Latest / All The Right Movies / Back to the Future Part II (1989) | Ep. 77 - Part 1

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Back to the Future Part II (1989) | Ep. 77 - Part 1 · All The Right Movies

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Back to the Future Part 2 opened in 1989 as the middle chapter of
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the classic time travel trilogy, continuing Marty Mcfly's time
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hopping adventures in Hill Valley, the film made a ride
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through a utopian 2015, a dystopian 1985 and the originals
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19551 of Hollywood's most beloved sequels.
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My name is John, and the guys who'd sell their souls for a
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great sports Almanac are Matt. It's leave you idiot.
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Make like a tree and leave. And Westie.
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We must succeed. Where we're going, we don't need
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roads. ATRM are talking flying
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Deloreans, flying skateboards and proof that no matter what
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year it is, the shock still looks big.
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Hello and welcome to all the right movies.
1:05
Nobody calls us chicken needles. Nobody.
1:09
Oh, yeah, that's the next one, isn't it?
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That's the next. One, yeah, you've got ahead of
1:12
yourself. Well, we are the podcast that
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tells the story of Hollywood One film at a time though, and this
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one is a proper event. It is big one.
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It's the Mechus. It's J Fox.
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It's Lloyd. We're sending you back Back to
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the Future Part 2, the sequel to one of the biggest films of the
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80s, and we're tackling it in full.
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We are. Before we fire up Mr. Fusion,
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though, we should talk about our wonderful community, shouldn't
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we? Let's do that first, yeah?
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They're easy. And one other thing, we also
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Not yet. Not yet, no.
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No, but check the show notes for the link there as well.
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Yes, the T-shirts do drive themselves.
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Don't hold us there. Back to now, though, and we're
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talking Back to the Future Part 2.
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Yeah, So, Wesley, why are we getting into it?
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Well. I mean, we're getting into it
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because it's a classic in every sense of the word.
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Has been a classic. I can't remember if I went to
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the cinema, say this one. I definitely saw the third one
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in the cinema, right, Remember that?
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And I definitely saw Last Crusade in the cinema.
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So I must have seen this same year.
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Yeah, 89, wasn't it? So I've seen it so many times.
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It's just almost like, God bless you.
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It's just like, you know, that T-shirt you can't throw away
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that's just your favorite doesn't fit you anymore and it's
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all faded, but you just, you just can't get rid of it like.
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That Fight Club jacket used to have and wait every time we went
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out. Still got it, can't get rid of
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it, but this was like the ultimate rewatchable film as a
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kid. It was just constantly on and
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constantly entertaining, and I just love the characters and I
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love the set pieces and I love the fact that it just referred
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to the first one so much. I don't know if I love that as
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much now, but we'll get into that, I think.
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Can you have too much of a good thing?
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Yeah. So for me, like, watching it
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from a really critical point of view has changed it slightly,
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but it's still lots and lots of fun.
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It's still a really, really excellent, excellent film.
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It's still really accomplished and I still thoroughly enjoy it.
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So yeah, let's get into it. Yeah, I'm coming from a very
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similar place, I think, Westie. I mean, when you're talking
4:02
nostalgia, this might be the one for me or one of the ones.
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So I thought it might be up there.
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Definitely, yeah. As a kid, this was far and away
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in my favorite Back to the Future film, and it was for one
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reason, basically. I'll talk about that as we go
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and how my opinions have also changed in the last few decades
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a bit, but I think this one had to be talked about at some
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point, surely. Yeah, yeah.
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I don't think the opinions have changed.
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I think they've just swayed towards being slightly more
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mature about cinemas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
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But direct sequel to one of Hollywood's most popular films,
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A crazy reality jumping narrative which is interesting.
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A crazy behind the scenes production story doing things
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technically that no one had ever done before.
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There was massive cast, controversies and lawsuits.
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So even if you don't like this film, the story that we're about
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to tell is pretty fascinating. Yeah, there's a lot to get it.
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And we should have a right or laugh telling this one.
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I don't think so. Definitely.
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Yeah, and obviously hoverboards. Coolest thing ever.
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Yeah, you can't do without that. That's fantastic.
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And Matt BTT FP2. Yeah, I mean, this is an
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interesting one for me, this because when you put the Paul
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up, John in the Wall sequel themed, this is the one I was
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least familiar with. And I do remember seeing it at
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the cinema at the time and I remember as a kid just being
5:11
very confused by it all. That's fair enough.
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Yeah. Can't just switch off and enjoy.
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It can, you know, I definitely can't.
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What's this about? Even when I was insufferable, I
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wasn't sure it made sense. It was quite dark compared to
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the first one and it didn't even have a proper ending at the end.
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I was like, well, I have to come back again just to get a
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resolution. So.
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And it's not one I've revisited a lot because I don't revisit
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the trilogy as a whole a lot. It's usually the first one for
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me and I'm kind of happy with that.
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Or like like indie, for example. But it's going to be interesting
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because this one, it is divisive and it splits opinion a lot on a
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lot of things. So it's going to be really
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interesting to see where we all come out with this one.
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Yeah, definitely. Well, Back to the Teacher Part 2
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was released on November the 22nd, 1989.
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Produced by Amblin Entertainment and distributed by Universal
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Pictures. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it
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was written by Bob Gale, based on the story by GAIL and
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Zemeckis and was filmed in and around Los Angeles.
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It stars Michael J Fox as Marty, Marty Junior and Marlene McFly,
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Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown, Thomas F Wilson as Biff and
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Griff Tannen, Leah Thompson as Lorraine Baine's McFly Tannen
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and Elizabeth Shue as Jennifer Parker.
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Why play 1 character when you can play it loads?
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Just the one for sure there, just the 1 character.
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But let's go. Should we?
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Yeah, absolutely. We weren't sure whether to start
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with the final scene about the future or the first scene of
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Part 2. Turns out.
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Same thing we're. Going to do both at the same
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time of. Course we can't.
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The beginning. Back to the Future Part 2 opens
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right where the first film left off before whisking us off to
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the future. We're going to be talking the
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2015 sequences in Hill Valley and Hilldale, But first, it's
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1985 Hill Valley to pick things back up.
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Yeah, so the film does begin as the first one ended.
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Doc Brown and the DeLorean come screeching into Marty's front
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yard while lied and rambling about the future before we
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unbef, watch our Jiro and Marty's girlfriend Jennifer
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heading off to their next adventure.
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Yeah, first thing of the sequel. Does it do the job, Wesley?
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I think it does because it was the last scene of the of the
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first film, which is probably one of one of my favourites of
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all time, to be fair. I mean what an end and that is.
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One of the best. They could have just left it and
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just you've been like, yeah, that's incredible as a film,
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just as a wanna. But they have to come back to
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this scene, you know, Elizabeth Shoes in there now.
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BIFF needs a little bit of an entrance and just to see what's
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going on. But this is purely entertainment
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over any kind of subtext or context or anything that they're
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trying to go for. The first film was the opposite
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of that. I think it had a real emotion
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and had a real depth and tried to explore the characters.
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This is just wants to have a lot of fun and I think that's what
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this first scene does because the performances are a little
7:49
bit more loose. It's just a little bit more
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cartoony, just a little bit more lean back.
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Yeah, yeah, I. Mean, I love that look that
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Marty gives Jennifer when Doc gets out and he's just like,
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sorry about this guy. Yeah, he's really embarrassed.
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Yeah, yeah. He's like, we're just straight
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and set up that lovely bit Mr. Fusion, we're going back.
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We don't need roads, we know about that.
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But I think it was really well done because some of it I had to
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really watch again and go. Was that a shot from the first
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one I did to put that back in? Because the lighting is just
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perfect. Everything is just framed really
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well. But at the same time, you I
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didn't really question the second Jennifer.
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It was still well done. Yeah, yeah, I was.
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I should just stands the same way and walks into the frame
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exactly the same way. You've got to like re watch the
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first one again and go. That was just so well done and
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well put together. Right.
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We're ready to go now. I've been reminded here.
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We'll go. It's a great, great opening
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scene, man. I think it's a better final
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scene, but we're still excited. It is, yeah.
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I like the opening shot. We get the title card, seeing
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the date over like a black screen, and then the kind of
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transition into the film is Marty sliding the garage door
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open. That's really cool.
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Yeah. And what?
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He looks a bit different. He's got different here a bit.
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Yeah, yeah. Jennifer always looks very
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different. Different face.
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I'm the same though. I'm pretty sure.
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And I watched this over and over again as a kid.
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I never realized there was a different actress.
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I'm sure I didn't. Didn't for a while.
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Don't look exactly the same, obviously.
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In those silver shades. He's like Brett the Hitman.
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Hot. Fantastic, yeah.
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A nice little bit of setup with Beef when he sees the DeLorean
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takeoff and disappear. Like what the hell is going on
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here? Which sets up old Beef in 2015
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seeing flying to Lorean. I'm not seeing one of those
9:24
since and I love beef screen. I just track suit and burgundy
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turtleneck. Always a treat.
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Oh yeah, it's fantastic. But I wanted as well to talk
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about the opening credits, which kick in straight after Biff
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delivers that line. It's like a helicopter shot sort
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of flying through the clouds. It's like that Superman 2
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trailer. It is, yeah.
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But just hearing the Allen Sylvestre main theme swell up
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over it, I could like burst into tears.
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It just does something to me. But quite clever.
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We I think was the makers to pull us back into the first
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film. Works a treat on me anyway.
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Yeah, yellow credits as well, I've got to mention that.
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Yeah, yeah, yellow logo. There you are.
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Yeah, I mean some, because he's just done an impeccable job
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really of recreating a scene from the first film to use in
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the second film with maybe slightly diminishing results in
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some ways. And that's probably not the last
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time we're going to be saying that if you have this episode.
10:11
Yes, agree. Yeah.
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Bob Gale said that after the first film came out, Universal
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had received thousands of fun letters asking what happened to
10:19
Marty and Doc in the future, and that dictated how to start the
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sequel. He said they knew they had no
10:24
choice but to go to the future and show us Marty and Jennifer's
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kids, which led to problems as they couldn't figure out a way
10:29
of writing Jennifer into the story without taking her away
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from Marty, which, yeah, that's the original problem, isn't.
10:35
It exactly, yeah. They did kind of paint
10:36
themselves into a corner, I think.
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But the end of the first film, not written to set up a sequel.
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But it is, You said it was such a great final scene, isn't it?
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Something's got to be done about your kids.
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If there's never been a sequel, The end of the first film will
10:48
be one of the best endings ever to a film.
10:50
I think, yeah, I agree, yeah. And Claudia Wells played
10:53
Jennifer in the first film and had planned to come back for the
10:56
sequel, but around the time filming was due to start, her
10:59
mother was sadly diagnosed with cancer, so she chose to care for
11:02
a mother instead, and a casting call went out for a new
11:05
Jennifer. Yeah, a shame she couldn't come
11:07
back. I think that someone who was
11:09
seriously considered to replace Claudia Wells was Nicole Kidman.
11:12
Wow, Right. Yeah, Apparently she was
11:14
recommended as the mechas by Billy Zane, who's in the film as
11:17
much. Obviously.
11:18
Yeah. After he'd worked with her on
11:19
Dead Calm, of course. Calm.
11:21
Right. Yeah, She was ruled out, though,
11:22
because apparently she'd be too tall for Michael J Fox.
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She wouldn't tower over. I think it wouldn't be.
11:28
Quite a common problem I imagine.
11:29
Yeah. Pulled off with Tom Cruise and
11:31
Far and Away though. And Elizabeth Shue's career was
11:35
on the up at the time because she'd been in The Karate Kid and
11:38
cocktail, starred in Adventures and Babysitting, and was
11:41
therefore cast. Claudia Well said.
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She was flattered and honored to be replaced by Elizabeth Shue.
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She was great, obviously, yes. I just wish she had more to do.
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Yeah, yeah. Feels like a massive waste to
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have her and just like knock her out.
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Twice. Exactly.
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And Marty and Doc for Jennifer like shit.
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Yeah, they do. Leave her on a box of crates and
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just lying on the porch while they're all flying around in the
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middle. Or you.
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I don't remember bars being on these windows.
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Well, that's a bit of a red flag, isn't?
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It listen. She'll be fine that.
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Should be fine. Fucking during the DeLorean it
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were flying car was one of the film's biggest effect
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challenges. ILM built a remote control 115
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scale miniature that had folding wheels.
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This was used for numerous flying signatures and for close
12:26
up driving and cockpit shots. They used a practical rig.
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A DeLorean body shell was mounted on moving platform and a
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separate fibreglass DeLorean was also built for flying and
12:35
landing shots. It was lifted and lower than
12:37
hydraulic motion to create the appearance of the car.
12:40
Amazing. Yeah, you can kind of tell that
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there's Titan and Deloreans coming in to land and we just
12:44
see part of it. It looks like it's on a forklift
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truck or something. It kind of like wobbles into the
12:48
frame sometimes. Yeah.
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Yeah, but that's the first scene.
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The gang's all here. Jennifer not following?
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Unfortunately, no. And 2015 awaits.
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OK, let's check it out. Should we?
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Let's do it. We arrive in 2015 in the middle
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of a flying freeway. How terrifying does that look?
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Yeah, fine. Yeah.
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Dog knocks out Jennifer with no warning whatsoever.
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And they sat down in Hill Valley.
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Doc explains the issue with Marty Junior.
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He's about to be arrested, leading Marty and us into Cafe
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80s, a hoverboard chase round the square, and Marty perched in
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the great Sports Almanac. There's something very familiar
13:25
about all this, Matt. Isn't there just?
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How is the future? Well, yeah, I mean, that's where
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it's very familiar. I mean, this cafe bar, a member
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of the McFly family getting into trouble with the tannins again.
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I mean, the more things change, the more things stay the same.
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I guess that's what people say. But you know what, that's fine.
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It's it's the recurring theme in the film.
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You know, it's these patterns that occur over and over again.
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What's interesting about this in terms of predicting the future,
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though, is how it predicts that huge boom in 80s nostalgia.
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I mean, the music, the iconography, the arcade games I
13:54
can play here. I mean, at the time, I guess the
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drug was or ha ha, imagine all the things we've grown up with
14:00
are still popular in the future in the not relics of the past.
14:03
But it's true. You've got this huge boom in
14:06
industry behind 80s nostalgia. I mean, you know, lots that
14:09
comes through, you know what people vote for, for us to
14:12
cover. So how intentional or not it was
14:14
in this, I don't know, but they've absolutely nailed that
14:17
particular part of the future. Definitely.
14:19
Yeah, definitely a good point. I said at the start, when I was
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a kid, there was one specific thing that made this my favorite
14:24
Back to the Future film, and it was this 2015.
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Loved it, and I still do. The 2015 Hill Valley set is just
14:31
brilliant. Seems set as the first film
14:33
clearly, but with lots of futuristic touches and like a
14:36
lake in there. Because usually when Hollywood
14:38
does the future, it's often disturbing.
14:40
But this isn't, not in terms of how it looks anyway.
14:42
I think it's utopian if anything.
14:44
Yeah, it's very colourful, isn't it?
14:45
Yeah, yeah, it's a bit cartoonish.
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It's a bit like the Jetsons I think it is not so much that you
14:50
don't accept it. There's some great little
14:52
touches are like all kids in the future where the trousers inside
14:55
out for some reason, but that do you remember Crisscross that hip
14:59
hop duel from the 1990 the wall, their jeans back to front going
15:02
to make you jump. Yeah, the future was right.
15:08
Nice to see Biff in there when he's an old man.
15:09
As soon as Marty walks in the cafe, Biff just starts giving
15:12
him loads of shit about his dad. Well, himself, even though at
15:16
the end of the first film, weren't they like best mates?
15:18
He was all like, oh hi Marty and now loser.
15:23
Still putting blacks on the cars wrong.
15:29
An early sign this one might not be quite as detailed in the
15:31
writing as the first film. Maybe.
15:33
Yeah, not really. But I'm not that bothered
15:35
because then Griffin is gang walk in and I love them.
15:38
But I do have some questions. How unhinged is Griff?
15:42
He should not be out walking the streets.
15:44
He's totally psychotic. And why does Data, the gang
15:47
member have a chicken recording on his chest plate just like
15:50
ready to go got? Everything got everything on
15:53
there, touch of a button. It all seemed like they're like
15:55
massively just on this real cocaine Bender and just really
15:58
awful. From the try to roll Martin
16:05
Junior end of the heist he says I'll discuss it with my father
16:08
and grips like wrong answer. McFly.
16:11
And you throw them over the bar. It's insane.
16:15
So I mean, there's not too much going on that makes total sense
16:18
sometimes, but I just love it. Yeah.
16:20
I think we're going to be doing quite a lot of script
16:23
forgiveness with nostalgia in this one.
16:25
Yeah, we're going to have to just the read the visual
16:27
references really work over the context.
16:29
I mean, that antique store for a start.
16:30
There's so many bits in that window that are fantastic.
16:32
He's got the JVC player though, if you've noticed that.
16:34
The same video camera. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
16:36
He's got his guest denim jacket that he wore in the 1st.
16:38
One right. I think Roger Robertson there as
16:40
well. Yeah, so some really lovely
16:42
little touches. It's worth a pause and having a
16:43
look. It is, yeah.
16:44
It's really cool. In the 2015 Hill Valley that
16:47
we're talking about, there are references to other films.
16:49
Marty interacts with the holographic ad for Jaws 19,
16:52
which is always great, and we can see the marquee.
16:55
It says it's directed by Max Spielberg Stevens.
16:57
Real life son who was four years old at the time, also say cars
17:01
from other science fiction movies.
17:02
There's a spinner, a type of flying car from Blade Runner,
17:05
and we can say the star car from the Last Starfighter part on the
17:08
street as well. Yeah, that's a great little.
17:10
Not that, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
17:11
There's a slightly bizarre film reference when Marty Junior
17:14
almost gets run over crossing the street.
17:16
I'm walking. Here, I'm walking here, I'm
17:18
walking here. Obviously Dustin Hoffman at
17:20
Midnight, Cowboy. I'm just not sure why it's in.
17:22
There one of the most miserable films ever made.
17:24
That's just make him straight in.
17:27
There, Graphic 80s was designed by John Bell, the visual effects
17:31
art director and concept designer on the film.
17:34
He said he took inspiration from the visual brand of Swatch, the
17:37
watch company. Bold clashing colours, random
17:40
geometric shapes and playful typography.
17:43
Yeah, you can see. That's nice.
17:44
You definitely can see that Swatch thing in the colour
17:47
palette and stuff gone yet, but I think the reason he did that
17:49
was because the hoverboard made by Mattel, but in first versions
17:52
of the script it was going to be made by Swatch.
17:55
All right. I still love that hoverboard
17:57
design. I know that pink. 10 It's
17:58
beautiful, it's so good. And the Cafe 80s Weirdest
18:02
digital avatars. On the screen we see Michael
18:04
Jackson, Ronald Reagan and Ayatollah Khomeini.
18:07
Jackson was apparently very cooperative with letting his
18:10
lightness be recreated, and he was portrayed by E Casanova, who
18:14
called himself the number one Michael Jackson tribute artist.
18:17
He wrote a rubber mask with me, but Bob Gale said he looked more
18:20
like Jackson without it. BBB for chicken.
18:27
And beat, it's playing when Marty walks in, isn't it?
18:29
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
18:30
But it was digital. Wait, as clearly inspired by Max
18:33
Headroom on the the CD character from 80s TV.
18:36
Yeah, it's pretty much some of the 2015 tech still like years
18:39
beyond those like flying cars. And some of it looks totally
18:42
terrible by today's standards. Yeah yeah yeah another thing in
18:46
Cafe 80s see Marty play a video game called Wild Gunman.
18:49
Wild Gunman was a real Nintendo like gun game, but the full
18:52
outside arcade version was built just for the movie and one of
18:55
the two boys who was unimpressed with the game was an 8 year old
18:58
Elijah Wood in his first film role.
19:01
Yeah, Video Game Boy too. He's credited as right.
19:05
It's for babies. You have to.
19:06
Use your hands. But that's the set of Part 3 in
19:11
the fact that he's a bit of a Wild West sharpshooter, I think
19:13
isn't. It Yeah.
19:15
Definitely. So I'll go straight on from
19:17
there. We're into the power board
19:18
chase. He stands up for himself.
19:19
This is a little bit of a nod that is very familiar lovely.
19:23
I'm I still a gig to think this is still cool Well as well, and
19:26
I'm absolutely fine with that. To be honest.
19:29
It's just a great setup and a great callback.
19:32
It's just not quite as impactful as the original that it's based
19:36
on. But I just that's because
19:38
everything that it's based on, it's so good.
19:40
And I remember the first time singing this and all the
19:42
different times I've seen it since I've just been waiting for
19:44
this scene to happen and that this is where the film starts
19:46
for me. When that hoverboard comes out
19:49
is that little girl little girls?
19:50
I use your hoverboard. Hoverboard.
19:53
It's great. I love the science of it, the
19:56
mechanics of it. You know, he gets on the back of
19:59
the car, there's the music ramps up and that starts kicking in,
20:01
but then they spin around and then they're straight after him
20:03
again. So like, they're a little bit
20:04
more experienced. Yeah.
20:05
He's really lucky to find that rope in the back of the car.
20:10
Great. Swings around straight over the
20:11
lake. And I think that's the whole
20:13
reason they just built this lake in there, because when they need
20:15
a setup. Oh, definitely, yeah.
20:16
How else are they going to break this down?
20:17
And you just think that's a really nice aesthetic leg.
20:20
I wonder what that's there for. You'll find out.
20:23
Yeah, it's great. It's just he's there and it just
20:25
stops. But there's just that line
20:28
reading those supposed to work or more, unless you've got power
20:32
and he's just not so. Intense in those guys.
20:37
And he just did the look on his face and he doesn't change his
20:40
expression. He's just crazy.
20:44
These guys are straight out of Escape from New York.
20:47
They are, yeah. Escape from Hill Valley, Yeah.
20:49
Escape from Hill Valley and it's then, well, you need power.
20:51
So who's got the most powerful hoverboard?
20:53
Like what else is Griff going to use that for?
20:55
He's going to the shops, he's not going to use a hoverboard.
20:56
He's got a car. What does he need that for?
20:58
But he's still got the biggest one everyone hooks on.
21:01
She doesn't want it back, so he gets to keep it.
21:02
I was always jealous of that. I was like, I want one of them
21:05
but it doesn't really work on water so I can't really take to
21:07
the marine part. Stranded in the middle of Marine
21:10
Park. In the middle of the marine
21:12
park, Swans attacking, going at your ankles because your
21:15
hoverboard didn't work. Just like I don't need one
21:18
because I've got a Pitbull now. If she goes on that, she's
21:20
getting whiplash, her head's coming straight off.
21:23
She's about six or seven years old.
21:25
Flame powered as well. Flame.
21:27
She's. Going to kill herself the first
21:31
time you watch this. I mean, it was a joy to see
21:34
these things again, really is. But I think I've seen it so many
21:37
Times Now that I'm kind of like push the just just a little bit
21:40
more. But still, I mean just the
21:42
invention of the hoverboard and then powered laces has not been
21:45
better I don't think. Yeah, I think you're right,
21:48
Wesley. I think objectively the
21:50
filmmaking of the same scene in the first film with a couple of
21:52
notches above this one, probably, yeah.
