Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Stephen Herek

Writers:

Chris Matheson (writer)
Ed Solomon (writer)

Release Date:

17 February 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

History is about to be rewritten by two guys who can't spell...

Plot:

Two seemingly dumb teens struggle to prepare a historical presentation with the help of a time machine.

Plot Keywords:

Bill And Ted | Future | High School | Telephone | Telephone Box

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Keanu Reeves	...	Ted Logan
Alex Winter	...	Bill S. Preston, Esq.
George Carlin	...	Rufus
Terry Camilleri	...	Napoleon
Dan Shor	...	Billy the Kid
Tony Steedman	...	Socrates
Rod Loomis	...	Dr. Sigmund Freud
Al Leong	...	Genghis Khan
Jane Wiedlin	...	Joan of Arc
Robert V. Barron	...	Abraham Lincoln (as Robert Barron)
Clifford David	...	Ludwig van Beethoven
Hal Landon Jr.	...	Captain Logan
Bernie Casey	...	Mr. Ryan
Amy Stock-Poynton	...	Missy Preston
J. Patrick McNamara	...	Mr. Preston

Also Known As:

Dudes (USA) (working title)
The Adventures of Bill and Ted (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | German

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G | Sweden:7 | UK:PG | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

AMF Tempe Village Lanes - 4407 S. Rural Road, Tempe, Arizona, USA

Company:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG)

Trivia:

The punk band 'The Ataris' wrote a song based on Ox's report. The song is titled "San Dimas High School Football Rules!" but has nothing to do with the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: A podium appears and disappears between shots at the end of the movie.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Rufus: Hi, welcome to the future. San Dimas California 2688. And I'm telling you it's great here. The air is clean, the water's clean, even the dirt, it's clean. Bowling averages are way up, mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water slides than any other planet we communicate with...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Step by Step: He Wanted Wings (#1.21)" (1992)

Soundtrack:

Party Up

A 10/10 on the fun scale

WOW. Talk about a childhood classic! Bill and Ted first surfaced when I was nine years old. Those were the days...I don't know how many times my best friend and I watched this one, but it must have been every day during our third grade year. I've watched it countless times after that and it has yet to lose its charm. When Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey came out a couple of years later, the process repeated itself. These are two movies about a couple of (seemingly) burn-out teens who don't take drugs, which leads one to the conclusion that they were just born idiots. Thing is, just by being stupid, everything seems to happen right for them wherever they go, thanks to good ole Rufus (George "the king" Carlan).

Excellent Adventure starts with our idiot duo, doing what they do; jamming out in the garage (on guitars they can't play) and talking nonstop about how someday, somehow, their band "Wyld Stalyns" will open for Iron Maiden. When their dream is threatened by the reality that they are flunking out in history, things take a turn. What it all boils down to is that they need to have a badass history report or they're both going to flunk out and Ted will be sent to military school by his mean, police officer dad.

This is where Rufus comes in. He shows up in a time machine (in the form of a phone booth) and claims to have all the answers to their problems. The time machine is just what they need for their history report so it's "back in time we go", to capture historically significant figures (Socrates, Napolean, Billy the Kid, Joan of Arc, Abe Lincoln, etc.). The fun never stops.

I'm really not sure why this movie works as well as it does. It takes an idea that would sound completely stupid on paper, and somehow, makes it all come together. The characters are completely likeable and the script is sharply written. Best of all, this movie is just good fun. The music is awesome too. If you have never seen this movie or its sequel, you are seriously depraved. Go put on your old Megadeth t-shirt, ragged out jeans, and a few beers, plop down on the couch and enjoy.