'80s Movie Montage
Breaking down our favorite decade of flicks. Hosted by Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke.
'80s Movie Montage
Back to the Future
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Great Scott! With special guest Casey Campbell along for the ride, Anna and Derek discuss 1985's top grossing film, Back to the Future.
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Anna Keizer and Derek Dehanke are the co-hosts of ‘80s Movie Montage. The idea for the podcast came when they realized just how much they talk – a lot – when watching films from their favorite cinematic era. Their wedding theme was “a light nod to the ‘80s,” so there’s that, too. Both hail from the Midwest but have called Los Angeles home for several years now. Anna is a writer who received her B.A. in Film/Video from Columbia College Chicago and M.A. in Film Studies from Chapman University. Her dark comedy short She Had It Coming was an Official Selection of 25 film festivals with several awards won for it among them. Derek is an attorney who also likes movies. It is a point of pride that most of their podcast episodes are longer than the movies they cover.
Casey Campbell is an LA based Actor/Voice Over Artist. Currently, he is the main promo voice for NBATV and NBA on TNT, as well as a regular voice artist for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on CBS. His on-screen work includes Murphy the Chef on Disney’s “Bunk’d”, “Mighty Med”, “Best Friends Whenever” and NBC’s “Superstore”.
When this baby hits 88 miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious shit.
SPEAKER_02:Welcome to 80s movie montage. I'm Derek.
SPEAKER_05:And I'm Anna.
SPEAKER_02:And today we are very excited to talk to you about Back to the Future.
SPEAKER_05:Very excited. This is Derek's pick, but I also happen to love this film, and we're really excited because you guys don't just have to listen to us for this entire episode. We know that can probably wear on you. We have a awesome just just putting it out there, keeping it real. Um we have a very special guest, Casey Campbell, who he is uh a great friend, but also he is an extremely talented actor, uh voice performer, writer. So we're gonna have him on a little bit later on to talk about the film with us. And Back to the Future, spoiler, happens to be one of his favorite films.
SPEAKER_02:So he he has uh yeah, he he has some hot takes on Back to the Future, not just the original movie, but the trilogy itself that uh we'll look forward to getting to later.
SPEAKER_05:We get into some pretty interesting territory with uh strong bold bold opinions presented.
SPEAKER_02:Bold opinions, but not necessarily incorrect opinions. Not at all. I think I think they're pretty well supported.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah. I would agree with that. So Back to the Future, another 1985 film.
SPEAKER_02:Right in the middle again.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we have just kind of randomly we didn't we didn't plan it this way, but uh it seems like about half of our films come from '85.
SPEAKER_02:Turns out 1985 was a ridiculously good move uh movie year.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. Yeah. And again, we are following the story of a 17-year-old. Baby was also, as Michelle told us in the last episode, 17 years old. So we have another 17-year-old.
SPEAKER_02:I think in in many ways, Baby was actually a much more mature character than Marty McFey.
SPEAKER_05:Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I don't I don't even think anybody would dispute that. Um not to, I mean, as we go along, it might become quite obvious, but you know, Marty, he's not he's not the sharpest tool in the shit.
SPEAKER_02:He does his best.
SPEAKER_05:He does his best, yeah. So, I mean, well, anyway, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go to that place just yet. But um, so Back to the Future, I mean, I think this is one of those films that has stayed with people throughout the decades. It um it w it hap just happens to be the highest grossing film of 1985. But um, I mean, there's lots of films that end up being the highest grossing film of the year and then they kind of fade away. But this is one that I think I could pretty solidly say has has still withstood the test of time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's I think it's different from some of the films that we've talked about because unlike some films from the 80s that feel like they like you can't really pull them apart from the decade. The like the the ek the 80s-ness is just like everywhere throughout the movie. And I I think Back to the Future, and we do talk about this more later on, it it really exists and thrives independent of any like 80s culture reference. Like it's just it stands on its own very well.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. I mean, it's kind of interesting because the story itself about time travel, spoiler, but it has a timeless quality to it.
SPEAKER_02:It has kind of like a light touch of the 80s, in that it just looks like, yeah, that's kind of like what a house would look like. This is what people would dress like, but not in a like cartoonish way. I mean, kind of similar to the first season of Stranger Things, where it's like, yeah, that looks like the 80s, and then they started kind of becoming a parody of that. And I think Back to the Future doesn't do that until the sequel, where they're in the future, and now all of the 80s stuff is brought in as like this like kitsch kind of stuff. Like, you know.
SPEAKER_05:So we'll just dive right in.
SPEAKER_02:Let's do it.
SPEAKER_05:Uh, I'm gonna go through all the wonderful, talented people who are part of this film. So this is probably a very familiar name. Um, as far as the writing credits on this.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, I thought you were to say Michael J. Fox. Like, yeah, he is a pretty recognizable name.
SPEAKER_05:We'll get there, don't you worry. Um, but uh Robert Semekis.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So pretty well-known name, and he does I he is I think better known for his directing credits, of which there are many, but um, he does have a co-writing credit on this film with his partner Bob Gale. So they collaborated on this, uh they collaborated on the sequels to it. So they have writing credits on Back to the Future 2, Back to the Future 3. And then because they're using like same characters, I I can't claim to know just how involved they were with what followed, but they have credits on the Back to the Future TV series, the Back to the Future video games, and the Back to the Future shorts that have come about.
SPEAKER_02:Was the TV series the animated series?
SPEAKER_05:Honestly, I don't even know.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:I re it that was that was not on my radar at all.
SPEAKER_02:I I remember watching it when I was a kid. I I think it was probably the animated. I am feeling severe shame not knowing this right now. I should. But I mean, I don't think there was a live-action series for Back to the Future. That would be odd.
SPEAKER_05:That would be odd to do that. Um so yes, uh, want to give proper credit to Bob Gale. He's probably the one that maybe isn't mentioned as often because I think the film trilogy is so associated with Zemachis that he's the one more often brought up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:But um, speaking of, so Zemechis, he I mean, this guy has has done pretty well for himself because besides the Back to the Future trilogy, of which he directed all three, which is very rare, um, he did Romancing the Stone, film.
SPEAKER_02:It's another great movie that perhaps is not held up quite as well as Back to the Future, but it's still fun to watch.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I actually think it's coming up not too far in the future for us. I think we have that on the docket for this year. But anyway, uh Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was a huge accomplishment.
SPEAKER_02:It really was, yeah. I think it's you know, kind of easy to dismiss the relevance of that movie now, but at the time that was something that people had never seen.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. No, I remember it being a big deal when that came out. Um, we already talked about the sequels. This is one of my favorite. I love Death Becomes Her.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I I don't know if it has like achieved cult status, but it should because it it is a wildly funny dark film.
SPEAKER_02:It's one of the more interesting Bruce Willis performances.
SPEAKER_05:I totally agree. Yeah. Yep. Um, and then I think probably the film that a lot of people know him from is Forrest Gump.
SPEAKER_02:Indeed.
SPEAKER_05:That's that's probably the biggie of his film. Well, outside of Back to the Future. Um, you love this film, Contact.
SPEAKER_02:I do. That's such a great movie.
SPEAKER_05:So that's a Zemeckis film. And then it seems like he has developed quite a close relationship with uh Tom Hanks because then Tom Hanks was the lead in Castaway, which Zemeckis directed. He also is the main character voiced in the Polar Express.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, really?
SPEAKER_05:Which he did, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that I mean, yeah, it's it even looks like him. Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:It's essentially him. And then of his more recent work, Welcome Tomorrow, and and then uh We don't talk about that one.
SPEAKER_02:We d yeah, I mean, I I can't I haven't seen it, so I can't say that I saw the original documentary that that movie was kind of based off of, and my thought is that basically the original documentary was all you really need.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, what I love about Semeca is that he seems quite um it's gonna sound like a weird way to quite adventurous in the way that he approaches film because he likes to use different styles. It's certain I mean, of the films that I just listed, you know, maybe a well, a little, maybe two-thirds of them are live action, but he brings into it animation, he brings into different elements, and so I think that that's all really interesting that he's willing to go to that place. Um, and then what is currently in post-production, I don't know if you remember this. I was terrified of this film.
SPEAKER_02:E.T. No.
SPEAKER_05:Okay. Low blow. Low blow. It's it's true. E. T. terrified me. Look, E.T.
SPEAKER_02:terrifies a lot of people. That's totally fine.
SPEAKER_05:Um, it was it was my first movie going experience. I was far too young to be watching it. I didn't know what was going on. Anyway, no, The Witches. Do you remember the animated movie The Witches?
SPEAKER_02:I don't know.
SPEAKER_05:It's it's great. Um, and he, I guess, is doing a remake of it. I think it's interesting. I think it's live action.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Um, or was it, you know what? I think there was an animated, and then one with um maybe Angelica Houston was live action. In any case, so that's what he's currently working on. All right. Um, and so what also is really interesting about this film is going back to um Romancing the Stone.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Okay. So do you every time you say back to the I feel like you're setting me up. I'm not gonna say it.
SPEAKER_05:Um so basically the reason why I'm bringing it up is because we were just watching this not too long ago. And do you remember that as we were watching Romancing the Stone, we were throwing a little bit of shade at the score?
SPEAKER_02:Well, yeah, I don't want to get too much into it. I'm sure we'll talk about this when we actually discuss that movie in full, but there's a scene where they're floating down a river in their car, and the most 80s track ever is just like jamming in the background, and it's it's a little ridiculous.
SPEAKER_05:So so we weren't that impressed with with the score. Same guy did the score for Back to the Future.
SPEAKER_02:Well, he Alan Silvestri. Yeah, it's the score for this movie is just incredible. It works, it works so well, and it lifts so many like already kind of amazing moments to these just iconic scenes.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and my guess is because Zemechis directed Romancing the Stone, he was the one that probably put forth Sylvestri as, you know, let's let's use this guy as our composer. And another part of this film, which, you know, we don't we need to don't need to go down this too much, but Steve Steven Spielberg, he's an executive producer on it. He was a huge force behind the film getting made. And actually, he initially did not want Sylvestri on this film because he wasn't impressed with romantic yeah, he didn't want him. And at one point they did a screening, and without him knowing that it was Silvestri's score, they played it with the score, and he's like, Oh, yeah, this is what this movie needs, this kind of score. And they're like, Well, guess who it is? And so that's what convinced him to yeah, to have him do the score. So surprise. Yeah, surprise Spielberg.
SPEAKER_02:Um He was also, and we do talk about this later, but he was instrumental in keeping the name back to the future.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we'll let Casey when he comes on tell tell that story because it does a great job of it.
SPEAKER_02:Turns out you don't really tell Spielberg what to do so much.
SPEAKER_05:Shocker. Yeah. Shocker. So, okay, you already mentioned him. Um, as far as the cast, which perfect casting, I think, in this film, uh, and leading it up is Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Um, he, I mean, everybody knows this guy. I I grew up with him as yes, Marty McFly, but more substantially Alex Piqueton and Family Ties.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I mean, he was in a lot of movies. There were and he he had an interesting career where he really went into different types of roles. Like he's in Back to the Future. He's also, what was it, like Doc Hollywood or and then Big City, Big Lights?