21:54
But what elevates this is just the hoverboard, isn't it?
21:57
It's just so cool. Yeah.
21:58
Absolutely. Yeah, there's lots of little
21:59
callbacks where mirrors the first film named Marty hanging
22:01
off the back of the car and let me borrow your hoverboard.
22:03
That's all cool, but because a nice little narrative touches as
22:06
well, all Biff clocks the two Marty's so he knows he has a
22:08
time machine. Marty buys a sports Almanac and
22:10
then Doc just bins it. So it's setting up all the
22:12
dominoes around this little action scene, which is all
22:15
likely doing, I think. Yeah, I mean, and then the first
22:17
one he just invent skateboarding.
22:19
So Marty replied. Just invent.
22:20
A culture Invent everything Invented Rock'n'roll.
22:24
But this is still great. And creating the effect of the
22:26
hoverboard needed a lot of special effects and tricks.
22:29
So for the waste of shots of Marty on the board, Michael J
22:32
Fox was riding an ordinary skateboard.
22:35
The short wear Marty is stranded on the lake.
22:37
The hoverboard had a mirror on the bottom which was hidden by
22:39
reflecting the water and full body flying Shots used crane and
22:43
cable rigs that touched the back of a truck and Fox and Tom
22:46
Wilson were suspended on a harness.
22:48
They were filmed from the moving truck and a special post
22:50
production tool called Wiram was created by ILM to allow the
22:54
wires to be digitally removed from the shots.
22:57
Yeah. Yeah, so once Fox was in the
22:58
harness, his shoes were permanently attached to the
23:00
hoverboard, so he couldn't take them off.
23:02
And there's behind the scenes shots of crew members having to
23:04
carry him around because he couldn't walk with a hoverboard
23:06
on. Yeah, any.
23:07
Experience toy soldiers from like, Toy Story.
23:09
Exactly. Yeah.
23:10
The footage of them working on that.
23:12
Yeah, and there is some pretty obvious compositing shots in
23:14
there I think as well. Not all of it looks great, but
23:17
I'm fine with it. No, Yeah.
23:18
That's the thing, isn't it? What we've got to really be
23:20
careful of is going. This is based on the scene in
23:22
the first one. How good is that scene in the
23:24
first one? Yeah.
23:25
Exactly. Thought about the let's just
23:27
stick with that. But yeah, I mean, there's some
23:29
great moments. And Griff's Pitbull hoverboard
23:31
that was originally going to be called Mad Dog and that was to
23:34
foreshadow Buford, Mad Dog, Tannen Biff's ancestor and the
23:38
antagonist in Part 3. Why did they change that?
23:42
That's much better. I don't know.
23:43
It's much better, yeah. So Griff's gang, as we spoke
23:46
about, insane, insane bastards, but they are theater.
23:50
Whitney and Spike, of course they are.
23:54
Data is played by Ricky Dean. Logan Whitey is played by Jason
23:57
Scott Lee, who went on to play Bruce Lee in Dragon, the Bruce
24:00
Lee story, and he's fantastic. And that really, really good,
24:02
yeah. And Spike is played by Darlene
24:04
Vogel, who had a condition that made our eyes two different
24:07
colours. And Zemeckis wanted to
24:08
exaggerate the effects of Vogel bought a red contact lens in one
24:11
eye. Yeah.
24:12
Don't just keep it natural, Rob. Just.
24:14
That could have been anyone then.
24:15
Yeah. Yeah.
24:16
Funny, in Cafe 80s when Spike grabs Marty, you know, by the
24:19
crotch and he's like, oh. You got no scope.
24:26
Again, Griffs gang are good, but why weren't they played by the
24:29
same guys who played Biffs gang members?
24:31
Well, exactly. I know that.
24:33
Seems a bit of a crazy choice as well, yeah.
24:34
I think this gang members are a bit more bumbling idiots on
24:37
there. Yeah, yeah.
24:39
These, these were a bit more efficient, I guess in the
24:41
future. And filming the scene where the
24:44
gun crashed through the courthouse window, Darlene Vogel
24:47
was replaced by a stunt double, and she was called Cheryl
24:50
Wheeler Duncan. But when the film did, there was
24:52
a technical error. And instead of going straight
24:54
through the window, Wheeler Duncan smashed in one of the
24:57
concrete pillars and dropped 30 feet to the floor, ending a
25:00
blind in a pool of her own blood.
25:02
They didn't reshoot the scene, and you can see a hitting the
25:04
pillar in the film. Thankfully, though, she wasn't
25:06
permanently injured. Yeah, you can, yeah.
25:09
At first they apparently thought she was dead because there was
25:11
that much blood. For years I thought that must
25:13
have been a dummy, because you see, I like bounce off the
25:15
pillar at some speed. It should.
25:17
Clip the pillar and then it cuts, doesn't it?
25:18
Yeah, that must have been terrifying to see that.
25:21
She was OK though, thankfully, yeah.
25:22
No one was injured in the tower inferno, but.
25:27
Some nearly dies, yeah. Before we move from Hill Valley
25:30
to Hilldale, we've had a question in from one of our ATRM
25:32
patrons. OK, it fits perfectly in 2015
25:35
Hill Valley and it comes from Matthew Williams.
25:38
Hello, Matthew. Hello, Matthew.
25:40
So Matthew says the hoverboard, self drying jacket and the
25:42
expanding pizza are etched on my memory from this film but are
25:45
unfortunately still not close to reality.
25:48
Which past films do you think have come closer to predicting
25:50
the future? And what would be in your top
25:52
three lists of future gadgets designed in films?
25:55
Right. So what do you think, Rusty?
25:57
Good future tech from films. Well, I mean the three that I
26:01
think have come close to predicting the future.
26:03
Firstly, I think Terminator with the rise of AI, especially
26:06
Terminator 2, dangerously close, the targeted advertising, the
26:11
minority report, that's kind of getting there.
26:13
I think that's going to happen very, very soon, if not already
26:15
on Instagram. And unfortunately everything in
26:17
children and men, which was spoke about recently is is
26:22
predicting the future. The gadgets.
26:24
I've always loved this kind of stuff, but the the neutralizer
26:27
and men in black. Oh yeah.
26:28
I wish that exists. Just white people's minds.
26:31
Great. We were out last night.
26:33
Weren't we're just look into this.
26:36
Sorry about me. Any flying cars, particularly
26:42
the spinner? Oh yeah, definitely.
26:43
That's amazing. And the fire burst and guitar
26:46
from the Doof Warrior in Mad Max Lovely.
26:48
That amp on the top of a truck. I know you could possibly do
26:51
that now but I would like to just buy one.
26:54
And also in this the one that no one mentions is the sleep
26:56
induced algorithm generator that puts Jennifer to sleep.
26:59
Of course, yeah. Stick it through your face.
27:01
How long do you want? A couple of hours?
27:02
Bang, you're asleep. Yeah, Minority Report, that's a
27:07
good one that holds up. They also predicted the kind of
27:10
user interface with those kind of gesture controls, Tom Cruise
27:13
flinging stuff around. Yeah, they did.
27:14
Yeah, Yeah. But I mean I think 2001 the
27:16
Space Odyssey might be the gold standard.
27:18
Like tablet computers, video calling, voice activated AI that
27:22
was all decades before it was created as well As for gadgets.
27:26
My 3 would be that time turn I think from Harry Potter.
27:29
Let's you go back in time. Easy peasy.
27:31
OK, right. Watch the Grand National jump
27:33
back 20 minutes. Bob's your uncle.
27:35
Yeah, and my top 2 are both from Star Trek, obviously.
27:39
Obviously. 2nd the replicator. Any food, any drink, anything,
27:43
just materialize that with thin air so you never want for
27:45
anything. Number one, I've got the
27:47
holodeck, so that's a room that can create any environment or
27:50
like scenario you can imagine, right?
27:52
If I had one of those, I would just never leave.
27:54
Fair enough, you'd find my skeleton in there.
27:59
Never could replicate your skeleton for five years?
28:01
Replicate. Yeah, I mean, in terms of like
28:04
predicting the future, I think her did a really great job of
28:08
predicting the future about kind of AI assistance with names and
28:11
personalities and how people genuinely seem these days are
28:13
getting attached to them. And wasn't it open AI who wanted
28:16
to really use Scarlett Johansson's voice and she
28:19
wouldn't let them? Yeah, yeah.
28:20
Yeah, I mean life imitating out there and then top three
28:23
gadgets. I mean one from this film, I
28:25
don't know, everyone says the hoverbots, but the one for me is
28:28
it's just in the background very quickly.
28:29
But you know where you say that dog being taken for walk and
28:31
it's just attached to like, yeah, yeah, yeah, drawn type
28:34
device that would be so useful, like when it's pissing it down
28:37
outside. You lazy bastard, you're not.
28:41
Going to pretend it's anything other than all go on, because
28:43
that can take. I'm not getting wet.
28:45
No way. And then the last one I just
28:47
loved, you know, the exosuit in District 9.
28:50
Oh yeah, that he has at the end. That's amazing match from
28:53
walking around in that. That is cool, I love that.
28:56
And that is 2015 Hill Valley Flying Cars, Cafe 80s,
28:59
Hoverboard and the Greatest Sports.
29:01
Alman Actor take us to Act 2 first door.
29:03
Should we check out the other side of 2015?
29:05
Let's do that. We should.
29:09
After Jennifer was found unconscious by two police
29:11
officers, she's taken home to Hilldale.
29:14
Here we see the full McFly clan, all Lorraine and George,
29:17
middle-aged Marty and Jennifer, and their kids Marty, Junior and
29:20
Marlene. Marty gets fired, Jennifer runs
29:22
into herself, and Old Biff steals the Lorien.
29:26
A lot going on. Hilldale Map The address of
29:28
success or the address of success.
29:30
I mean, this scene when Jennifer goes to the Mcfys, this is a
29:34
tough scene to swallow for me. Like it's tricky when you get an
29:37
act of playing multiple parts as to how believable it is.
29:39
I mean, we covered Doctor Strangelove not too long call.
29:42
Peter Sellers delivers a master class in how you do it.
29:45
This is no master class I'm afraid here.
29:48
With with some of these. Slammed.
29:51
Well, Michael Chavox, he's great as the multiple Marty's, but
29:56
when he comes downstairs as Marlene as well, it's so
29:59
unconvincing with that voice over the top of it.
30:01
It didn't. Just Oh yeah.
30:02
Yeah. It always takes me out of the
30:04
film. It's like I'm watching the
30:05
clumps or something like that, they said.
30:09
I know of it. I'm not sure why they didn't
30:11
just have Leah Thompson playing Marlene.
30:13
And then Lorraine and George turn up and obviously all get
30:15
into all the crisp and glove and stuff later, but George was
30:18
hanging upside down like one of those really fancy kebabs he can
30:20
get. It's on the thing instead.
30:23
It's just all too silly. I mean, I think the make up is
30:26
not aged well at all in this film for trying to convince you
30:29
like these people are old in this whole scene.
30:32
Just players. I'd like too much of A pundit
30:33
mind for me and I just think Get Me Out of the scene.
30:35
I want out of this future for more reasons than one.
30:38
Right. I'm not sure this scene is
30:40
totally necessary to the plot, to be honest, no.
30:43
Absolutely not. But I think it's just a joy.
30:47
I love Marlene appearing at the top of the stairs that close up.
30:49
You meant to notice Michael J Fox, I think.
30:51
I don't think it's meant to be like Peter Sellers, but it's a
30:53
pizza hydrator for me. Secondary to the hoverboard,
30:55
that thing. Who wouldn't want one of those?
30:58
Just ignoring all of the performances that fucking.
31:02
Pizza hydrator or you're straight in there with the
31:04
pizza. Obviously, that's no surprise.
31:06
Well Lorraine uses to cook the pizza.
31:08
How good does that pizza look? It looks does look good to be
31:11
black and deck. I need to open the take away on.
31:14
Definitely. Finally, Elizabeth Shoe gets
31:16
something to do. And if anything just goes to
31:18
prove that we should get even more of AI.
31:20
Think it's funny when she sees the wedding photo and just like
31:22
Chapel. Oh, love.
31:24
And then when she runs into herself, 47 year old Jennifer
31:26
shouts I'm young and 17 year old Jennifer shouts I'm old.
31:30
And they're both just pass out. That's great.
31:32
Yeah. But other sequence, I think it's
31:33
fun. And yes, Jennifer's biggest
31:35
moment in the whole trilogy, probably.
31:38
Yeah, I mean, this scene is just there to set up the end of
31:41
three, isn't it? With needles.
31:44
I was hanging McFly. Chicken and then he decides to
31:49
go the other that's why he can't play guitar he's done this
31:51
before we're setting up 3 so right you've touched on this
31:56
already John Neil go so the motivation for the pizza
31:59
hydrator was financial universal and struck A sponsorship deal
32:02
with Pizza Hut so told to Megas and GAIL to have to write them
32:05
into the script. This is why we also see Pepsi,
32:08
Nike, Mattel, Texaco and a lot of other recognizable brands.
32:12
Yeah. I mean, product placement often
32:14
gets criticized, but what works quite well here I think is it's
32:16
a make us went to all these companies and said we're
32:18
basically easier to redesign your logos and products to look
32:21
like something futuristic. How do you think it might look
32:23
in 30 years? You can't go out and buy it.
32:25
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, this.
32:26
Isn't going to make us go and buy a drill.
32:28
Yeah, it also gets us furious. And everyone goes for the green
32:31
pepper. Who's leaving the pepperoni?
32:33
Everyone's leaving the pepperoni.
32:35
It's the wrong site to go for. Yeah.
32:38
And the concept designer responsible for lots of the
32:40
future tech was Edward 8th. He created the pizza hydrator by
32:44
taking a normal countertop oven and making it look more playful.
32:47
He also designed a dozen variations of risk communicators
32:51
and there they said in many ways I've predicted smartwatches of
32:54
today. And he also designed the
32:55
futuristic Texaco petrol stations.
32:58
And he told Smecas the McFly home should have a giant
33:00
aquarium where he could harvest real fish.
33:03
But Smecas said no as he thought it was too lavish for a middle
33:06
class family. Yeah, the hydrator cooks the
33:08
pizza in about 3 seconds. Yeah, it's all one shot.
33:11
As well as how they did that was Leah Thompson put the tiny pizza
33:14
in the hydrator, closed the door and the huge pizza was a touch
33:16
of the ceiling and that was then released and dropped down.
33:18
So when she opened the door again, there it is, just really
33:21
simple, but it works. Yeah.
33:22
Yeah, it does. Yeah.
33:23
So while film in the kitchen scene where the McFly family are
33:26
eaten, fruit please. Incredible that you have the
33:29
fruit, please absolutely practice.
33:32
Just when that comes down. There's too much fruit, too much
33:34
fruit for anyone. Absolute SAP body junior isn't.
33:38
He he's awful. Yeah.
33:40
Phone. It's needles.
33:42
It's really an earthquake actually struck California at
33:46
that time. The cast and crew all felt the
33:48
rumble and carried on. And when Zemeckis watched the
33:50
footage back, you realized you couldn't tell as none of the
33:52
props moved. So that's the actual take in the
33:54
film. Wow.
33:56
Yeah, the sound stage, you're being locked off and everything
33:58
was kind of glued in place for reasons to do with some effects
34:01
magic, which we'll talk about. But the earthquake is really
34:03
noticeable on the set, apparently.
34:05
But you can't tell in the film because everything kind of moves
34:06
together. Right, right.
34:08
Imagine the whole table just like a split apart.
34:11
Just leave that in, the bigger pizza comes out.
34:17
One of the two police officers who bring Jennifer home after
34:20
the Finder unconscious are Officer Foley and Officer Reese.
34:24
Foley is played by Stephanie Williams, who became known for
34:26
TV roles later on, and Reese is played by Mary Ellen Traynor,
34:31
who was Roberts Max's wife at the time.
34:34
Yeah, she's not just off Mary Ellen Traynor, The Goonies,
34:36
Lethal Weapon, Die Hard. In 1989.
34:39
She was like the sequel queen. She was in Back of the Future
34:41
Part 2 and also Lethal Weapon 2 and Ghostbusters 20.
34:45
Wow. So from that moment, we've got
34:48
needles when they find out the phones ring and then the kids
34:50
have just got the glasses on. It's just the equivalent of them
34:53
sat on the phones at the table now.
34:54
Yeah, Yeah, just you've got a message started.
34:56
So right, I'll go through. So then he has to take the call
35:00
and just how quickly he falls for being called a chicken just
35:03
starts to piss me off every time.
35:06
It's not that bad to be called. Are you chicken?
35:08
Yeah, I'm actually fuck off. And the job's more important.
35:11
I mean, financial security. And yes, I'm a little bit scared
35:13
of things. It's absolutely fine to admit
35:15
now, but I think back in the 80s it was masculinity.
35:18
And if you're scared of something, I mean, that's just
35:20
his stick, isn't it? But I think they just use that
35:22
as this ace up the sleeve. And I just don't think it's as
35:24
big of a card as they think it is when they're playing it.
35:27
And then there's that booming. Not Fry.
35:30
Hilarious. That outrageous?
35:32
What a reaction. And it's just, but what I
35:35
noticed about this, can you? I was talking about this scene
35:37
when you watch Needles go to hang the phone up.
35:39
He kind of looks to the corner and smiles as if they're in the
35:41
same room. Oh.
35:42
Yeah, right. Completely setting Marty up.
35:44
So you guys, I'll see you there. And maybe there was more of this
35:47
scene. Maybe, yeah.
35:47
But that like, read my Facts is just absolutely brilliant.
35:51
And it just comes out of every single fax machine that they've
35:54
got, all of the different places.
35:57
But the video call, it's all just teams, isn't it?
35:59
And they've absolutely nailed that.
36:01
And I love all the little details when it comes up with
36:03
like what the favorite food is and what they don't like.
36:06
And it's like doesn't like sushi and fish, loves beer, Scotch,
36:09
just all these little moments that come in.
36:11
I think that was so really well done.
36:12
Look. This at yours on that West of
36:13
the end. Mine so, but actually I don't
36:16
know. It's a great scene, but slightly
36:19
pointless, all of it. It is a bit, Yeah, this nice
36:23
little satire there through those huge video screens, I
36:26
think as Martin Junior watches like 6 TV channels at once.
36:29
Yeah. So kids concentration levels are
36:31
a rock bottom, it looks like. Yeah.
36:32
And the TV's got like a screensaver that cycles through
36:35
classic art like Van Gogh. And that's something the TV's do
36:38
now. Yeah, it is.
36:39
Yeah, like a fireplace and stuff.
36:40
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I like Marty's boss, though.
36:43
Ito T Fujitsu, played by James Ashida.
36:45
He's crazy hilarious. And Martin, he's all desperate.
36:48
Like, no, it was a sting. I was setting him up.
36:53
I'm fired. I can't be fired.
36:57
You're 2 ties from Audi as well. Yeah, exactly.
36:59
I love that. I would not do anything to piss
37:02
that guy off. I'm sorry.
37:03
Oh, definitely. No, it's terrifying, Westy.
37:06
What, not what what? So as we touched on there, Flea
37:10
plays Needles and it's more well known as the bassist in the Red
37:13
Hot Chili Peppers and the band was touring at the time and Flee
37:15
had to fly in to shoot his scenes and had only slept for
37:18
two hours the night before. He said he didn't watch the
37:21
films for years after they were released and since called Part
37:24
2A. Multi million dollar piece of
37:26
trash. Wow, surely 2 hours sleep's good
37:30
going when you're in the Chili Peppers though, wasn't?
37:32
It at the time, yeah. Late 80s, yeah.
37:35
Peak Chili Peppers. He also said that in the rush to
37:38
get to the set, he lost a jumper, especially given to him
37:41
by his grandma. Right.
37:43
Well, no wonder he's upset. Yeah.
37:44
Two hours sleep and you lose your jumper.
37:46
Happens to the best of all here. Yeah.
37:48
Yeah. And a TV special called The
37:50
Secrets of the Back to the Future trilogy was released to
37:53
promote the trilogy in 1990. And short some scenes cut from
37:57
the Part 22015 sequence. One was Marty coming across a
38:00
destroyed Hill Valley High School and another was after
38:03
Biff returns to 2015 in the De Lorean, he starts to fade from
38:07
existence and then vanishes. But that was caught when test
38:10
audiences didn't understand it. But we do still see part of that
38:13
scene with Biff Semen to be in pain when he gets out of the
38:16
car. I always wondered why he was
38:18
doing that. Yeah, yeah, but this whole
38:20
Hildale sequence is therefore basically one major plot point,
38:23
which is old Biff stealing the De Lorean.
38:25
Yeah, I mean, that's a good idea, but I think most people
38:28
know there's a huge plot hole there as well, isn't there?
38:30
Yeah, because Biff goes back to 1955, driving changes the
38:33
timeline, as we'll find out. But when he returns to 2015, he
38:37
doesn't travel into the new timeline.
38:38
He comes back to the one that we're already in.
38:40
And the time travel rules of the whole series tell us that that's
38:43
not how it works. Because in the first film and
38:44
Marty goes back to 1985, his family have changed.
38:47
Yeah, when they go back to 1985, like everything's changed, I
38:51
guess that scene was there. Try and cover that.
38:53
But even then it's not following the rules still.
38:55
Not really. Should he have like transformed
38:57
halfway then and just come back as Rich Biff?
39:00
When he traveled back in 2015, she traveled into the 2015 where
39:03
Biff has changed the world. What exactly?
39:05
So he would come back as Rich Biff.
39:07
I guess he would come back as himself.
39:08
Yeah, right. OK.
39:09
I think I may have been better than coming back, seeing what
39:11
he's done and regretting it. But I don't think Biff's that
39:13
kind of character. Is he NO0?
39:15
Death to this guy? I mean, I know it's not primer,
39:17
but that does bother me a bit. Like pothole.
39:20
Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah.
39:21
And that's that on 2015, Marty saves his kids, Jennifer has the
39:24
strangest afternoon of her life, and somewhere in 1955, the
39:28
timeline's been messed with. It's all a bit mad, so we should
39:31
probably get into the director to see what he was thinking.
39:33
Yeah, yes, please. The director.
39:41
The director of Back to the Future Part 2 back from the
39:44
original was Robert Zemeckis. This was his sixth feature film
39:48
after I Want to Hold Your Hand, Used Cars, Romancing the Stone,
39:51
Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
39:54
He was hot stuff in Hollywood at this point, wasn't he, Matt?
39:56
Yes, he really was. How would Roberts Omega do
39:58
directing Back to the Future Part 2?
