Since quarantine began back in March (and even after my day job compelled me back to the office in August), I have spent my nights and weekends absorbing the filmography of those considered to be some of the best directors in film history. Just to name a few: the psychological thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock, the powerful dramas of Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Alfonso Cuarón, the high-octane gangster films of Martin Scorsese, the Spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone, and the quirky, dry comedies of Wes Anderson, among others. Needless to say, I feel quite versed in the styles and approaches to filmmaking of dozens of directors at this point. Some I love, some I despise, and some I am rather ambivalent towards. Recently, I worked my way through (most of) the films of acclaimed writer/director Robert Zemeckis, a contemporary, friendly competitor, and friend of Steven Spielberg who are part of what I shall affectionately term “The Big Four” of the 1970s and 1980s (also including George Lucas and James Cameron). The major works of these directors dominated the box office from the late 1970s to the end of the 1980s, including Jaws (1975), the original Star Wars trilogy (1977-1983), the Indiana Jones trilogy (1981-1989), The Terminator (1984), the Back to the Future trilogy (1985-1990), and Aliens (1986). Many consider the aforementioned films as some of the best in cinema history. So, why write about Zemeckis? It seems that current opinion renders him a talent of a bygone era (especially after the critical and financial disappointment of his two most recent films, Welcome to Marwen and The Witches). However, I think there is something still to discover with some of Zemeckis’s best works. Thus, today I set out to share with you my five favorite (otherwise known objectively as “the best”) Zemeckis films and why they are so great. Without further ado, let’s get started! Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay Back to the Future (1985) With a couple of feature films under his belt, Zemeckis sought to make a film that was both critically and commercially successful. He and his collaborator, write/producer Bob Gale, desired to make a time travel movie that broke the trend set by past films tackling the subject by making the past susceptible to change as well as the present being affected by those changes. This fascination with time travel combined with Gale’s curiosity about the prospect of being friends with his father’s high-school self. These two ideas created the foundation for the first draft of what would become one of the greatest sci-fi classics of all time: Back to the Future. As I am sure many of you know, the film (and its two sequels that were filmed back to back and released six months apart) were praised and profitable. Many critics and film historians consider Back to the Future to be one of the most well-written movies ever put to screen. To this day, it remains one of Zemeckis’s best films. That being said, it is certainly not my favorite. However, I both recognize and appreciate the tight script that takes advantage of every second of screen time whether the lines are used to hint at pivotal plot points, foreshadow events to come, or set up jokes that would not be paid for another hour. I also think, unlike many films of the decade and within the comic sci-fi genre, the acting in Back to the Future expertly balances over-the-top camp and heartwarming enthusiasm. And I’m not just talking about the two leads (although the crazy and ridiculous rapport between Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox is pure comedic gold). Crispin Glover as the stereotypical nerd weakling and Marty McFly’s father George is both utterly irritating and a great underdog character. Lea Thompson embraces the unsettling irony of her role as Marty’s depressed mother Lorraine whose yearning libido makes Marty’s journey to 1955 all the more fun. For me, the standout side character is the antagonist of the entire Back to the Future trilogy: Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen (and the sequels’ variants). Not only does he fully embrace all three versions of George’s bully in childhood and adulthood, but he is easily one of (and possibly) the best zany movie villain of the 1980s. Ultimately, this film succeeds in virtually all aspects: the writing, the acting, the production design, the world-building, and the pure joy of time-travel adventures. I do not have a love of this film from childhood like so many, but I certainly understand why those who grew up with it have stayed in love with it. Ever since the DeLorean hit 88 miles per hour just in time for the lighting to strike the Hill Valley clock tower. Image by Nina Garman from Pixabay Forrest Gump (1994) After the end of the Back to the Future trilogy in 1990 and the profitable but panned Death Becomes Her in 1992, Zemeckis was brought on to direct a film adaptation of the 1986 