Back to the Future is not just the best time travel movie ever made, but one of the best movies of all time, full stop. It keeps its time-bending simple and foregrounds character over spectacle to produce one of the best ’80s movies.
One of the most memorable elements of the science fiction movie is its unique choice of time machine. Instead of something more conventional, they went for a mostly unloved sports car. By the time the credits rolled on that first movie, though, the DeLorean’s place in history was assured. Everyone loved it, except for leading man Michael J Fox.
Fox famously spent the Back to the Future shoot zipping back in forward between the comedy movie set and his commitment to TV series Family Ties. He’d often arrive on the latter set bearing the hallmarks of the unruly DeLorean.
Speaking at a Comic-Con (via Nerdist), he said: “I wish I had a video, a gag reel of how many times I was hit by that freakin’ door, the DeLorean door. Take after take, it would go whack.”
The misery continued behind the wheel. “It was the worst thing to drive. It had two gears and I slammed the gears, and my hand would smash into the flux capacitor. My hand would be bleeding, my head would be bleeding… and I had to clean it off to get to the Family Ties set.”
Fox’s complaints are certainly minor in the face of Back to the Future’s success, with two sequels continuing the story and, more recently, a stage musical based on the original film.
There are plenty of new movies heading your way in 2023 and, unless you’ve got your own DeLorean to see them early, you’ll have to make do with our guides to the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3 release date, the Fast and Furious 10 release date, and The Meg 2 release date.