Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
- Cody Iden
- Nov 5, 2021
- 3 min read
Release Date - February 17, 1989
Synopsis:
Two teenage slackers, whose music will unite the universe in the future, set out on a quest to put together a history presentation with the help of a time traveling phone booth.
Directed by - Stephen Herek
Written by - Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon
Produced by - Scott Kroopf, Michael S. Murphey and Joel Soisson
Cinematography - Timothy Suhrstedt
Music by - David Newman
Distribution Company - Orion Pictures
Cast:
Keanu Reeves - Ted "Theodore" Logan
Alex Winter - Bill S. Preston, Esq.
Robert Barron - Abraham Lincoln
Terry Camilleri - Napoleon Bonaparte
Clifford David - Ludwig van Beethoven
Al Leong - Genghis Khan
Rod Loomis - Sigmund Freud
Dan Shor - Billy the Kid
Tony Steedman - Socrates
Jane Wiedlin - Joan of Arc
Bernie Casey - Mr. Ryan
and George Carlin - Rufus
"The Three Most Important People in the World"
Martha Davis
Fee Waybill
Clarence Clemons
Run Time - 1 hr. 30 min. Rated - PG
Budget - $10 million Gross - $40.5 million
Review:
A highly enjoyable film if you check your brain at the door and don't try to take it seriously, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is just the right blend of stupidity, history and 1980s music. The story and concept is fun, in which two slacker teens must use a time traveling phone booth to travel through history and return in time to pass their history class, and Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter are totally enjoyable as the title characters. The supporting cast of historical figures is a lot of fun as well with Terry Camilleri as Napoleon and Tony Steedman as Socrates being the most memorable while George Carlin proves to be a lot of fun in his small but important role as Rufus. The special effects are very well done with the opening credits sequence being a real highlight of the film. The cinematography is excellent and both the score and the soundtrack, which doesn't even contain any well known 80s music, are both surprisingly good and memorable. Director Stephen Herek manages to deliver a very fun and enjoyable film that doesn't overstay it's welcome and it is one that audiences have returned to over and over again throughout the years.
My Score: 87
Plot - 8 Cinematography - 8
Attraction - 9 Editing & Special Effects - 9
Theme - 8 Sound & Music - 10
Acting - 8 Directing - 9
Dialogue - 8 Enjoyability – 10
Trivia:
Pauly Shore and Gary Riley were among the hundreds that auditioned for the part of Ted that ultimately went to Keanu Reeves.
Before the role of Bill was given to actor Alex Winter hundreds of others auditioned including Matt Adler, River Phoenix, Donovan Leitch, Gary Riley, Sean Penn and Brendan Fraser.
The role of Rufus was originally envisioned for Eddie Van Halen who is referenced multiple times throughout the film. When Van Halen proved too expensive for the production Ringo Starr, Roger Daltrey, Sean Connery and Charlie Sheen were all considered before George Carlin was suggested and was subsequently cast.
The mall scenes were shot at The Metrocenter Mall in Phoenix, Arizona. The mall was later renovated and looked nothing like what we see in the film. The mall closed on June 30th, 2020 after 47 years.
The original script for the film featured a time-traveling 1969 Chevy van but this was deemed too similar to the DeLorean featured in the Back to the Future films (1985-1990).
The phone booth time machine from the film was given away as part of a contest run by Nintendo Power magazine, which was promoting the video game Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure (1991).
The characters say "dude" 70 times in the film, while "excellent" is intoned a total of 30 times.
Availability:
Blu-ray - Shout Select (Includes Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey)
Blu-ray - Trilogy (Includes Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey and Bill & Ted Face the Music)
Watched November 4, 2021
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