SPEAKER_05:Big nine Bright Lights, Big City.
SPEAKER_02:I was thinking of a song from the Scorpions, possibly. I don't know.
SPEAKER_05:Maybe.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't know. Uh, but he, I mean, he didn't really have like a type, per se. I mean, he he was in a a variety of different things. And he was.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, uh personally, look, I I love him.
SPEAKER_02:The Frighteners.
SPEAKER_05:He is fantastic in The Frighteners, a truly underrated film. Like, go see it, people. It's not an 80s film, but it is, it is great. It's directed by Peter Jackson, um, of Lord of the Rings fame, and he's great in that. I I I think outside of that, I I love him in a in his comedic roles the best. Um, I think he just he has he is great timing, great expression. He's just he's great in those roles. And yes, he does have range, but that's that's personally just my my thing.
SPEAKER_02:Well the comedic timing, I think, you know, we'll we'll talk about it later, and everybody, I think, at this point knows that Eric Stoltz was originally going to be Marty McFly. They had done some filming with him. And one of the not necessarily a criticism, but just tonally one of the things that they had concerns with was that he was playing it like pretty serious.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I mean, which that's not shocking to me because like, yes, actors can absolutely have range, um, but Stoltz just has that kind of more soulful emo-ish kind of quality to him.
SPEAKER_02:Which like when Marty when Michael J. Fox first shows up in um Is it Hill Valley in 1955, and he has this kind of like bewildered look on his face and he's wandering around. I think I've I've seen some of the uh footage of Stoltz walking in where it looked like it looked like the town had just been destroyed. Like he was kind of surveying it like, holy shit.
SPEAKER_05:And from what I have read, uh I mean, like, look, this is great. It's great for an actor to take his work so seriously, but he he did that thing where like Daniel Day Lewis does this thing, even though he's supposedly retired right now, um, where like he is that character even when they're not filming. So he wanted to be referred to as Marty throughout throughout the time that he was on the project.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that that happens sometimes.
SPEAKER_05:It it happens. Um, but so Fox, Alex P. Keaton, love him in Teen Wolf.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:He's great in TV. Another film that is like super, I think, under the radar, but I love this film, is The Secret of My Success.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's the one I was trying to think of. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:He's fantastic in that. Um, you already mentioned Bright Light's Big City. He was, of course, in the Back to the Future sequels. You mentioned Doc Hollywood, we mentioned Frighteners, and then he has had a really successful stint in television.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So he had his own show, Spin City, um, which was on for several years. And then he has had stints on Boston Legal, The Good Wife, and designated Survivor, among others. Um, so so he's he's still working and and doing great.
SPEAKER_02:I'll always remember him from the very special episode of Family Ties.
SPEAKER_05:Totally. Where he's like in this black room and very I think he might have won an Emmy off of that performance. I would not be surprised. I don't know that for sure, but for some reason.
SPEAKER_02:It was of all of the special episode episodes, it was the most special.
SPEAKER_05:It was the most special. So another huge person that's part of this film trilogy is Christopher Lloyd. He plays Dr. Emmett Brown. Now, this guy, like sometimes I do this because I'm just always really impressed by like the breadth of work that some actors do.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I have, I know, brought up other actors that have like a hundred plus credits.
SPEAKER_02:He he's insane.
SPEAKER_05:He's insane. Currently, 232 credits.
SPEAKER_02:Well, one you've already mentioned, actually, who framed Roger Rabbit. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So he has, it seems like he has a little bit of a relationship with Zemekis. Um, do you know what his first very first credit was?
SPEAKER_02:It wasn't Taxi, was it? No. No. Then no.
SPEAKER_05:His first, which, you know, again, I was like way too young to appreciate that show. But yes, he had, he was one of the main characters on the TV show Taxi. Um he played Reverend Jim. Uh, I'm gonna butcher the last name, but Ignatowski. Actually, I think I think that's pretty good, actually. Um, but his very first credit, one flew over the Kook is nest.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's right. That's okay.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. So that's where he started. He had, um, I remember him, he had just a bit bit part in Mr. Mom. I added this one because I know you are kind of a Trek E fan, so he was in Star Trek III, The Search for Spock.
SPEAKER_02:Uh yes, he in fact played a Klingon in Star Trek Three that uh yeah, I can't remember. Was he in two? No, he wouldn't have been two, just three. He was a very aggressive Klingon, which is almost like redundant.
SPEAKER_05:I thought that they're very like devoid of emotion.
SPEAKER_02:No, those are the Vulcans.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, sorry. That's okay. I'm obviously not a trackey. So okay.
SPEAKER_02:Moving on.
SPEAKER_05:Moving on. Um he's in Clue. You we now have multiple times who He's uh Professor Plum?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:In Clue, yeah. Um and then he was in the Adams family. And then actually, I wanted to add this because I think this is just like really sweet. He was in an episode of Spin City, so he reunited with Fox, and actually the name of that episode is Back to the Future for Judgment Day.
SPEAKER_02:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_05:So I just I really needed to uh give a shout out to that.
SPEAKER_02:When I worked at uh 20th Century Fox, I know I I worked near some of the people that worked in production on some of the TV shows, and he was involved with something, and I just remember hearing that he was in fact a good guy.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, he seems so.
SPEAKER_02:So yeah, I uh I'm always happy to hear that you know they say never meet your heroes.
SPEAKER_05:Right.
SPEAKER_02:So I I don't want to go that far. I just want to say, like, I heard a positive comment about this person, and I choose to believe it.
SPEAKER_05:He seems like a really upstanding dude. Um, I love that he's still working very consistently because he's a little bit older now. Um so I love that. And yeah, so Leah Thompson, um, also, you know, she's somebody that has continued to work, but like I really do know her from like her 80s work. So she has a tie-in to our last episode. She so in addition to Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze in Red Dawn, she was in Red Dawn. So she's in that. Um, Space Camp.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. She was also partnered up with Eric Stoltz again. Yeah. In some kind of wonderful.
SPEAKER_05:Yep. Um she has the dubious honor of being in Howard the Duck.
SPEAKER_02:That movie. Yeah. No, I remember that she oh god, there's like a creepy scene with her and the duck.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we'll just keep moving on. Yeah. Um there's uh I know this movie, I don't think I've ever seen it, but it uh casual sex question mark is the film.
SPEAKER_02:That's that's the most uh threatening question mark of all time. Because if it's not, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah, exactly. Oh my god. Oh my gosh. I think she was in it with uh who's the chick that was I mean, there's many of them, but um from Saturday Night Live, Victoria Jackson.
SPEAKER_02:The the chick from Saturday Night Live.
SPEAKER_05:One of the chicks from Saturday Night Live. Uh uh I think that's her name, Victoria Jackson. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I think so, yeah. She's also uh from Weird Al Yankovich uh UHF.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_02:I think I think so.
SPEAKER_05:Um so she had her own show. So Michael J. Fox had Spin City, Leah Thompson had Caroline in the city.
SPEAKER_02:Same city.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, that's so interesting. Maybe, because like weren't they both New York?
SPEAKER_02:I think probably.
SPEAKER_05:Maybe um and then so she also has kind of moved pretty heavily into TV work. So she there there is a Jane Doe TV series. There's been nine of them. And she so she's done quite well in this Jane Doe TV series. I'm not familiar with it.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh, it it sounds familiar, but in like a really generic way that you would Jane Doe. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So and then she's been on the show Switched at Birth. Or Switch. Is it Switched at Birth or Switch at Birth? I'm gonna have to double check that.
SPEAKER_02:That's an important distinction.
SPEAKER_05:That is an important distinction.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that's a totally different show.
SPEAKER_05:Um yeah, and then okay, so moving on to George McFly, otherwise known as Crispin Glover.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, as much as I identify with him as George McFly, I also think of him as like the creepy bad guy from the original Charlie's Angel reboot movie.
SPEAKER_05:Which he was great in.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he was he was um in some ways almost better in that than in this, and he was great in this.
SPEAKER_05:He was great. Um I oh, and you know what? I I stand corrected. It is I don't know why I wrote it as switch switch at birth. It switched, which makes sense.
SPEAKER_02:That makes I mean switch at birth is more of like a command. Like you will do this at birth. What am I doing?
SPEAKER_05:But anyway, sorry to sorry to uh backtrack a bit. But um yeah, Crispin Glover, which he brings such an interesting dynamic to George McFly, like truly a unique character.
SPEAKER_02:He makes him as as awkward physically as he does like emotionally, just like socially. Because even like his movements here are like, what is with this guy?
SPEAKER_05:Great physical acting in that role.
SPEAKER_02:But yeah, so when he's acting out his uh eventual, like his his rehearsal of how he's gonna save Lorraine, just even that, like he has like such a great physical presence when he's like kind of playing through all his lines.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and he he has done other work. I mean, you already mentioned um Charlie's Angels. So when we talk to Casey a little bit later, like he does mention that he does a lot of um kind of avant guard type work. So so that's that I think I bring that up because like it I think then misleads you when you look at his acting credits because he he still continues to work. It's just in other mediums that don't really like qualify for like IMDB. But um of some of his earlier work, he was in Friday the 13th, the final chapter.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Was it really the final chapter? No, okay, it never is. Just checking.
SPEAKER_05:Um he actually did have a stint on uh a stint sounds too like longer than it is, but uh family ties. Oh really?
SPEAKER_02:That's very interesting.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly. He was in uh the 1989 Twister, so not the one with Bill Paxton.
SPEAKER_02:Was it the same movie?
SPEAKER_05:I don't know.
SPEAKER_02:Was it about a okay I don't I don't know. We're gonna have to do some research on this.
SPEAKER_05:He plays Andy Warhol and the Doors, which is like perfect casting.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, oh my god. Perfect casting.
SPEAKER_05:Um he's in The People versus Larry Flint.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:And then I I have watched this film. I'm not recalling his role in it, but um Hot Tub Hot Tub Time Machine.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, really? Okay, yeah, I can't think of who he would have been in that. That's interesting.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:He's in so he's in multiple time machine movies now.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, well, you're right. That I wonder if anybody else can say that. That is so interesting. Um, okay, so we're gonna wrap this up, but wanna give a shout out to two um actors that are also in the film. So Thomas F. Wilson, who most people know better as Biff Tannin.
SPEAKER_02:He, I mean, he's almost like Eddie Murphy in that he plays so many characters throughout the trilogy.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, between Old Biff, young Biff, Western Biff, Future Biff, and all of them are kind of the same, but different enough to where you're like, wow, these actually are like totally different, insane characters. Um, and also my only like quick fact about Thomas Wolfson is that he does have, for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, his kind of stand-up performance where he sings about his experience with the movie. That's kind of all he will say about his experience with the movie.
SPEAKER_05:Well, it's unfortunate and I brought this up because or wrote it down. So on his IMDB, he currently has 137 credits. The reason why I bring that up is because he is so identified as Biff. As Biff that that I can understand a little bit why he doesn't necessarily like want to ad nauseum talk about just that because he's done a lot of other work.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So, but you know, in the same token, I think we could probably say that was the launching pad for his career.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I can still see Mark Hamill and think Luke Skywalker. And somehow it all worked out.