40:01
I mean, the thing about him for me is I can't think of one of
40:03
the big name director who's got such a great streak of early
40:06
films, but like the latter half of his career I just find so
40:09
forgettable. Like I can't remember the last
40:12
time I saw at the cinema or the last of his recent films that
40:15
I've watched more than once. And I think the reason for that
40:17
is he became obsessed with story gimmicks in challenges, with
40:21
special effects, rather than telling a great story with
40:24
emotion in wit and characters, which is what he used to be
40:27
great at. And I think that relates to he,
40:30
because this feels like it's almost like the halfway point
40:32
for him here. There's a lot of very clever
40:34
technical work going on, particularly in the latter 3rd
40:37
when you've got characters interacting with past selves and
40:40
past timelines and you can see that's the stuff that's really
40:43
got him excited. But I do think that comes at the
40:45
expense of the story beats. I mean, it's an incredibly high
40:48
bar to live up to, obviously, but you just think of the iconic
40:51
moments from the first knocking Biff out, the kiss, Johnny B
40:55
Goode. No scene here has that level of
40:57
emotion or humour, No, but I also think he's got one eye on
41:01
Part 3, which is more satisfying on those terms.
41:03
There's more human, there's more heart in that is using this part
41:07
to get us there while giving himself something to challenge
41:10
himself, which is all the technical stuff.
41:12
And I think that's the balance that he has here.
41:14
As a trilogy, he's telling a great story across it, but in
41:18
this particular one, that story isn't finished yet.
41:20
So this one feels like he's a smart excited about the effects
41:23
work and the challenges and the gimmicks than anything else.
41:26
Yeah, I find Robert Zemeckis a slightly strange one as a
41:29
director because it always kind of surprises me that he isn't
41:32
more of a household name because he's got, like, Romancing the
41:34
Stone, Back to the Future, Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump coming up,
41:38
massive hits like Oscar winners. And most people probably don't
41:41
know who he is. Yeah.
41:42
Never really comes up in conversations with great
41:44
directors. I know he's maybe not as
41:45
consistent as the biggest names, but he's got the big hitters, I
41:48
think. Yeah.
41:49
And here on Part 2, I think what I probably find most impressive
41:53
is just the scale of what he had to pull off, because Part 2 and
41:56
Part three were made at the same time, basically, which we'll
41:58
talk about, but he'll be sleeping a few hours a night,
42:00
flying back and forth between locations.
42:02
And Part 2 does have a blip or two here or there like we've
42:05
been talking about, but I think that's mostly in the writing.
42:08
As director, I think it does feel like he's in control and
42:10
got a hold for the most part on this huge production.
42:14
And what I always think about Zemeckis is that like, it's Paul
42:16
Spielberg. He's not necessarily a big
42:18
artistic director. I think of him as a storytelling
42:21
director. And of that, I think he is one
42:23
of the best. He uses all the technical
42:25
wizardry that's there. He does it here as well, but
42:27
it's at this point not usually for the sake of it.
42:29
It is usually in service of the story, like Jennifer coming face
42:32
to face with herself. Like we talked about.
42:33
There's some serious effects work in that shot, but I never
42:36
think about it. I'm just kind of in the moment.
42:38
And I think that understanding of just good old fashioned
42:41
storytelling is one of the things that separates your
42:43
Spielberg's from your Michael Bays and Zemeckis.
42:46
For me, it's definitely on the Spielberg end of that spectrum.
42:49
You'll see that I think mostly in Part 2.
42:51
And that's no bad thing. Yeah, I mean, I've thought about
42:54
this and it's like really hard to pinpoint a Zemeckis film.
42:57
What is a Robert Zemeckis film, then?
42:59
What is it at its core? I'm just imagine sitting.
43:01
I would have played with someone just going, who's your favorite
43:03
director? And they go Robert Zemeckis and
43:05
I'll go. So what do you like exactly
43:07
then? Because he's done everything
43:09
like across the board. I don't know.
43:11
I kind of put my finger on it. I know what I mean, yeah.
43:13
But I think what he does have is a lot of rules, and I think he's
43:16
a very consistent director and I think he has a lot of control
43:18
over set pieces. I think he can really direct set
43:21
pieces without you knowing that's necessarily over
43:24
directed. He definitely doesn't over
43:25
direct and these films are really enjoyable, but I don't
43:29
know what his motivation is. I don't know where he gets the
43:32
energy to do pull or express, but I think in this film he does
43:36
have a lot of rules. He does have a lot of control.
43:38
It shows how considerate he is as a director, but also how much
43:41
he pushes the boundaries. I think every film that he's
43:43
done has pushed stuff just a little bit further than it
43:46
should need to go, which is great.
43:48
Yeah, so the first Back to the Future film that had been the
43:51
highest grossing film of 1985 in Universal obviously wanted a
43:55
sequel as soon as possible. So Mechas and GAIL weren't keen
43:58
at first as they thought sequels.
43:59
We usually just retreads of the first film.
44:02
But things changed when the studio delivered an old maiden,
44:05
which was head of Universal, said Sheinberg, telling them a
44:08
sequel was going to be made with or without them.
44:11
So Megan said that didn't like sequels because they were
44:14
retread of the original. Amazing.
44:16
They still made it as close to that blueprint as possible.
44:19
Yeah, well, as Megan Gill's original contract with Universal
44:22
and Amblin gave the Lords of Creative Control, Yeah, but
44:24
Universal had distribution rights and obviously the
44:27
finances to go ahead and take it to court if they had to.
44:29
So as Megan Gill didn't have a massive choice really.
44:32
Yeah, yeah. That's why they said they'll
44:33
never do a remake and they're never going to do another
44:35
sequel. Like it's it's never, ever going
44:36
to happen. Yeah, yeah.
44:37
Which is fair enough. So they struck a deal instead,
44:40
they said we'll do a sequel on the following basis.
44:43
We need to have deals in place for Michael J Fox and
44:45
Christopher Lloyd. As long as those guys assigned,
44:47
we'll figure out a sequel. Nice it.
44:49
Would have been pretty terrible if J Fox hadn't came back,
44:52
wouldn't it? Yeah, list the garage door open.
44:55
It's Eric Stalls. Back the stalls, tail between
45:00
his legs, wasn't Mecca's. Yeah, I'll sort that out.
45:03
That's exactly what I would tell this fucking asshole right now.
45:08
So once the Meccas and Gale started coming up with ideas
45:10
they had told Universal that actually wanted to make a
45:12
trilogy. Universal greenlit a budget of
45:15
$40 million for Part 2, more than twice the budget of the
45:18
original and another 40 million for Part 3.
45:22
There's an overall production cost obviously, doesn't it?
45:25
But signing off 2 sequels back-to-back, that was pretty
45:27
much unprecedented in Hollywood at the time.
45:28
So new ground for the likes of Lord of the Rings later on and
45:33
apparently one of the inspirations for this shooting.
45:35
The second and third films back-to-back with 20th Country
45:38
Fox. They produced The Three
45:40
Musketeers in 1973 and when there were production problems
45:43
it ended up being split into two films and The Four Musketeers
45:47
came out in 1974. Universal were keen to avoid
45:50
similar issues which is why they agreeing that 2 sequels at the
45:53
same time. Right.
45:55
Yeah, so one of the issues on The Three Musketeers that the
45:57
cast had only been paid for one film.
45:59
So when I was split into two, they went to the Screen Actors,
46:02
GAIL, and demanded to be paid for two films, Right.
46:04
And I mean, the cast was like Oliver Reed and Raquel Welsh.
46:07
They've done away Charlton Heston.
46:08
So not cheap, no. Exactly, they put the trailer on
46:11
the end of the third one as well, didn't they?
46:13
Which influenced this? That's right, yeah.
46:14
Right. Yeah nice.
46:15
The production for Part 2 and Part 3 lasted 11 months and pre
46:19
production took two years to build the sets and write the
46:21
script. Part 2 was being edited while
46:24
Part 3 was being filmed and Zemeckis was overseeing both.
46:27
During the final three weeks he barely slept.
46:30
Every day he would finish filming Part 3 in Northern
46:32
California, then get on a plane to LA where post production on
46:35
Part 2 was taking place, and then he get another plane at
46:39
4:30 AM to be back on the set in time for Part 3 shooting.
46:42
Mean. I'm exhausted just hearing that.
46:44
That's crazy. And Fleas got a big moan.
46:48
Velocity jumper. If you want the dream job of
46:51
being a Hollywood director, they'll make you work for it
46:53
because you're. Absolutely, yeah.
46:55
The costume designer on the first film had been Deborah Lynn
46:57
Scott, but Smecker's replacing for the sequels with Joanna
47:00
Johnston after he worked with her on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
47:04
She had to design for various time periods, but she said the
47:07
most difficult was the 2015 sequence.
47:10
Yeah, she said she was terrified of the prospect of designing the
47:12
clothing of the future, which makes sense.
47:15
I mean, during 1955 or like the Wild West.
47:17
You've got photographs of the reference or Clint Eastwood
47:20
films in this case, yeah. And Johnson then said her
47:23
creative philosophy for the 2015 wardrobe was that men and women
47:27
would be equal in society, which is where the idea for Mardi's
47:30
Nike Mag power lacing tubes came from.
47:33
They were designed by Tinker Hatfield, who were designed the
47:35
Nike Air Max. Yeah, when Molly puts them on,
47:38
they, like, lace themselves. How cool was that?
47:40
The first thing you saw isn't. Yeah, But the way they did that
47:43
was actually really simple because the triad was stuck to,
47:45
like, a fake floor. And when J Fox put them on and
47:48
there was a crew member below the fake floor, we just pulled
47:50
the laces tight and then turned on the, like, logo lights.
47:53
Same thing with when the jacket resizes.
47:55
Crew members just out a shot pulling on cables, and then
47:58
that's some sound effects imposed in it.
48:00
Yeah, it all works. Maybe magic?
48:01
And there was some other interesting details in the
48:03
costumes. The shirt that Doc wears for
48:05
most of the film has a design with horses and trains, and this
48:08
foreshadows the climax of Part 3, where Marty returned to 1985
48:12
by fitting a De Lorean to a locomotion.
48:14
Yeah, you had a family doing 2 films at the same time, I think.
48:18
Tell you what outfits outrageous though.
48:20
Marty's inconspicuous get up in 1955 shades and leather jackets.
48:25
Yeah. Sticks on like a sort though.
48:26
Could look more sis if he tried. Looks like Kinicky.
48:29
The production designer on the first film was Lawrence J Paul,
48:32
but Zemeckis replaced him for the sequels with Rick Carter.
48:36
He'd worked with Steven Spielberg on The Goonies and the
48:38
TV anthology series Amazing Stories, and Spielberg
48:41
recommended him to Zemeckis. He also said the biggest
48:44
challenge was creating the sets for the 2015 Hill Valley on the
48:48
first film. The Hill Valley set was created
48:50
on the Universal back lot and ended up being damaged.
48:53
So for Part 2 they had to clean the setup and restore it all.
48:56
They've done so much damage first time around, it cost more
48:59
to rebuild it than to build it in the first place.
49:01
I think a lot of the cost would dig out the 60 foot by 80 foot
49:04
square for the lake and then they filled it with 80,000
49:06
gallons of water. For one hoverboard not working.
49:11
Exactly, Yeah. To nearly kill someone.
49:13
A nice little touch as well with the ledge on the clock tower.
49:15
The dock broke in the first film where he nearly falls off it.
49:17
That's still broken in 2015. All right, I've noticed that.
49:20
No Oscar nominations was a Mecca for best director.
49:23
No best pitcher nominations either.
49:25
What a huge surprise. Maybe.
49:27
No. For us though, in the vision,
49:29
the logistical achievement and the managing various looks,
49:31
feels and tones. Some good blockbuster sequel
49:34
making from Robert Zemeckis here.
49:36
Very much. Yeah, he's ticking the boxes
49:38
he's made in the studio, happy and the audience.
49:39
I think that's all he can do with the sequel, yeah.
49:44
The cast. Robert Zemeckis was working with
49:49
a returning cast he knew Untrusted.
49:51
We've talked about Elizabeth Shoe stepping in with Jennifer
49:53
already, and it will be getting into Tom Wilson, Leah Thompson
49:56
and Christopher Lloyd shortly, as well as telling a very
49:58
contentious tale about a previous cast member.
50:01
But we start with the man carrying the whole thing.
50:04
We do so Michael J Fox is back as Marty McFly, the time
50:07
travelling Hill Valley teenager. We see Marty drag to the future,
50:11
then an alternate present, then the past chasing down that damn
50:14
sports Almanac. As if that wasn't enough, J Fox
50:16
also plays Marty's son and Marty's daughter, as well as an
50:19
older and slightly younger version of Marty. 5 rolls
50:23
Westie? Yep. 5 for the price of one,
50:25
yes. What do you make of MJF as Emma
50:27
Mccaff? I think he's fully dedicated in
50:30
this film and he's having a great time, which makes us have
50:32
a great time. I think he's totally underrated
50:35
for the star quality that he brought, especially at this
50:38
time. He was just such a presence on
50:40
the screen and he just sold everything because he just felt
50:43
so relatable. I felt like I was Marty McFly,
50:46
like he was my age. He's a slacker.
50:48
It's great. It was just that kind of early
50:50
Bart Simpson, I think, kind of impression that had on people.
50:53
And I think J Fox just plays that beautifully.
50:56
And like we said, he's great as Marty Junior.
50:58
I think he's absolutely fantastic.
51:00
When he goes into Cafe 80s, he's just transformed.
51:02
Just totally different. He's just his whole body
51:04
language is different. He's to me, and that's
51:05
different. His voice is different and he
51:07
has great physical comedy, especially in this film.
51:10
Some amazing moments when him and Strickland are on the porch
51:13
and he's just pointing the gun down.
51:15
He said no, no, no, no. I'm from school.
51:18
That's right. That's.
51:21
Really funny. He understands where the camera
51:23
is, he understands what an action film is, he understands
51:25
Back to the Future, he understands the world and he's
51:28
just playing it with just absolute relish and he's loving
51:30
it. And because he loves it, we love
51:32
it just as much. Yeah, I love Michael J Fox.
51:35
Yeah, he's amazing. For as long as I can remember.
51:37
I mean, my love from basically comes entirely from Back to the
51:39
Future with a dash of Teen Wolf as well to.
51:42
Be a Teen Wolf, I would say it has to be in there.
51:44
I think it's easy to overlook just how much he's doing
51:46
technically 5 roles like we said, but obviously it's the
51:49
present teenage Marty. He's playing for like 90% of the
51:52
film or something. But I think pretty impressive is
51:54
that even the size and the different roles in some ways
51:57
this is a harder film for J Fox in the first one because in Back
52:00
in the Future, Marty just kind of cool teenager out of his
52:03
depth like a fish out of water. But he's funny.
52:06
He's playing the guitar, he's skateboarding, he's likable.
52:09
And the plot's pretty straightforward.
52:10
Get your parents together, get back to 1985.
52:13
Here the plot is total chaos. He's in 2015, then he's in
52:17
Pottersville. I mean 1985 a dog causes.
52:21
Then back in 1955, try not to bump into himself at three
52:24
different like worlds really. And like we said, there was some
52:27
total shifts between them and J Fox has got to be the kind of
52:30
anchor through all of it. The 1985 5A stuff especially.
52:33
There's one or two scenes there which do have real dramatic
52:35
weight. Yeah, it's probably the dark, as
52:37
the whole trilogy goes. And JFR, great comedy guy.
52:39
We know he proves he does have those more dramatic chops when
52:42
he needs them as well. Yeah, but what he's best at is
52:45
the comedy. I think he's one of the best
52:46
comic actors I've seen. His line delivery is always
52:49
superb. But the bits I laugh at most are
52:51
almost always his reactions. Yeah.
52:53
Like in Cafe 80s, that bit when he punches Griff and Griff,
52:56
like, kind of grows in front of him like a robot.
52:59
We can just see Marty's eyes sticking over Griff's shoulder.
53:02
And J Fox does this thing with his eyebrows, which I always
53:04
laugh at. So yeah, multiple roles.
53:07
But if the main teenage Marty doesn't work, none of it works.
53:11
Yeah, exactly. And Michael J Fox makes it work
53:12
easily. He's just great to me.
53:14
Yeah. Yeah, I mean, always great as
53:16
Marty. I mean, he does make it seem
53:18
like this film follows straight on from the last one without any
53:21
gap, even with the slight difference in the hair.
53:23
I mean, he's certainly just seen four years older, so he bridges
53:26
the two films really nicely as he's seen, though it is a bit
53:29
more manic, this film from Marty.
53:31
He kind of gets flung from pillow to post a bit, so he
53:33
doesn't quite get the great character moments like he does
53:36
in the first one, like building the relationship with George,
53:39
etcetera. There's none of that.
53:41
This one, he's just much more reactive to stuff because that
53:43
narrative goes all over the place, but he keeps you engaged
53:46
constantly. You want to follow him
53:48
throughout this. And obviously, like a lot of the
53:50
actors see, you're playing multiple roles.
53:51
And I think Puff Marlene, which I mentioned, I think he does
53:54
them all really well. I do think though, and again,
53:56
we've mentioned this, this character note of getting really
53:58
angry if someone calls him chicken.
54:00
That's just bizarre. Just seems to come out of
54:02
nowhere. And it just seems like a
54:04
convenient way to get him into fights and arguments.
54:07
But Puff Matlow, he's Marty McFly, so he just can't go wrong
54:09
with him. Yeah, absolutely.
54:11
God. As we mentioned, one of the
54:12
Maxis conditions for making the sequel was that Michael J Fox
54:15
returned as Marty, so him coming back was never in doubt.
54:19
Fox wanted to do it, but the stumbling block was the salary.
54:21
So for about the future he was paid 250 grand, and for the
54:25
sequels he was reportedly paid 5 million for Part 2 and another 5
54:28
million for Part 3. Wow.
54:30
No wonder he's enjoyed himself. 5 for the price of 10, yeah.
54:35
A million a character. Exactly.
54:37
I mean, the difference was he wasn't just ATV actor from
54:39
Family Ties anymore. He was now a movie star, wasn't
54:41
he? And he had leverage to negotiate
54:43
because the makers had basically said he wouldn't do it without
54:45
him. Yeah.
54:46
Production or wasn't easy for Fox.
54:49
The final season of Family Ties was filming at the same time as
54:52
Part 2, so his shooting schedule for the first few months was
54:55
filming Family Ties during the day and Part 2 at night, meaning
54:58
he was living on a couple of hours sleep at night.
55:01
He went through the same thing on the first film, didn't he?
55:03
He did. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
55:05
And it's interesting because J Fox said that he wasn't
55:06
contacted by the studio about the sequel.
55:08
He only found out there was going to be 1 when the VHS tape
55:11
to the first film start coming out with To be continued at the
55:14
end. All right, right.
55:15
So he got straight into the aging to find out what was going
55:17
on, right? Tell him I won five for the
55:20
price of 10. And there were also some family
55:24
events he had to deal with. Sadly, during filming, Fox's
55:27
father passed away and Fox said he's actually taken some of his
55:30
dad's mannerisms while playing middle-aged Marty.
55:33
And also during filming, Fox's wife Tracy Pollan, she gave
55:36
birth to their first son, Sam. Yeah, she was also in Family
55:40
Ties. Crazy pollen.
55:41
Yes. And there's another little
55:42
personal touch. J Fox ads as well.
55:44
He's a vegetarian, pretty famously so.
55:46
The part where Marty Junior picks the pepperoni off the
55:48
pizza that came from Michael J. Fox.
55:51
Nice. Nice.
55:51
Good. Just had the green pepper one.
55:53
Yeah. Everyone couldn't reach, could
55:54
he? I don't know this is a fact, but
55:57
I'm pretty sure one of their moments from his dad would have
55:59
been when he comes in the house and he's like hello, hello.
56:02
Dad's home. Dad's home.
56:04
That's such a dad thing to do, to say hello twice.
56:07
Hello. Hello.
56:08
No major award for Michael J Fox for his work here or anywhere
56:11
else Is Marty McFly no. For us, though, we love Michael
56:14
J Fox and what he brings is possibly rarer than Oscar win.
56:17
Yes. Oh yeah.
56:18
There should be some kind of special award for this kind of
56:20
performance. The Michael J Fox Everyone Loves
56:22
Them Award. Yeah, exactly.
56:24
The role model without necessarily being a role model
56:27
award. Like Michael J Fox, Thomas F
56:31
Wilson is back for the sequel He plays psychotic future boy
56:34
grief, but his main role is Biff Tanner, the antagonist of the
56:37
piece. We see old biff steeler DeLorean
56:39
young biff receive and failed to keep the sport dominac and
56:42
middle-aged biff after he's turned hill valley into his
56:45
pleasure paradise. Yeah, Still, though he hates
56:47
Munir OST, he does house Tom Wilson as the various bad guys
56:51
I. Mean Tom Wilson is just the bad
56:53
guy of this world, isn't he? He's just unrelentingly bastard.
56:59
You don't realize it because you think he's just pulling up to
57:02
the three guys. He's with her, he's playing up
57:03
the Lorraine or he's just playing up.
57:05
But when my he's trailing him and he just picks that ball up
57:07
off the kids. Go get it.
57:10
Go get it. And there's nobody.
57:12
He's not trying to impress anybody, but he's just doing it
57:14
to be an asshole. And then he walks above the
57:16
street and knocks the kids cup off for no reason whatsoever.
57:19
This is an absolute piece of shit, but he plays it with so
57:22
much relish. And the thing I get from these
57:24
performances from Thomas F Wilson, he's like, I think he's
57:27
just sat before all the filming started, he looked at the
57:30
contract he's got and just went, this is going to be me because
57:33
I'm going to be so typecast doing this character.
57:36
I don't think I'm going to get any other options to be able to
57:39
do anything different. So I'm just going to absolutely
57:41
dive into this. He is really good and really
57:44
incredible, but I just can't see him having much more range and
57:47
being cast in anything else because he just owns this
57:50
character so passionately. But the thing I love about Biff
57:54
and Griff and all the characters that he plays is that there's no
57:57
explanation of why he is the way he is.
58:00
There's no back story. He's just straight down the line
58:03
bully. But The thing is, he doesn't
58:05
make it into a stereotype. I think Thomas Health doesn't
58:07
plays him with this real kind of originality.
58:11
I feel there's not a bad guy like Biff or Griff.
58:14
Like he's even. Griff's totally different.
58:16
He's just a step up from Biff, but he does it so well and like
58:19
I say it, he's just the bad guy and he knows his place.
58:22
He's not asking for anything else.
58:23
He's just going to play it to the absolute best he can.
58:26
I think he plays him really, really well.
58:28
It's just a real shame that he played him so good, he couldn't
58:30
really get anything else. Yeah, I think Biff is just
58:34
fantastic. He's so.
58:35
Funny. In the first film, he's like
58:37
you, classic school bully. He pushes George McFly around,
58:39
kicks him in the pants, tries on with Lorraine and gets what's
58:42
coming to him, as bullies do in films anyway.
58:45
And he's great. But here they do develop them
58:48
because old Biff in 2015, he's like smart enough to figure out
58:50
what's going on in rewrite history. 17 year old Biff, We'll
58:54
see that he might not have a happy home life with his
58:56
grandma. That's a nice little character
58:57
detail, I think. And his grandma, Gertrude
59:00
Hannon, we don't see her, but that's Tom Wilson doing her
59:02
voice voice as well. All right, Jason.
59:05
But as the antagonist, Biff goes from being a problem in the
59:08
first film to kind of the problem here.
59:10
He's the guy that Marty now has to beat.
59:12
I think all that elevates him massively as a villain.
