now but Michael J Fox almost wasn't cast in the role of Marty McFly. Due to filming commitments on his hit television show Family Ties, he initially turned down the part. Eric Stolz was instead cast but after six weeks of filming it was clear to that he was completely wrong for the role. Michael J stepped in and the rest is history.
9. It was almost called Spaceman from Pluto
The main studio executive feared that a movie with 'Future' in the title would bomb after a spate of recent similarly themed flops. Instead he suggested an alternative title inspired by the script's reference to Marty being mistaken for an alien by 1950 residents of Hill Valley. Spielberg, who was the producer, decided to treat the whole thing as a joke and wrote back saying "Dear Sid, Thank you for your most humourous memo". The title stayed.
8. It predicted the future (sort of)
In the second of two sequels Marty and Doc Brown travel into the future to 2015. What kind of bewildering utopia would people be living in then? Turns out it we should all be whizzing around on hover-boards now after we slip into our self lacing trainers. Fail. However it did predict giant Plasma television screens and Skype-like video calling. Still no sign of Jaws 19 yet though.
7. It made skateboarding cool
If you were a kid back in 1985 chances are you tormented your parents to buy you a skateboard after you saw Marty's super cool antics. It just seemed the best fun ever to hitch a ride by hanging onto the back of a pick up truck while on a skateboard, plus the 1955 town square chase was one of the best in the movie.
6. Huey Lewis
Not only does the film boast one of the 1980s best movie songs in The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News, he also pops up in a cameo as the judge in the battle of the bands competition. Fun fact: A few months later Huey and the band were asked to write the theme to Ghostbusters. Thankfully they declined.
5. Those iconic scenes
There are just so many. We've already mentioned the skateboarding, but there was also the DeLorean taking off for its first plutonium powered spin, Doc hanging from the town clock and of course Marty's futuristic freak out guitar-solo during Johnny Be Goode at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in 1955 which left everyone just a tad bewildered.
4. A cracking script
Not only does the script's originality stand the test of time (pardon the pun) but it contains some absolute cracking lines. Remember these:
"Wait a minute Doc are you telling me that my mother has the hots for me?
"I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it"
"There's that word again: heavy. Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the earth's gravitational pull?
"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eighty miles an hour....you're gonna see some serious shit".
3. The teaser ending
Nowadays most big blockbuster movies end with a sequel firmly in mind. When Back to the Future was originally released the ending wasn’t meant to set-up a sequel. When Doc arrives back from the future and insists they travel with him to deal with an issue with "their kids" it neatly set up the next two parts of the trilogy which were filmed back to back four years later.
2. The coolest movie car ever
Armed with a flux capacitor the futuristic DeLorean was made even more iconic thanks to its time-travelling abilities. Only 9,000 DeLoreans were manufactured at its plant in Belfast before production stopped in 1982. An early draft of the Back to the Future script saw Marty travelling through time in a fridge but it was changed for fear that kids would try and copy the stunt.
1. They're not making a rubbish remake
Phew! Director Robert Zemeckis this week ruled out a reboot of this much loved movie saying it would be like saying "Let's remake Citizen Kane". He has vowed to make sure that a remake will never happen in his lifetime and said he hopes his estate will figure out a way to prevent it ever happening even after his death. We salute you Sir.