SPEAKER_05:It all worked out. Um, so yeah, he, you know, in he's in the entire trilogy. He also contributed to the TV series. One thing that I know him from that I really like him in is um he's the coach in Freaks and Geeks.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, that's right. He's actually really good in that.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, he's great. And then also, I don't, I'm not familiar with the show, but he's in DC's Legends of Tomorrow.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, really? Yeah. So DC's Legends of Tomorrow is part of their whole arrow verse. It began with the show Arrow and then makes sense. Led to uh The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl, I think, and they all kind of like interconnect. So I've only seen episodes of Legends of Tomorrow when it's crossed over with the Flash.
SPEAKER_05:Okay. So not my world.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. But moving on.
SPEAKER_05:Moving on. Two James Tolkien, who plays the principal Mr. Strickland. And I wanted to give this guy a shout out because he's just it he doesn't have a huge role.
SPEAKER_02:T-O-L-K-A-N.
SPEAKER_05:Just so that it's not Oh, like JJ R Tolkien or whatever.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Um no, no relation. Uh, but he so we have watched this film several times because we get a big kick out of it, not because it's in any way scary, but he has a role in the Amityville horror.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, really? He's the coroner. Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I didn't know that's interesting. Okay.
SPEAKER_05:And then I mean, I think what so what most people probably know him from is Top Gun.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And and he because he's essentially the same character except he's in the military.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. No, he he is. He's got a he's got a thing going, don't mess with it.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it's fine. That's he's a great character actor. Um, he's also in war games and some of his and he was in the entire Back to the Future trilogy. He pops up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, he is kind of like the same comically aggressive, don't be a slacker kind of guy every time, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And some of his other credits, Remington Steele.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_05:And Dick Tracy.
SPEAKER_02:Huh. Okay, the Warren Beatty.
SPEAKER_05:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So so there we go. That kind of fills you in on the major players in the film. And as far as like film synopsis, we usually uh pull IMDBs and then do a breakdown of how accurate we think it is. So here's the synopsis. Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the eccentric scientist Doc Brown.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, that's accurate. Very accurate.
SPEAKER_05:It doesn't really bring up this quasi-incestral.
SPEAKER_02:It might be one of the more uh spoiler-proof synopses that I've seen.
SPEAKER_05:But um but it's pretty accurate. So okay. Let's talk about original memories of this film.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I think for me it's it's probably one of the first movies that I can remember our household renting when like you'd go to a like a actual physical store and rent this giant VHS tape and then come home and hope that whoever watched it before you didn't like fuck up the tape so that it will actually work. You throw it in there, and I don't know why, but you'd play with the tracking feature on your uh VCR so that you don't see a bunch of like crazy horizontal lines, and then you enjoy the movie. So that's some of my uh my first memories.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, and we do we do get into this with Casey because he has like really he I mean he just does great throughout the entire time, but he talks about like his first memories of the film, and again for me, like I wish I could say that I remember seeing this like in the theater. I don't.
SPEAKER_02:I don't I don't either. I remember seeing the sequel in the theater.
SPEAKER_05:I I know for sure I didn't.
SPEAKER_02:I remember seeing the sequel in the theater and feeling this like strange combination of just confusion and irrational rage when I realized that this sequel was just another like launching point for the third movie because because the the sequel and the third movie were filmed within weeks of each other, the first one, as you mentioned, was the the top box office for the year. So they knew they were gonna create sequels, and I think it I think they were going to just have one sequel and they realized it was too much stories, so then they shifted into creating the the last two movies. And so in the theaters, you actually saw the to be continued, and then a trailer, like a mini teaser for the next one that was gonna come out, and I'm like, I just want to see the rest of this damn story. But I think in reality it was this is somehow tied back to The Empire Strikes Back in Return of the Jedi because it was Gale, I think, Bob Gale, was upset, I believe, at the length of time people needed to wait to see the end of it. Oh, okay. And so I think that was actually kind of like an accommodation to the audience like, yes, this one's over. Here's the trailer. It's not gonna be out in too long. You'll be able to see the whole thing in in like a matter of months, I think.
SPEAKER_05:Okay, that's really interesting. I mean Yeah, I can understand his frustration with that. I mean, as far as what it takes to do a Star Wars film back then with the great American. Of special effects and just um, I mean, none of that may have been accurate.
SPEAKER_02:He also talked about how the hoverboard in the sequel was a real thing and they just had to hide it from people because too many people were getting injured using them. Was it real? No.
SPEAKER_05:No, I didn't think so. I was like, really?
SPEAKER_02:No, there there is no real uh hoverboard, sadly.
SPEAKER_05:Sadly, very sadly. Although I know that uh you could buy Mart well at one point in time you could buy Marty's shoes from the second of the films.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that was a that was a huge thing. And we're I mean, we'll we'll bring up uh the sequel and the and the third briefly. But I think in my mind, the original was still just such a such a great movie. I don't know if I want to say it's a perfect movie, but it was just such a great movie from the effects which in a in many ways still hold up even now. Like you you're not watching it. Some movies, the special effects kind of take you out of the movie. I think for the most part they still work. The music is so great, the performances are so amazing. This podcast today is just gonna be me talking about how much I enjoy Back to the Future.
SPEAKER_05:No, say I mean, same. And as far as like saying, well, I don't want to call it necessarily a perfect film, what you might find interesting is that at least at one point in in time, USC was using the script of Back to the Future as an example of a perfect screenplay.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:So so there is something to back up, you know. I mean, obvious what is in a script sometimes doesn't translate to what becomes the finished film.
SPEAKER_03:Sure.
SPEAKER_05:But um, and I don't know what they maybe took out or changed in between those two versions of it. But um, yeah, I mean, we talk about this with Casey, so I don't want to be redundant, but like of the things that really struck me uh, because we always screen the film before we do the podcast about it, I I was just really happy watching the film the whole way through. I mean, yeah, you're I mean, it's hard to say because now we've watched the film just so many times. Like, you know, Marty spoiler, Marty does get back to 1985. Um, so everything works out just fine. In fact, better than fine. Um but so yes, there are stakes, but at the same time, it's just a really enjoyable film to watch because it it's funny and it's light and it is truly the definition of escapist television or um escapist film.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So so yeah, I really, I really enjoyed watching it.
SPEAKER_02:And as far as montages go, Yeah, I yeah, the elephant in the room. Yeah, a little bit of a lot of the other. In the title of the podcast. Yeah. We we have always had kind of different perspectives on on the title of the podcast as it applies to, I guess, our actual podcast itself, the content of the podcast, if you will. Whereas I have have thought of it kind of collectively as a montage of all of these 80s movies, you perhaps have had a little bit more of uh pragmatic? Desire to identify and then discuss those montages within the movies. And unfortunately, we're just never going to find one as good as Bloodsport.
SPEAKER_05:We've kind of already hit our peak.
SPEAKER_02:So, yeah, as far as montages go, that's probably the king of of montages, uh certainly in terms of like time and years spanned.
SPEAKER_05:Aaron Ross Powell And for this film, actually, what is I think we can still work it in is that uh it really doesn't have much of a montage, which it easily could, because like this guy is spanning 30 years. Like there's a lot that could be covered in montage, but really the closest we get to it is at the very beginning of the film when he's trying to get to school and it's just a you know series of quick cuts that actually do serve a purpose because almost a second character or third or tenth or whatever you want to call it, another character in the film is the town. Because we're seeing two versions of it.
SPEAKER_02:Um yeah, in this movie we see two versions. We see so many. We see it from like throughout the trilogy, from like the future version of it all the way to when the town is first established in the third movie.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. So what happens when and it's all to Huey Lewis in the news, Power of Love. Great, great song.
SPEAKER_04:It is.
SPEAKER_05:Um and Huey Lewis actually has a cameo. He is one of the judges when Marty is uh trying out for some it's I don't even what know what they're trying out for. Is it like a a it's a it's a band tryout and what the end goal is.
SPEAKER_02:Interestingly, they are told that they're too loud, and in the background you see a bunch of like full-on punk rockers getting like warming up and like, you're in for a bad afternoon, Huey. If you think this is too loud, Mr. Mr. Lewis.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, he's a great little cameo. But uh so as as Marty is making his way through town to get to school, they do a great job of like kind of giving you context of like how this town looks, and and he goes past different places, and you you know, I think you see the diner at one point, which you know comes up through the film, and or at that point it's like a aerobic studio.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah. He he like leaves from I guess the I don't know, shop or like lab or whatever you would call Doc's workspace, which is still part of his original property that you see when they go back in 1955. But he also does mention at one point in the movie that he like essentially sold off portions of his family estate and spent a lot of his fortune developing the flux capacitor, and thus at the beginning of the movie, you see Marty skating past a Burger King.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Which was built on part of that property, I think.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, so so it does serve a purpose. Um, and also it gets in that uh that song, which I guess from what I read, Lewis did a song that I think Zemeckis was like, no, I'm just not really feeling this. And so then he came back with Power of Love, and Zemeckis was like, I love it.
SPEAKER_02:All right. Yeah. I mean, it's it's a great song, yeah. And it's interesting that they he he was so resistant to being in that cameo. Like he wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be used in any promotional or marketing materials for the movie. Uh he he had a lot of limitations that they had to negotiate in order to get him in that that small role.
SPEAKER_05:Which I get it. I mean Huey Lewis in the news they were probably in their heyday. Yeah, no, I I think so so I get it why he wanted to be careful about the way that he was used because he overall has such a small part of the film.
SPEAKER_02:I guarantee that was way less to do with actual Huey Lewis and probably a million times more to do with the other. I I've never met him. I don't know him. I feel they probably exist. And I choose to blame them.
SPEAKER_05:So um speaking of the town, do you know what other film use the same sets?
SPEAKER_02:No, but I I don't, but I know where like the town central, the clock tower was is all located. So I assume maybe I know you know that. I assume there are many things that uh Gremlins.
SPEAKER_05:Oh that's right.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So same same sets were used for both films. And then what is also like a really funny connection between those two films is that the same actress, she plays Lorraine's mom in Back to the Future, and then she plays Billy's mom in Gremlins. So her name is Frances Lee McCain.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:So funny little connection there that she's in both of them.
SPEAKER_02:Wow, that is interesting.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. And also, uh, you guys might notice Mr. Billy Zane.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:The funny thing about Billy Zane is that I'll see him in something like this, and even though I've seen this movie a million times, I see him like, oh Billy Zane.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, Billy Zane. Oh.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, look.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, it was Billy Zane. Um, one of my favorite little like fun facts about well, I have two. One of my little fun facts about this film, so Lorraine is the mom, played by Leah Thompson. Yeah. She wasn't always going to have that name. And I know sometimes like the actual name of a character means very little. Like when I write something, I mean, I usually do have a method behind the madness, but it's like a name's a name. You can change out a name a million times. But do you know why she is named Lorraine?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_05:Okay. So the head of Universal at that time, Sid Scheinberg, who he only passed away last year. You know who he was married to at the time? I don't. I think still until his passing. Um her name is Lorraine Gary. Does that sound familiar at all?
SPEAKER_02:No, it doesn't.
SPEAKER_05:She's an actress.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:And you know what she was in?
SPEAKER_02:I don't.
SPEAKER_05:Jaws.
SPEAKER_02:Holy shit.
SPEAKER_05:She's Brody's wife.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, okay. Was she she was in the sequel, right? And was she in the third? Fourth?
SPEAKER_05:Don't even know.
SPEAKER_02:I think she came back for the fourth, Jaws the Revenge. No.
SPEAKER_05:So. Wait, was it?
SPEAKER_02:I can't remember. There's so many Jaws movies, I don't know.
SPEAKER_05:There's many Jaws movies. So yeah, he kind of was like, I need you to call this character Lorraine because my wife is Lorraine. So that's how that happened.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, which is fun.
SPEAKER_05:It's just a fun fact. It's just a fun little little part of the film. And then here's here's the thing though. So like we've talked multiple times in the podcast, and this does come up with Casey. He has, I think, a much more forgiving view than maybe you or I do. Um when we talk about like reboots of films from the 80s. And I don't know. Well, he, I mean, he he's not wrong in saying that like look, sometimes remakes work out. And and he's he's not wrong in that. No, no, yeah. But um but we have pretty strong opinions. I mean, like, one one film that we bring up all the time is Poltergeist and the remake of the film.
SPEAKER_02:Poltergeist, the remake of Poltergeist in my mind is like peak, this movie did not need to be remade. Because the original is so even now is so strong that I just I don't understand why they they even did that.
SPEAKER_05:And they always as it happens because I I understand the mentality behind it, you remake the great films because you think there's a built-in audience for it when really you should be remaking the awful films and learn from the mistakes of that first film to make it better, but that's not gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02:That is the opposite.
SPEAKER_05:It's yeah, it's not I get from a marketing viewpoint and a money viewpoint, they're not gonna do that. Um, but it it always happens that way. Like this isn't an 80s film, it's it's 20 years prior, but like Psycho, almost 30 years prior.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that that is like not only been remade but had uh series and right.
SPEAKER_05:But the one with uh Ann Hayesh and Vince Vaughn and Vince Vaughn, I mean, come on. And they did it, it was alright. It was a weird like shot for shot line-for-line remake, which is like, what is even the point of that? But anyway, we are getting far off track.
SPEAKER_02:What if I told you that there could have been, if it was up to one person in particular, a fourth Back to the Future movie?
SPEAKER_05:Uh I don't know if I really have any strong opinion about that.
SPEAKER_02:Christopher Lloyd stated that he he'd always wanted there to be a fourth one. They go back, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Which would have been kind of like moving into uh Bill and Ted Excellent Adventure kind of territory.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. And that's that's actually a really great comp um because of what they do. So in that that was an 89 film, Bill and Ted. So I wonder if they got any inspiration from Back to the Future. It's kind of an interesting thought.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, one of the things about Back to the Future, not just this movie, but the trilogy as a whole, is how well it tells one particular story, which we've said this several times, but it is certainly something that we will talk about more with Casey. But that's I think a big part of why there may not ever be a reboot or another sequel, because that story has been told, and how do you like crack that open again without like what what even would the story be? I suppose I I think the animated show went into more of like after the third movie with Doc and his kids and Clara. But beyond that, I I don't I don't really know where they would go.
SPEAKER_05:Well, um, as we talk about with Casey, it's not gonna happen, at least while Zemeckis has anything to say about it, because he he and Gail own the rights and he has said as such that like no, this this film's not getting remade, it's not getting rebooted.
SPEAKER_02:There's not much that ever happens in the universe of Back to the Future without both of their approval. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05:I can't if you go to their pages. I mean, of course, again, they have other credits, but it's like Back to the Future, Back to the Future. Like they are they are instrumental in every um reiteration of this story, whether it's a video game or even the shorts or anything like that.
SPEAKER_02:So And there are there are efforts, I feel, to make sure that just the universe, the Back to the Future world, is always like kept relevant or at least on the periphery at the furthest, I guess, in in our consciousness. Like no one ever wants it to go away. And there are certainly like celebrations for anniversaries and reissues of the DVDs. Uh you know, there's there's obviously like product there's so much supporting it except for like actual new content.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. I have like a really weird fun fact to bring up. But you know, you know what I'm gonna well, you don't know what I'm about to say, but you will as soon as I say it.
SPEAKER_02:I think that's I think that's probably right.
SPEAKER_05:We saw the DeLorean not too long ago.
SPEAKER_02:We've seen We've seen a DeLorean, yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Well, yeah. I mean, I I'm really curious how closely connected it was to the powers that be that have ownership because I mean it even has the license plate was out of time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, it was um like some places I I guess like just to show how places.
SPEAKER_05:You could essentially rent it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, you can rent it, and it's just like it will never like the Back to the Future world will never go away. Yeah, like that. But I just thought that was like super fun.
SPEAKER_05:It was literally in our neighborhood, like a couple of blocks away from where we are.
SPEAKER_02:And it wasn't just a DeLorean. It had the plate, it had like all of the kit put on to make it look like if if cars could cosplay, that's what this is. Yeah, that's a great way of putting it. Yeah, so it was it was really cool. I have seen just a plain old DeLorean, if that's even a thing, but I've seen one of those um before on the lot, and someone just bought it and drives it as a commuter, which seems insane, but they still make them.
SPEAKER_05:I believe that uh John DeLorean actually thanked the filmmakers because it r like reinvigorated sales, which that makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Um then went to jail for cocaine deals.
SPEAKER_05:Yikes.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there's a complicated history. Yeah, it's not that complicated. He just went to jail for Wow.
SPEAKER_05:Okay. Yeah. Well, yeah. Um, so before we jump into our talk with Casey, just a couple of things I want to bring up. Now, kind of um circling back to what we were saying about, you know, perfect story, perfect script, perfect movie, that sort of thing. So we kind of go down the path of um how Marty and Doc even became friends with Casey. So we won't we won't go over that right now. I think we also, you know, touch on the light uh at a poll um over tones.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that's actually so the script itself, and this isn't uncommon, it was rejected numerous times. I think over 40 times. And in particular, one studio that that rejected it said, this is a movie about incest, and that's not what we're about. And of course, that studio was Disney. And can you imagine if Disney owned this? Do you know how many Back to the Future movies there would be exploited to no end. There would be 12 movies for Back to the Future right now. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:100%. So so that all worked out for the best.
SPEAKER_02:I think it I think it probably did.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Um the one thing I do want to bring up, though, is something that we were discussing during the the last viewing of it. And that is what I can't, for the life of me, understand is why at the end of the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, Lorraine and George are saying goodbye to Marty. There is never any discussion that he's just there for the week.
SPEAKER_02:Not sure if it's the end of the school year. I don't think it is.
SPEAKER_05:I don't think it is either. I mean, there's no talk of like, oh, see, you mix it.
SPEAKER_02:Uh October, right? Or September, October. November. November. Yeah. It's still a little early for a winter break.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. So that I would say honestly beyond the incestual slash Oedipul type parts of it, beyond Doc and Marty having kind of this like nebulous, like, how did these two even become friends?
SPEAKER_02:Well, they met in 1955. Paradox.
SPEAKER_05:Paradox. Um, my biggest problem with this film is them saying goodbye to Marty at the end because there is no reason why they should be. There's zero reason. He never says, Oh, I gotta go, nothing like that. But they both just like, okay, great. Well, it was great, great knowing ya.
SPEAKER_02:And and that's that's I think I think look, they had they had made their match at that point. They're both happy. They don't, I think, even care if he was really going. He's like, just just give us some space. Just give us some space.
SPEAKER_05:It is very much a goodbye.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's uh it's I don't really understand it, but there's so much I don't understand. I don't understand why Disney was saying no to the movie about incest, ostensibly, according to them, when they had no problem with Luke and Leia making out an Empire Strikes Back.
SPEAKER_05:Right, but that I mean, Disney didn't own Star Wars at that time.
SPEAKER_02:I'm just saying I have questions.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, I could give you an answer, and the answer's money.
SPEAKER_02:That's fair.
SPEAKER_05:Because Disney bought Star Wars when it was a billion-dollar franchise, so it's like we could we can overlook a kiss between brother and sister.
SPEAKER_02:We're not making this mistake again. We made it once.
SPEAKER_05:We're not so so uh yeah, exactly. So that's that's unfortunately what it usually comes down to is money. And at the time, Back to the Future wasn't a known property. So in any case, let's uh let's jump into it with Casey. What do you think?
SPEAKER_02:Let's do it. We we have referenced so many portions of this conversation.
SPEAKER_05:I think it's time to just actually Yeah, let's not leave you hanging it anymore.
SPEAKER_02:All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_05:And we are here with Casey Campbell. Casey, he is an actor, he is a writer, he is a voiceover performer. Uh, you may know him as Murphy the Chef from Disney's Bumped, and he is also a really great friend of ours. So welcome, Casey.
SPEAKER_01:Hello, hello, hello, how are you guys?
SPEAKER_05:We're doing great and yourself?
SPEAKER_01:Doing well, doing well as can be, hanging in there on our uh our quarantine adventure, as it were.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly. Well, we are so thrilled to have you for this episode. We just know that you're going to knock it out with Back to the Future because this is definitely one that you have talked about before with us, and that says a lot because you are honestly like a film aficionado, if I may.
SPEAKER_01:You're just setting me up for failure because when I start talking and I'm really inarticulate and not eloquent, everyone's gonna be like, wow, she really kind of oversold this guy, and I'm really disappointed.
SPEAKER_02:Well, I just wanted to add to that and say that this is one of my favorite movies on our list. And so, not to say that.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and that's and to kind of pick a bone with you guys, like I know that this is an 80s movie podcast, but to me, and and you may agree, you may disagree, but I've always thought of Back to the Future as just a really great movie and not a great 80s movie, because I feel like there could be two separate categories almost. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02:No, I think that's right.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I think that's actually very fair. It it's just across decades, across genres, it's just a great film.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. Because there are movies that are very like you look at it and you're like, okay, that's totally an 80s movie. Like it has that 80s feel to it. Like a fast times at Ridgemont High feels like an 80s movie. But I feel like I can talk about Back to the Future in the way as I talk about like The Godfather. I wouldn't refer to The Godfather as like, oh, it's a 70s movie. I refer to that just as a great movie, and the same applies, at least to me, about Back to the Future, just because it's such a it's such a perfect film in a lot of ways, and that's what I'm most excited to talk about today.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I don't know how much that perfection extends to the sequels, because I do think of We'll get into that the the series as a whole, and certainly there's probably little argument that that the original Back to the Future is the strongest of the three.
SPEAKER_01:I will actually I'm gonna go ahead and uh I'm gonna I'm gonna go ahead and throw my uh throw my hat in the ring here and say that in my opinion, Back to the Future as a trilogy is the most perfect and pure trilogy of any film trilogy ever made.
SPEAKER_04:That is a bold statement.
SPEAKER_01:And I can back it up too. Yeah. Throw at me looking forward to it. Throw at me.
SPEAKER_05:I mean, that's yeah, okay, we'll go, we'll we will come back to that. We're gonna put a pin in that.
SPEAKER_01:I am very please do.