59:14
Yeah, I think Biff's a much better bad guy than he gets
59:16
credit for. And I also think Tom Wilson
59:18
doesn't get the credit he deserves either, because I think
59:21
he's superb playing three versions of Biff.
59:24
He just played each version slightly differently, but I
59:26
totally buy each version as being the same character.
59:29
Yeah, I think middle-aged Biff, especially in 1985 A, he's
59:32
brilliant. Yeah, because Biff till now has
59:34
always been slightly cartoonish. I mean, Griff is very
59:37
cartoonish, but 1985 A, Biff is just horrible.
59:41
He's arrogant and aggressive. He's obnoxious.
59:44
He's violent with Lorraine. He's a murderer.
59:47
Yeah, he totally is. That bit when he's like, take a
59:49
seat, sit down. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
59:52
That's about as much patience as he's got.
59:53
Yeah, yeah, Oliver, when he says to McFly as with the same gun,
59:58
great. You did it better than that,
1:00:00
obviously. Obviously.
1:00:02
But it's not funny anymore. I think that's a big ask of Tom
1:00:05
Wilson, who's a comedy actor mainly, but he shows as well
1:00:08
that he's got the chops. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:00:09
And also what I like is that you can tell Tom Wilson is having
1:00:12
the time of his life in this film.
1:00:14
He's loving it. Yeah.
1:00:15
And rightly. Great bad guy, great
1:00:18
performance. To me, more credit to beef
1:00:20
talent than Tom Wilson, please. Yeah.
1:00:22
Two, right? Yeah.
1:00:23
Yeah. I mean, I'll look this now just
1:00:25
kind of runner rank these performances from top to bottom.
1:00:28
I mean, top is obviously still 50s Biff because he's just got
1:00:31
that real dramatic weight remove.
1:00:33
Like this guy's a genuinely nasty piece of work.
1:00:36
He's not like like a team novel bully this guy.
1:00:40
You believe he will run Marty off and kill him at the end.
1:00:43
Yeah, you're doing the best with this guy.
1:00:45
I think second, that's the old Biff because he doesn't have
1:00:47
that threatening physicality anymore.
1:00:49
But you can see he's got instead this can I even streak instead?
1:00:53
And he's sharper, definitely sharper, the young Biff.
1:00:56
And he's developed that instead, which makes him just as
1:00:58
dangerous. When he's hitting money and
1:01:01
creating, yeah, it's just like, hello.
1:01:05
Festival is king. Just hit people I'm mad with,
1:01:07
yeah. Yeah, I can't make a fist
1:01:09
himself to. To love that I think 8 is
1:01:13
ultimate 80s Biff, I mean a horrible piece of work and you
1:01:17
can see how out of control as Eagle has got now.
1:01:19
And I absolutely believe at that point Biff would have murdered
1:01:22
George because he knows he can get away with it and he will do
1:01:25
anything that he wants. I think Glass is definitely
1:01:27
great for me and it's very scenery tuning, it's very OTT,
1:01:31
it is quite annoying to be honest.
1:01:32
So performances not all quite on the same level, but overall he's
1:01:36
great and as you've been saying, a really underrated bad guy.
1:01:39
Yeah. Yeah, I think he must have been
1:01:41
underweight. Yeah, in. 1985 A Biff is like,
1:01:44
it's proof that he's intelligent when he's got sadism involved
1:01:47
and he's got a reason to be intelligent.
1:01:49
Yeah, it's a really good motivation for the character and
1:01:51
really well done. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he's really
1:01:53
good. Tom Wilson was always issuing to
1:01:55
play Biff, though he was lowest paid of the original cast
1:01:58
members, he was apparently paid 350,000.
1:02:01
Lee Thompson got 650,000. Wilson said that Bob Gale
1:02:05
briefed him for the role of 1985 a biff by giving him photos and
1:02:10
stories of the American tycoon Martin Davies and said look at
1:02:13
Davies eyes there were like a great white shark.
1:02:16
And GAIL had also said he took inspiration from Donald Trump,
1:02:19
which, yeah, it's obvious now. Yeah, he was AUS oil magnate
1:02:23
Barton Davis. You won 20th Century Fox at one
1:02:26
point as well. Oh, really?
1:02:27
Right. Yeah, and the Trump thing.
1:02:29
Yeah, you can see it. Yeah, it's the same painting
1:02:32
behind him, isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:02:35
And 1985 a Lorraine. Her look was apparently based on
1:02:38
Tammy Fame Messner, the TV American evangelist from the
1:02:41
80s. You can see that as well once
1:02:43
you know. OK, right.
1:02:46
But playing three versions of Biff and Griff was more
1:02:49
challenging for Tom Wilson than the first film.
1:02:52
He wears prosthetics to play middle-aged and old Biff, and
1:02:54
Wilson said it took six hours for the make up artist, Ken
1:02:57
Chase to turn them into both of them.
1:02:59
They would start at 3:00 AM to be ready in time for the days
1:03:02
filming. And on days when there were
1:03:03
shooting scenes that had multiple versions of Biff in the
1:03:06
same scene, Wilson would shoot the scenes as the older
1:03:09
character first, spend 90 minutes having make up removed,
1:03:12
then go back to the set to perform the scene again as the
1:03:14
younger character. Yes, like when Old Biff gives
1:03:17
Young Biff the Almanac, or when Old Biff talks to Griff and Cafe
1:03:21
80s them. Seems that's a crazy schedule
1:03:23
though, yeah? Oh yeah.
1:03:25
Insane. Yeah.
1:03:26
No major award for Tom Wilson, but according there was some
1:03:29
performance Oscar for me. Yeah, yeah, why not?
1:03:33
Amazing everything you need from the talent family tree and a
1:03:35
very good bad guy. Great.
1:03:40
We've talked about Michael J Fox and Thomas F Wilson, but they
1:03:43
are some of their face is worth discussing before we move on.
1:03:45
Yep, Christopher Lloyd returns as Doc Brown, the man who
1:03:48
started all the time travel shenanigans, and Leah Thompson
1:03:50
is back as Lorraine Baines slash McFly slash Tannen Marty's
1:03:55
mother, who appears in all timelines in different
1:03:56
incarnations. So I see how important are they
1:04:00
to the film. I'll go for Christopher Lloyd
1:04:02
first of all. I think he's just absolutely
1:04:03
fantastic. He just owns the character, like
1:04:05
we've said about the other actors in the film, but he
1:04:07
really does add this depth, this scientific depth, and then this
1:04:12
moral compass. And he's like battling them both
1:04:15
as like what's right morally to do or what's right and going to
1:04:18
be proven scientifically. And it's always his moral
1:04:20
compass that wins over science. It's always Marty's in trouble.
1:04:23
Let's be honest. He's soon getting arrested.
1:04:25
He probably deserved. He's a fucking idiot.
1:04:27
He is an idiot. Why bother going back and seeing
1:04:30
something's got to be good about your kids like everyone else is
1:04:32
all right, I. Don't like his multi coloured
1:04:33
cap either. No.
1:04:35
Well, there you go. Let's get it all out.
1:04:36
Let's get all on the table. But I think Lloyd just totally
1:04:41
sells that. He can tell he cares.
1:04:43
Him and Jay Fox were just very, very close.
1:04:46
Still on now. It's always so lovely to see
1:04:47
them together. But they'll have such a
1:04:49
chemistry, and I'll see it from the end of this film.
1:04:51
When he turns around, he looks and he goes.
1:04:53
There's only one man who can help me now.
1:04:55
You know that he means it. It gets me.
1:04:57
Like he's a good punch every single time.
1:04:59
He just brings just such a warmth to the screen, and he
1:05:01
always has. Absolutely love him as Doc.
1:05:03
Yeah, as a character, Doc's kind of a plot device as much as
1:05:05
anything, because he's the means by which Marty travels through
1:05:08
time in the 1st place, then at the end, his vanishing sets of
1:05:11
Molly's rescue mission in the third film.
1:05:13
But Lloyd's experienced enough and good enough to make the part
1:05:16
more than that, and often through humour.
1:05:18
I love it at the start in 2015, when Doc takes off his like,
1:05:21
aging master of his actual face. He looks no different.
1:05:25
How do I look? You look great doc.
1:05:27
Replaced his spleen as well his call on.
1:05:32
But yeah, Lloyd brings a warmth in the film.
1:05:34
There's a warmth in Doc and Marty's relationship.
1:05:36
Lloyd and Fox have far better chemistry than you could expect
1:05:39
them to throw them together. Yeah, that's fair in the whole
1:05:41
trilogy and it's a key part here as.
1:05:43
Well, oh, absolutely, yeah. I'll talk about Leah Thompson
1:05:46
because I feel a little bit sorry for her because I think
1:05:48
she's the one who gets underserved.
1:05:50
Yeah, with the script here, to be honest, in the writing and
1:05:52
the multiple roles as original, Lorraine, just an absolute
1:05:56
sweetheart. But you just don't get to see
1:05:58
enough of her and she has nothing to do, you know?
1:06:00
And then alternate 80s Lorraine, I mean, it's all a bit grim and
1:06:03
horrible, which is obviously the point and she can only play
1:06:06
that. But it is still quite depressing
1:06:08
to see that character being reduced to that by Biff.
1:06:11
But then when you see you're playing like old Lorraine, it's
1:06:14
like, has Leah Thompson ever seen an old person before in
1:06:16
real life? Because she just does this like
1:06:19
weird shuffling and squeaky voice, which again, I mean, that
1:06:22
old sequence, like I've said, I don't really like it takes me
1:06:25
out of it. So yeah, unfortunately it's just
1:06:27
a mix baggy for her in terms of what she delivers because the
1:06:29
script doesn't really give her anything meaningful to do.
1:06:33
Yeah, she doesn't play his pivotal, the part in the plot
1:06:35
here. She doesn't.
1:06:36
The first film, obviously. I still like the character
1:06:38
though. I like Leah Thompson.
1:06:39
I love it, yeah. I think 1985 year Lorraine's
1:06:42
maybe the most memorable because obviously she's not happy with
1:06:44
like, the monster that is Bitch. Yeah, she's an alcoholic, She's
1:06:47
being abused. It's pretty awful stuff.
1:06:49
I think Thompson's really good with it because she doesn't shy
1:06:51
away from it. She gives it some weight.
1:06:53
Yeah, but a bit like Tom Wilson, Leah Thompson's playing multiple
1:06:56
roles and they're all very different.
1:06:58
The difference with her is she must only have about maybe 15
1:07:02
minutes of screen time to do it in, so that's not easy,
1:07:05
especially when Lorraine's on driving the plot.
1:07:07
But I think every scene she's in, she elevates.
1:07:09
I like Leah Thompson and Lorraine a lot.
1:07:11
Absolutely. I think 1985 a Lorraine is very,
1:07:14
very similar and reminds me of the original Lorraine from the
1:07:17
start of the first part of the. Yeah, and just that really
1:07:20
downtrodden and like a little lost puppy.
1:07:22
What Lorraine, What amazing. And just, you know, Joey's still
1:07:26
going to prison. I don't help Joey for a change.
1:07:29
Yeah, he. Definitely needs help.
1:07:31
Yeah, you've. Been in jail about 30 years.
1:07:34
Must be a mass murderer. Actually don't help this guy.
1:07:37
Lee Thompson plays Lorraine across multiple timelines, as
1:07:40
we've discussed, and there was a problem with the 1955 version
1:07:44
because the sequence at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance
1:07:46
involved shooting scenes from the first film from a different
1:07:49
angle, they needed to use the same costumes for continuity,
1:07:52
but the dress Lorraine wore at the dance couldn't be found
1:07:55
anywhere. Lee Thompson late I admit to
1:07:57
Zemeckis that she'd taken one of them home first time around to
1:08:00
keep. So she went home and had to get
1:08:02
it and wore it for the film, tail between her legs.
1:08:05
Still that I keep it, thankfully.
1:08:07
Yeah. Brilliant.
1:08:08
And Leah Thompson said that she took us keepsake from this film
1:08:10
as well. Lorraine's fake breast implant
1:08:12
from 1985. Yeah.
1:08:14
But I think that was more because it was based on a mold
1:08:16
of her own chest, so she didn't want anyone else getting them,
1:08:18
which is fair enough. Yeah, that is fair enough.
1:08:20
Understandable. Now there is another story
1:08:22
relating to the cast of Back to the Future Part 2 that you can't
1:08:25
not talk about when telling the story of this film, isn't there?
1:08:28
Here we go. Yeah.
1:08:29
That revolves around Crispin Glover.
1:08:31
He played George McFly in the first film, a big role, but did
1:08:34
not return this time around, although the character does kind
1:08:37
of. Yeah.
1:08:38
Yeah. Matt, you're going to regale us
1:08:39
with what happened, I believe. I am so the first film because
1:08:43
it hadn't been written with a sequel in mind.
1:08:45
None of the cast members were tied to sequel contracts, so for
1:08:49
Part 2, it's Meccas and Universal.
1:08:51
They struck deals with all of the original cast members apart
1:08:54
from Crisp and Glover, and Glover has said the problem was
1:08:57
the offer. He was offered $125,000 to
1:09:00
return as George, which was less than half what every other cast
1:09:04
member was offered. Yes.
1:09:05
So depending on who you listen to, the story is very different.
1:09:10
Glover says the offer was insulting.
1:09:11
Bob Gale says that Glover's wage demands were pretty much the
1:09:14
same as Michael J Fox's, and he wanted final script approval as
1:09:17
well. So very different accounts.
1:09:20
Wow, final. Script approval.
1:09:24
And Glover also said the reason he was low balled was personal.
1:09:28
On the first film, Glover had questioned the ending to
1:09:30
Zemeckis. He said that Marty ended up
1:09:32
getting the truck he wanted and the Mcclice, being better off
1:09:35
financially, made money the reward when it should be about
1:09:38
love. Yeah, I think we were problems
1:09:40
throughout the first film. I've heard Zemecki see the
1:09:42
Glover was like a wild card and his performance had to be reined
1:09:45
in constantly. It sounds like maybe he wasn't
1:09:47
that keen on working with him again.
1:09:49
But though, well, if he comes back for less than everyone
1:09:51
else, maybe it's worth it. Yeah, fair enough.
1:09:53
Yeah. I wonder if he would have got
1:09:54
any more screen time, because that sounds about right for the
1:09:56
amount of screen time we'll see the character have in the
1:09:58
finished film. Exactly.
1:10:00
Yeah. So yeah, with no George for Part
1:10:02
2, Zemeckas and GAIL came up with a few workarounds.
1:10:05
They dug out unused footage of George from the first film and
1:10:08
used it for some cutaways. They wrote him out of 1985 A
1:10:11
entirely by having Biff murder him off screen.
1:10:14
And in the 2015 and 1955 sequences, George is kept in the
1:10:18
background and played by an actor called Jeffrey Weissman,
1:10:21
wearing prosthetics to make him look more like lover.
1:10:24
Yes, to keep him in the background.
1:10:25
Or in 2015, he's upside down in that hovering medical device to
1:10:29
help his back. That'll do it.
1:10:30
The Ortholev it's called. I could have one of those.
1:10:34
Too, right? Like Matt just said there.
1:10:36
Jeffrey Weissman replaced Glover as George, but later said he
1:10:39
didn't have a nice time on set. He said that when Michael J Fox
1:10:43
first saw him in the George McFly makeup, he said Chrisman
1:10:45
ain't going to like this. And when Leah Thompson's mother
1:10:48
visited the set, Thompson introduced Weissman to her
1:10:51
straight away, as this is the guy playing Crispin.
1:10:55
Yeah, Oh, what a kicker. I mean, it's not his fault
1:10:58
that's not really on, is it? Nah, but Jeffrey Weissman did
1:11:01
say that the other cast members later apologized to him and he
1:11:03
seems to attend cast reunions and stuff now.
1:11:05
So right. Water under the bridge, I think.
1:11:08
Fair 1. So Glover then took issues with
1:11:10
the universal's actions. Understandably, he wasn't happy
1:11:13
with him using footage of him without pain.
1:11:15
And when he found out Jeffrey Weissman prosthetics had been
1:11:18
made from molds of Glover's face, he filed A lawsuit against
1:11:21
the producers of the film on the grounds that they neither owned
1:11:23
his likeness nor had permission to use it.
1:11:26
Yeah, those prosthetics were based on the mold that had been
1:11:28
created to turn Glover into middle age George.
1:11:31
The start and the end of the first film smashing through that
1:11:34
ball of peanut brittle. Yeah, greasy hair.
1:11:40
You don't need those anxieties and headaches.
1:11:44
But Glover ended up dropping the lawsuit after the case was
1:11:46
settled out of court for $765,000 by Universal.
1:11:51
And because of this lawsuit, the Screen Actors Guild introduced
1:11:54
new rules saying studios cannot use likenesses of actors without
1:11:58
their consent. Fair 1.
1:12:00
Yeah, landmark case in the industry, and I mean with deep
1:12:03
fakes and AI in the years since, those are rules that definitely
1:12:06
had to happen at some .0. God, yeah, definitely.
1:12:09
Apparently, Glover's attorney said to the judge of the time,
1:12:11
things may happen in the future that will make this important.
1:12:14
Wow, he was right. Yeah.
1:12:15
He was. How much did he know?
1:12:16
And then what does Crispin Glover do?
1:12:18
Charlie's Angels. And then Charlie's Angels.
1:12:20
Full Throttle is weird in them films.
1:12:23
Yeah, very. Weird.
1:12:24
Really weird. Well, yeah, Saying that, it does
1:12:26
seem like it's a magazine Glover made-up because in 2007 the
1:12:29
magus didn't animate in motion capture version of Beowulf, if
1:12:32
you remember. Oh yeah, yeah.
1:12:34
In that, Crisp and Glover plays Grendel like a main character,
1:12:37
all right. Right, not fair enough then.
1:12:39
Before ending on the cast, it's time for more input from our,
1:12:41
ERM, patrons. Michael Smith's here and he has
1:12:44
a question on the cast. Hello, Michael.
1:12:46
Hello, Michael. So Michael asks, if you want to
1:12:48
remake the Back of the Future trilogy today, who were you
1:12:50
casting as Marty and Doc? And in the future version of
1:12:53
Hill Valley, what would replace the hoverboard and the George 19
1:12:55
hologram to make the world feel just as imaginative for today's
1:12:58
audience, right? Michael suggested walk a score
1:13:01
bell for Marty. Oh, nice, right.
1:13:03
Yeah. Yeah, but what do we think,
1:13:04
Wesley? I mean, it's been said before,
1:13:07
but I think the obvious choice is Tom Holland.
1:13:08
Yes, for Marty McFly, I think that would be in there for me.
1:13:12
Definitely on on the hoverboard. He's got the chops to do that.
1:13:14
Then Diaz, Jennifer, obviously. Obviously, yeah.
1:13:17
Basically just the cast of the Odyssey.
1:13:21
Remake it Back of the Future and I would go a little bit further
1:13:25
out there and go for someone with a little bit of comedy
1:13:27
chops, but with that a great amount of style.
1:13:30
So I'll go for Jeff Goldblumer's doc.
1:13:32
Nice. I think that would be really
1:13:34
good. That would be cool to replace
1:13:35
those things of Jaws 19 and hoverboards.
1:13:37
I would say it's probably going to be Avatar 19.
1:13:40
It comes out some kind of blue hologram that fills the street.
1:13:44
And replacing hoverboards would just have to be jet packs.
1:13:47
Lovely. Any style of jet pack.
1:13:49
Why not report whatever, whatever works.
1:13:51
A Mattel jet pack would be great.
1:13:52
Just a little baby version. It doesn't fly over water, yeah.
1:13:56
But yeah, I'd love a jetpack. Yeah, I mean, Tom Holland's a
1:13:59
great show because I'm sure I've seen a deep fake trailer with
1:14:01
someone's used technology to put them in there.
1:14:04
So I would go get Matarazzo who is Dustin from Stranger Things.
1:14:08
All right. Oh nice.
1:14:09
Because I think out of all the kids in that series, I think he
1:14:12
had the most natural kind of charm and likeability.
1:14:14
And I think you get quite a different Marty with him.
1:14:16
So I think he would work really well.
1:14:18
He was the only actor in that series apart from Steve Get
1:14:23
Stevens, Doc. Great head.
1:14:25
Yeah, great head. And then for Doc Brown, I'd go
1:14:28
for Sam Rock Brown. I think he could bring something
1:14:30
really different to that. I think he could nail.
1:14:32
Yeah, that would be great. He'd be so unhinged.
1:14:35
Really unhinged. Yeah.
1:14:37
And then I thought for replacing hoverbots, I think I would just
1:14:39
take the other fan favorite from this film and upgrade it so
1:14:42
you'd have hover trainers instead.
1:14:43
Nice. And I think replace straws.
1:14:45
I'd replace how with John Wick because I think even in 90 years
1:14:48
old Keanu Reeves will still be kicking ass and.
1:14:51
Yes, you definitely will, yeah. Yeah.
1:14:54
And that's the cast section for Back of the Future Part 2.
1:14:56
Michael J Fox carrying the film as effectively as ever, Tom
1:14:59
Wilson building a family dynasty of villains, and Christopher
1:15:02
Lloyd and Leah Thompson bringing in the kind of warmth good
1:15:04
supporting actors can. Yeah.
1:15:07
Pretty great ensemble cast. It's fantastic.
1:15:09
It's been great, yeah. All the Right movies will be
1:15:18
back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by
1:15:20
listening to this episode. Sponsors thanks for listening to
1:15:26
our sponsors. Now back to the show.
1:15:32
The middle. The second active Back to the
1:15:37
Future Part 2 sees things getting very, very dark in Hill
1:15:40
Valley. We're going to talk Marty and
1:15:42
dark heading back to 1955 and into the events of the first
1:15:45
film. But first, it's 1985 A.
1:15:48
It is. So thanks to Old Biv's trip down
1:15:50
memory lane, Marty and the dark return to an unrecognizable
1:15:53
1985. Yeah, we see beef, pleasure,
1:15:56
paradise, a big Lorraine, a murder, George and our heroes
1:16:00
pissing together. What's gone wrong?
1:16:02
So, Matt, what do you make in 1985, eh?
1:16:05
I mean, this is absolutely horrible.
1:16:07
Horrible for everyone, horrible for us.
1:16:10
Sick. I'll it's really sick evil.
1:16:13
No one's happy here. I mean, this bit with Lorraine,
1:16:15
I mean, obviously riffing on the scene from the first film again,
1:16:18
where unconscious Marty is being looked after by Lorraine.
1:16:21
And I know the whole first film did have that kind of incest
1:16:24
subtext to it, and that was handled very carefully.
1:16:27
But I'm watching the scene and I just want Marty to stop being
1:16:30
obsessed with his mother's breasts.
1:16:32
Like he can't stop staring at them.
1:16:33
Like, all right, I get the point.
1:16:35
Is that Marty or is that Michael J?
1:16:37
Fox, well, exactly. The news was surprised.
1:16:39
You know, there's other things going on here that he should be
1:16:42
alarmed by. I mean, when you consider how
1:16:44
wholesome Lorraine is in the first one and now she's just
1:16:47
gaudy and trashy and a drunk. It's just heartbreaking, really.
1:16:50
Like, say, it goes into the the dark places this film.