novel Forrest Gump by novelist Winston Broom. It ended up being a very loose adaptation, with several creative changes to the eponymous character, sequence of events, and tone to make something, according to Zemeckis, less “cynical and colder.” The film became the highest-grossing work of Zemeckis’s career, earning nearly 700 million dollars worldwide. It also garnered six Academy Awards (including Best Director for Zemeckis). Needless to say, Forrest Gump earns its place in this blog today and in modern film history as one of the greats. Famous for his innovations in special effects, Forrest Gump may be one of the few Zemeckis film that relies heavily on visual effects while simultaneously weaving them almost seamlessly into the narrative so as not to draw too much attention to them. This is only one of the many aspects of this film that I simply love. In a matter of seconds into a flashback scene where Forrest meets a U.S. president (for the record, he meets three of them), one watches what is going on and one just believes it. However, selling these and other episodes in the life of Gump may have been incredibly difficult. But for lead actor Tom Hanks, it seems effortless. I hope throughout the life span of this blog I make my love for Tom Hanks well known. Not that this should surprise anyone. I mean really; who doesn’t love Tom Hanks? From his early notable performances in films like Splash, Big, and Sleepless in Seattle to his career-defining performances in Philadelphia, the Toy Story films, and Saving Private Ryan to some of his perhaps underrated roles in The Green Mile and Road to Perdition, Hanks has more than earned his status as one of the most accomplished, prolific, and renowned actors in modern cinema history. And yet, his performance in Forrest Gump might just be his best (even if it is not my favorite). Why do I say this? Simply put, Hanks plays a character who (on paper) should be an intrusive, naïve, and unlikeable dolt. But he makes him sympathetic, relatable, and a joy to watch. Without the grace and nobility brought to the character by Hanks’ raw talent, Gump would not be the sweetheart that he is on screen. Just as important as Hanks’s performance, however, is the message of the film. As someone who grew up watching Forrest Gump countless times on television with my parents, I never thought much about what Zemeckis was trying to say. I only watched and enjoyed every minute of what I was watching. I never thought about the test I had to take the next morning or the new piece I had to learn for Jazz Band. Rather, I was fixated on every moment of the budding romance between Forrest and Jenny over the course of three decades steeped in American nostalgia. And perhaps that is the point. It has always been difficult for me to live in the moment. I am someone who naturally plans out the next six to twelve months of my live in the span of ten minutes. (To answer your question: yes, I know the blogs I will be writing every weekend through March of next year 😊). I enjoy watching movies so much because they help me accomplish that which eludes me throughout much of my day-to-day life; they help me appreciate the here and now. Forrest Gump embodies what it means to be present and enjoy what is right in front of you. Yes, Gump can be unbelievably thick sometimes and quite gullible. Yet one cannot deny that he always lives in the moment. This brings him a life of fulfillment, pride, and accomplishment that some with double his IQ never achieve. When I watch Forrest Gump, that is what I get out of it. A welcome reminder to always try harder to live in the moment. As all great films do, it makes me live my best life. What more can I ask of Zemeckis than that? Cast Away (2000) Six years after Forrest Gump, Zemeckis put Hanks into another fantastic leading role in the 2000 survival drama Cast Away. Hanks plays Chuck Noland, a workaholic at FedEx who leaves Christmas dinner to resolve a work issue and ends up downed in a storm onto an uninhabited island for years alone. Upon returning to civilization, he must adapt to a life turned completely upside down by his absence. I was initially nervous about watching this film since all I knew about it was Hanks yelling at a volleyball with a face on it. To me, it sounded like it could shape up to be one of the weaker performances from Hanks. To my pleasant surprise, I was dead wrong. In my mind, Cast Away ranks up there with some of the best survival movies ever made. Zemeckis makes the second act absorbing by investing the audience in Chuck’s psychological, as well as his physical, survival. The film poses that fateful question: what happens to our minds when we are completely alone? How quickly do we deteriorate when devoid of human interaction? Actors and directors are challenged when putting a single character into such a situation. Many times, films that attempt such a feat tend to falter under the weight of overreliance on introspection or musical scores. Not Zemeckis and Hanks; all of the emotion, the turmoil, the loss of hope is in Chuck’s body language and facial expressions. And while the use of Wilson as a proxy for the audience to understand Chuck’s mental triumph in the face of death is largely effective, I believe Hanks’s performance would be just as powerful without “someone” to talk to on the island. I could say much more about Cast Away, but I would rather let those of you who have yet to watch it to discover it for yourselves. Trust me, it will be worth your time. Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay Flight (2012) Some people might say that Zemeckis has petered out in recent years, and that Cast Away was his last great film. I am here today to dispel such delusions by proclaiming that Zemeckis has made not one, but TWO, great films in the last twenty years. To begin with my favorite of the two. Not since 1980 has Zemeckis directed an R-rated film, but he did so very effectively with the 2012 drama film Flight. Loosely based on the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Flight tells the story of “Whip” Whitaker (played astoundingly by Denzel Washington), an alcoholic airline pilot who manages to crash land a passenger jet by flying inverted while intoxicated on drugs and alcohol. Much of the film follows Whitaker’s personal struggles as his addiction and the stress of the investigation into the cause of the crash take a toll on his own mental health and his interpersonal relationships. In many ways, this film was Washington’s test run for when he would provide a similar performance in the 2016 film Fences (I have an earlier blog focused, in part, on this film if you feel so inclined). There are many good films following a protagonist struggling with their inner demons, but few as compelling as Flight. This is, in large part, thanks to the sheer grace and humanity that Washington brings to “Whip” Whitaker. If you are looking for a compelling drama about self-doubt and inner conflict and are a Denzel fan (as I am), then you definitely need to take the time to check out Robert Zemeckis’s film Flight. Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay The Walk (2015)
My final Zemeckis film for today is one of his most recent endeavors: the 2015 biopic The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as famous French high-wire artist Phillippe Petit. The film details the adolescence and young adulthood of Petit growing up in Paris struggling to make ends meet as a street performer who aspires to bigger and better things in life. After meeting the love of his life Annie (Charlotte Le Bon) and receiving guidance from his mentor Papa Rudy (Ben Kingsley), Petit heads to the United States in 1974 and spends months planning and orchestrating his notorious high-wire walk between the newly-built Twin Towers in New York City on August 7, 1974. What I think works rarely in biopics is actually put off pretty well here. Gordon-Levitt’s narration of Petit’s story as Petit himself is rather delightful to watch, for only Petit could tell his own story with a balance of unassuming humility and biting pride. Compared to some of his other films, The Walk feels like a return to form in many ways for Zemeckis. A flawed, yet likeable, protagonist in Petit whose commitment to their passion is infectious in how it reels the audience into the crazy steps that he and his crew of misfits must take in order to pull off the scheme. In this sense, Zemeckis infuses The Walk with vibes of the heist movie, the melodrama, and the avant-garde flick so well that it is just appealing enough for mainstream audiences while also striking at deeper ideas about the meaning of life without focusing too much on it. Of course, we cannot discuss The Walk without addressing Zemeckis’s reputation working with and innovating special effects. Once Petit is on his wire in the third act, you never doubt that he is standing on the top of the world for an instant. Gordon-Levitt sells this with every muscle in his body from head to toes, as he buys into the thrill of the wire as much as the audience is convinced of it. Simply put, the sight of watching him walk between two of the most remarkable accomplishments of human engineering and imagination ever created is breathtaking and mesmerizing. Need I say more? With all that being said, here are my five favorite (or, objectively “the best”) Robert Zemeckis films ranked from least-best to most-best:
What is your favorite Robert Zemeckis film? Which of his films that I did not write about here do you think deserves praise and recognition? What opinions of mine do you find absolutely ridiculous? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, this has been… Yours Truly, Amateur Analyst
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Austin McManusI have no academic or professional background in film production or criticism; I simply love watching and talking about movies. Archives
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