SPEAKER_05:So we do this with, I mean, even between Derek and myself and with some of the guests that we've had. One of the things that I love asking is do you have a memory of your first experience watching this film?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, absolutely. I mean, I feel like this is a movie that uh I feel like I I feel like it's just been with me since a very young age. I mean, I think like any kid, or at least any kid in the Midwest, uh I saw Back to the Future for the first time uh taped off of television, and we had a TV, you know, that or we had a we had a copy of the movie that we had taped off of TV. So for years and years, there were actually a lot of movies like this where my mom would just tape the movie off of TV, and that was how we owned that movie, and I would watch it over and over and over again. But it wasn't until later on that I realized, like, oh, they edited the shit out of this thing. Yeah. There were jokes in Ghostbusters and Back to the Future and and scenes that I had never seen because they had edited for television. So when I rediscovered these movies later on DVD or whatever, um, I'd be like, oh, that's an entirely new scene. And that certainly wasn't on when they aired it on television and edited and everything. You didn't kiss his mom on TV. It was just a delightful story about a boy who goes to the 50s and nothing else. There was no hint of edible storylines whatsoever. Um but no, but I I mean I I I loved this movie, and then especially Back to the Future Part 2. I feel like 1989, when that came out, was such an amazing summer for movies because you had that. You had Indiana Jones 3, you had Ghostbusters 2, you had Honey I Shrunk the Kids, you had Batman, the first Batman with Michael Keaton, you had Lethal Weapon 2, I think came out that summer as well. Like it was just this amazing summer of movies. And I remember going to see Back to the Future Part 2 and just being like, This is incredible. And my mom, I remember she even built me my own pretend DeLorean time machine down in the basement out of old refrigerator boxes. That's amazing. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I mean, I I this was a movie that I it's just it's it's been probably like this and Ghostbusters have been with me since a very early age. And it's one of those things where when I go back to watch it, I appreciate it more and more. It's not just one of those things that I kind of go back to to feel a sense of nostalgia or something like that. It's it's just something that I enjoy more and more. I as I mentioned to you guys earlier, my wife and I rewatched the movie again last night. Just, you know, since I was coming on this podcast, I was like, what a great excuse to watch Back to the Future again. Not like I ever need an excuse to watch Back to the Future. But we watch it again, and just I was just floored by how well it it sets things up and you know, um, and then delivers on those things it sets up and and foreshadows and just all the plot points and the the construction of the script and the way it's done is just is just constantly constantly impressive to me. But um as far as my connection to this movie, it's it's one of the it's one of the early hits, one of the first ones I ever saw, and and and it's just it's um it's it's been a part of my life probably since a very young age.
SPEAKER_05:You bring up a lot of really great points. And I just want to say, like, first of all, I agree with you. I think both 1985, when the first film came back and or came out, and 1989, both really stacked years for films. Like really great. I mean, again, this is an 80s podcast, so any year of that decade we love, but those two years in particular, a lot of really great films came out. And for sure. Yeah, exactly, right? And um, were you going to say something, babe?
SPEAKER_02:No, well, I was gonna mention that I I think the first time I saw this also was on VHS. I think it might have been the first VHS tape that my family ever rented when renting movies became yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Wow, that I mean, honestly, you know, I I don't know what went on in my childhood that I have like really vague memories of most of the films that I saw for a first time. I don't have like my specific memory of the first time watching Back to the Future, but it is one of those films that just I've I've always loved. And you're absolutely right, Casey. You know, like like we do with any film that we cover on the podcast, we also do a rewatch of it. And one thing I two things I really picked up. One, the film really moves.
SPEAKER_02:There is not Yeah, there's not much like dead time in this movie. There's something happening.
SPEAKER_01:There's no filler, there's really no filler. There's never really anything that was just kind of thrown in as like a um yeah, for lack of a better term, filler. Like it all moves the plot along and it all services either the character or the story. It doesn't really feel just like, oh, here's a moment to kind of like make a joke about them being in a different different time period or making some kind of like equivalent of like a pun in the 50s or something like that. Or it doesn't feel like it doesn't allow itself to get too gimmicky or too jokey at times, because I feel like with a lot of time travel movies, they do that. And there's a couple lines here and there, but I think that you know, there's the one moment where he's in the diner and he says, you know, just you know, give me a tab, and he's like, Well, I can't give you a tab, let's you buy something. How about a Pepsi free? You want a Pepsi? You gotta pay for it, pal. Yeah, so I think I feel like that's as jokey as it really gets. And then they move on to like, oh, him meeting his dad. So I mean, they're as soon as it gets into that kind of you know gimmicky aspect, it's like, nope, we're back to the plot, we're back to the story.
SPEAKER_02:I like the back to the future. Like the they're like the more subtle jokes or gimmicky things about the the time travel where he's trying to open up a Pepsi, he's trying to open up a bottle and he's only ever used twist-offs. Right. Right, right. You know, like I thought I like that when he when he comes in and he's asking for a tab or a Pepsi free. I'm like, you know, you're like in a different time. So he does things throughout the movie where I'm like, is Marty not smart?
SPEAKER_01:I mean, he is a he is a slacker. He is a slacker. Strickland called him a slacker. So I mean that that might I agree with what you're saying. It's like, you know, you have you would have to make some adjustments and not, you know, be like, hey, can I borrow someone's cellular phone real quick? And you know, you don't want to say that in the past, but you know, he is there they're he's not the brightest tool in the shed. Now, I don't know. I mean, there would be a wonderful prequel where it's like, how the hell did Marty meet up with Doc Brown? Like, how did that how did that relationship start? Like, how did where did they meet? How did that happen? And what's the backstory there? Because there's just kind of a lot of things we just accept in this movie, which is fine for the services of you know efficiency and storytelling, but like how does it this teenage kid just kind of hangs out with this like scientist who lives on the edges of society and like is maybe a little shady, a little sketchy, and you know, uh we just kind of accept it's like, well, yeah, they just hang out, they're just buddies, you know. That's he met him at Burger King.
SPEAKER_05:Casey, I am so glad that you brought that up because that actually was something I was gonna ask you about. I mean, that I I again, and this is not to throw shade at the film because I adore this film too, but that is always just this looming question of how did these two even former friends? I mean, what in what world do they cross over?
SPEAKER_02:He puts something on the Bolton board at the high school looking for an intern. Yeah, all applicants welcome, and Marty just applied.
SPEAKER_05:But he's not he doesn't even, I mean, yes, he it's obvious that he does favors for Doc, but like again, I didn't I can't, I mean, in what world, Casey, do you think like how did these two get together?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think you could have like, and again, it's one of those things like I and I don't I don't want to like pick apart this film too much because I feel like you can do that with any movie and start picking apart things and logic and things like that. And we're not even getting to the time travel aspect because look, it's just time travel at fake. Because obviously, as with any time travel movie, there are there are plot holes, there are things that don't add up and don't make sense. And if you get into that too much, you're just kind of being a And not enjoying the movie for what it is. But I feel like the Doc Brown-Marty relationship, it could have been explained like, you know, Doc Brown used to teach at the high school and then they let him go. And Marty always or Marty took a like that a lot. Marty took a part-time job as like just running errands for him or something like that. Or he, you know, or he I think it could have been explained away in like one or two lines, like, or his parents, like, you know, they're like, I don't want you hanging around with that Doc Brown anymore. And, you know, it's like, well, he's, you know, he just needs a he needs an assistant. It's a part-time job. You told me to get a job. Boom. That's two lines of dialogue that explain it. And it's it's good enough for like, oh, okay, now we know that, and now we can accept that, other than just the fact that it's like he's just this kid who hangs out with. I mean, I don't know about you guys, but I hung out with weird, odd scientists all the time when I was in high school. So it's just a common thing every American teenager goes through and experiences.
SPEAKER_02:I wanted to after seeing this movie. I desperately wanted to, in in hopes that I would also be able to travel through time.
SPEAKER_01:That that was the goal. Instead, you just um, you know, you just you've blocked that portion out of your memory and you're still going through therapy.
SPEAKER_02:We don't talk about that anymore.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we don't we don't mention Derek's Doc Brown, quote unquote. It was a dark time.
SPEAKER_05:So another thing I'm really curious about, I'm I'm sure you already know this, that actually for the first like six weeks of filming, Michael J. Fox, who is perfect in this in this role as Marty McFly, was not Marty McFly. It was Eric Stoltz.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. That's right. It was um it was it was the kid from Mask himself, the other Mask. Exactly.
SPEAKER_05:The kid from Mask, you know, I know and love him from some kind of wonderful. That's right.
SPEAKER_01:Um the the the the reverse gender Pretty in Pink, which was um um yeah, it's it's it's such a weird thing because it is that thing of like they and I've watched you know countless hours of the behind-the-scenes footage, but I think they they always wanted Michael J. Fox, and then they couldn't get him because of his schedule with family ties, and so they went to the next best actor, Eric Stoltz. And then I think they just realized that he wasn't working out. I mean, Eric Stoltz is a wonderful actor, wonderful performer, but he just doesn't fit in with the role, and I think that happens a lot. I mean, it it happened with Purple Rose of Cairo, Michael Keaton was originally playing the Jeff Daniels part. Um, you know, they originally cast Tom Selleck as Indiana Jones. They, you know, so there's all those kind of famous stories of like what those movies could have been and kind of the alternate world, speaking of back to the future, alternate timeline, like what is Indiana Jones with with that. And I mean, there's so many stories like that, too. Of like originally that the movie Up in the Air, that was supposed to be Steve Martin instead of George Clooney, which still is. Really? That yeah, that would be a film in Step Brothers. The the Dickish the Dickish brother of Will Farrell was played by um Adam Scott. You know who was originally supposed to play? That was John Ham.
SPEAKER_02:Oh. Which I could actually see that with it. Yeah, I could see that.
SPEAKER_01:Which would have been great and would have been phenomenal, but like now you just you kind of associate those movies. Like, it's so like Tom Selleck, again, is a wonderful actor, but it's so hard to think of anyone other than Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones. It's so hard to think of any other person than Michael J. Fox's Marty McFly. And so I think then they came to some agreement where Marty McFarty McFly, Michael J. Fox would shoot episodes of family ties in the day, and then he would go shoot at night the scenes for Back to the Future, which like just sounds like such an exhausting schedule. I mean, I'm sure he was saying quite well, but you know, it it but I mean that is just I can't imagine how exhausting that is, especially going from two different kinds of uh forms of entertainment or different you know levels of performance and and kind of uh all that entails.
SPEAKER_05:Just out of curiosity, given your background as an actor, so you you brought up a lot of really great examples of individuals who were maybe pegged to be a particular character and it didn't work out for whatever reason. But have you ever heard of somebody being part of a production for as long as Stoltz was and then being taken off of it?
SPEAKER_01:I the only one I can think of that is maybe close to this was Apocalypse Now. Originally, Harvey Kaitel was supposed to play the role that Martin Sheen played.
SPEAKER_04:Got it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay and I mean, granted, there was a myriad of problems that made that uh production problem matter. But um that was a true the least of which was recasting the lead, other than all the other crazy shit that went on in the jungle during that shoot. Um speaking of which, um, there's another great movie called Hearts of Darkness, and it's the documentary about the making of Apocalypse Now. And it's just like if you ever have any, you know, inkling to be a film director, watch that and it'll change your mind really funny.