1:16:53
And then you take this scene with how Lorraine has turned out
1:16:55
without George, and you get that great exposition at the start
1:16:58
that explains how Biff got into this position.
1:17:01
And this is so influenced by Pottersville from It's a
1:17:04
Wonderful Life. Oh, yeah.
1:17:05
Just, you know, a lot more emphasis on cleavage than you
1:17:08
got in that film. Yeah, just a bit.
1:17:10
Depends where you look. And you've looked very
1:17:15
carefully. Yes, I hear.
1:17:18
Yeah, 1985 A It's the first time the trilogy really explores this
1:17:21
part of time travel, like what happens if things get changed,
1:17:24
like, for the worse. And I think it's classic part of
1:17:26
the future style storytelling because it starts funny live
1:17:29
when Marty finds his family don't live in his house anymore.
1:17:31
The guy bursting with a baseball bat.
1:17:33
And Marty's like, I got the wrong house.
1:17:35
Damn right you got the wrong house.
1:17:38
I could have been really close to the bone if it wasn't.
1:17:41
Michael J Fox has been so innocent and.
1:17:43
That yeah, yeah, yeah it. Could have been like really
1:17:45
sinister that, yeah. Greatly Strickland as well,
1:17:47
armed to the teeth like Arnold in commando.
1:17:50
Yeah, but then just the kind of gradual horror of what's
1:17:52
happened sets in. Jennifer again, just a bummed on
1:17:55
the porch like a sack of spuds, just like I should be fine,
1:17:58
whatever. But the scene with Biff and
1:18:00
Lorraine that you're just talking about there, Matt,
1:18:02
that's where the drama starts to kind of land because Biff's
1:18:04
arrival throws the doors open like you're supposed to be in
1:18:07
boarding school, you son of a bitch.
1:18:09
It's massive. Switzerland.
1:18:12
Switzerland. Yeah.
1:18:13
Packed off someone. She hates him.
1:18:15
I wouldn't have. Zemeckis might have had some
1:18:17
reservations about Wilson playing this version of the
1:18:19
character, but then when he saw this, he must have been like,
1:18:21
yeah, great. Oh, fantastic.
1:18:23
Yeah, yeah. In 1985, a BIFF mentions Marty's
1:18:26
brother and sister Dave and Linda.
1:18:28
Neither of them are seen, but a scene was shot with Mark
1:18:30
McClure, who plays Dave in the first film where he runs into
1:18:33
Marty outside Biff's Pleasure Paradise and he seems to be a
1:18:36
homeless drunk. And the scene was planned where
1:18:39
Linda would be seen working as a prostitute to settle death.
1:18:42
Jesus. The actors who played Linda,
1:18:44
Wendy Joe Sperber, was pregnant and couldn't do it, so the scene
1:18:47
with Dave was removed. Thank God they didn't make her a
1:18:50
pregnant prostitute as well. I'll be.
1:18:51
Really. Yeah.
1:18:52
That all sounds a bit much, yeah, doesn't it?
1:18:55
They're both back for part three though, aren't they?
1:18:56
They're all back to normal. Thank you.
1:18:57
Yeah, that's fine. Yeah.
1:18:58
Is that why they put red in there is the drunk and he's
1:19:00
like, you're crazy drunk pedestrian.
1:19:02
Well, he's in the first film, isn't?
1:19:04
He he is, but that's why he comes back as like the cameo
1:19:06
possible, yeah. And there's some interesting
1:19:08
details throughout 1985 year that a blink and you'll miss
1:19:11
them. One of them is Biff's Pleasure
1:19:13
Paradise is built on top of the Hill Valley Courthouse.
1:19:17
Yeah, you can see the old clock tower behind the neon sign of
1:19:19
Biff. He's like lighting his cigar
1:19:21
with $100 bill. And there's a video playing at
1:19:26
the Pleasure Paradise which tells the back story of how Biff
1:19:29
came in the money. And we see that Lorraine is
1:19:31
Biff's third wife, the first who've been Marilyn Monroe in
1:19:35
Jane Mansfield. Outrageous.
1:19:37
Money or not, I've no idea how Biff pulled that off.
1:19:39
No, it's. Charismatic when he wants to be.
1:19:43
And inside this penthouse, 2 porn film tapes can be seen in
1:19:47
the background. They're called Black Taboo and
1:19:50
The Plane with Fire and a Real porn films, but they both have
1:19:53
an incest theme which is possibly why they were chosen.
1:19:56
Well. Well, any good matter?
1:19:58
Yeah, first one's all right. Second one you can skip.
1:20:00
I've still got your second one, I'll bring it back.
1:20:04
Cheers. So from there, we'll have a big
1:20:07
exposition scene where we'll find out exactly what's going
1:20:09
on. And then Ma, he's got to come
1:20:11
back and find out exactly what's going on from Biff, which I love
1:20:15
this sequence. He's sitting there watching
1:20:17
Fistful of Dollars 1964. Love that.
1:20:20
He's a great flick. I love this flick in that
1:20:23
moment. But I do love this exposition
1:20:27
that you get from Biff. It's a really good moment where
1:20:29
he's really selling the character and really believes in
1:20:31
what's going on and really believes this story that he's
1:20:34
telling him. And there's just that lovely
1:20:35
little twist where he's just sitting, you know, if a wide out
1:20:39
scientist or a kid comes back and he picks the gun up and then
1:20:43
just points at him. But again, I mean, Marty could
1:20:46
have killed him with that. He throws.
1:20:48
I always find that shot really weird.
1:20:49
Like was it reversed or speed up or something?
1:20:51
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he ducks out the way and
1:20:53
it sticks in the chain blowing. Into the Yeah.
1:20:56
That's a really Tom and Jerry. But it's great that we'll find
1:20:59
out what's going on here and then we'll get the bumbling
1:21:01
idiots back. They're fumbling around all over
1:21:03
the place. They're absolutely fucking
1:21:05
useless going after him. I love them shots up the stairs.
1:21:08
It's all quite reminiscent of what we've seen before, but it's
1:21:10
it's staged slightly differently.
1:21:12
I've always loved it when he goes up with the roof then
1:21:14
changed his mind. Marty, he goes down, jumps over
1:21:16
the stairs. I've always loved that bit.
1:21:18
I don't know why. I don't know why either, but out
1:21:21
Fox's now we're going. That's really excellent.
1:21:23
If I'm ever in that situation, I'm going to definitely forget
1:21:26
to do that. It's run all the way down
1:21:29
screaming, and I just looked at those little details in the edit
1:21:32
where, you know, how is Biff going to figure it out?
1:21:33
Like this could have been really complicated as a set piece, but
1:21:37
again, it's just the rest of the film that's incredibly
1:21:39
complicated. This you can follow quite
1:21:40
easily. There's the door shutting like
1:21:42
we're leading you to it. He's on top of the building,
1:21:44
right? Suicide will be really easy.
1:21:46
That didn't find the bullet that killed you, old man, even though
1:21:48
we're kind of no at this point. Great.
1:21:51
Great sequence, great exposition, great explanation of
1:21:53
what's going on, and just really carries you into the next act.
1:21:56
Yeah, because just before this again, Marty going to George's
1:21:59
grave, don't we? That's massive, that proper gut
1:22:02
punch. Yeah, it's real.
1:22:03
It's a wonderful life moment that isn't.
1:22:04
It OH. Yeah, yeah, just where the
1:22:06
lights hit and the gravestone, it's like exactly the same.
1:22:08
It is, yeah. And Doctor Visual explanation of
1:22:11
the opener timeline on his chalkboard.
1:22:13
That's one of the clearest pieces of exposition I've ever
1:22:15
seen. I love it.
1:22:16
It was like when Chris Nolan was describing Memento.
1:22:18
Have you seen that video? Yeah, yeah.
1:22:20
Exactly the same. And then Marty V Beef is great.
1:22:25
I love how best watching A Fistful of Dollars in the
1:22:27
Jacuzzi with a couple of girls. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:22:31
Obviously said to Part 3 in the bulletproof vest trick.
1:22:33
When you win the Aries word, all that stuff.
1:22:36
Yeah. And Beef chasing Marty about the
1:22:38
place in his Robin slippers is ludicrous.
1:22:41
But I love the shot when Molly's on the edge of the building and
1:22:44
Beef's hand holding the gun just appears in the shot.
1:22:46
Yeah, I've really got that. Yeah, the mirror that later on
1:22:49
when he's looking at his mom and dad and beef just comes into the
1:22:51
frame of the side profile. Yeah, yeah, right at the end by
1:22:54
something through the window. Yeah, yeah.
1:22:55
I love that shot as. Well, their moments fantastic
1:22:57
from Zimax. Well, that's all time done in
1:22:59
1985. A Marty finds out when when Biff
1:23:02
picked up the Almanac, and you're not going to believe
1:23:05
where we have to go next. I don't believe it.
1:23:09
Old Beef took the Almanac back to November the 12th, 1955.
1:23:12
It did. Marty and Doc know very well, so
1:23:15
back they go. The aim is to retrieve the
1:23:17
Almanac. But before that we have a few
1:23:19
scenes with some more familiar faces, don't we?
1:23:22
So back in Hill Valley 1955, Doc hides the DeLorean and Marty has
1:23:26
1 mission. Find Beef talent.
1:23:28
How does it play out for you, Westie?
1:23:30
Is that wonderful? Something inconspicuous.
1:23:33
I love that little moon where he's got money from every, like,
1:23:35
era that's all lined up. It's not about money for him at
1:23:37
all. So that's why he's like totally
1:23:39
against the Almanac, because you can just get it.
1:23:40
It's not a problem. Yeah, but that's slide into
1:23:43
frame from J Fox pulling that aerial from.
1:23:46
I'll tell you what then, walkie talkies are pretty fucking good.
1:23:49
I. Know really good.
1:23:51
Cover anything, any ground but document, Doc.
1:23:53
Yeah. Well, what?
1:23:54
I Yeah, but I can hear you over anything.
1:23:55
And they're literally just as small as I was so, so upset.
1:23:59
You remember Centurions? Oh, yeah.
1:24:01
I had Centurions walkie talkies that were in the shape of them,
1:24:04
and they didn't work from room to room.
1:24:05
No, I couldn't talk to my brother upstairs or downstairs.
1:24:08
And I was like, I've seen back in the future too.
1:24:10
This shouldn't be this depressing, but I'll get on to
1:24:13
them later on as well. Like we've said, F Wilson's
1:24:15
performance here as Biff, just, he's walking through the town,
1:24:17
going to get his car back. He's got no friends.
1:24:20
Biff's just got a problem with everybody.
1:24:22
This guy's fixed his car. It looks brand new.
1:24:24
And then he's moaning about the price of the oil.
1:24:26
He said I should have free oil if it's $300, then throws it in
1:24:28
the back. Great bit of physical comedy
1:24:30
from Jay Fox when it hits him and you know it's right in the
1:24:33
groin areas, right? And then he sees Lorraine and
1:24:37
you think there's nobody here, he hasn't got his lackeys around
1:24:41
him. Maybe he's going to try and be
1:24:42
nice. Horrible.
1:24:44
Straight up. You'd look better wearing
1:24:45
nothing. What?
1:24:46
That's his first line straight in there.
1:24:49
I'd like to think this was the one that Lynn Thompson not to go
1:24:50
home and get and bring back and pull out the box and do it in
1:24:53
the school, which is great. And that really works.
1:24:56
And then there's one of me finest bits of dialogue that
1:24:58
I've not mentioned yet when he talks about a screen door in a
1:25:01
battleship. Oh yeah, hilarious.
1:25:03
Because then it just cuts to Marty's like screen door in a
1:25:05
submarine. You.
1:25:06
Dog, dog you. Love that.
1:25:08
Just that delivery is absolutely fantastic.
1:25:11
Great scene. And like we say, it really shows
1:25:13
how nasty Biff is because he's not trying to impress anyone,
1:25:16
and that's the worst kind of bully.
1:25:17
He's just really trying to impress himself, which is even
1:25:20
more terrifying, yeah. Yeah, well, just before they
1:25:22
head back in 1955, we get the set up of Part 3, don't we?
1:25:25
Because the DeLorean dashboards on the Blink and she was 1885 on
1:25:29
the I've. Got to fix that.
1:25:30
Yeah. When he's bashing it, yeah.
1:25:31
I like it when Marty's like Doc. What if we don't succeed?
1:25:34
We must succeed and the glory and vanishes end of acts great,
1:25:40
but being back in 1955 is a treat.
1:25:42
Like immediately just a feel of the place, like dripping with
1:25:45
nostalgia and getting to see all these off screen moments from
1:25:48
the first film. So good.
1:25:49
A bit picking his car after the manure truck being an absolute
1:25:52
sleeve with Lorraine. Obviously it's better the more
1:25:54
you know the first film, but I think it still works if you
1:25:56
don't. Oh yeah, yeah.
1:25:58
There's a great bit of visual setup as well when we're CBF
1:26:00
driving through the tunnel. That becomes really important
1:26:03
later on, obviously, and that's something that the magazine deal
1:26:05
do brilliantly through the whole trilogy, laying tracks for
1:26:07
things that pay off later on. Yeah, yeah.
1:26:09
But yeah, at this point it just feels great to be back in 1955,
1:26:13
I think. Yeah, yeah.
1:26:14
It's got no spatial awareness whatsoever.
1:26:16
Has he? Like anything could be in that
1:26:18
card. He's got no clue what's going
1:26:20
on. How would you know more?
1:26:21
He's in the backseat. You don't.
1:26:22
Know that there's a DeLorean behind him on the last.
1:26:25
Scene. Anyway.
1:26:29
And then after this, you get maybe the most pivotal scene in
1:26:33
the whole film of Old Biff. Given Young Biff that Almanac,
1:26:36
can you see obviously what spirals on for me?
1:26:38
What about this scene though, is that even Old Biff is annoyed by
1:26:41
Young Biff? Just getting the cockpit head.
1:26:44
Just has no time as younger self whatsoever.
1:26:46
And I do think this is one of the best scenes that utilises
1:26:49
the idea of characters overlapping their own timelines.
1:26:52
Old Biff knowing how to turn on the engine in the car, that's
1:26:55
such a great touch to convince younger Biff to go with them and
1:26:59
listen to what he has to say. Yeah.
1:27:01
And Wilson is so good in this film.
1:27:03
He somehow generates great chemistry even with himself.
1:27:06
When the bickering, those two, you just think, well, that's got
1:27:09
to be two different actors. Surely you can't be that good
1:27:11
with yourself. My quarter at the top, it's make
1:27:14
like a tree and leave. You sound like a damn fool when
1:27:16
you say it wrong. And he gives them the slap
1:27:18
across the head as well. All right, then leave.
1:27:21
But it's great storytelling as well.
1:27:24
I think it's such a good idea to have something so innocuous.
1:27:27
It's just like a sports Almanac being key to this horrific
1:27:30
future. That's all it takes to change
1:27:32
the future completely. This one little book simply
1:27:35
because it ends up in the wrong hands.
1:27:36
And when young Biff realizes all Biff is telling the truth and he
1:27:40
doesn't know these scores. And this is true.
1:27:41
I love how dark mark an ominous music gets at that point.
1:27:45
Yeah, yeah, I like how the meat of how young Biff turned around
1:27:48
was. Speaking of Terry, the mechanic.
1:27:49
Yeah, and all best just, like sitting in the driver's seat.
1:27:51
Yeah, you're like, get the hell out of my cargo, man.
1:27:58
I love all the little touches between young and old.
1:28:00
Biff. Like you said, Matt or Biff
1:28:01
knows how to start the car. Also, he knows where he lives.
1:28:04
He knows that he doesn't have a safe.
1:28:05
All that stuff. And we're really good.
1:28:07
If gets into an argument with Terry, the mechanic who fixed
1:28:10
his car after the manure incident in the first film.
1:28:12
This isn't the first time we see Terry in this film, though.
1:28:15
He's in the 2015 sequence as an old man.
1:28:18
He's the guy who asks Marty for a donation for the clock tower
1:28:21
and then talks to him about the World Series and gives him the
1:28:23
idea about buying the sports Almanac.
1:28:25
Yeah, put a little money on the cubbies, that guy.
1:28:29
Yeah, yeah. I've always thought his makeup
1:28:30
was terrified. Yeah, it really is.
1:28:33
Oh yeah. Also, Terry, do you know what
1:28:35
we've played by? I want to know.
1:28:38
It is Charles Fleischer, the voice of Roger Rabbit.
1:28:41
Ah, yes, it is. Yeah.
1:28:43
Yeah, the guy in the basement of Zodiac.
1:28:45
Yeah. Scary guy.
1:28:46
Yeah. Yeah, nice.
1:28:47
That's why I thought he's made. It was terrifying.
1:28:49
He's just terrified in. General, Yeah.
1:28:50
So as we've seen to convince young Biff to use the Almanac,
1:28:54
Old Biff players and predicts the result of a UCLA in
1:28:57
Washington football game on the radio.
1:28:59
And that game really took place on November 12th, 1955 and ended
1:29:04
with UCLA kicker Jim Decker hitting the last second field
1:29:08
goal to win. Biff listens to some other
1:29:10
results later on while driving, and those scores are real as
1:29:13
well. Love that it is slightly
1:29:15
convenient that that last minute match winning goals happening
1:29:18
just as they turn the radio on. Yeah, but fine, really.
1:29:20
Convenient. It's not convenient in this
1:29:22
film. You're like, what are you deaf?
1:29:24
Oh man, you lose. Oh yeah.
1:29:29
And that is the middle of Back to the Future Part 2, The biff
1:29:32
horrific 1985. A laid Bay on Marty back in
1:29:35
1955, threading his way through the first film.
1:29:38
The omelets within reach, The enchantment of the sea dances
1:29:41
Insight. Yeah, we're set up for some
1:29:42
ending, aren't we? We are indeed.
1:29:44
Indeed, yeah. The crew.
1:29:52
Time to talk about the people behind the camera.
1:29:53
On Back to the Future Part 2. We've covered Robert Zemeckis,
1:29:57
director, so now it's under the composer Alan Silvestri and the
1:30:00
director of photography Dean Kundy.
1:30:02
But we're starting off with the writing, so the credited screen.
1:30:06
Right on. Back to the Feature Part 2 is
1:30:07
Bob Gale, with story credits going to GAIL and Robert
1:30:10
Zemeckis. They'd been a writing
1:30:12
partnership since the beginning. I Want to Hold Your Hand, 1941
1:30:15
Used Cars, Back to the Future, all products of the Z&G collab.
1:30:20
And here GAIL penned the script while Zemeckis was away
1:30:22
directing Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
1:30:24
Yeah, sounds like a lonely gig, Matt, but how was the writing on
1:30:28
Back to the Future Part 2? I think it's got some of the
1:30:31
strongest elements of the film, but also some of the weakest
1:30:34
parts, to be honest. I think where it's strong is
1:30:37
when it really leans into the time travel element and the
1:30:40
effects of it. So those rules were established
1:30:42
in the first, but this one really plays with them.
1:30:44
What if we go forwards, then backwards and then backwards
1:30:47
again? How does one affect the other?
1:30:49
And watching all these, like, ripples and repercussions of
1:30:52
Mardi and Biff's actions across the timelines, that works really
1:30:55
effectively. That kind of shakes out for the
1:30:57
nub about this universe that we know.
1:30:59
Like, as we've been talking about that alternate 1980s
1:31:01
timeline, which is definitely Pottersville for me.
1:31:04
It's a Wonderful Life. Yeah.
1:31:05
That's a really great way to take this.
1:31:07
Yeah. And then to overlap that back
1:31:09
into the 50s, where Marty not only has to save the future by
1:31:12
getting the Almanac back, but also ensure he doesn't mess with
1:31:15
what he achieved first time around, gives it a double
1:31:18
element of jeopardy. And that works great as well.
1:31:21
I think where it doesn't work so well, it's basically what we've
1:31:23
been seeing. Some characters owned to serve
1:31:25
by the material, some don't get enough to do.
1:31:27
There's some kind of conflict and stuff here.
1:31:29
Like, Doc in the first film was just so adamant that nothing at
1:31:33
all could be changed about the future because that's the first
1:31:36
wheel of time travel here is to say, oh, Marty, he gets in
1:31:39
trouble. Should we go sort that out and
1:31:40
change everything so he has a better life?
1:31:42
Right. OK, where's that change come
1:31:44
from? So I think Gail's done some
1:31:47
great work here because he's really cracked the note of where
1:31:50
the group go next with this and really explore the ramifications
1:31:53
of time travel. It's just the character stuff
1:31:55
has left a little bit wanting. Yeah, I agree.
1:31:58
I mean, it's a time travel film, obviously, but even then, the
1:32:00
narrative structure is still pretty mad.
1:32:02
And what I like is what I said earlier.
1:32:04
It just throws us straight in. There's no runway, no roads.
1:32:07
Within minutes we're in 2015 in the plot, like flying along.
1:32:11
In terms of that overall structure, it seems to me a bit
1:32:14
like they came up with maybe two or three ideas that they really
1:32:16
like, like the 2015 feature of the alternative 1985, then going
1:32:20
back into 1955 and just kind of thought, what the hell, let's do
1:32:24
them all and we'll fit them all in there.
1:32:26
I like those ideas as well, especially going back into the
1:32:28
events of the first film and we're playing some of those
1:32:30
scenes. I think that's a great idea and
1:32:32
so engaging to watch when you know the first film.
1:32:34
So I like the ambition. I'm a big fan of how it ended
1:32:37
up, but there are some issues as well for me.
1:32:40
The script for Part Part 2 feels a bit rushed in a way the
1:32:43
original film doesn't. We mentioned the plot all around
1:32:46
best time travel shenanigans, not following the film's own
1:32:49
rules. But there's a more basic plot
1:32:51
all to me because the key incident of the whole plot is
1:32:54
Doc turning up at the start telling Marty he has to save his
1:32:56
kids. I mean, OK, fine.
1:32:58
Yeah, but why do you have to travel into the future to do it?
1:33:01
Surely just tell them and then carry on and prevent it from
1:33:04
happening when it happens. Yeah, time travel's not needed.
1:33:07
So awesome missteps in the writing, but a lot of it gets
1:33:11
right as well, like the 1985 years section that does have
1:33:14
dramatic weight. It's not just a plot beat.
1:33:16
It's like what the world looks like when one terrible person
1:33:19
has like unchecked power. So it's kind of a cautionary
1:33:21
tale. So I like the writing on the
1:33:23
whole. Great ideas.
1:33:25
The execution of the screenplay does fall somewhere short of the
1:33:28
first film though I think. Although to be fair that is a
1:33:30
very high bar. To be fair, it.
1:33:32
Is yeah, yeah, I think Bob Gale had a little bit of free reign
1:33:35
and maybe thought he could try and rewrite the story a little
1:33:38
bit. And I think Zemeckis might have
1:33:40
come back and said. Yeah, Yeah, I think so.
1:33:42
I think we need some rules and we need to establish exactly
1:33:44
what we've done. And I think, like you said
1:33:46
earlier on, John, I think they did paint themselves into a
1:33:48
corner. And I think this would have been
1:33:49
more of a frustrating session than an enjoyable 1.
