“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit.
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By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
I don’t even know where to start when I want to talk about “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. I guess the best way I can think of is there was a question going around in film circles recently about what one considers a perfect film. I will always argue there’s no such thing as perfection when it comes to art, which is kind of the point. To create good art, there’s a fair amount of things that one needs. To create great art, I’d say the main thing you need is to be unique as an artist. Something needs to be truly different within you for you to be able to stand out and to make work that stands out. Granted, yes, this film and the franchise it ended up spawning have been ripped off in one way or another countless times in subsequent years but I think the greatest compliment I can give to this film (in addition to being about as close to perfect as you can get) is that despite all the ripoffs, nothing quite comes close. It still stands totemically all on its own.
I guess this all starts with the writers. Chris Matheson (who even though I’ve been a fan since childhood, I just recently found out is the son of legendary author Richard Matheson) and Ed Solomon. From playing versions of these characters in improv groups, they learned the characters inside and out and crafted a screenplay with them that managed to be unique even in a post-“Back to the Future” world. It seems like this should be the exploitation version of BTTF or something but they’re as different from each other as they both are great. The plot of this film is fairly straightforward. Two best friends, the titular Bill and Ted, are trying to start a band. That band is being imperiled by the very real possibility that Ted could fail history class and therefore flunk out of school. He would be sent to military school, separating he and Bill for the foreseeable future. That’s a bummer in and of itself but they learn from a man from the future, named Rufus, with a time-traveling phone booth that their band, Wyld Stallyns, will be what unites humanity in the future and essentially saves the universe. They’re given said time-traveling phone booth to do what they need to in order to pass their history course. Their idea is to go through history with the booth, nab various historical figures, and have those figures speak in front of their history class to accomplish said goal, before returning everyone to their respective place in the timeline. As I said, very straightforward. Things being laid out as they are, the movie is almost a series of sketches of their adventures in time. It all adds up to an incredibly satisfying experience in a way that other similar films don’t manage though.
A sizeable part of that is due to the screenplay, no doubt. However, it bears mentioning that a huge piece of the puzzle that I feel often goes unsung when discussing this movie though is the director, Stephen Herek. I have argued that Herek is one of the most underrated filmmakers of all-time for a while now. Looking back, the man went from “Critters” to this film to “Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead” to “The Mighty Ducks” and I could go on but I don’t feel I should have to. That is one hell of a streak. I feel like the reason he doesn’t get the credit he deserves is that his work is all so different from one film to the next that it’s not easily identifiable. What is identifiable is Herek’s unique artistic vision, especially in that period. I hesitate to call his work “quirky” because it feels cheap. It’s kind of true in this case though. Herek manages to take elements that feel like they’re taken straight from comic books and cartoons and blend them with a reality that feels heightened but not completely outside the realm of possibility. It just gives a very specific feel to that era of his work that I find incredibly fascinating and enduringly fun even decades after the fact.
The other obvious reason that the film works is the cast, most notably the two leads in Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Keanu Reeves as Ted Theodore Logan. It’s been said that scores of young actors were auditioned in various combinations before landing on them but I literally can’t picture anyone else. I’ve tried too. I heard Pauly Shore recently say that the one movie he regrets not getting was this one. He blamed it on Keanu being a Hollywood darling and him being “a weirdo from The Comedy Store” but I really don’t believe that as much as I believe that Alex and Keanu were just born to play these roles. They completely embody Bill & Ted. Apparently, they became real friends (which they’ve remained years later) during the audition process and it really does show through. There’s a very specific chemistry between them. Moreover, their performances as those characters are just plain fun to watch. More than anything, I’d guess that’s maybe the biggest reason that this film lives on the way that it does. They’re also just weirdly fascinating characters. You can’t really pin them down. Are they stoners? According to all involved, no. Are they surfers? Well, they’re from San Dimas, which is in the valley…which also suggests no. So why are they the way they are? I guess the real answer to that is who cares? I spent a long time thinking about it before coming to that conclusion. They’re essentially positivity personified and that’s needed as much (if not more) now as much as it was then.
The rest of the cast admittedly isn’t given THAT much of the heavy lifting. This isn’t as much an ensemble as much as it’s support for our two heroes. That said, it’s rare that you have a cast like this where everyone is given the opportunity to be funny and everyone rises to the occasion like this, so there’s definitely something to be said for that. Most notably, the third lead to a large extent is Rufus, played by George Carlin. Usually when a stand-up comedian appears in a movie, especially one as legendary as Carlin, either the movie is built around them or they exist as comic relief and/or to chew scenery and steal scenes wherever they can. That’s not the case with Carlin. He actually provides a welcome grounding element for the characters of Bill and Ted while never particularly feeling authoritative as much as he seems to just be trying to guide them gently to their destiny. It’s actually kind of a beautiful performance in retrospect, as understated as it may be. May Carlin eternally rest in power.
Just as much as I don’t know where to start when discussing “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, I also don’t really know how to stop. This film but its subsequent first sequel were absolutely seminal to me. It’s stuff that is more than just art, it’s ingrained into who I am as a human being. Rewatching makes me realize how much of my real life can be traced back to these characters and their story. I guess that might sound silly to some but in a world that gets darker and more cynical all the time, I don’t know that a film with characters as relentlessly positive and bursting with joy as a Bill & Ted story could be any better. These characters might not seem like it but they’re absolutely a goal to aspire to. Bill & Ted make me want to be a better person. They’re lights in the darkness. On top of that, you’d be hard-pressed to find a comedy as legitimately funny as this that still manages to be years upon years after its release. If perfect films exist, “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” may very well be one. Anyway, I guess the best way to end is simply to say, be excellent to each other and party on, dudes.
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch