The Back to the Future franchise is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, and the original movie is back in theaters this weekend.
Although Eric Stoltz was initially cast in Back to the Future, we can’t picture that movie without Michael J. Fox in the lead.
Fox made that film work, and it made him into a movie star.
To celebrate the legacy of Back to the Future, Watch With Us is taking a look back at the five best Michael J. Fox movies.
5. ‘The Frighteners’ (1996)
Before The Lord of the Rings trilogy, director Peter Jackson teamed up with Fox for The Frighteners, a supernatural horror comedy. The film starts out as a riff on Ghostbusters, as Frank Bannister (Fox) presents himself as an exorcist who can keep ghosts from haunting a house. But it’s just a con Frank came up with alongside three ghosts he befriended: Stuart (Jim Fyfe), Cyrus (Chi McBride) and The Judge (John Astin).
Frank gained these powers after the unexplained death of his wife years earlier. That event ties into the present when Frank sees something that terrifies him. There’s a ghost dressed as a grim reaper who can kill both the living and the dead. The reaper’s next target is Frank’s latest client, Lucy Lynske (Trini Alvarado), and he can’t let her meet the same fate as his wife.
The Frighteners is streaming on Tubi.
4. ‘The Secret of My Success’ (1987)
By 1987, Fox had refined his comedic persona, and he put that to good use in The Secret of My Success. As a recent college graduate, Brantley Foster (Fox) can’t get a good job to save his life. So the only gig he can get is in the mail room of a company run by his uncle, Howard Prescott (Richard Jordan).
However, Brantley is too sharp to stay in the mail room forever, especially after he realizes that Howard is deliberately tanking the company. To secure his own future, Brantley passes himself off as a new company executive, Carlton Whitfield, and immediately makes an impact. Brantley’s faking it until he makes it, and he’s so charming that even Howard’s spy/mistress, Christy Wills (Helen Slater), is falling for him.
The Secret of My Success is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
3. ‘Casualties of War’ (1989)
Drama isn’t necessarily Fox’s strong suit, but we’d be remiss if we didn’t spotlight one of the best performances of his career in Casualties of War. The film is based on a true story of an atrocity that occurred during the Vietnam War, and Fox plays Private First Class Max Eriksson, the one man in his unit who tried to stop it.
Max’s commanding officer, Sergeant Tony Meserve (Sean Penn), gives his men the order to find and kidnap a young woman, Tran Thi Oanh (Thuy Thu Le), so they can force themselves on her. Much to Max’s shock, no one else will speak up about the war crime in progress, leaving him ostracized from his fellow troops. But he won’t stop trying to do the right thing, even if it means betraying his unit, to help Tran escape and return to her family.
Casualties of War is streaming on Tubi.
2. ‘Doc Hollywood’ (1991)
Pixar’s Cars shamelessly lifted most of its plot from Fox’s comedy, Doc Hollywood. But we enjoyed the story more the first time. After completing his residency in Washington, D.C., Dr. Benjamin “Ben” Stone (Fox) is ready to take a high-paying gig as a plastic surgeon in Los Angeles. Or he was, before Ben gets sidetracked in a small town called Grady and is sentenced to community service.
Mayor Nick Nicholson (David Ogden Stiers) has high hopes that Ben will stick around and become the new town doctor. But if there’s anything or anyone who can change his mind, it’s Lou (Julie Warner), a single mom who immediately catches Ben’s eye. Ben’s from a small town, so it wouldn’t be a culture shock if he stayed. But it would mean giving up on his dreams of becoming a wealthy surgeon.
Doc Hollywood is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
1. ‘Back to the Future’ Trilogy (1985 – 1990)
Let’s be honest: If we had separated the Back to the Future movies, then they would have taken up three spots on this list. The first film would be No. 1, of course. It’s better to just group them because these are the best movies of Fox’s career, and it’s not even close.
Across three films, Fox plays Marty McFly, a teenager who finds himself stuck 30 years in the past. After reuniting with his friend, Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Marty has to find a way back home to 1985 without jeopardizing his own existence. The two sequels added further complications to Marty and Doc’s misadventures in the history and future of Hill Valley.
Marty and Doc get a satisfying ending in Back to the Future Part III that always felt like the right place to leave things. Director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale have steadfastly refused to reboot the franchise or go for another sequel. In Hollywood, that’s a very rare thing, and we appreciate their commitment to the trilogy.
The Back to the Future trilogy is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
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