"Back to the future" actually means something, folks;
you can't just throw it around indiscriminately...
[This is the first of at least three Back to the Future posts. A "#0" is buried near the end of this-here.]
What ever happened to Biff? I'm not the first to ask this question,* but that doesn't bother me because emphasizing that Thomas F. Wilson seems to have done no movies of note since Back to the Future Part III is not actually my point. My point is that he does an amazing job in the Back to the Future movies. Not only is he arguably the life of the series,† but he plays what is effectively a surprisingly large number of different characters that actually really are discrete from each other and defined and identifiable. And I don't even just mean Biff, Griff, Buford. I mean he does...
...sleazy middle-aged middle-management loser–alcoholic Biff,
1950s jock–bully teen Biff,
inexplicably smarter nasty elderly Biff,
sleazy middle-aged casino millionaire Biff,
an unwashed 19th-century boozy-loony outlaw [Buford],
a future cyborg drugged-out teen sociopath [Griff],
...and fawning ass-kissing middle-aged car-waxing Biff
(seen here getting a bit smarter and nastier).
Great Scott! Am I missing anything, here? Can somebody please give Thomas F. Wilson some kind of an award?
[Coming soon: Why Back to the Future Part II is one of the best sequels ever made, and why Back to the Future Part III is like a convertible filled with horse manure!]
* A quick Google search turns up dozens of results, like "Whatever Happened to Biff Tanner?" [sic].
† Crispin Glover pretty much makes the first movie (can you imagine it without him?), and Michael J. Fox is great throughout (Christopher Lloyd is more complicated and will be discussed at some later date), but Glover isn't in any of the sequels (except in footage from the first one), and MJ sort of almost doesn't count?—not to mention the fact that Wilson's the only one who really significantly...well, but this is what I'm about to get to (see above).
4 comments:
Look how teeny tiny MJF is in the older smarter Biff picture. Which reminds me, my mom saw him (MJF) in Grand Central in the 80's and her description of him: the weirdest. She's just like: "He was tiny. Incomprehensibly tiny. And he clung to the walls, to the shadows."
While we're on the subject of applauding actors in the BTTF franchise for playing multiple roles, how about a shout-out for Lea Thompson? She does middle-aged alcoholic Lorraine, 1955 bobby socks sweetheart Lorraine, clean living successful 1985 Lorraine, worn-down 2015 grandma Lorraine, and alternate 1985 Vegas callgirl Lorraine. And the amazing thing (like with the various Biffs) is that they're all simultaneously the same character and different characters, or rather the same person living a different life. Now that's what I call acting.
Also, how about an honorable mention for Elizabeth Shue, for playing the same character as Claudia Wells in essentially a shot-for-shot remake of the end scene of the first movie?
Duly noted, Dr. Math...although I'm sure you'll acknowledge that 5≤7.
BIFF is one of my all time favorite Movie Villians. I'm not just amazed by the character but I'm also amazed the different versions of him are played by the same actor. I'm currently working on a post of why I like him, on my top 20 Movie favorite Villians in chrologic order. Hope you check it out when it comes out
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