I can’t think of Socrates, Freud, Lincoln, Billy the Kid, Joan of Arc, Ghengis Kahn or Napoleon as mysterious historical icons because of this movie. They’ll always be the endearing characters this movie makes them out to be, for me. I wish I could hang out with that Socrates… he was most excellent.
…piiigy wiiiigy…
As close as this movie is to my heart, I have to go with Back to the Future on that one!
Why is this even a question in your mind? Obviously you completely missed the 80s and all the greatness that comes along with it. If you’re lucky they’ll be playing Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey in the near future.
I think you mean So-Crates, but close enough.
I’ll also have to go with Back to the Future for best time travel movie, but this is a close second. This doesn’t HAVE to be seen on a big screen, but hey, why not?
Twelve Monkeys is the best time travel movie.
But Bill and Ted has the historical babes, so…
He meant So-Crates, Mr TheKid, Miss OfArc, and Freud-Dude.
One thing that bothered me.
Genghis Khan, one of the most brutal men in history, is portrayed as a lovable buffoon. The Real Genghis Khan probably would have sliced Bill and Ted into tiny pieces and fed them to his dogs.
But maybe this was before he was called a wanker, a tosspot and a very tiny piece of turd.
It’s non-heinous. But I wouldn’t go so far as to call it non-non-non-non-non-heinous.
Thanks all, I think I’m going. It’s playing tonight. The theater in question has a big, though not Imax, screen, sometimes it’s worth it to see a spectacular there like Wizard of Oz, sometimes it’s all about the group vibe, like Harold and Maude.
I belive I read on the Dope that B&TEA had the most accurate time travel ‘science’ of any mainstream movie. Your thoughts?
That’s a really good point. Or, should I say, it’s a most triumphant point.
In all seriousness, Bill & Ted is a movie that wraps itself in the fun of being a dumb movie, but it really ISN’T a dumb movie; it’s well paced, well written, has lots of good gags, and is just a hell of a good time. It makes fun of all its component genres - ricksummon’s point about surfer-meathead Ted fully understanding the possibilities of at-will time travel, which completely escape Hermione Granger and Harry Potter (and Albus Dumbledore, and almost everyone else in movie history who’s ever had a time machine, for that matter) is both an important part of the movie’s plot AND a way for the movie to make fun of time travel movies. It’s not that they explain the science of time travel - the mechanics by which it takes pace are never explained - it’s that they work the logical implications of time travel better than anyone else ever has. But it’s a side issue, used near the end of the movie as an openly hilarious gag that makes fun deus ex machina in movies.
It’s also aged very well, especially for a movie with a pop-rock soundtrack. B&T avoids a lot of the cliches of 80s movies; there’s no gratuitous nudity, no serious violence, not very many pop culture checks. You could make pretty much the same movie today and it’d be just as good.
It comes pretty close. They’ve got the loose principle down. B&T (in the first movie at least) live in a deterministic universe in which things always occur the same way and cause does not always precede effect. Like I said, for a movie with a reputation for being “dumb” it is a really intelligent film.
Kind of shame they aren’t doing a double feature with Bogus Journey which isn’t nearly as much fun but has some great moments like the Seventh Seal parody and “Dude, we were totally lied to by our album covers.”
Oh yeah yeah yeah! It may or may not be the better of the two, that’s arguable, but I actually like that one better, just because of the games played with the Grim Reaper. How many teen comedies riff on Ingmar Berman films?? Instead of Chess you have Clue, Battleship, and Twister, “You have sank my battleship” HAHAHA!
Plus the characters reference the wonderful Butch and Sundance: The Early Days, and I adore that movie.
You mean Noah’s wife?
Where is this excellent theater that’s playing this most triumphant relic of a time long-since past? I might have to hop back a day or two and leave myself a car with a full tank of gas.
On second thought, since I’m not cruising toward this bodacious establishment at this very moment, I can only assume my plan to play hookie and catch this flick met with a most unfortunate fate.
They used a tardis with windows 
Explanation enough I’d say.
I was actually the first to reply. That’s right, I totally time-traveled back to just after your first post and posted ahead of everyone else. But then everybody else went back in time to post ahead of me, so I came in last again.
By all means, see it. You’ll regret it if you don’t. Then rent Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey. They totally die on that rock formation that Captain James T. Kirk was chased up by that Gorn.
You must play me again. That’s right. Best two out of three.
You all are forgetting Beet-oven!
And Napoleon!
When BATEA was on regular network, they subtitled/translated Napoleon at the bowling alley as saying “DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN” That was hilarious, considering when it was in theaters the translation was done accurately.
Oh you people!!! It’s going in my Netflix queue!!!
William Sadler’s Reaper made me crack up so hard and I’d forgotten about Carlin in the first one.
Silly but not dumb movies and very fun.
And isn’t it “Beeth-Oven”?
Yes.
Fag . . .