To cheer us all up, I decided make my header one of the best movies ever made in the Eighties. Hell, it’s so perfect, I can’t think of a single complaint about it.
On July 3, 1985, Back to the Future made its debut in theaters across the States and probably Canada. Ergo, I made it my header to celebrate 35 years of time-travel comedy! I didn’t do this for 30 because I was pretty sick yet I did attend a 30th anniversary screening at Alamo Drafthouse Lamar.
July 1 also means we’re at the peak of Summer Vacation, if we’re kids, teens or college students. Hollywood tends to reveal its best movie around the upcoming three-day weekend too. I’m not going to discuss any past hits…none come to mind while I’m writing this entry!
Back does have a special place in my heart. Not necessarily the film but the events around seeing it. My cousin Leesa and I got the opportunity to ditch everyone at her house to have some young adult time for McFly’s misadventure. I can’t remember the series of events correctly or if Back was within this outing. I only recall hanging out with a couple of Leesa’s friends, playing putt putt golf, hitting a mall arcade to play a video game version of Trivial Pursuit (it’s one reason why I will always remember what NASA/USAF define as the boundary of space) and generally having a great time.
Why was it great? Not to get away from younger and older family members, I could do that at other times. It was wonderful for two reasons. The first one was my attempt to take Leesa’s mind off of losing our grandmother. She was much closer to Grandma Maggi than Brian or I due to her family often living nearby; currently, they had been housemates for several years. At 16, I was still an asshole yet I had the infamous Maggi Humor to lighten the mood (a nod to Uncle Skip!) so I hope I was good company. Being closer to her age, I may have had a clue. The second factor was more personal to me. Hanging with Leesa got me to enjoy being a teenager again and not getting treated like a dumb kid; a never-ending complaint I would have with my parents until 2003. Even before the move to North Dakota, I rarely was allowed to do things with peers thanks to parental paranoia over who knows what. My mother still probably thinks teen pregnancy is an airborne ailment! It was just liberating to hang out and talk with someone at my level. Back to the Future was mainly the framing element to the memory.