This 41-Year-Old Sci-Fi Movie Has The Best Script Of All Time

For cinephiles across the globe, one of the tell-all questions that we find ourselves inevitably drifting toward is that of the perfect screenplay; Chinatown, The Godfather, Casablanca—many pictures have vied for that precious, revered title, yet in my eyes, have fallen short of one unlikely dark horse from the ’80s – Back to the Future.

It delivers neither mystique nor gravitas, but instead, pure, miraculous joy to the silver screen. The 1985 film might not hold any awards or accolades for Best Screenplay, but believe me when I say that gold is woven into the fabric of this script, as its airtight, beautifully refined narrative contains real, perceptible magic that continues to excite audiences over four decades after its release.

With this frame in mind, then, let’s not shy away from perfection, and instead, turn the clock back to explore Back to the Future, one of Hollywood’s boldest and most wholly efficient screenplays to date.

Back To The Future’s Script Has Perfect Pacing

How ironic it is that a movie so smitten with the concept of time would not leave a moment wasted in its one hour and 56-minute runtime. From the opening shots of Doctor Emmett Brown’s (Christopher Lloyd) multi-clock experiment to the final shot of the DeLorean peeling off into the skyline, Back to the Future makes use of its every waking second such that there’s not a beat that could even be considered slow or wasted.

Moreover, this pacing is accentuated by the film’s whirlwind of genres, blending comedy, science fiction, and teen romance into a narrative that culminates in the famous “Enchantment Under The Sea” dance where Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) simultaneously saves his parents’ marriage (and his existence, by extension) and invents rock n’ roll—all in one time travelin’ evening.

Every Plotline In Back To The Future Is Resolved

Apart from the film’s pacing, which jumps from one exciting scene to the next (à la terrorist chase, barnyard escape, ’50s sightseeing, etc.), Back to the Future is also notable for containing a plethora of plotlines that Zemeckis and Gale set up like bowling pins to be knocked down later in the film (in this case, delivering a perfect strike).

Back to the Future was almost called “Spaceman From Pluto.”

There’s really almost too many to name here: the Twin Pines Mall, the “Save the Clock Tower” flyer, the Johnny B. Goode scene, and even smaller beats like Uncle “Jailbird” Joey and the Safety Last! clock in the film’s opening (foreshadowing Doc Brown’s similar fate).

All of these elements are expertly woven through Back to the Future, creating a uniquely satisfying series of payoffs whose effect has truly yet to be rivaled in cinema—and likely never will be.