1:33:52
I think it would have just been how do we solve these problems
1:33:54
that were set up for ourselves to create something that's
1:33:56
entertaining, but also for fans of the first film.
1:34:00
And they do that in both of the films by repeating set pieces
1:34:03
and just adding new bits to them.
1:34:04
Lee Thompson blessed, she just basically has the same script in
1:34:07
this film as she does in the first one, with a few added
1:34:09
bits. Let's take a revisit.
1:34:11
And it's good. And it works because it is very
1:34:13
nostalgic and people like it. And I think there was long
1:34:15
enough between the first film and this one for people to
1:34:17
forget about it. But for me, yeah.
1:34:19
I mean, there's plot holes, there's issues.
1:34:21
There's all of this kind of continuity that goes out the
1:34:25
window. But I think they've sat down and
1:34:27
they've shook hands on it. And Zemeckis and GAIL went,
1:34:29
we're just going to make this entertaining.
1:34:31
Do you agree? And he's just went, yeah, it's
1:34:33
going to be some character development, but that's not
1:34:35
going to be the forefront of this.
1:34:36
This is going to be an entertain roller coaster.
1:34:39
And I'm pretty sure, you know, Spielberg's produced this.
1:34:41
He's going to have something to say.
1:34:43
There's going to be a lot of people coming back to this.
1:34:44
There's, you know, there's money riding on it.
1:34:46
The first one was a real success.
1:34:47
This one needed to shine. And I think it does.
1:34:50
But I just cannot believe that this film is under 2 hours long.
1:34:54
I always go put this on. I think this must be 3 hours
1:34:57
long. It's so much packed into this to
1:34:59
go so many places and so many setups and so many set pieces
1:35:04
and so many ideas. So the writing is fantastic, but
1:35:08
it's it's definitely not the best thing about the future too.
1:35:11
Yeah, I would agree. So Bob Gale wrote the screenplay
1:35:15
for Part 2 while Smecas was making Who Framed Roger Rabbit,
1:35:18
like we said. So when Smecas got involved,
1:35:20
there were pretty big changes made to the script.
1:35:23
Thought they might have been. Of course they were.
1:35:25
Yeah, yeah. I mean, knowing Zemeckis, Gale
1:35:27
would have been writing and thinking he's going to come back
1:35:29
and change all of this. Yeah.
1:35:30
So I might as well write something.
1:35:32
Yeah, just put it down just in case.
1:35:34
But I think you knew that that was always going to be the case.
1:35:36
So one idea that got scrapped was for an action scene in the
1:35:39
2015 sequence based round a futuristic spot called SLAM.
1:35:44
It would be played in an anti gravity chamber and combined JLE
1:35:48
handball and roller Derby, but it was removed for budgetary
1:35:51
reasons. Right.
1:35:53
Yes, Slam ball still listed as one of the sports on the back of
1:35:56
the Greatest Sports Almanac. Oh wow.
1:35:58
OK. Yeah, going to Needles hobbies
1:36:00
as well. I think he's in the slam ball if
1:36:01
you watch out. Yeah, yeah, that's right.
1:36:03
He is. He is good sport.
1:36:05
Yeah, sounds interesting. But if that was taken out for
1:36:07
the hoverboard sequence, I'm glad they did.
1:36:09
Yeah, too, right. Yeah, we've already got roll up
1:36:11
ball. I think it's pretty much the
1:36:12
same thing. Yeah.
1:36:13
And Zemeckis also said he wanted to add a fourth act.
1:36:15
It's set in the Old West, a fourth act.
1:36:18
This massively ballooned the script, and it was.
1:36:21
It's at the point which Zemeckis and Gale realized they needed
1:36:24
two films. Because it's a great idea to go
1:36:26
back there. Yeah, all paid for at once.
1:36:28
That we thought about the first but not last film series to kind
1:36:31
of do that. I'm watching that the 4th act.
1:36:33
Yeah, just changing screen writing.
1:36:36
Yeah, just just insane, yeah. And the biggest change to Gale's
1:36:39
original script, though, was around the time period we see in
1:36:42
the first draft. Marty and Doc don't travel back
1:36:44
to 1955 to retrieve the Almanac from Biff.
1:36:47
They travelled back to the 1960s.
1:36:50
Yeah, 1967 to be precise. It was Flower Power and Sergeant
1:36:54
Pepper. Or like Summer of Love stuff.
1:36:56
Right, OK. Yes, the plot was Marty again
1:36:59
runs into a younger version of his parents.
1:37:01
Lorraine is now an anti Vietnam protester and flower child and
1:37:05
George is a college professor at Berkeley.
1:37:07
In meeting them, Marty accidentally stops Lorraine and
1:37:10
George going on their second honeymoon, the result of which
1:37:12
is that Marty is never conceived and he has to fix things.
1:37:16
Just moving the goal posts about two inches to the left.
1:37:18
Just the same as the first film, yeah.
1:37:21
Let's stick Vietnam in the background.
1:37:24
You please roll over Beethoven at the end to get Lorraine and
1:37:26
George to do it. Also in this version, Doc had a
1:37:31
enlisted help from his younger self to help fix the Miss
1:37:34
Diffusion device which powers the DeLorean.
1:37:37
And at one point, with Vietnam as the backdrop, Marty was
1:37:40
arrested for not having a draft card.
1:37:41
Right. Lorraine posts his $500 bond,
1:37:44
and that's what stops the second honeymoon.
1:37:47
Could you say he was in the Navy with his life preserver jacket?
1:37:49
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah, there's another plot all
1:37:51
Yeah, and apparently the younger version of Doc was like a
1:37:53
massive pothead. Right.
1:37:55
On the doobes constantly I. Could say that.
1:37:58
Listening to Donovan in the 60s. But when some Mecca's read this
1:38:03
draft, he said the plot was too close to the original film and
1:38:06
that by 1967 Lorraine would just be too old to be a peace and
1:38:09
love hippie. He had the idea you've gone back
1:38:12
into the events of the first film, so told Kale to scrap 1967
1:38:15
and replace it with the 1955. Right, Bob, into Bob Dylan not
1:38:20
to go electric, Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it would have been
1:38:24
cool to say Hill Valley in the 60s, to be honest.
1:38:27
Yeah, it would have been, but you can see that already, can't
1:38:29
you? It's not like it's a massive
1:38:30
surprise. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:38:32
So maybe just save all the bangers on the soundtrack for
1:38:33
Forrest Gump. Yeah.
1:38:35
Absolutely, yeah. Know what sort of recognition
1:38:37
for Bob Gale on the writing winner that year was Thomas
1:38:40
Shulman for Deadpool Society. Right.
1:38:42
And not Oscar worthy for us either.
1:38:44
Maybe, but in coming up with some great time travel based
1:38:47
ideas and executing most of them.
1:38:50
A good piece of blockbuster sequel writing, yeah.
1:38:52
Good bit of entertainment writing, definitely.
1:38:56
The composer run Back to the Future Part 2 was Alan
1:38:59
Silvestri, his 26th feature film credit.
1:39:01
He'd already worked on classics like Flight of the Navigator,
1:39:04
Predator and The Abyss, as well as the mechas hits like
1:39:07
Romancing the Stone, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and the first Back
1:39:10
to the Future film. Yeah, back for the sequel, Matt.
1:39:13
How does Alan Silvestri's work land this time around?
1:39:16
I mean, if you've got the hits, just play the hits, right?
1:39:19
Yeah, yeah. Two, right?
1:39:20
Yeah. Is the music great?
1:39:22
Yes, because it's the music from Back to the Future and you'd be
1:39:24
feel not use it again. It's like, you know, talking
1:39:26
about a Bond film, you've got that theme tune to drop in.
1:39:29
It does so much heavy lifting for you.
1:39:31
And it's the same the music here because it takes you back to
1:39:33
what you heard in the first film and it's always going to have
1:39:36
that resonance and that power. And yes, there were definitely
1:39:39
nuances and fresh pieces. And here I mentioned the music
1:39:42
when old Biff is talking to young Biff about the sports
1:39:44
result, and that ominous music works really well.
1:39:47
But everything has just grown off that original skull, which
1:39:49
was incredible first time round. So can't really say it's an
1:39:52
amazingly original soundtrack because it's just keeping
1:39:55
coherent with what's already been written.
1:39:58
But it's obviously still great and it's just a case of, well,
1:40:00
the hard work has been done already.
1:40:02
Yeah. Exactly.
1:40:04
Yeah, like we're saying the main themes back.
1:40:06
That's one of my favorite themes in any film.
1:40:08
Well, yeah, exactly. More than does it's bit in the
1:40:10
first film, and it's the same here.
1:40:11
What's different here I think though, is that there are tonal
1:40:14
shifts that Sylvestre has to deal with.
1:40:16
Like the bright energy of 2015 goes straight into that
1:40:19
desperate 1985 A. That's probably the first time
1:40:22
in the whole series where Sylvestre has to go dark with
1:40:24
his music and the score. 1985 A becomes like staccato and it
1:40:28
does go darker that like 4 Nord brass piece that runs whenever
1:40:32
were with Biff in the pleasure paradise.
1:40:34
That's the most noticeable new piece of music.
1:40:36
It's like a proper villain theme that.
1:40:37
It's for Borden, isn't. It Yeah, yeah.
1:40:39
And then back in 1955, Sylvestre has to take us back into the
1:40:42
first film without just duplicating what he did.
1:40:44
So it's like 1 composer, but he's also had to create three
1:40:47
different worlds in terms of the music.
1:40:49
I think he does that. I don't think you can see
1:40:51
Sylvestre's works up there with the first film because that's
1:40:54
the way he created that main theme and that way classic
1:40:56
twinkle sting. But sequels are always
1:40:58
different, and I think what he brings, yeah, is still very
1:41:01
good. Yeah, I mean, so he doesn't
1:41:03
really have a lot to do here. I mean the third one, he makes a
1:41:06
real impact because he changes that score and it's not a real
1:41:08
Western theme and a Western vibe and really has to step before
1:41:12
that one. But this, I think he just looked
1:41:13
at these two projects and thought, oh, Part 2, I've got to
1:41:16
do about 30% more and that's it. And then 100% on three, but 70%
1:41:21
already done for the first film. It's not what he uses and or
1:41:25
necessarily what's in Mex uses, it's where he uses them and for
1:41:28
them emotional beats and for the set pieces, it really elevates
1:41:31
those, really brings it into that battle of the future
1:41:34
universe. And I think it's good that they
1:41:35
didn't rewrite it because they could have, they've got
1:41:37
Sylvestri could have just said take that theme and make it a
1:41:39
little bit different. I'll just change it completely
1:41:42
and not use the same one. But again, Matt's right.
1:41:44
You know, if you've got the hits, you play them.
1:41:45
They know what they had, they could repeat it and they did and
1:41:49
they did it really well. When that opening theme comes up
1:41:51
with the front of the film, that's all you want to hear.
1:41:52
That's all you want to see. It's got to go a little bit
1:41:54
darker and a bit more, but you can't lose the blueprint.
1:41:57
And I think that's the thing with everyone behind the camera
1:41:59
that had a blueprint, that had a set of rules.
1:42:01
It's a great soundtrack, but if I'm looking at them on vinyl and
1:42:04
I can have Battle of the Future One or Battle of the Future 2
1:42:07
and buy Battle of the Future One every day of the week.
1:42:09
Yes, definitely. And then right at the end here,
1:42:11
it'd be just before the credit. He slips in that little Western
1:42:14
morty for Part 3, doesn't he? Yeah, yeah.
1:42:16
That's a nice little touch. The music makes references back
1:42:19
to the first film in other ways. After 2015, Marty has been
1:42:23
fired. He's playing his guitar in the
1:42:24
living room. He's not playing it very well at
1:42:27
all, but you can tell he's playing the main riff from The
1:42:30
Power of Love by Hugh Lewis in the News, the theme song from
1:42:33
the first film. He's playing it that badly, I
1:42:35
think that wouldn't have even have to pay rights for it.
1:42:39
It's almost unrecognizable. Yeah, the callbacks in the first
1:42:43
film as well. The score for the hoverboard
1:42:45
chase is very similar to the piece for the skateboard chase
1:42:47
in the first film, but it's been developed.
1:42:49
It's a bit more intricate this time around.
1:42:51
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
1:42:53
And as well as Sylvestre score, Zemeckis had Universal license a
1:42:56
number of classic pop songs that we hear in the film.
1:42:59
When Marty goes in Cafe 80s, we can hear Beat It by Michael
1:43:02
Jackson playing in the background.
1:43:04
Yeah. Yeah, I love that song.
1:43:06
Yeah, who doesn't? Another Eddie Van Halen
1:43:08
reference? Because in the first film, Marty
1:43:09
plays a team of Eddie Van Halen when Georgie's asleep to freak
1:43:12
him out, doesn't he? Yeah, yeah, And Eddie Van Halen
1:43:14
plays the crazy guitar solo on Beat It.
1:43:16
Yeah, first take as well, then just left.
1:43:18
Couldn't remember how to do it. Sword in played and just left.
1:43:22
Amazing, amazing. And when Marty is walking around
1:43:25
1985 A, the scene is scored by icon Drive 55.
1:43:29
And that's a Hard Rock song by Sammy Agar.
1:43:33
Sammy Hagar, former lead singer in Van Halen.
1:43:35
Yeah, there you go. Would have loved to come here
1:43:36
from those guys like a futuristic band in 2015 or
1:43:39
something. Yeah, it.
1:43:40
Would have been great. The wild stallions.
1:43:43
Flame coming out over on hoverboards.
1:43:46
Amazing. Oh, that.
1:43:46
'D be great, yeah. And then when we go back to
1:43:50
1955, we hear Mr. Sandman like we do in the first film, and it
1:43:54
often gets credited as the Cordets version.
1:43:56
But it's not. It's actually the version by the
1:43:58
four Asus release in 1954. Very nice.
1:44:01
Great to hear it. Most were in the first film,
1:44:03
probably, but as a piece of music that in a film that's
1:44:06
purpose, it's to like set a scene or replace, that's one of
1:44:09
the best I've ever heard. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:44:10
Whenever we gather the opening of that song anyway, I picture a
1:44:12
1955 Hill Valley. Yeah, yeah.
1:44:14
Like Pavlov's dog or something. Yeah, speaking around the corner
1:44:18
of the end of it. And we hear another time period
1:44:21
song in 1955 when Biff is driving to the Enchantment Under
1:44:25
the Sea dance Papa Loves Mambo by Perry Cuomo as playing on the
1:44:29
car radio. Great song.
1:44:31
Yeah, so apparently Papa Loves Mambo was the Mecca's first
1:44:33
choice to use in the first film instead of Mr. Sandmann, but he
1:44:36
changed his mind. All right, So that's why it's
1:44:38
used here. Right.
1:44:39
Yeah, yeah. Glad to change it though.
1:44:40
Mr. Sandmann's like perfection, yeah.
1:44:42
Yeah, it's great. Yeah, new Oscar nomination
1:44:45
violin Sylvestre score. The winner that year was Alan
1:44:48
Menken for The Little Mermaid. All right, I guess Sylvestre
1:44:50
wouldn't be eligible anyway because he.
1:44:52
He uses a lot of pieces. Obviously, he's probably.
1:44:54
Not like Hans Zimmer with June, too.
1:44:56
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But as a sequel score that
1:44:58
evolves in music from the original.
1:45:00
Some good work from Roland Silvestri here.
1:45:02
Yeah, great work. Knew exactly what he had to do
1:45:04
when he did it. I'll be at 30%.
1:45:09
It's time for the visuals on Back to the Future Part 2 and
1:45:12
the directory of photography was Dean Cundy with his 36th feature
1:45:15
film credit, Halloween, Escape from New York, The Thing,
1:45:19
Romancing the Store, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
1:45:21
Oscar nominated three previous films.
1:45:23
Was The Megis and he shot the first film.
1:45:26
Yeah. Pretty good.
1:45:27
Fit for Back to the Future Part 2 then.
1:45:28
Wasn't he Westie? Well, obviously a perfect fit.
1:45:31
He knew where everything was going to go and how everything
1:45:33
had to look and how everything was going to be.
1:45:35
And it's very Dean Cundy and a lot of people don't talk about
1:45:37
how talented this guy is. I mean, he pioneered a lot of
1:45:40
what to make us needed to see. I mean, just coming from Roger
1:45:43
Rabbit and then doing this, some of the effects at the time, I
1:45:46
feel like some of them are a little bit rushed because the
1:45:48
story feels a little bit rushed. But there's elements of all of
1:45:51
his early work, the stuff he did but can't.
1:45:53
I mean, there's elements of like Escape New York, like I've said,
1:45:55
you know, when the when we first went 1985 A and I think Dean
1:46:00
Connie was just perfect at being a cinematographer.
1:46:02
Like I said earlier, where you don't notice the cinematography.
1:46:05
You don't look at a film and go, that's a Dean Conde film.
1:46:08
Yeah, because he's just invisible, much like Zemeckis is
1:46:11
invisible. I can't really tie down what a
1:46:12
Dean Conde film is because he can do anything.
1:46:15
And what he does is he really, he sets more of a tonality than
1:46:18
he does set a look. He sets more of a feeling.
1:46:20
He sets more of an atmosphere. At the end of the day, his Max
1:46:23
is a director and his head is up there thinking of ideas, same as
1:46:26
Bob Gale. And he needs people to pull it
1:46:28
off. And he can still come back and
1:46:30
say, can you shoot this scene, the opening scene or the the end
1:46:34
scene of the last film? Now it's the opening scene.
1:46:36
But come have that shot by shot, frame by frame, light by light,
1:46:39
and make it again, do again four years later.
1:46:41
And he's like, yeah, no problem. That's incredibly hard to do.
1:46:46
It's just wonderful stuff and it's wonderful to see.
1:46:48
Yes, some of it has an edge. Well, I don't think that's his
1:46:50
fault. I think it was just a little bit
1:46:52
too fast. But yeah, it's beautiful.
1:46:55
Yeah, one of the biggest challenges here I think is it
1:46:57
couldn't. He has to make the same studio
1:46:59
back lot feel like 4 different worlds really.
1:47:02
And he does 2015 to 1980 fives 1955, the all field distinct.
1:47:07
Obviously production design plays a big part in that as
1:47:09
well, like we've talked about. Yeah of course, but Kundi's all
1:47:11
over it. The 2015 sequences are shot to
1:47:13
be very warm and bright and then 1985 A is like the opposite,
1:47:18
basically the framings tighter to make everything more
1:47:20
claustrophobic. Pitch black as well isn't.
1:47:22
It yeah, yeah, like impressive looking.
1:47:23
Seems to be a lot of long lenses.
1:47:25
So it looks almost like hill valleys, like closing in on
1:47:27
Marty in certain shots. It's got a real surveillance
1:47:30
kind of vibe as well as if you're watching it through
1:47:32
through a security camera, there's a lot of high angles, a
1:47:34
lot of really uncomfortable high angles.
1:47:36
There is, yeah. I mean, that's not production
1:47:37
design. Is it that cinematography?
1:47:39
Yeah, that's putting the camera somewhere where you feel
1:47:41
uncomfortable. You don't quite know.
1:47:42
Why? And this was specific shot
1:47:43
choices that always stand out to me.
1:47:45
The single shot, the cemetery where we see Marty at George's
1:47:48
grave, that's one of the best pieces of blocking in movement
1:47:50
in the film. The way it reveals Doc in the
1:47:52
background is great. Yeah.
1:47:53
And that bit when they first arrived in 1955 to get the
1:47:56
Almanac, Doc's kind of explaining the plan for the
1:47:58
audience, basically. But Marty and Doc are both,
1:48:00
like, running towards and away from the camera.
1:48:03
Really weird to make an exposition seem more interesting
1:48:06
to look at, presumably. But I always laugh at it.
1:48:08
It's just so odd. Yeah.
1:48:09
But yeah, some big challenges for Kundi here as DP.
1:48:12
And he pulls them off to my mind, as he tends to do.
1:48:14
Absolutely. It's like the music for me.
1:48:16
It's about keeping it consistent, you know?
1:48:18
Why would you hire someone else when Kundi knows this world?
1:48:21
He knows the Mechus, knows his methods, what he wants, and you
1:48:25
don't want it to look any different from the first really.
1:48:27
So why would he go somewhere else?
1:48:29
And I think the other benefit of that is because Cundi comes into
1:48:33
this with that kind of advantage.
1:48:35
Zemeckis can then give him those challenges, such as the same
1:48:38
actor appearing in different roles at the same time, but to
1:48:41
the level that hadn't been done before.
1:48:42
And the thing that for me has to be the main take away from what
1:48:45
Cundi does here. It was an immense challenge.
1:48:47
It's step up from the 1st and he just roasted it because all
1:48:50
those elements, it just looks completely seamless.
1:48:53
Yeah, seamless. That's the word for it, I think.
1:48:54
Yeah. And recreating some scenes from
1:48:56
the first film caused the logistical challenge, as the
1:48:58
full details around setups in the first film hadn't been
1:49:01
documented anywhere, so the camera crew were often doing
1:49:04
setups from memory and couldn't, he said on the first night of
1:49:07
film. And they were recreating the
1:49:08
climax scene where lightning hits the clock tower and Marty
1:49:11
goes back to 1985, he said. They were struggling to get the
1:49:14
same lighting until somebody said somebody wished it would
1:49:18
have been me. Like I said that.
1:49:21
I remember that we had a light over in that doorway and another
1:49:24
crew member remembered the exact filter that went over the light
1:49:26
to give it that look amazing. Just one light in the doorway
1:49:29
and that changes the whole thing.
1:49:30
It's how important it is. Team F out then.
1:49:33
Nowadays you'd probably expect all that to be documented
1:49:35
somewhere I'd imagine. So you just refer back to it
1:49:37
then. Maybe sequels weren't so
1:49:39
commonplace or they just thought just set it up and then tear it
1:49:41
down fine. Yeah, I mean, the damage that
1:49:43
did so much damage, the hill valley itself didn't there.
1:49:45
So yes, they had to rebuild it anyway.
1:49:48
True, and the biggest technological innovation in the
1:49:50
film was the combination of cinematography and special
1:49:53
effects, with some actors playing multiple roles.
1:49:56
There were times an actor needed to appear in the same scene
1:49:59
twice, sometimes in the same frame.
1:50:01
Previously, this would have been done with dual photography,
1:50:04
where the camera would be locked down so they could just split
1:50:07
the frame down the middle. But some mechas wanted to move
1:50:09
the camera, so effects studio ILM came back from the first
1:50:13
film to develop a camera system called the Vista Glide.
1:50:16
Yes, there was 4 main sequences like you're talking about, Matt,
1:50:19
where actors needed to act with themselves at like length
1:50:21
basically. Yeah, that's Tom Wilson.
1:50:23
There's Griff and Old Biff and Cafe 80s.
1:50:25
Yeah, the 2015 McFly in our scene where Jay Fox is playing
1:50:28
Marty Senior, Marty Junior and Marlene Old Beef giving young
1:50:33
beef the Almanac in 1955 and Christopher Lloyd appears in
1:50:36
1955 Dock on 1985 dock in the scene of the clock tower as
1:50:40
well. Yeah.
1:50:41
So lots of thinking through was needed, it sounds like.
