'80s time-travel favorite; some violence, bullying, cursing.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Products & Purchases
a lot
Many products prominently displayed and mentioned in dialogue. Pepsi products featured throughout. Other brands: Toyota, Calvin Klein, Texaco, Burger King, Bud Light, Miller beer, JVC, Panasonic, KalKan and Milkbone dog food, Zale's, Yamaha, Popov, Maxwell House, J.C. Penney, and dozens more. A DeLorean car plays a very significant role.
Language
some
Occasional swearing includes "damn," "butthead," "s--t," "ass," "a--hole," "son of a bitch," "hell," "bastards," and "Jesus Christ" (as an exclamation). In the 1950s-set scenes, a few racial epithets are used by the baddies, including "Irish bug" and "spook," and a mayor is referred to as "colored."
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
A few kisses and embraces; flirting. A teen girl is shown undressing down to her bra and underwear. Teen crushes are a key part of the story, with Marty becoming the object of affection of the girl who will grow up to become his mother.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
In an early scene, an attack includes automatic weapon fire and what appears to be a significant fatal shooting. Other sequences include suspenseful car and skateboard chases, a character threatened by a shotgun, some perilous scenes involving a tall clock tower, and punches thrown between high school kids. Bullying is a significant theme. A classmate initiates an off-camera assault on a high school girl; she struggles/expresses fear, and groping is implied. Someone intervenes before things go further, but it's an upsetting sequence. Perched in a tree, a boy spies through a girl's window as she undresses.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
In one scene, two underage teens briefly experiment with a small bottle of whiskey and a cigarette. Adults drink beer and vodka at dinner. A drunk man sleeps on a park bench. Reference to "reefer."
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.
Sends message that bullies must be stood up to and that intelligence, self-control, courage, and integrity ultimately win out over brute strength and intimidation. Also, if you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything, and creativity and imagination are qualities to be admired and nurtured.
Positive Role Models
some
Marty is smart, charismatic, courageous, and a terrific problem solver (despite periodic self-confidence issues). Faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles, he rises to every occasion. Doc Brown is shown to be ingenious as well as eccentric. Baddies are clearly in the wrong.
Diverse Representations
very little
Stereotypes Muslims and Arabs as terrorists when a group of men called "the Libyans," dressed in skullcaps and keffiyeh, use assault rifles and a rocket launcher to attack White characters. A group of Black male musicians helps Mart, but they're also depicted as scary as they intimidate a White teen, who runs off and calls them "reefer addicts." In a more positive but still token role, a Black man is the mayor of Hill Valley.
Parents need to know that Back to the Future is a 1980s time-travel favorite that includes scenes in which main character Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his friends are in physical jeopardy. A classmate initiates a mostly off-camera (but still upsetting) assault on a high school girl, there's a violent attack in which a key character is thought to have been shot to death, a van chases a teen on a skateboard, and more. There are also several episodes of bullying. While the violence is exaggerated and closer in tone to cartoon jeopardy than real danger, some kids will no doubt find it tense. Several scenes show Marty's discomfort when the girl who will eventually be his mother tries to kiss and embrace him. Expect strong language, including a couple of memorable uses of "s--t," as well as "bastards," "damn," "a--hole," and a couple of racial slurs in the 1950s-set scenes. The movie also stereotypes Muslims and Arabs as terrorists. It's worth noting that this film raised public awareness of the concept of product placement, with controversy arising from the near-constant visuals of Pepsi products and other brands. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
Casually presented Sexual Assault - Parents Beware
Like others I have great memories of this film from my childhood. Re-watching it with my 11 year old, I was horrified that a major plot point is that Marty's plan is to assault his young mother in the car to such a point that there is a struggle, at which George would come in and save the day. Weird and gross on multiple levels. Worse, when Marty (thankfully) doesn't go through with this plan, Bif and his goons get rid of Marty, and Bif gets in the car and does to proceed to sexually assault her, which we can tell by Bif stating what he's about to do, the shaking car, and signs of Lorraine struggling.
It's all fairly shocking, and it's presented so casually that the point has nothing to do with Lorraine, it's all about giving George an opportunity to prove his manliness. The fact that Lorraine is being held in a car and groped without her consent isn't even given a casual mention.
Also requiring explanation are that George McFly is a "peeping Tom", which is gross and makes it hard to like him as a hero, and that Bif says sexually threatening things to Lorraine in the cafeteria.
I really regret showing this to my 11-year old. It provided an opportunity to talk about sexual assault, but that really wasn't what I was going for when I said "hey let's watch this fun movie with cool gadgets."
I was watching this movie for the first time with my kids and there were the standard teachable moments in older movies...until they get to the night before the dance and the Bully character pushes his way into car and forces himself into a you h girl as she says no repeatedly and calls for help. It was very disturbing for my children and myself. There was allusion to this kind of behavior earlier in the movie when the same bully tries to pick up the same girl and she says “I’m not that kind of girl” and he responds with “maybe you are and you just don’t know It yet”.
Around this part in the movie there was also an instance of a White character calling a Black man a “coon” and suggesting he was “addicted to refer”
We really enjoyed the movie outside these moments but we won’t be watching again.
Also there is a fair amount of swearing for families who limit that.
What's the Story?
Brimming with lighthearted energy, BACK TO THE FUTURE mixes science fiction with romantic comedy for a classic 1980s blockbuster. To avoid being shot, teenager Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels back to the 1950s via a DeLorean time machine invented by his friend/mentor Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd), a lovable, wide-eyed, wild-haired stork of a mad scientist. Marty quickly gets more than he bargained for, accidentally interfering with the courtship of his own parents. He must aid his father in standing up to Biff (Thomas F. Wilson), the town bully, to get the attention of Marty's mother, to ensure his own future existence.
The film remains light and breezy, never taking time travel too seriously, and both romance and science defer to adventure. That said, the sci-fi subplot never disappears for more than a scene or two. Marty's friendship with Doc is at the heart of the film, and it keeps the midsection from becoming just another romantic comedy.
Adult viewers may find that the film milks anachronisms for one joke too many, but kids are likely to get as much of a kick out of the dated clothing, music, and slang of 1980s as Marty gets out of the lack of TV reruns and Tab soda in the '50s. It should come as little surprise that Steven Spielberg executive-produced Back to the Future. Like so many of his films, it manages to blend heady science fiction, humor, adventure, and romance while retaining an exuberance and a sense of wonder familiar to anyone under the age of 12.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Back to the Future portrays bullying. Have you ever encountered a situation like that, either directly or online?
What do Marty and George learn during the movie? How can people defend themselves without resorting to violence? How does Biff's treatment of Lorraine cross the line?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by
suggesting a diversity update.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