SPEAKER_05:And we also we got some free time right now, so you know.
SPEAKER_01:I've already added to the queue. It's it's an amazing movie. I mean, it's still crazy, but you know, but that is another example of an actor who was there on set shooting. I don't know how long Kaitel shot before they replaced him with Sheen, but that was an example of somebody with a pretty uh a significant role because a lot of times co-stars, little day player roles, things like that, those are replaced time and time again, constantly replaced. Um, there's actually a great um, there's a there's a really interesting podcast right now, and it's being done by this guy named Connor. I can't remember his last name, but the whole podcast is about him being replaced as an actor on an episode of Band of Brothers, and it's how Tom Hanks fired him. And the whole podcast is about how the nicest man in Hollywood fired him because he thought he had dead eyes. And that's the name of the podcast.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, that is brutal.
SPEAKER_01:It's really great, and I think as anybody who is who is in this industry as a writer, performer, uh director, whatever, I think it's a really kind of cathartic podcast because it talks about that idea of like rejection and being fired and and how it's like, even though it's not personal, it is because we're in a business where you put so much of your heart and your personality into the work that it's hard to not take it personally. Um, but as far as the situation with you know stolz and Fox, the only one I can think of is Apocalypse Now to being on that scale and that amount of time somebody was in the role before um you know being replaced. Um and yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Well, still like like you said, Stoltz, he's an amazing actor. I do think that they absolutely made the right call in taking him off the project and bringing Fox on.
SPEAKER_02:Actually, we can thank Meredith Baxter from Family Ties.
SPEAKER_05:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Because it was is her it was her pregnancy that created this like uh I think gap in production for Family Ties.
SPEAKER_05:They were relying on well, they were relying on Fox for more screen time.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so that I think afforded some extra time. They were able to then figure out a schedule where he was able to work on both. And in his in Fox's autobiography or biography, he talks about how crazy that was, how he had people who would essentially like drive him after like the evening stuff that were he was doing for take a nap in the car. He would sleep in the car, they would literally just sometimes carry him and drop him in bed, and then another person would show up in the morning and like turn the shower on and get some coffee going and get him going for the next uh the next day. Oh my god.
SPEAKER_04:But I mean it worked, it worked. I think we can all agree it worked out.
SPEAKER_01:I think it's maybe that element added to kind of his like he does kind of play the whole movie in this just like you know, this this confused dazed of like what the hell happens. And that's probably his just utter exhaustion from the crazy schedule. And it worked, it works for the performance, it works for the film. Like he's just like he just he's constantly seeming like so put off by everything that happens in the movie because it's like he just keeps stepping into another pile of shit over and over again, and it's like, oh my god, how do I get out of this now? How do I get out of this? And it's like he's just exhausted from trying to like get out of all of these situations he's he's inadvertently put himself into.
SPEAKER_05:I totally agree. I mean, it whatever was going on with him, exhaustion, whatever, overworked, it it all made for a great film.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, it's not recommended for health reasons, but yeah, by God, no, no, no, not at all.
SPEAKER_01:But um, but for the purposes of of us as the audience, it it it added to the character of Martin. Indeed.
SPEAKER_05:And speaking of casting, I mean, I think that is uh again, there are there are many elements of the film that we can bring up to to kind of verify like what a great film it is. But I think getting Fox back on the project just rounded out what I think is just really a perfect cast of characters. I think everybody and and I I in my mind I am kind of visualizing Christopher Lloyd because he has the second biggest part in the film. But everybody across the board, I think, did a really great job.
SPEAKER_01:Everyone is so strong. I think, I mean, it's I think that obviously everyone kind of gravitates towards you know Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd's performances because they're just they're iconic. But the work that um Leah Thompson does as Lorraine and Thomas F. Wilson does as Biff is so subtle and good. And I just last night watching it again, I noticed these things. There's like little moments like that. Like Lorraine is so good at like she has to not only play younger Lorraine, but two versions of older Lorraine. The Lorraine and her family when everything has kind of gone to shit, and she's just kind of this alcoholic and she's overweight, and she's like her basically her glory days were high school. That was the best time of her life. And then there's the Lorraine in the, you know, when everything uh turns out great, you know, and she's you know successful and older.
SPEAKER_04:She does have a giant forehead.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, yeah, that that was a little unsettling. I don't know if that was makeup or that's just because I don't think that's Leah Thompson's normal. That's her either.
SPEAKER_02:It is not. No, that's just uh, I mean, it's fine. That was the direction they went.
SPEAKER_01:You know, that's it's one of the risks of time travel, is your forehead becomes extremely elongated. Um but the same with Thomas Wilson, there's this great, you know, there's the moment when Marty comes home and you find out that Biff had borrowed um, you know, um uh George McFly's car and wrecked it. And when Mart when he comes up to Marty and he kind of stands there and he's like, Well, what are you looking at, Butthead? You can see that Biff is not that tough in that moment because he realizes that Marty McFly is like kind of of that same alpha breed. Like Marty's an alpha, George is not. And so when Biff comes up against an alpha, all he can do is just like call him Butthead. He's so uncomfortable and walk away. He's so uncomfortable around Marty. And then going from that to seeing Biff as a teenager who is like at both times this kind of like comic foil, but also this really um intimidating antagonist. And then when you come back to the alternate future, he's just this like kind of bumbling fool who like oddly still has a relationship with the McFly's, even though he tried to obviously pretty much just rate Lorraine. Yeah, it was like that's just kind of weird that he just kind of hangs around and he's buddies with him, and like he's still trying to like pull shit on him, and it's like, well, that's just Biff, that's what he does. But then he also is like super happy for George McFly about his new book when he brings in the boxes of the books. It's just there's so much going on with Biff, and and not getting too much into the sequels, but like Thomas Wilson just doubled down on that Biff performance in the later movies in the part three and part two.
SPEAKER_02:And yeah, he just oh, what is the mad dog?
SPEAKER_01:Mad Dog Tannen, part three.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it was actually really good at that. And even in in the in the first back, I didn't realize that he had improv the like his stupid lines is make up the tree and get out of here. I'm like, that's that's actually really great.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's it's it's interesting. I've had friends, and again, I'm just this is all hearsay, but I I've had friends of mine who have done stand-up comedy, and I guess Thomas Wilson has tried to do stand-up comedy in the past or does stand-up comedy, and it's so weird because he doesn't like talking about those movies, which is really strange to me. Um, because I feel like, man, if I was in, uh you know, you just wonder, it's like, well, hopefully had an awesome experience being on those movies. Because um, but then again, some people didn't. I mean, there was the whole issue with Crispin Glover, yeah. Um you know, how they replaced him for part two, which uh, you know, it's kind of like you're it's hard to it's hard to know what really happened with that story because Crispin Glover, I don't know how much you know about that guy, but that guy is he's a very weird performance conceptual artist. Um very eccentric, very eccentric, very eccentric. That's yeah, it's a far better word to use than I would just say. Um, seriously, he came out with a concept artist album, uh a music album in the late 80s, which if you haven't listened to it, do yourself a favor and just get ready for about a half an hour of pure weirdness.
SPEAKER_05:Um I'm loving all these recommendations.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's also out of the cue. Yeah. If anything out of this, you get to watch Hearts of Darkness and listen to Crispin Glover's weird ass album. So I feel like I've I'm the the Santa Claus of middle May.
SPEAKER_05:Um we don't I mean, we don't have to go down this whole rabbit hole. I mean, uh look, for basically any of the films that we cover, we could do like multi-parts because there's just so there's so much to talk about. Here's what I've heard about Crispin Glover, though. What I heard is that he upon realizing the ending of the film, where essentially the way he took it is that the McFlies have a better life because they're more financially well off now. He did not agree with that that message. And so he took himself off, like he basically said, I'm not coming back to this this franchise.
SPEAKER_02:I heard he just wanted more money, and they're like, No, we're gonna use someone else. Is that what you heard? And then they used uh footage from the first movie in the in the sequel for like when they're at the uh enchanton enchantment under the sea dance, and that not only led to what was a successful lawsuit against the studio by Glover, they settled it because it ended up being cheaper to do that than to go through litigation, but it also ended up having an impact on how you can use uh somebody's likeness and performance from one movie in another. Interesting. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Wow, yeah, I I uh because I knew that yeah, because it is this in the sequel, it is this like at parts, it's somebody else doing a Crispin Glover impersonation, and he's really old, so they were able to cover it up with makeup.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But yeah, they just flat out use footage from the first film when he travels down back to 1950. Yeah, that's right, because he's floating on that weird, like futuristic wheelchair. Right, Joe Preciate, and that's all I know. But I mean, you know, I I could see what he was saying about how that being the ending, and and to some extent he has a point that like money doesn't bring happiness, but keep in mind, guys, this was 1985, the height of the Reagan era. This is a Republican ending, if anything. Like, no, you're only happy is if you have wealth and all this and blah, blah, blah. It's like, you know, as it's the same thing with Working Girl. As good as the movie Working Girl is, it's a Republican fairy tale. It's a Republican Cinderella, where it's like, she gets her job working some terrible middle management job corporation. Like, it's you know, it's a it's definitely it's a product of its time, and there was a reason why Reagan liked this movie as much as he did, and that was probably part of the reason.
SPEAKER_02:They did still live in the same house. I mean, it was a little bit nicer and cleaned up. A little bit, but it's not like it's not like they were living in Trump Tower like they do in the sequel.
SPEAKER_05:No, but you know, yeah, you're right. They the house was nicer, their attire was nicer, their cars were nicer. So, and they make a point of kind of showing that all in one fell swoop. So it I feel like it's very obvious in some ways. Like, I'm not I'm not really putting judgment on it. I'm really not, because I think Casey's right. It's a product of its time.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and again, too, like, but it that's a good question, though. Is like, are the is the McFly house the nicest house in Lion Estates now? Is Lion Estates still a shithole neighborhood? Like, what is that about? What's going on there? Does everyone despise the McFlies because they're like the wealthy family on the street of like lower income and working class families? It's these are all these are all questions that you will find answered in my Back to the Future fanfiction available on Reddit.
SPEAKER_05:All right. So we've put a pen in it long enough. Oh, yeah. We're gonna come back to, like I said, a very bold statement that you made earlier, Casey, which is that you believe the Back to the Future trilogy is the strongest trilogy. And now we're talking about you know, going up against the Star Wars trilogy. Oh yeah. You're talking about the Godfather trilogy. Of course. I mean, I know that like another film was made after, but the Indiana Jones trilogy.
SPEAKER_02:I'm gonna have to put a pause in this real briefly because you will not even watch the third movie in the Godfather trilogy.
SPEAKER_05:But it still exists. It does exist.
SPEAKER_01:Well, then you've just you've just proved my argument against Godfather for sure, because why bother? No, and here's I've clearly hit a nerve.
SPEAKER_05:I'm not I I'm not disag I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, Casey, but I mean I just want to hear more. Yeah, I just want to hear more.
SPEAKER_01:And here's and again, this is not saying that one is that it's better than any of the other trilogies. Or that because again, like comparing them film to film, but if you look at it as the structure of a true trilogy, I say it's the most well-executed and purest of all trilogies. And the reason why is because one, it was a singular vision of Bob Zemeckis and Bob Gale. They had complete creative control the whole time, and uh Spielberg to some extent, too, who was a very instrumental in getting this movie made and making it successful. My favorite story about the pre-production or or uh or post-production of Back to the Future is that the head of Universal, Sid Scheinberg, wanted them to rename the movie Spaceman from Pluto.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Terrible.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, it was awful. And they got this memo, and he had this whole had all these reasons of why they should do it and blah, blah, blah. And they said, I think you need to change the title. No one wants to see a movie called Back to the Future. And Spielberg, being Spielberg, and this is the reason why he's Steven fucking Spielberg, wrote Sid Scheinberg back and says, Sounds great, Sid. Oh, by the way, we all had a big laugh about you changing the title. What a funny idea. What a what a funny joke. Thanks so much for the laugh. We appreciate it. And then, of course, the guy was like so humiliated, he's like, Well, I'm not gonna double down and say it was true. So that's why it's called Back to the Future instead of Spaceman from Pluto or God knows what. Um, but Spielberg was a huge creative part of that, but essentially it fell on the shoulders of Zemeckis and Gale, who after the first movie, Universal was like, We have a hit. We we're gonna make more of these, whether Zemeckis and Gale are involved or not, because this is truly the decade of the sequel. And there's a lot of 80s sequels that are nowhere near as good as the original, and they really are because most of the time, I mean, I immediately I think of like Airplane 2 or Caddyshack 2 because the original Caddyshack 2 is not a strong sequel.
SPEAKER_05:Week in at Bernie's 2.
SPEAKER_01:Weekend at Bernie's 2. I mean to I mean, these moderately successful. I'm not saying mannequin is on par with Back to the Future, but it's still a fun 80s movie.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, Three Men and a Little Lady, like, there's all of these sequels that are just like really garbage because most likely the creative people behind it didn't take charge. So Zemeckis thought, well, they're gonna make this movie regardless, with me or without me. I might as well do it because then I can make sure I'm doing something great with it. And then they also had the benefit of being able to make part two and part three at the same time. So part three essentially came out six months after part two. So there's much more connectivity between part two and three than there is one and two, even though they still are, you know, it's it's it's amazingly how well connected they are, considering they weren't gonna do they didn't know what the sequels were gonna look like after part one. They just they did such a great job. I'd say the only really inconsistency is the fact that they replaced the actress playing Jennifer Parker because the original actress, um, her last name escapes me, Claudia something. I can't remember her last name.
SPEAKER_03:Wells, I think.
SPEAKER_01:Yes, Claudia Wells. Good poll, nice poll. So Claudia Wells was replaced by Elizabeth Shu. Um because Claudia Wells, I think she had a a health issue in her family. She had to go take care of her mother or her father or something like that. Really just sad, and like, oh, you feel bad for this actress who was like in this amazing franchise and then couldn't do it. So I mean that's the really the one kind of like inconsistency with everything um about the movies that it's the most obvious one that happened. But because Zemeckis and Gail were allowed creative control and were able to tell a complete story, if you watch the trilogy back to back, it tells such a complete and and well-executed story that I am constantly amazed by because, like you guys, the first film is amazing. The second film is a lot of fun, and the third film is one that a lot of people don't return to just because they kind of dismiss it as a Western, it's not as, you know, um, it's not as flashy as the other two, it's not as you know, iconic as the other two, but I would say it's as good as the other two in terms of the trilogy, and it keeps that momentum and it keeps that excitement, and it just takes place in a different world of the old West. And the way it ends with, you know, Doc saying, like, you know, you know, your future hasn't been written yet. It's up to you to write it, and so make it a good one. And it's just it ends on such a great note. And why I believe that this is the purest and most well-executed trilogy is because if you look at other trilogies, like let's say, let's take Star Wars, for example. Yeah, Star Wars has been picked at and tinkered with by George Lucas year after year. And so you have to, when you reference the Star Wars trilogy, you have to reference, are you talking about the original theatrical versions or are you talking about the special edition versions? And then you've got the prequel trilogy to add to that story, the the sequel trilogy that has come up in the last few years. The same thing applies to Godfather. Part three is garbage and doesn't feel like part one and two at all.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you, Casey. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:I don't even know.
SPEAKER_02:Indiana Jones is only two alien movies. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:While Indiana Jones is a great trilogy, it's not telling one complete story. It's just each film is a different adventure of Indiana Jones. And then the fourth one, I mean, as bad as that one is, it's still the same kind of setup. It's just an additional adventure. It's not telling a completed story in a trilogy. The same thing with Lord of the Rings, because he went in and tinkered with that, and that's got all that hobbit stink on it now, too. So it's like I like that Hobbit stink on Hobbit stink. It's got a Hobbit stink all over it. Back to the Future is the one trilogy that has not been messed with. Zemeckis has never gone back and added better effects. He's never gone back and added additional scenes or deleted scenes or released a special edition or something like that. He has left it as is, and it's strong, if not stronger, than any other trilogy because of that.
SPEAKER_05:I think you just proved your case.
SPEAKER_02:I I'm gonna have to think about this for a while.
SPEAKER_01:Ladies and gentlemen, the jury, you know, you have to watch the tape, but uh um it's uh I mean fiction alone.
SPEAKER_02:They do, I mean, so the only similarity between Back to the Future and Star Wars, Star Wars, you know, obviously they have the prequel and sequel trilogies, and then the own like all the changes you mentioned with the original trilogy, they do have all of these separate animated spin-offs from the movies. And I think Back to the Future did also have an animated show for a while, but it was it was pretty well in line with the show, I think, if I remember. And honestly, I don't remember the animated Back to the Future series that well. Never caught it.
SPEAKER_01:I think, I mean, it was very it was maybe one or two seasons, and I think it it fell into the like I mean, it was kind of like in a way, like a softer like child version of Rick and Morty. It was just Marty and uh Doc Brown kind of going on adventures, like they were going to, you know, uh, you know, uh Victorian London or the age of the dinosaurs or things like that. And it was animated, so they could kind of be crazy and go all over the place with it.
SPEAKER_02:I think they focused more on Doc's kids.
SPEAKER_01:They did, and Doc's kids were characters too, and like it you know Jewels and Verne. Jewels and Verne. That's right. That's right. And I, you know, it was again, like, that's it's part of the world, but it's like it's also like it doesn't I don't think it made that much of an impact enough to like have it be like they haven't made a remake of the Back to the Future yet. I mean I'm sure they probably are going down that path at some point. At some point, we'll get to that point where they're gonna stop, you know, remaking subpar movies and then make it they're just gonna start remaking amazing films.
SPEAKER_05:Um but you're actually segueing into a great great final question.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:Because uh Zemekas has said that he during his lifetime will not allow a remake or reboot of the film, and that he has he has that control until until he's no longer with us. So which we appreciate greatly because that is one thing that I'll admit we do throw a ton of shade at, which is remakes of great 80s films like poltergeist and yeah. Oh so I mean, how where do you fall on that?
SPEAKER_01:First of all, I'm really like kudos to Zemechis' agent for arranging that in the 80s. You know, my God, because you know, I everyone knows the whole thing about George Lucas. Like, he, you know, made peanuts on the first Star Wars because he said, I want, you know, the rights, I want to own the films and I want to have merchandising rights. And then back then it wasn't a thing. So, like, yeah, fine, this movie's gonna fail, it doesn't matter. And then they're like, Oh shit, you can't have that. So it's weird to me that Universal, who owned the film and had this power, you know, somehow allowed maybe that was part of Zemeckis' deal when he came back to direct the sequels, that they let him have creative control and he gets the final say on it or something like that. Uh which is um which is awesome. I mean, I think that's that's incredible. I, you know, I I think that I I I I agree with what he says. I I don't think you need to do any more of them. Um, if you were to do them, I don't even know how you would attempt. I mean, there in my mind, there was one true great Back to the Future sequel. Um, but essentially it was the ride at Universal they used to have. Seriously, I mean, because the whole the whole setup was that you went to the Doc Brown industries. Like Doc Brown basically had a time travel tourism company, and you would go and get into DeLorean and you would go to the different time periods, and the whole premise of the ride is that you're coming there to go to different time periods to see different eras and things like that. But of course, Biff shows up because he's come back from 1955 and he wants revenge on Doc. And so Biff, you know, steals one of the DeLoreans there, and then he Doc it falls upon you to chase Biff through time to try to stop him.
SPEAKER_05:And how many times did you go on this ride, Casey?
SPEAKER_01:Well, that was the thing, is that they they also released the video footage of it um on one of the Back to the Future DVD collections so you could re-watch it. But I but I remember every time I went to Universal, which wasn't that often, but we went once or twice when I was a kid, and I would love that ride. And I think it was still maybe here back in like the early 2000s, or at least in Florida, maybe it was, and then I and then it got replaced by the Simpsons ride, which is an amazing ride as well. But I do miss Back to the Future ride, I miss having that ride there.
SPEAKER_02:Um I think it was still there because I I remember going on that ride after I had moved out here in '99. So I think it was still there then, but the park is like totally redone now since then. So like the Simpsons and like the whole like Springfield area is where that ride used to be.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I mean, I would like to have it back too.
SPEAKER_05:Um ride.
SPEAKER_01:But I think you know, I I I uh completely appreciate that Zemeckis um doesn't want to touch those movies, especially because so much of his like it's weird that a guy who like relies so much on computers now to make his movies that he does now, um that he is so avidly against you know retouching back to the future or doing that, because everything he does now, I mean, whether it's Welcome to Marwin or the the one about the tightrope guy, um um, or even you know, Beowulf or the Christmas Carol, like all of those are just all motion capture and CGI. And he's so into that world of you know using computers with special effects, which he kind of started on with Back to the Future and then really doubled down with Death Becomeser.
SPEAKER_02:Um Back to the Future 2 in particular had such impressive effects that it was not. Nominated for an Academy Award.
SPEAKER_05:I didn't know that.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And rightfully so. I mean, they're doing it's such it's so seamless in that movie, the way they they have, you know, characters interacting with each other and scenes, and like without that like weird mirror parent trap thing they did in the 60s where it looks clearly obvious, like, oh, these are two different takes and they're not acting with each other at all. Um, but yeah, it's I I agree, but you know, part of me is like if they were to do a really great Back to the Future reboot, remake, not a remake, but like something in that world, I mean, it would have to be really well done and fun. Because I'm of the mindset where it's like, look, the movies are the movies regardless, they're not gonna change. Like you brought up a perfect example, like the poltergeist remake was shit, but it's like I still have original poltergeist, it's still a blast, and that one's fun. That's the one I'm gonna watch. Exactly. And if the remake, and if the remake worked, great, because I there's a ton of remakes that are so much better than the original, like Oceans 11 or Dawn of the Dead. That's true. That's a good point. Many of those are great. The departed instead of Internal Affairs, like there's so many good remakes that it's like to say all remakes are shit, it's like, well, I mean, you know, Magnificent 7 is a remake of Sam Seven Samurai, and those movies are both great. Um, but when you're kind of touching upon hallowed ground like Back to the Future, it's it for example, I'm really anxious to see what this and I'm a little bummed. I mean, this is one of my petty complaints about the quarantine and the coronavirus is that they pushed Ghostbusters to next year.