1:50:44
The bits that didn't use the Vista glare love though, when
1:50:47
they're just just blocking it in its old school.
1:50:49
And you've got when the old Biff gives young Biff the Almanac and
1:50:52
he shuts the garage door and then he just his arm comes out
1:50:54
and it's someone else's arm and he can tell.
1:50:56
I love bits like that, but it's like, let's not even try and be
1:50:59
clever. I've had enough.
1:51:00
Let's just get the scene done. And working on Roger Rabbit,
1:51:04
some Echos had come across a system where computer controlled
1:51:07
camera combined live actors with animation.
1:51:10
So based on that, ILM mounted a 35 mil Vista vision camera on a
1:51:14
computer controlled Dolly O. Basically the scene would be
1:51:17
shot once by a human camera operator and the computer would
1:51:20
record every tilt, pan, focus change, etcetera basically every
1:51:24
move and they would then shoot the same again with the Vista
1:51:26
gliding control and it would mimic the moves from the first
1:51:29
shot exactly. Yes.
1:51:31
So the scene where Biff gives Biff the Almanac, the film with
1:51:33
Tom Wilson playing old Biff and then has the makeup removed,
1:51:36
changes costume to young Biff and they shoot it again with the
1:51:38
Vista gliding control and Tom Wilson's wearing earphones and
1:51:41
the played in the dialogue from the first take.
1:51:43
So he's timing spot on when he's talking to himself, basically.
1:51:46
All right, nice. And then ILM would then take the
1:51:49
two shots and composite them together in post production,
1:51:52
placing old and young Biff in the same shot.
1:51:54
There is an error in that scene, if you've noticed, you've got to
1:51:57
really look for it. But when Old Biff gives Young
1:51:59
Biff the Almanac, there was some sort of compositing problem in
1:52:02
Old Biffs hand disappears for a second or something.
1:52:04
Right? Skywalker, right?
1:52:09
Which makes that scene even more amazing that Wilson pulled that
1:52:12
off because you can't act next to a double if you're going to
1:52:14
just replace them, so you can't have someone there to react
1:52:16
against. And also when he throws the
1:52:18
almond out, that's definitely CGI.
1:52:19
Oh yeah, you can tell that. 100% yeah another piece of stand out
1:52:23
CGI. Although I've just mentioned the
1:52:24
almond out being CGI is stand out for a totally different
1:52:26
reason. ILM worked on the holographic
1:52:29
shark in 2015 that promotes Jaws 19.
1:52:33
The visual effects supervisor was Ken Ralston and he said they
1:52:37
did several versions of it that got better each time, but they
1:52:39
ended up using the first one because they like the fact that
1:52:42
it was more messed up and glitchy than the other ones,
1:52:44
which I love that. Yeah, it does look really good.
1:52:46
Yeah. At one point the hologram was
1:52:48
going to advertise Godzilla 2015 instead of Jaws 19, right?
1:52:52
And there was a Godzilla film in 2014. 2014, yeah.
1:52:55
Oh, that's right. Yeah.
1:52:56
It's Galve Edwards one. Yeah.
1:52:57
Yeah, yeah. So they would have been close,
1:52:59
but yeah, changed to Jaws this time.
1:53:01
It's really, really personal at the time line.
1:53:05
Yeah. You know, Oscars for Dean Cundy
1:53:07
for his work here. ILM were nominated for best
1:53:09
visual effects, though they lost out to the Abyss, which was also
1:53:12
ILM. So.
1:53:13
All right. Show offs, Yeah.
1:53:16
We're not going to care. Yeah, fine Abyss was amazing.
1:53:19
And that is the crew. Huge production, huge team on
1:53:21
Back to the Future Part 2 and in Bob gear, the screenwriter Alan
1:53:24
Silvestri's composer Dean Cundy's DP and ILM creating
1:53:28
innovative effects to make us had some team helping him out
1:53:31
certainly did. And you can see it.
1:53:33
You can see every minute of it. The end.
1:53:40
Into the final act of Back to the Future Part 2, and Marty is
1:53:43
back in 1955. The climax is coming where Marty
1:53:46
finally reclaims the Sports Almanac before Docker's
1:53:49
lightning struck back to the past.
1:53:51
But first, we're revisiting some familiar moments.
1:53:54
Yeah, so the enchantment of the sea dance.
1:53:57
Marty heads back to Hill Valley High to find Biff and the
1:53:59
Almanac. Same night, same dance, same
1:54:02
punch. But it's all a little bit
1:54:04
different, isn't it, Mark? A little.
1:54:06
Bit different. What do you make of it?
1:54:08
I mean, I'm not quite convinced of the wisdom of framing these
1:54:12
scenes against all the amaze and scenes from the first film,
1:54:14
because I think I just like to watch the first one again.
1:54:17
Yeah, too, right. But it's so good to see
1:54:19
Strickland again back in the 50s, still kicking ass.
1:54:22
He's really funny. Yeah, great.
1:54:23
He's making his coffee Irish because, you know, none, none of
1:54:26
the kids can see him do that. That's brilliant.
1:54:28
And it's just like such a reminder for the great comic
1:54:30
actor Michael J Fox. He's like when he gets his
1:54:33
fingers jammed between the desk and the.
1:54:34
Chair, you know, Oh, he's great. Comedy one O 1.
1:54:37
But he does it so well, and I'll always love the scene like this
1:54:41
where they've managed to combine the highest of stakes, which is
1:54:44
the future of Marty in the future of Hill Valley with the
1:54:47
smallest action. Imagine he's just stealing a
1:54:50
magazine off a desk. That's all he's got to do to
1:54:52
save the day. It's not like he's having to
1:54:54
diffuse a ticking bomb or anything like that.
1:54:57
And I think that's just really smart writing.
1:54:59
And I think the other bit of smart writing is when Strickland
1:55:01
drops it in the bin because you think, well, is that it?
1:55:04
That can't be it. That's too easy.
1:55:05
There's got to be something here, some twist.
1:55:07
So that revelation that Biff has ripped the cover off and it's
1:55:11
been oh, La La la the both reading instead.
1:55:13
That's really well done. And again, Fox's is so funny.
1:55:16
Oh La La, oh La La. Brilliant.
1:55:22
Great thing. I love the way when he's
1:55:24
flicking through the book it starts with like loads of
1:55:26
writing and. Then it gets in the pictures.
1:55:28
Afterwards he's like, oh, I thought I had it definitely
1:55:30
doing. More than the actual recreations
1:55:34
of the scenes from the first film, I like all the off screen
1:55:36
scenes from the first film like Strickland watching Beth Paul
1:55:39
liquor into the punch. Yeah, they're the best ones,
1:55:41
yeah. And then taking the almanacrome
1:55:42
outside, all that kind of stuff for me, like, you're a slacker.
1:55:45
I love all that. Yeah.
1:55:46
And the scene in Strickland's office, that's one of the best
1:55:48
of those moments, I think. Yeah.
1:55:50
Marty think he's got that Almanac finally with oh La La,
1:55:52
but a few seconds before that Strickland, he has a noise.
1:55:55
He walks the door and we get this awesome camera move where
1:55:57
Marty's hiding under the desk and the camera like spins round
1:56:00
the set to reveal exactly where Marty is compared to Strickland.
1:56:03
Small thing, but I love that he probably couldn't the expertise
1:56:06
would like how to use space in storytelling.
1:56:09
There's been a great shot when Marty's on the phone and Doc
1:56:11
saying he's got no idea where Biff is and there's a focus
1:56:14
pulled from Marty to what's happening behind him outside in
1:56:16
the window. George is about a deck Biff
1:56:18
great. It's a split that up to that I
1:56:20
think. Yeah, I think it is.
1:56:21
Yeah, must be. Even better, I just loved
1:56:23
actually both things. I just don't know where he is.
1:56:26
Yeah, and then we'll see the punch again.
1:56:28
And it's great because Marty takes you.
1:56:29
I went off base when he's basically unconscious.
1:56:31
If chases him when he gets up. And that guy is like, I think
1:56:34
you took your wallet. I think you took his wallet.
1:56:38
Who was that guy? Twice.
1:56:40
Whoever he is, he's far too old to be in high school.
1:56:43
Absolutely them for the rules when the ladies.
1:56:47
Like Greece? Exactly.
1:56:50
And the Oh La La magazine, that's a French Glamour magazine
1:56:53
that was made-up for the film. The cover is a flipped image of
1:56:56
an English actress called Venetia Stevenson, taken from
1:56:59
the cover of the July 1955 issue with Swank, the men's lifestyle
1:57:04
magazine. Daughter of Robert Stevenson,
1:57:06
the director of Mary Poppins. Venetia Stevenson.
1:57:08
Oh wow, right. Oh, La La.
1:57:12
I'm not sure if the Governor Stevens permission or they just
1:57:14
steamed in like with Crispin Glover.
1:57:16
Yeah. Fair enough.
1:57:17
Yeah, Yeah. Another nice little detail in
1:57:19
that scene, actually, is that Strickland's got an American
1:57:21
flag on his desk and it's got 48 stars, which is correct for
1:57:24
1955. Of course, Yeah, yeah.
1:57:26
Yeah, I mean, after this moment we'll go back and it's Johnny Be
1:57:28
good again and we'll see it again, but from a different
1:57:30
angle, which is fine. And then you realize the three
1:57:32
idiots are going to then beat up old Marty.
1:57:35
Well, not old Marty, young Marty.
1:57:37
And he can't get back the dog. And the whole thing is going to
1:57:38
be a paradox. And it's just, is this a step
1:57:40
too far? Maybe.
1:57:42
Is there a bit fat on this? Maybe.
1:57:44
And doesn't make us a little bit bored.
1:57:46
Yeah, because I just want to see Johnny be good.
1:57:48
I don't want to see Johnny be not so good CGI when he's
1:57:52
crawling over the background. He's just on the ladder.
1:57:55
And I just don't like them original shots being put in to
1:57:57
be like, wasn't this scene great?
1:57:59
Sounds great on the page. Imagine just saying this, right?
1:58:01
He's Johnny be good again. But they're going to nab him at
1:58:04
the end of the song. So other Marty climbs over and
1:58:06
drops sandbags on them just as he does the big bend at the end
1:58:09
of the song. Perfect timing and.
1:58:11
That's great that. Yeah, yeah.
1:58:12
Brilliant and it just sounds so good on the page.
1:58:15
I love the way the stagger time here and he's looking at his mum
1:58:18
and dad through the window and and when Biff comes into the
1:58:21
frame. That's a great show, yeah.
1:58:22
Absolutely fantastic. But what is fantastic is when
1:58:26
that door hits Michael J Fox in the face, because that really
1:58:30
hits him in the face. He goes for it.
1:58:32
And the fact that he knocks himself out, I think is
1:58:34
excellent. I do love it, I think it's
1:58:36
great, but every time I watch it, it just feels like it
1:58:38
belittles the original because I'd rather watch that instead,
1:58:42
like Matter. Yeah, when I watch you, I do
1:58:44
feel like it's just another excuse to get Johnny B Goode
1:58:46
back in there. Well, definitely, yeah.
1:58:48
It's a great track, but another great shot I like with the Vista
1:58:51
gliders. When Part 2, Marty comes off the
1:58:53
stage, he goes down the stairs and out the door, but then it
1:58:55
pans back to shore. Part 1, Marty coming off the
1:58:58
stage. Yeah, the Vista light obviously
1:59:00
gets one shot. Yeah, it's totally seamless.
1:59:02
So I do like that. Yeah.
1:59:04
So that's the enchantment of the sea dance.
1:59:06
Marty gets the Almanac, and then Biff takes it back.
1:59:08
Time for a final showdown, it looks like.
1:59:11
Right, another one. Let's do it.
1:59:16
It all comes down to this. Biff leaves the dance in his
1:59:19
car. He has the Almanac and Marty and
1:59:21
Docker after him in the flying DeLorean, the final face off
1:59:24
seizure tunnel, the hoverboard, and a classic Back to the Future
1:59:27
trope, the menu truck. Yeah yes.
1:59:30
Big action scene to end the narrative Mat, how is it?
1:59:33
I love the same of the scene because it's the most original
1:59:36
scene in the film. I think in terms of a big set
1:59:39
piece. It's one that doesn't rely on
1:59:41
the previous film to kind of refund or anything.
1:59:43
And it's great to see the De Lorean used for something else.
1:59:46
And it's not just getting people, you know, to the future
1:59:49
back into the past, but it's also not the magical solution.
1:59:52
I mean, sure, that can sneak up on Biff, but that's all.
1:59:55
I just love that line you get from talk about how if they did
1:59:57
try to like land on a bit, you'll RIP through.
1:59:59
It's like tinfoil. That's the difference in the
2:00:01
cast. That's a great line.
2:00:04
I mean, we've kind of mentioned already, like Biff just has no
2:00:07
perception of what's going on around him.
2:00:08
He has no idea what's behind him, somehow completely misses a
2:00:11
Hovrand de Lorean Marty jumping off, clinging on the back of his
2:00:14
car. That doesn't cause the the car
2:00:16
to move or change in any way, shape or form, but that's fine.
2:00:19
He could have been really cocky. When he's picking it up from the
2:00:21
mechanic, He's like, I need to put the rearview mirrors in.
2:00:23
He's like, I don't need rearview mirrors.
2:00:25
Yeah, he's got that kind of carrot in a way.
2:00:26
He'd say I don't need mirrors in my car.
2:00:28
You know, you're going to hit yourself.
2:00:29
I've got a kill switch and I don't need it, which would have
2:00:31
explained that totally, but he's just a fucking idiot, isn't?
2:00:35
He, he's an absolute. Yeah.
2:00:36
Because you think he knows this car apparently, like inch by
2:00:39
inch, so you'd think he feels someone hanging on to it.
2:00:41
But what I really love, though, is just how well this scene is
2:00:45
pierced. It's not mile a minute.
2:00:47
It's like the scene in Strickland's office.
2:00:48
It's about creeping up, being cautious, just trying to sneak
2:00:52
the Almanac out of the back of the car.
2:00:53
He doesn't need narratively, to have a confrontation with Biff
2:00:57
whatsoever because it's not about that.
2:00:58
But of course, when he does, it's great.
2:01:00
I mean, as I've been saying, Biff is genuinely a cycle, like
2:01:03
he is trying to kill Marty here, trying to crush him against the
2:01:06
tunnel wall. And then the Almanac ends up on
2:01:08
the windshield. And then of course, something
2:01:10
else is coming the other way. So Marty's got to flip out the
2:01:12
way of that. And I love that just when he
2:01:14
flips over the car to grab the Almanac and the music kicks in.
2:01:17
That's absolutely brilliant. But then Bips gaining on him and
2:01:20
then just the classic last minute rescue from Doc with the
2:01:23
kind of penance hanging down that he grabs onto.
2:01:26
Superb stuff. It's it is.
2:01:27
It's the absolute high pound the film for me.
2:01:29
Yeah, having the reaction sequence, yeah, that's section
2:01:32
where Marty's like creeping around the outside of BF's car.
2:01:34
It's pretty tense because the almanacs right there.
2:01:36
Yeah. So tense, and Marty's like,
2:01:38
inches away from it. It's such a simple setup, but it
2:01:40
works well. And the tunnels are sent.
2:01:42
That piece, though, because it's all been kind of set up earlier.
2:01:44
Like we said, yeah, it's a great setting for the scene.
2:01:46
Yeah. And Marty doing a flip over the
2:01:48
bonnet on the hoverboard is ludicrous.
2:01:50
All got cobot but then he's kind of like stranded in the tunnel
2:01:54
like miles from the end that shot and Biff coming up from the
2:01:57
mom down. That's great yeah.
2:01:59
And great set up where Marty just misses the truck when he's
2:02:02
hanging on the off the car on the hoverboard and that ends up
2:02:04
being the manure truck that Biff then crashes into yeah.
2:02:07
And this I think is the last time in the whole series that
2:02:10
was see Biff. Oh.
2:02:11
Yeah, probably is, yeah. Very sorry to see him go
2:02:13
obviously but a perfect way to went from you hate manure.
2:02:16
Yeah, yeah, wouldn't shit, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I kind of fault
2:02:20
it. I just it does seem to just go a
2:02:22
little bit too long for me. Can't fault anybody has a fault.
2:02:26
No, but like I can't fault it from the from the point of it
2:02:29
being in the film. But for me personally, it feels
2:02:34
too much like like a diluted diet version scene of like the
2:02:38
truck scene from Raiders, Right, Right.
2:02:40
It's a bit fatty. I would have liked this to have
2:02:43
been Doc who had to get it and Marty was flying the DeLorean.
2:02:46
What dog on the hoverboard? Yeah, and it mirrors against
2:02:48
what he's doing at the clock Teller.
2:02:50
All right, OK. And I think that would have
2:02:52
been, let's just make it short, and it would have been a bit
2:02:54
more interesting. Yeah.
2:02:55
And then Marty has to take over. He flies the DeLorean, and then
2:02:58
Marty has to get out the tunnel or something else where it was
2:03:00
both of them. So I feel like Doctors
2:03:01
disappears. He does.
2:03:02
Yeah. And then there's a great lack of
2:03:04
peril because it's Marty McFly. It's the end of About the Future
2:03:06
Part 2. And he isn't going to die, is
2:03:08
he? You know, I mean, I don't want
2:03:10
to fault it, is what I should have said.
2:03:12
But it does feel like it's just a little bit too much fat for
2:03:14
the end and I want it to just be a little bit quicker.
2:03:17
Slammed. Not slammed me.
2:03:21
You want me to slam something, I'll slam something.
2:03:25
The bottom line is I've seen it too many times that it's just,
2:03:28
it's lost that any sense of excitement because I know, I
2:03:30
know what happens next. Yeah, And this sequence was shot
2:03:33
using the Griffith Park Observatory tunnel in Los
2:03:36
Angeles. It's actually a lot shorter than
2:03:38
the tunnel in the film, so some effects tricks we used to make
2:03:41
it appear longer. They shot it on a wide angle
2:03:43
lens, changed the roof lights to be unevenly spaced, and added a
2:03:47
painted backdrop at the far end. And this all combined to make
2:03:50
the tunnel look about five times longer than it actually is.
2:03:53
Oh nice. Sounds like Wiley Coyote
2:03:55
painting a tunnel on the side of a Cliff for over, Yeah.
2:03:58
Like Roger Rabbit? Yeah.
2:03:59
Well, yeah, that tunnel to make us new, because that's the same
2:04:01
tunnel that Eddie Valley and drives through and hoofing Roger
2:04:03
Rabbit to reach Toontown. Is it right?
2:04:06
Ah, right. Imagine it came out there.
2:04:08
Yeah, really weird that. Would have made more sense.
2:04:12
And we're done with Part 2. Not quite though, as we still
2:04:15
need to set up part three. Yeah, dog struck by lightning in
2:04:19
the DeLorean and is up back to the 1885 Old West leaving our
2:04:22
Danumon. First a Western Union van man
2:04:25
arrived with a letter telling Marty what's going on.
2:04:28
Then Marty goes to get help from the only man who can help him.
2:04:31
Yeah. So how do things get wrapped up
2:04:33
West here? I absolutely love it when he's
2:04:34
like the lightning hits the tree 1st and sets that up and you
2:04:37
think, oh right, great, OK, you don't want to get struck by bang
2:04:41
and he's just that cut to nothing and he's gone and
2:04:44
there's just the spiral of the flags coming down.
2:04:47
I'm half expecting that what you're talking to work because
2:04:49
I've been so good throughout the whole.
2:04:51
Yeah, you can travel across time.
2:04:53
Yes, through space and time. I'm all right, Marty.
2:04:56
Like, where are you? Battery runs out.
2:05:00
But I do absolutely love this sequence because it just slows
2:05:02
right down here and it's great shot.
2:05:04
When that car turns up, there's just the headlights in the
2:05:06
floor. He gets out.
2:05:08
It's really film noir. Are you Marty McFly?
2:05:10
I've got something for you. And he could have pulled
2:05:12
anything out of his pocket. And then it just has a really
2:05:14
playful vibe. It's just really, really great.
2:05:17
But the thing that really grates on me is like, just get in the
2:05:20
car and read it, because that's going to get soaking and the ink
2:05:23
is going to ruin my. Anxiety is through the roof.
2:05:25
I'm like, don't just hold it next to the light, he said.
2:05:27
It's from the Doppler. We'll need more information than
2:05:29
that, but it's great. It's just wonderful.
2:05:32
I was like, he's alive. The music swells up, the guy's
2:05:35
asking if he's needing the help and he's like, there's only one
2:05:37
man who can help me. And that cook with the lightning
2:05:39
to dock with the clock tower to absolutely fantastic.
2:05:42
Because you can tell this is the bit that both GAIL and Zemeckis
2:05:47
have locked down. They know that this is where
2:05:49
they're getting do. Yeah, yeah.
2:05:51
They know that this is the really good meaty bit.
2:05:53
And we've just been through the bits of the fat to get here.
2:05:55
And they've been playful with when dragged it out in a little
2:05:57
bit too long. But I love this because this is
2:05:59
exactly what you want from the end of the film.
2:06:02
Yeah, I like the way they show us everything is snapping back
2:06:04
to normal. Like visually, like Biff's
2:06:06
matchbook changes in front of our eyes from pleasure paradise
2:06:08
to auto detailing the newspaper showing George's alive again.
2:06:12
That's all great. It would.
2:06:12
Have taken me more than one match to burn out though in that
2:06:15
wind. Yeah, I always freak out about
2:06:17
that as well. And.
2:06:20
I like how when the Loreen vanishes or leaves that, like,
2:06:21
flaming 99 in the sky. Yeah, yeah, I guess that's
2:06:24
because we had flying. Those are the tracks made by the
2:06:26
spinning wheels. But then when Dog vanishes and
2:06:28
this mysterious guy turns up, how filling was this and the way
2:06:31
it looks? Oh, it looks fantastic.
2:06:33
Do you don't think that vapor trails would have been better as
2:06:34
288? But probably, yeah, definitely
2:06:37
much better I. Would love that, yeah.
2:06:41
I remember the first time I saw this, when the guy turns up in
2:06:43
the car, I'm like, what's going on?
2:06:45
Yeah, yeah. It's just so engaging.
2:06:47
Yeah. And the Western Union LED scene.
2:06:49
This was the last thing filmed for Part 2.
2:06:51
The Western Union man was played by comedian Joe Flatty, a
2:06:55
veteran of the legendary Canadian comedy show SCTV, and
2:06:59
Flatty's casting was deliberate. He previously worked with
2:07:01
Zemeckis and Gale on used cars in 1980.
2:07:05
Right, nice doc putting loads of faith in Western Union there.
2:07:08
Just keep this for 70 years, will you?
2:07:10
Yeah. Imagine doing that over here.
2:07:12
You have no chance. Absolutely screwed.
2:07:14
You'll probably get it if you said can you send this tomorrow
2:07:16
and they'll get it. 70 years low and the De Lorean is sent to
2:07:21
1885 because of the dashboard malfunctioning, which we spoke
2:07:25
about earlier. But it wasn't always this way in
2:07:28
the original script. This is great old man Peabody
2:07:30
from the first film. He was in a mental institution
2:07:33
for claiming that he'd seen a spaceship when he saw the De
2:07:35
Lorean in the first film, and as soon as he is released he sees a
2:07:39
fly in DeLorean and fires his shotgun at damage in the time
2:07:42
circuits. This is the reason the
2:07:43
destination time display flickers to read 1885.
