I don’t know if you knew this, but Back to the Future is kind of a big deal. Its known as a big hit, but that wasn’t a forgone conclusion. Robert Zemeckis was not yet a household name, and while Michael J. Fox was a TV star, translating that to movie stardom was far from guaranteed. Many studios had already passed on the project, and time travel comedies weren’t exactly in demand. But sometimes a movie arrives at exactly the right moment, and this was one of those times. It became one of the highest-grossing films of the year and launched one of the most cherished franchises Hollywood has ever produced.
On this episode of the Retroist Podcast, I talk all about Back to the Future. I start off talking about what its like returning to your hometown after some time has passed. There’s something genuinely disorienting about walking streets you know by heart but finding them subtly wrong. The layout is familiar but the details have shifted. You catch yourself navigating toward a store that closed a decade ago, or slowing down in front of a building that used to mean something. Your feet are in the present but your memory keeps insisting otherwise. It’s about as close to time travel as most of us are ever going to get.
From there I dig into the film itself, starting with how Bob Gale cooked up the idea after stumbling across his father’s old high school yearbook. Seeing it, he wondered whether the two of them would have even gotten along back then. It’s a surprisingly simple premise for a story that became so sprawling. After that I cover the development, the casting situation that saw Eric Stoltz replaced by Fox after weeks of actual filming, the production, the release, and the reception. Which was pretty positive.
The music deserves its own podcast. Alan Silvestri’s score is one of those rare things that makes you feel the emotion of a scene before the actors do anything. And then there’s Huey Lewis and the News, whose contribution to the soundtrack sent “The Power of Love” to number one and functioned almost like an advertisement for the movie playing on every radio station in the country. The two things fed each other in a way that felt effortless but was almost certainly not.
For a while there, the film was a mania. It wasn’t just a movie people saw and enjoyed. It was something they returned to at the theaters, then on home video, then on television. Each new viewing of it reminded people why they loved it in the first place. On this episode I try to trace how that happened.
I first covered the movie on a podcast way back in 2011. This is a re-recorded version that has new material and better equipment. It is also the start of a larger visit to the franchise. I hope you enjoy it.
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Production Notes
This is the 359th episode of the Retroist Podcast and episode 8 of Season 18.
Not only is this album one of my top 5, but the soundtrack and the score are also in that grouping.
Longish episode, but it was actually much longer. I needed to separate that stuff because I will be re-using it in upcoming episodes.
I might revisit the movie in a few bonus tracks on Patreon.
I had a more details look at the soundtrack, but without playing all the songs I don’t think it works.
Was able to keep the retro audio small. I had a bunch of other stuff I wanted to play, but will save it for the future.
The format of this episode is a bit of a hybrid. I wanted it to bridge my older format and newer format.
The older version of the show will be disappearing.
Still amazed we haven’t seen a reboot attempt. Its going to happen eventually, but I don’t want it to. Hold!
Bonus clippings can be found over on Patreon for Supporters.
Music on the show is, as always, by Peachy.
Thanks for listening to the show and I hope you have a great weekend.
