Bill And Tedās Excellent Adventure
The concept or notion that popular music can and will one day result in the reinventing and restructuring of society to fulfill a more āpositiveā purpose is an idea that has been around since the advent of rock n roll itself.Ā Certainly the songs and writings of Jim Morrison alluded to such a movement one day taking place, and popular legend has it that even John Lennon (who once openly declared that The Beatles were ābigger than Jesusā) was said to have conceived of a world where he and the other 3 Beatles would one day be regarded as being literal modern day Messiah like figures and failing that upon their breakup, reportedly decided to go it alone on this idea until being shot dead by an āobsessed fanā whom some feel might have actually been a government operative with a manufactured background.Ā Certainly this sentiment of a better world through positive, eye opening music has some inherently silly roadbocks to overcome such as how the consolidation of all world religions could possibly be worked out (whereas Lennon took the easy way out by merely proposing the banning of all religions) along with the possible personality types of the singers and / or songwriters that would lead the way (again, many felt that Morrison had readily fit this mold until his untimely death in 1971).Ā But this movie from 1989, widely thought of as being one of the dumbest (and funniest) comedies ever made, actually has at its heart this very ambition of showing us if maybe a glimpse of how our society 700 years from now has greatly changed for the better thanks to the ambitions of one band who had started up in our own time before blowing up to be very, VERY big.Ā What little we see of this future world helps to explain but a mere handful of its values, including the idea that music (especially rock) is all important, a positive, almost carefree attitude is stressed and maintained at all times, all financial and fiscal priorities are placed on improving the lives of others, fun activities like water slides, miniature golf, and bowling are seen as the new sacraments of our culture and most importantly, the concept of never quite growing up and allowing responsibilities to drive us down to even further states of misery seem to be the all important commandmants here (even as actual religious values are wisely never given any lip service at all).Ā Problem is, back in 1988, our two founding band members are about to be separated as teens since they are both failing history and about to flunk out of high school so in what is a possibly preordained move, the leaders of the future send an emissary named Rufus (George Carlin taking a very easy paycheck) back in time with a time machine disguised as an American phone booth to walk the two young future leaders through both the use of time travel and the importance of passing their final history oral exam upon which their future depends by cruising the circuits of time and recruiting real historical figures to aid in said exam.Ā What winds up making the whole thing so endearingly funny is the fact that the two āSaviors Of The Futureā are in reality two completely knuckleheaded teens (although they are NOT portrayed as actually being stoners, a common misperception that the film has always had) with their own two man garage band named Wyld Stallyns but are yet so utterly dumb that itās hard to believe that they could actually come up with any coherent lyrics much less proper melodies for their songs.Ā The duo consists of Ted āTheodoreā Logan (Keanu Reeves, easily the more charismatic of the two who was just poised at this point to skyrocket to superstardom) and Bill S. Preston, Esq (Alex Winter, long thought of as being the Marty Jannetty of the world of cinema) and as even Carlinās Rufus quietly lets us know with his facial expressions and asides (āThey do get better.ā) just how bad they really are, he nonetheless tells them what they need to know and sends them on their way picking up famous historical figures including Napoleon (who is portrayed as being just as much of a dick as the history books would suggest), Billy The Kid (who unsurprisingly seems to relate to them much better than the other historical figures), Socrates (portrayed as having a childlike innocence), Sigmund Freud, Genghis Khan, Joan Of Arc (the extremely cute Jane Wiedlin from The Go Gos), Ludwig Von Beethovan, and Abraham Lincoln (who is so hilariously obvious in modern times that the two heroes canāt even think up an alias for him).Ā Once they are all gathered together, the duo set them loose in our time (and quickly lose track of them), leading to some of the best moments in the movie particularly when Beethovan goes into a music store and starts rocking out on all the instruments much to the delight of passersby but to the chagrin of the manager who doesnāt realize that he has the actual BEETHOVAN in his own little music store (āSo, are you a musician?ā).Ā There is also the contrast between the upbringing of Bill and Ted, as Billās father appears to be a liberal activist type who is also a bit of a dirty old man having married a very hot younger woman who is barely older than Bill himself but yet insists that he call her āMomā and not Missy (with it being implied that they both had a huge crush on her in high school) while Ted is saddled with a right wing disciplinarian cop father who seemingly can not wait to ship him off to military school so much so that one wonders if heād actually be disappointed should Ted find a way to pass his history exam and somehow be able to avoid that fate.Ā Despite all the (very funny) goofball moments, the filmās saving grace is in the legitimate sense of awe that it manages to bring about at times, especially when they take a wrong turn and wind up in the actual futuristic society that continues to worship them, as a large group of people come out to pay homage and āhonorā them (in full view of all the historical figures) by doing their air guitar moves that have been their trademark throughout the film (and the Carlin characterās own amazing guitar playing skills despite his offhand remark about just āplaying a littleā indicates this as being yet another encouraged skill in the day and age of 700 years from now).Ā It is this and other small bits throughout the story that actually somehow make the whole thing both weirdly inspiring and strangely uplifting.Ā And while some of the nonsense that plays out with the historical figures can rub a viewer the wrong way (having Socrates giggling like a schoolgirl during much of his screentime makes the character a bit grating), the overall effect that the movie achieves with its extremely light, completely unpretentious sense of humor makes it both easy to watch (with its very brisk pace) and effortless when it comes to putting smiles on the faces of the viewers, so much so that many still feel that despite his blockbuster laden run ever since, Reeves has still never really escaped the shadow of this role with his surfer / stoner style āWhoaā becoming the standing catchphrase for most of the other roles in his career, while Winter (who has retreated more into the low budget / indy film circuit for most of his career) is only too happy to accept his own connection to this franchise for the sake of getting more films made for himself (though he and Reeves have maintained a long time friendship despite their differing career paths).Ā But that singular, sunny notion, that one rock band somehow someday can avoid the pitfalls of corporate corruption and selling out their original values en route to changing the world as we know it via a positive message (in a dire current music world where that kind of scenario is badly needed) is what propels everything else here to make this stand out as an 80s comedy classic with a cult following even today, helping to connect the lines that being stupid, good hearted, and innocent all just naturally go hand in handā¦
9/10