Back to the Future was the top-grossing film of 1985 and winner of the 1986 People’s Choice Award for Favorite Motion Picture. This fascinating study places the film in the historical context of the Reagan era, the “New New Hollywood,” and director Robert Zemeckis’s filmmaking career. Among the major themes explored are time travel and the potential and pitfalls of science and atomic energy. The book also considers teen culture in the 1980s and the 1950s, depicted in the film as a period in which traditional “American” values and gender roles contrasted sharply with the more troubled decade from which Marty McFly begins his time-traveling adventures. Includes 60 color stills from the movie.