They harass Burns for being an incompetent asshole who fucks up a surgery and blames a death on an orderly.
Whether the almanac changed or stayed the same - Biff still keeps it locked in a safe. Because his old self told him to? It makes me wonder if the stats aren't still paying off.... someone get Bob Gale or Zemeckis in here. Now I want to know what the creators have to say about the almanac's stats. Was it ever cleared up how frequently Biff used the Almanac to bet? I could see him making a few critical bets in 1955-1960 or so, but once you've got wealth, you can re-invest it elsewhere. When old Biff went 'back to the future' 2015 shouldn't it have been the Biffhorrific 2015 instead of the familiar 2015 timeline he arrives in? That deleted scene of Bill disappearing would have made an already confusing movie for casual viewers even more so. I do like the internal logic of Loranne killing Biff in that timeline, but it would have wooshed over everyone's head without a specific explanation.
While the movie version of Major Burns may be a poor surgeon who sometimes needlessly takes out his frustrations on others, he is, like all the rest of them, a man in an extremely difficult situation. The fact that he's bad at coping with it doesn't excuse everyone else's poor treatment of him.
That's the filmmakers' point - it was that dark future, but by 2015, Biff would have been dead long enough, and the suburban McFly home would be sufficiently quiet enough, for Marty and Doc not to notice the effects of the darkening timeline around them. As you say, however, first-time viewers couldn't have been expected to understand the ramifications of a plot point they hadn't even seen yet.
Yeah but this is the universe the JK now reveals has a magical community that shat itself for thousands of years until they saw humans using toilets and thought "Huh, that's how you do it."
And as they point out in the commentary, no more scenes take place inside Marty's 2015 house once Biff returns to the future. So while the exteriors of that suburb still look the same, who knows if any of the same people are living in them in the alternate timeline. That would actually be interesting to see. Suppose Marty's family still lives in the house in the alternate timeline but we see George disappear mid-conversation while no one else notices. Creepy.
This topic is addressed in the commentary? Gotta check it out. Thanks. That's blowing my mind. The timeline changed around Doc and Marty right at the end of their trip to 2015? Fuuuuuuck. I never thought of it that way. Doc does explain this; when they decide to leave Jennifer and Einstein in 1985-A. .... I guess you're right, they are just standing outside Marty's future home in Hilldale... if it's a newer neighbourhood in Hill Valley, maybe not quite so run-down? On topic, Magnolia. There are numerous gut-wrenching, horrible things happening to everyone in that film... and the themes of regret, failed relationships - particularly children and parents... it's more horrible upon reflection but it's such an entertaining film with such a terrific cast, worthy of multiple viewings.
I'm not sure what you mean by no vested interest in winning. In kids under the age of 14 or so it's the parents egos that are drall decisions in my experience. At least when my kids were playing soccer. I can only imagine it's worse in hockey. But that impression is because I'm Canadian I'm sure
I was referring less to the parents’ egos and more to the decisions that civil servants would make. In this case the parents were squarely on the side of him not changing teams.
Even more likely to make the choice that makes the kid happy, that’s the sort of people who volunteer.
sorry, I've switched to a computer so I can speak in full sentences. My phone drives me crazy. I'll give you an example. When my son was 10 he had a coach who sent out a long detailed email explaining how he didn't want to hear parents complain about their kids not playing because he had a winning strategy that took into account that some kids played better by only playing a few minutes and some by playing the whole game. Now, no athlete gets better by not playing. The goal of any team of 10 year olds should be to make them feel part of a team, teach them skills, and improve their level of fitness. His goal was that the team win. Totally inappropriate at that age. They should all get the same play time. Of course his kid was one of the ones who played the whole game. Mine was too btw. But no kid should have been sitting on the bench so my kid got more field time.
And that last bit troubles me no end that while they probably do remember we seem to forget that on that same night Lorraine is nearly raped by Biff and this conversation happens and it just doesn't feel right. Not to mention as others have said that he still hangs around their house being their lackey now..
That's what doesn't translate well with me anymore. I know you are focusing more on the movie version rather than the TV series. However I look at Hawkeye and he seems so much a smart arse and Frank often is just a sad little weasel.
They would probably portray it differently now, but the basic gist is that Frank Burns was always meant to be an incompetent that bought his rank and got an assignment he couldn't do when the draft began. He is always portrayed as needing either assistance, or for someone to come over and fix his mistakes during surgery. His purchased rank was supposed to get him a cushy job in Tokyo, but that didn't work out due to needing surgeons in the field. As for Hawkeye, he never wanted to go to Korea. His jokey attitude and refusal to maintain military decorum is to deliberately get on Frank's nerves, which does make him a smartass, but is meant to show he recognizes Frank's shortcomings, and refuses to respect him as a person. Remember, Hawkeye never treats Henry Blake or Sherman Potter with any disrespect. Indeed, when he parts ways with each colonel, he salutes them respectfully. Houlihan has blinders on until Frank freaks out when she gets married, but after that she can't respect him anymore either. Of course, movie Frank gets sent home when he attacks Hawkeye for asking how his little affair with "Hot Lips" (a nickname derived from Frank's own description of her) is going.
Maybe it was. You'll notice that Hilldale was already run-down by the time Marty and Doc get there - even before Biff steals the almanac. Maybe history was already starting to change. As for the almanac: Why would the sports stats change just because Biff bet on them? Biff's actions can't possibly influence games that had yet to occur, because the teams involved surely would not have had any contact with him.
Showing my age, perhaps number one is Gone With The Wind. Pretty much all vigilante movies, unless they're as clear on the issues as the Kevin Bacon movie Death Sentence. Pretty much all cop-loving movies and spy-loving movies where the cops and spies are mowing people down like grass. Most movies where the villain's villainy is signposted by being sexually suspect. Red-baiting movies would be right up there if most of them weren't so Plan 9 from Outer Space levels of bad they are very entertaining, albeit in unintended ways. But for genre examples about the only thing coming to mind very quickly is Indiana Jones killing the scimitar guy in Raiders. I laughed the first time, then cringe every other time I see it.