2:07:47
Bob Gale said the scene was dropped though when the actor
2:07:50
Will here wasn't available. That's the only reason that
2:07:53
wasn't short because he wasn't available.
2:07:55
Imagine to him coming out, You killed my pine.
2:07:58
Yeah, take that, you mutate him. Son of a bitch.
2:08:03
No Pines wall. And then we end where we started
2:08:08
with the replay of an amazing scene from the first film.
2:08:10
Again, funnily enough, Chris Floyd thought, I mean, he plays
2:08:14
it so well, his reaction going from that pure joy that he's got
2:08:17
Marty back. Just like the timing's
2:08:20
wonderful. His shock and confusion when he
2:08:22
just turns up again. That's really, really funny.
2:08:25
And I can't remember when I first saw this.
2:08:27
If I knew there was going to be a part three.
2:08:29
I really can't remember. I presume that knowledge was out
2:08:32
there to some extent, but obviously it's easier to end on
2:08:36
a cliffhanger back then as it would be now.
2:08:37
But it's one hell of a cliffhanger.
2:08:39
I mean, when that to be concluded comes up.
2:08:42
I mean, I've got issues with this film, obviously, but all
2:08:44
the same, come on, let's go. I'm ready for that next one.
2:08:47
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.
2:08:48
That final shot is one of my favorite endings in just about
2:08:51
any film. I think Marty, like, vanishes in
2:08:53
the DeLorean Dr. the victory jig in the street, and then in the
2:08:56
background, Marty comes sprinting around the corner.
2:08:58
Yeah, it's just brilliant. But that musical stab, Yeah.
2:09:02
Really good, just such a great payoff.
2:09:03
When is that Korean shot and it just comes across the whole
2:09:06
street? It's probably just like screams
2:09:09
in his face. And after the final title cards
2:09:18
is to be concluded, as we've talked about, the film ends with
2:09:21
the trailer for Back to the Future Part 3.
2:09:23
And GAIL later said this came from The Empire Strikes Back,
2:09:26
which got some criticism when it ended on a cliffhanger.
2:09:29
And again, this was inspired by The Three Musketeers, which
2:09:32
advertised the Four Musketeers at the end of it.
2:09:34
Yeah. Yeah.
2:09:35
First thing you see is that huge RIP off of that shot from Once
2:09:38
Upon a Time in the West when the camera pans over the top of the
2:09:40
train station to reveal yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:09:44
I mean, it's an unbelievable shot to be there.
2:09:46
So yeah. And that is the end of Back to
2:09:48
the Future Part 2 because defeated, the Almanac is burned,
2:09:51
the timeline is restored, and the dock is stranded in 1885.
2:09:56
But there's a plan that's the end of that time in Part 3.
2:09:58
But shall we talk about how this film was received?
2:10:01
Yeah. Reception and awards.
2:10:08
Back to the Future Part 2 hit cinemas on November the 22nd,
2:10:11
1989. In terms of how it did, well,
2:10:15
who needs a greatest sports Almanac when you've got Matt's
2:10:17
box office Almanac? Oh yeah.
2:10:19
So fill us in, please, Matt. It's just the cover though.
2:10:22
He's got oh La La in the middle of it.
2:10:24
You don't want to read actual content.
2:10:27
I can't read them out loud. It's got Swank in the middle.
2:10:34
So Back to Future Part 2, made on a production budget of $40
2:10:38
million and grossed 118.9 million worldwide.
2:10:42
At the Academy Award, it received one nomination, as
2:10:45
we've said, Best Visual Effects for Ken Ralston, Michael
2:10:49
Lantieri, John Bell and Steve Galway, but lost out to the BIS.
2:10:53
Not as big as the first film, but still healthy profits, with
2:10:56
one more film to come as well. And a few years later, in 1998,
2:11:00
the Vista Glide System itself received a special Technical
2:11:03
award at the Oscars. Right.
2:11:05
Recognition, the last wonderful. And to build anticipation for
2:11:08
the film, a behind the scenes TV special Aid in the US on
2:11:11
November 17th, 1989. It was hosted by Leslie Nielsen
2:11:15
and had behind the scenes footage, cast interviews and
2:11:17
clips from the finished film. During this make us have made a
2:11:20
joke that hoverboards were real and being suppressed by parent
2:11:24
groups concerned about safety. This led to Mattel being
2:11:27
inundated with calls from people trying to buy a hoverboard.
2:11:30
I Remember Me dad shown as a clip in in the paper of that.
2:11:33
Really wow. I didn't see the actual thing.
2:11:35
He's like oh look, hoverboards are going to be real.
2:11:36
I was like, no. Wow.
2:11:38
I've waited ever since then. Yeah, well, apparently rumors
2:11:41
also spread their child had been killed testing one.
2:11:44
Yeah, tell her in the middle of being sued, so the Mega said
2:11:48
they come out and they take it all back.
2:11:49
Apparently it's. Probably that young lass on the
2:11:51
Pitbull slammed into the courthouse wall.
2:11:57
Well, back to the critics and we have got Roger Ebert first as
2:11:59
usual. What do you think Arman Rog gave
2:12:02
the film out of four? He's going to go like 3 1/2.
2:12:05
I don't think he's going to give it full work.
2:12:07
I'll go 3. It was three stars out of four.
2:12:11
And Roger said Part 2, for all of its craziness, lacks the
2:12:14
power of the original. The story of the 85 film has
2:12:17
heart to it. The time travel in that film
2:12:19
involved Marty's emotional confrontation with his parents
2:12:21
as teenagers. Yeah.
2:12:22
Part 2, on the other hand, is mostly zaniness and screwball
2:12:25
jokes. But on that level, it's fun.
2:12:28
Yeah. You agree with that?
2:12:29
Yeah, I think so, yeah. 100%. Yeah, I don't think any of us
2:12:32
are claiming it's better than the original.
2:12:34
No, no, it's impossible. Jonathan Rosenbaum in the
2:12:38
Chicago Reader gave a negative review.
2:12:40
He said the problem with all the time travel hijinks is I in
2:12:43
order to make the plot even semi intelligible, the writers have
2:12:46
to make the frenetic action strictly formulaic.
2:12:49
Elizabeth Shue was not too unconscious early on so she
2:12:51
won't interfere with the little boy games.
2:12:53
And Fox briefly playing his own sister in drag only adds to the
2:12:57
rampant misogyny. Wow wow.
2:12:59
I mean she was getting knocked out and left is not great.
2:13:02
Rabbit misogyny is a strong take I think.
2:13:05
Yeah, it is a bit. It's a bit far I think.
2:13:07
And finally, Tom Tony in a retrospective Empire magazine
2:13:10
review, gave Back in the Future Part 2 three stars out of five,
2:13:13
He said. Glossy, high energy escapism.
2:13:16
BTTF 2 easily gets the job done. In other words, doesn't make
2:13:19
much sense unless you're familiar with the plot of the
2:13:21
original film. Not as good as one or three, but
2:13:24
solidly entertaining. Yeah, fair enough.
2:13:27
Yeah. I think I prefer this one to
2:13:28
three. Yeah, I think everyone prefers
2:13:31
this one to three, to be honest. No one's going to say 3 is
2:13:33
better than the original or better than the second, to be
2:13:36
honest. And today on Rotten Tomatoes,
2:13:39
Back to the Future Part 2 has a 63% approval rating from critics
2:13:43
and 86% from audiences. And on IMDBA score of 7.8 out of
2:13:48
10. That gap between critics and
2:13:51
audiences is massive and it's not a university.
2:13:53
Love this one I don't think. No, like I said, it's divisive.
2:13:56
Yeah. So Back to the Future Part 2
2:13:59
London is a big commercial hit and a film that divided critics
2:14:01
while mostly winning over audiences.
2:14:03
Not the height of the original, maybe, but not a bad return for
2:14:06
a film that film makers didn't want to make at one point.
2:14:09
Well, yeah, exactly. Yeah, the excitement paid.
2:14:15
Sequels and influence. Back to the Future Part 2 ends
2:14:20
on a cliffhanger, so there was always going to be a sequel.
2:14:22
Released in May 1996, months after Part 2.
2:14:25
It takes Marty and Doctor 1885 and the Old West for a grand
2:14:28
finale to the trilogy. Yeah, there's a chance we'll be
2:14:32
covering that at some point, I think.
2:14:33
Yeah. Can't do the 1st 2, not the last
2:14:34
one I wouldn't imagine. We'll, we'll get around to it,
2:14:36
yeah. We'll leave that for then, but
2:14:38
what about the wider impact of Part 2, specifically Westie, the
2:14:41
influence and Legacy? What do you reckon?
2:14:44
I think kind of anybody time travel film that's come since
2:14:47
then has been influenced in some way by the tone about the
2:14:49
future. It's impossible for it not to
2:14:50
have been. I think the bottom line of this
2:14:52
is I think it's just too specific of a universe to RIP
2:14:55
off. I think it's got very much got
2:14:57
its own identity and if you try and copy anything from any of
2:15:00
these films, you can just see it a mile away and it just looks
2:15:03
like plagiarism as opposed to a homage.
2:15:05
And I think that's definitely the point.
2:15:07
And the films that have come closer to it for me have been
2:15:09
like Phil and Ted one and two, maybe Hot Tub Time Machine films
2:15:14
got a similar kind of tone. Then Spielberg took lots from
2:15:17
this and paid homage. And Ready Player 1, I think
2:15:19
there was a lot of that tone in there.
2:15:21
And the Rick and Morty series, I've not seen it, but I've heard
2:15:24
that's very much kind of influenced by the look of Doc
2:15:27
and whatever else. So I can imagine it's it is
2:15:29
there in popular culture, but you've got to take it and you've
2:15:31
got to pay homage to little bits of it, like the De Lorean.
2:15:34
You can't just do a scene where someone skateboards outside of a
2:15:37
Diana. You're just not allowed to do
2:15:38
it. You can't have a kid going on
2:15:39
stage in the 50s and playing Johnny Be Good.
2:15:41
You're just not allowed to do it.
2:15:42
So you can't do a specific kind of homage to it, but you can
2:15:46
kind of riff on the on the feel and the tone of it, which I
2:15:48
think those films do. Yeah.
2:15:51
I think for a film that doesn't have the critical or the
2:15:53
audience love that the first one does, I still think the cultural
2:15:56
footprint, yeah, does still have one.
2:15:58
Like the hoverboard, the self releasing Nikes, the Jaws 19
2:16:01
hologram. These are images that any film
2:16:03
fan knows and they've been parodied loads of time since.
2:16:06
Yeah. And all that.
2:16:06
In 2011, the Parkinson's Research Foundation announced
2:16:09
that 1500 pairs of the Nike Mag shoes the Marty wears.
2:16:13
We're going to be auctioning it on eBay.
2:16:15
And Tinie Tempah bought the 1st pay for $37,500.
2:16:19
Wow. With every penny, yeah.
2:16:21
Yeah, 2, right? But filmmaking wise, if it's
2:16:23
like live system we talked about, that was innovative and
2:16:25
became the go to for films that have an actor playing multiple
2:16:28
roles. From then on, the back-to-back
2:16:30
production model became the template for Lord of the Rings,
2:16:32
The Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean.
2:16:34
Yeah, yeah. Maybe most important, though, is
2:16:36
the Crispin Glover case. Yeah, that lawsuit about using
2:16:39
an actor's image without permission was something that
2:16:41
definitely needed to happen. I reckon even Zemeckis would
2:16:43
look back now and go what were we thinking with all that?
2:16:46
Yeah, and I think what Zemecha is pioneering the likes of Polar
2:16:49
Express and using and you know, that type of image capture and
2:16:52
especially with the gold in the AI now and we've got, you know,
2:16:55
we've got films coming out with deceased actors in them and
2:16:57
they're using their likeness because they'd signed contracts
2:16:59
because of it. I think it's very, very
2:17:01
important to have that as it's to keep it personal.
2:17:03
Yes, they are actors and yes, it is a likeness and yes, it can be
2:17:06
sold, but we're still, we've got to draw a line somewhere.
2:17:08
And it got on Christmas glove for standing up for himself.
2:17:10
I think he's he needs applause for that.
2:17:12
For sure. So yeah, there is a definite
2:17:14
kind of legacy that this film has.
2:17:16
Yeah, I mean, I agree with all that only once.
2:17:19
I would add more specific really I think Avengers end game.
2:17:22
A lot of that plot is about The Avengers going back into their
2:17:25
own timeline. Oh yeah, yeah.
2:17:27
Two very specific events changing them to ensure their
2:17:30
survival in the future. Don't the reference Back to the
2:17:32
Future in that film as well when they're saying what are the
2:17:35
rules? Yeah, one of them says obviously
2:17:36
Back in the Future or something like that.
2:17:37
Yeah, they do. Experts reference it.
2:17:39
Yeah. And on TV as well.
2:17:41
I think Doctor Who now, obviously that was around long
2:17:43
before Back the Future, but I mean, like when they brought it
2:17:46
back, there was one specific era when it starred Matt Smith.
2:17:50
And a lot of his stories were very heavily about the time
2:17:52
travel element of the show. And you got some very kind of
2:17:56
convoluted stories, again, about the Doctor and his companions
2:17:58
going back into their own timelines, trying to avoid their
2:18:01
past cells, stuff like that. So yeah, I think the story is
2:18:05
influenced a lot as well. Comes in Harry Potter, the third
2:18:07
Harry Potter film as well, doesn't it when they go back
2:18:09
into the same film? Yes, yes.
2:18:11
Third one isn't. It so shooting films
2:18:13
back-to-back, the Vista Glide and historic legal case and the
2:18:15
hoverboard Back to the Future Part 2, which influences
2:18:18
arguably bigger than its reputation suggests.
2:18:20
Yeah. Yep, definitely.
2:18:25
All the right movies ranking. We've time travelled all the way
2:18:30
through Back to the Future Part 2.
2:18:31
Now it's time for the big one where we each give it our score
2:18:34
out of 10. So, Wesley, to start us off your
2:18:37
summary and score for Back to the Future Part 2 please.
2:18:40
Well, I mean, we have gone through a lot of the issues and
2:18:43
we have gone through a lot of the celebrations, and I think
2:18:45
the celebrations far outweigh the issues that we've got with
2:18:47
this film. I will still come back to it at
2:18:48
any point and put it on and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy
2:18:51
myself. It is very dependent on the
2:18:53
existing ideas, but maybe that's the point.
2:18:56
I think you can't see this film too many times, almost have seen
2:18:58
over 50 times probably in my life.
2:19:00
Just ridiculous. Every weekend, just put it on,
2:19:02
put it on, watch it again, watch it again.
2:19:04
Same with the first one and the third one and just they were
2:19:06
just on rotation and they're really good to watch and they're
2:19:09
really good to watch with my kids and their barometer of it.
2:19:12
And I mean, Evan loves this and he loves the excitement of it
2:19:14
and he loves the futuristic elements of it.
2:19:16
And maybe it's a bit too much to go back to the 50s now.
2:19:19
Maybe this is a more of a popular film now for the kids
2:19:21
watching the Back of the Future trilogy and going that's more up
2:19:24
my street. That's 22015.
2:19:26
I understand what they're trying to say with that.
2:19:28
It's more exciting. And this has always been for me,
2:19:31
the trilogy that goes progressively down, but only by
2:19:34
a point every time. I do love 3 as well because I
2:19:36
love westerns when I was growing up.
2:19:38
And we've got Back to the Future, which is a good 10.
2:19:40
This is a good nine. And when we get to the three,
2:19:43
I'll give you that whatever, if you can't guess it, but that's
2:19:47
the whole point of this. And I think I'm going to give
2:19:48
this a name because if we lost Back to the Future forever, we
2:19:52
still have Back to the Future too, and there's enough in that
2:19:54
just to claw it back. Yeah, I've always been a fan of
2:19:58
this film. I'm away some of that's
2:19:59
nostalgia, but I'm fine with that.
2:20:01
Yeah. Because it's the middle chapter
2:20:02
of one of the great blockbuster trilogies.
2:20:04
It's ambitious in terms of its storytelling, in terms of the
2:20:07
technical filmmaking. And I still love 2015 Hill
2:20:10
Valley. I'd still live there.
2:20:12
I think what strikes me most now, having gone through it in
2:20:14
this kind of detail, is how much of A.
2:20:16
Sort of logistical achievement it was because it makes us like
2:20:19
barely sleeping Alan Silvestri scoring 2 films at the same
2:20:22
time. Production designers had loads
2:20:24
to do and it's all excellent. The cast spending hours in the
2:20:27
makeup chair shooting a scene, going back to the makeup chair
2:20:30
shooting the same scene again all in the same day.
2:20:32
It's just bonkers. I think the fact that the film
2:20:34
holds together at all is some kind of an achievement, but it
2:20:38
isn't perfect. They are plot holes aplenty.
2:20:41
Jennifer spends most of the film unconscious in various places,
2:20:45
and there's a standalone film. It doesn't fully satisfy because
2:20:47
it doesn't have an ending, but as part of a trilogy that's a
2:20:50
piece of blockbuster history, it definitely has its place.
2:20:53
If I was being completely objective, I'm making this an 8
2:20:56
out of 10, but I do love it, so I'm giving Back to the Future
2:20:59
Part 2 nine out of 10. Nice.
2:21:03
And Matt, you're some Marine. Score for Back to the Future
2:21:05
Part 2, please. OK, much more of a mixed bag for
2:21:08
me. I don't have the nostalgia for
2:21:10
this one I used to have and coming back to it I couldn't
2:21:13
understand why I was confused as a kid.
2:21:15
And it's not the plot actually which hangs together well, it
2:21:18
just felt confused tonally I think.
2:21:20
And the 1st 3rd of this was a bit of a slog to get through to
2:21:23
be honest. The effects and the make of
2:21:25
they've not aged well. The performances are very
2:21:28
cartoonish. Doc Brown is totally out of
2:21:29
character, and even the hoverboard chase, like I get my
2:21:33
people love it, but for me it's just rehashing the beat from the
2:21:35
first film but without the narrative.
2:21:38
Like we're behind it. Second, third, once we get to
2:21:41
what is essentially Pottersville, that's much
2:21:43
better. That all works.
2:21:44
And the final third is a lot of fun and it's very clever, but
2:21:47
all the same it's basically pointing out all the amazing
2:21:49
moments from the first film and unintentionally kind of
2:21:53
reminding you that this one doesn't have any of that on that
2:21:56
same level. So I think the best way to watch
2:21:58
this is an effective bitch from the 1st to the 3rd.
2:22:01
A great cliffhanger you're excited to see more.
2:22:04
Always great to hang out with Marty and Doc again.
2:22:06
But it does lack a lot of the first film's heart and charm for
2:22:09
me and gets a little bit dire and confused.
2:22:12
And I think the cleverness of what Smechas has done
2:22:15
technically doesn't quite overcome that.
2:22:17
So if I have to watch it as a stand alone film and rated as I
2:22:20
do here, it's going to be a 7 for me.
2:22:23
OK. Well, we also put this out there
2:22:24
to the ATRM community, where no one's left unconscious on the
2:22:27
porch, No? So, ATRM patrons, let's see what
2:22:31
they had to say, Should we? Yep, this will be a lesson.
2:22:34
First up, Dave Sedrick said it can't be as good as the original
2:22:37
obviously, but also it kind of hurts itself a bit.
2:22:40
MGF playing all his offspring felt like an inside joke that
2:22:42
just doesn't land for me and felt a bit self indulgent.
2:22:45
Yeah. However it's still a great ride
2:22:47
and good family popcorn fun. Solid 8 for me.
2:22:50
OK. I think for me, I'd have rather
2:22:52
seen Leah Thompson playing Marlene McFly A. 100% I don't
2:22:56
know why she isn't. Or Elizabeth Shue.
2:22:58
Yeah. Next up with Shaza who said a
2:23:00
fine sequel. I really enjoyed it when it
2:23:02
first came out and it's never got tired.
2:23:04
Still waiting for Hoverboards to be a real thing 9.
2:23:08
OK, on wheel to point off for that.
2:23:10
Don't allow Mattel. Yeah, come on.
2:23:13
And finally, Ryan Douglas wrote Love this film, but the fact
2:23:16
that old Biff goes back in time with the Almanac and changes the
2:23:19
future and then is still able to travel back to the future
2:23:21
version that Doc and Marty were in bothers me still today.
2:23:25
And eight out of 10, purely on nostalgia.
2:23:27
Yeah, fair enough. There it is again.
2:23:29
That plot hole bothers me as well.
2:23:31
You just need a line from doc to explain how it happens or
2:23:34
something. It does, yeah.
2:23:36
Yeah. So our ATR and patrons, we head
2:23:38
Back to the future Part 2. An average of What do you think
2:23:41
out of 10? I have no idea.
2:23:43
Well, this is a tough one to call, isn't it?
2:23:44
I'm going to say 8. I'm going to go optimistic.
2:23:46
I'll go 8.5. It was 7.5 out of 10.
2:23:51
Wow, wow. OK.
2:23:53
So the four scores together, that gives us a total of 32.5
2:23:56
out of 40 from Back to the Future Part 2.
2:23:59
OK, well, next time in all the right movies, Luke, Westy and
2:24:02
Matt are putting on the Ritz. You're heading back to 1974 and
2:24:05
Into the Crypt with Mel Brooks. Monster movie Young
2:24:08
Frankenstein. Yeah, a beloved classic.
2:24:10
Yeah. What could possibly go wrong?
2:24:13
It's pronounced Frankenstein of. Course it is.
2:24:17
And in the meantime, you would like to support what we do,
2:24:19
please consider becoming one of our brilliant ATRM patrons.
2:24:22
You get access to our full archive, bonus episodes and the
2:24:25
community of people who love to talk about films.
2:24:28
Yeah. You can subscribe over on
2:24:29
patreon.com/all the Way Movies and also on Spotify, Apple
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Podcasts on YouTube. You can also now grab yourself
2:24:36
some official ATR merch, T-shirts, caps, mugs and more.
2:24:40
So check the episode notes for that.
2:24:42
Yeah, socially you can keep with all the right movies on X, where
2:24:45
we are at 80 right movies. We post threads on there that
2:24:48
tell the stories behind classic films.
2:24:50
Everything report has been said by somebody involved in the
2:24:52
production or come from three separate sources, which is the
2:24:55
same rule we follow on our podcast.
2:24:56
So go check that out. You can also find us on YouTube,
2:25:00
on Instagram threads, blue sky, TikTok and we have a Facebook
2:25:03
group too. The more the merrier.
2:25:05
So join that please do. And our website where new
2:25:08
features are added regularly. All the right movies.com.
2:25:11
Yep. We're all off now for a
2:25:13
dehydrated pizza, a Pepsi perfect, and to watch six TV
2:25:16
channels at the same time. Yep, come back next time for
2:25:19
Young Frankenstein, Matt. Absolutely.
2:25:22
Until then, as always, thanks for listening everyone.
2:25:25
Yes. Thank you so much guys.
2:25:26
Thanks guys.