SPEAKER_05:Because I was that's one of your your little complaints. No, it's very fair. It's very fair. I'm yeah, I'm I'm very interested to see what they do with the new Ghostbusters.
SPEAKER_02:I'm not sold from the teaser that I saw, but I'm just a very different tone. Yeah, I'm pretty open to whatever whatever they might be.
SPEAKER_05:I'm willing to give it a a shot. I think come into anything with an open mind.
SPEAKER_02:The best things, the best thing the Star Wars prequels and sequels did for me was that they basically broke me down and and got me to a place where like I'm just gonna enjoy this stuff because it's fun. Yeah, and it's okay. It's okay that they're not the same as the original trilogy. Like, different people have different ideas, and like it's all just meant for people to enjoy.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and here's and here's the thing is that I think you bring up a really good point with the Star Wars movies where it's like there's so many things that you grow up with as a child and as a kid that you love, and you you know, you remember clearly the first time you saw that movie and fell in love with that movie. And sometimes when you revisit those films or revisit those stories, you're like, oh, this is kind of problematic or there's issues with that. It's like you know, it borders on sometimes being you know misogynist or sexist or racist, I dare say, in some of these things. It's common for Siades movies, yeah. Very common. John Hughes has a lot of shit going on there.
SPEAKER_04:It's like if I love them, you're totally right.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. And it and it kind of sours that when you're watching it again. Whereas Back to the Future, every time I return to those movies, it's never a bad experience. It's never a bad experience. It never makes me think like, even when I watched the original Star Wars, I'm like, oh God, this is so great. But oh, why did they put that Jabba scene back in this? Oh, Jesus, this is terrible. Whereas Back to the Future, like, even last night I was watching it, like I still get choked up when like George kisses Lorraine at the dance, and like he, you know, and they and they have that great Sylvestry score that comes in with Earth Angel, and like, oh, it's just there's so many awesome moments in that movie. I mean, even selfishly, my wife and I's first like group dance, like, because there's the dance that the bride and groom do at the wedding, and then they bring everybody out to the floor with a slow dance, and then there's like a fast song that kicks it off. For our group slow dance, we did Earth Angel by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, and then we did Johnny Be Good, and that kicked everything off.
SPEAKER_04:Oh, Casey.
SPEAKER_01:Cause it's just such a like it's I mean, I look again, I could do probably nine hours of podcasts on this film because I just I love this movie so much and I love the trilogy. But it's Back to the Future is one of those pure nostalgia trips that doesn't feel like it's hindered by anything of being a product of its time or you know, uh falling into you know uh you know kind of icky traps like you know, sexism or racism or anything like that. And it just it it's it's the it's the movie trilogy that keeps on giving every time you can watch it. And uh like I told my wife, I was we watched the first back to the future last night. I'm like, well, we've got to finish the trilogy this weekend. We just have to finish this one.
SPEAKER_05:You're welcome.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I can't think of a better way to wrap this up. I mean, you just gave such a beautiful tribute to that was amazing. Yeah, that was honestly you were you were making me choke up when you were talking about how you honored that film and your wedding. And we just, you know what? At the top of this, I said that you were gonna knock it out of the park. You knocked it out of the park, friend.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, well, that's amazing. Very kind of you. It's I mean, it's always a pleasure to not only talk about movies with with friends who also appreciate movies, but when it's when you're talking about one that you care about deeply, it's just you uh you need to put the mute button on some point, or else I'll just keep rattling on and on about it.
SPEAKER_05:No, this was truly just so great to talk to you. I mean, I we've known each other for a while now. So, you know, I know that you have an extensive knowledge and love of film. Obviously, it's it's part of the industry that you work in, but um, but this was really special to to get to hear you talk about a film that obviously means so much to you. So thank you so much for for sharing that with us. It was it was really fantastic.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, and thank you for the opportunity too. This was this was a blast.
SPEAKER_05:So, Casey, you know, I mentioned that you do a range of things, acting, uh, voice, uh voiceover performer. What's going on now for you?
SPEAKER_01:Um, right now, uh you can hear me as the voice of NBA TV. Um, whatever check your local provider for station information. Um NBA TV, obviously, there there are no games going on right now, but NBA TV is doing a lot of programming of classic games, classic clip shows, interview shows, um, kind of um uh um uh magazine pieces, things like that. Uh, human interest stories, things like that. So there's a lot of that programming going on, and uh so I'll be doing all of the voiceover and promos for that. And then I also recently just got the chance to work on a super secret video game that's going to be released this fall. I can tell you nothing about it other than it is a video game.
SPEAKER_04:And I got to do nobody nobody listens to the podcast case. You can tell you can bleep it out.
SPEAKER_01:It's uh put in the beep sounds. But um, no, I signed an NDA, so like I I haven't even told I I don't think I've even told my wife about this. But the thing was, was this was fun is I was able to do motion capture for the first time. So I got to wear the the very flattering, you know, bodysuit with the ping pong balls on it, which makes everyone look pretty frumpy and awful.
SPEAKER_02:Um pretty well for Andy Circus.
SPEAKER_01:Hey man, how that guy is like he is the you know, he is the he is truly the um He's like the Yoda the Picasso of that. Or yeah, the Yoda. Yeah, he was I think he was born in one of those.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:He just came out of the womb in one of the mocap suits. Um no, but it was really interesting because obviously with motion capture, they they're they're recording everything at all times. So it was the most like being in a play that I've done since probably undergrad or theater because you're just doing everything in one take because they don't have to cut to do a two-shot or a wide or a close-up. They're just capturing everything as you do it. So that was kind of fun. Once you get past the fact that you're just in this empty soundstage talking to a bunch of other, you know, shlubby looking guys in these like, you know, surf, you know, wetsuits essentially with with weird camera helmets on their head. Like, once you get past that and kind of let your you know imagination let loose, it's it was a lot of fun. And I'm I'm very anxious to when when the game comes out to kind of you know uh one play it and then also let people to say, hey, go check out this uh the the scene and the uh the thing I'm in with that.
SPEAKER_02:So when will you be able to what do you do you have any idea when you'll be able to tell anybody more?
SPEAKER_01:Um at this point I don't really know because I think so many release dates have been pushed back for various reasons. But it looks like they're now so I know that you know when we were recording the performances or capturing the performances, they were very much in that world of of production. So I don't know what their post-production looks like now that everything is shut down and how much they're able to do with or how much people are able to do remotely from home. Um the the original release date for it was going to be this fall or this winter. So um that could potentially be it, but it might also be pushed back somewhat. I'm not sure at this time.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I think what that means is we are just going to have to have you back on the podcast. Yeah. And and then we'll do the great big reveal.
SPEAKER_01:Oh my God, let's do it. Well, uh, it's a date.
SPEAKER_05:Awesome. Well, Casey, thank you again for your time and your knowledge and your passion of this film. It's been honestly a pleasure to have you on. And uh yeah, we definitely look forward to having you on again.
SPEAKER_01:Thanks, guys. It was a blast.
SPEAKER_05:So that was our amazing talk with Mr. Casey Campbell. We again are just so thankful to him for his time and his input on the film. Like he really had some great insights.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, I I mean after look, after he proclaimed that it is the the strong perhaps one of the strongest trilogies ever, I immediately watched the next two movies.
SPEAKER_05:Uh I can vouch for that.
SPEAKER_02:And you know what? It was like we watched all three of them that way, or I watched all three of them within a 24-hour period. And I'm like, yeah, you know what? It it holds up. His his proclamation about this being the best trilogy ever. Proclamation. Declaration, proclamation, assertion. Yeah. Any any of those. I believe it. I'm a believer.
SPEAKER_05:I think he did a really great job of proving his case in terms of like it is a really tight, cohesive story between the three films.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:So so yeah, it was it was great talking to him. So Derek.
SPEAKER_02:Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_05:Would you watch this film again? I feel like it's a ridiculous question to ask.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I might watch it again today. I'm not joking.
SPEAKER_05:It really, it really is that good.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, it's not only is it one of my favorite movies in the list of all the movies that we've uh prepared for this podcast, but it's in my mind one of the most watchable because you can really turn it in at any point and like, oh yeah, back to the future. I'll watch this. 1.21 gigawatts. Great scene. Oh, okay. He's about to uh save his uh he's about to save Lorraine. Great scene. There's just so many, like, no matter where it is, if it's on, I'll probably just watch the rest of it. So the answer, I'm apologizing for going a bit too long, but it's yes.
SPEAKER_05:And a yes from me as well. All right, fair enough.
SPEAKER_02:I'll probably watch it with you. Yeah. I mean, of course. We're we we're in quarantine. What are we gonna do? Hope you don't just like leave the room.
SPEAKER_05:So, all right. I was thinking about this. Okay. I mean, this this could go go down like a major rabbit hole. But I think the only appropriate call to action would be to ask people like if there was a year they would want to go back to what would that year be?
SPEAKER_02:I think that's fair. What would it be for you?
SPEAKER_05:2019, before all this I just want to go back to some sort of normalcy.
SPEAKER_02:So if it is it only going back or can I just like fast forward to the end of all this?
SPEAKER_05:I think I think that um it should stay in the past.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Because the trilogies go into the future and and like we're concentrating on the original film.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, the sequels of the trilogy, yeah. Um What did I say? I think you said the trilogies, and I'm like, no, there's only there's only one trilogy.
SPEAKER_05:I'm thinking like Disney. Um anyway, yeah. So I think it should just be uh moments in time in the past.
SPEAKER_02:Okay. Well, I'll have to I'll have to think on that because I don't I don't know. I don't uh man. You so you just would go back to 2019 just.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, I'm I'm somewhat joking.
SPEAKER_02:That's kind of like Marty saying, like, I'll just give myself an extra 10 minutes. I'll be fine. Let's go back to 2019 and it'll be fine. I don't know. I might need more time.
SPEAKER_05:Uh but for all you fine folks out there, if that is something that you want to share with us, we would love you to. You can find us on Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. It's all the same handle. It is at 80s montage pod, 80s with eight zero montage pod.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_05:Did I do a good job?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, that was excellent.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you.
SPEAKER_02:So next time we got yeah, what do we got coming up next?
SPEAKER_05:So this is my pick, but this is this is actually really similar to Back to the Future in the sense that like I know you love this movie just as much as I do. And it is dun-d-da-dun Ghostbusters.
SPEAKER_02:That was such a buildup. That was amazing. I didn't know, I didn't know if you're gonna say, like, it is, who are you gonna call? Or like how it or if you're gonna go for like kind of the more subtle reference of yes, it's true. This man has no dick. There are so many great references from Ghost Coasters.
SPEAKER_05:Yes. And we will we will do a deep dive into all of it next time. And also, we are again going to have a very special guest who loves the film as much as we do, so we're really excited to talk to him about it.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome.
SPEAKER_05:So everybody out there, stay safe and healthy and sane, and thank you so much for coming along with us today.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. I get I don't know what to say.
SPEAKER_05:You could say goodbye.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, goodbye.
SPEAKER_05:For now. All right. Goodbye, everyone. See ya.