Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

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

Director:

Stephen Herek

Writers:

Chris Matheson, Ed Solomon

Stars:

Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter, George Carlin

3 nominations.

Cast

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

Storyline

In the small town of San Dimas, a few miles away from Los Angeles, there are two nearly brain dead teenage boys going by the names of Bill S, Preston ESQ. and Ted Theodore Logan, they have a dream together of starting their own rock and roll band called the "Wyld Stallyns". Unfortunately, they are still in high school and on the verge of failing out of their school as well, and if they do not pass their upcoming history report, they will be separated as a result of Ted's father sending him to military school. But, what Bill and Ted do not know is that they must stay together to save the future. So, a man from the future named Rufus came to help them pass their report. So, both Bill and Ted decided to gather up historical figures which they need for their report. They are hoping that this will help them pass their report so they can stay together.

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Plot Keywords:

bill and ted | future | high school | telephone | best friend | 

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Taglines:

Party on, dudes!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

G

Details

Official Sites:

Bill & Ted's Excellent Online Adventure MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German Greek, Ancient (to 1453)

Release Date:

17 February 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

A Fantástica Aventura de Bill e Ted

Filming Locations:

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

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$40,485,039 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), De Laurentiis Film Partners, Interscope Communications

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the original outline for the movie, Rufus was a 28-year-old high school sophomore who befriended Bill and Ted. There was also a character named John the Serf, whom Bill and Ted picked up in medieval England.

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Goofs

In the beginning when Bill and Ted are leaving class, the writing on the blackboard clearly says "Ghenghis Khan". A few seconds later it says "Genghis Khan"

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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. I'm telling you this place is great! But it almost wasn't. You see, 700 years ago, the two great ones, ran into a few problems. So now I have to travel back in time to help them out. If ...

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Connections

Spoofed in Escape from Monkey Island (2000)

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Soundtracks

Party Up
Written by Michael Wells and Rori
Published by Mykee Wells Music and Full Out Music
Performed by Rori
Produced by Rori and Michael Wells

User Reviews

"Whoa..."

Despite the success of such films as "Speed" and "The Matrix" trilogy, to a lot of people, Keanu Reeves will ALWAYS be Ted, the taller, darker half of the Bill & Ted duo. And it would seem that Ted, of all Reeves many characters, is possibly the only one where he really seemed to have put himself into the role and felt like a natural.

One of the great dopey dude slacker classics, the title characters Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (the aforementioned Reeves) are a pair of aspiring musicians, the Wild Stallions, who are in danger of being both separated if Ted can't pull up a good enough grade (which = military school) and flunking history class in general. But since they are destined to be "the 2 Great Ones" who's music will unite the Earth and even alien races together in universal harmony, the most excellent dude Rufus (George Carlin) shows up and gives them a time traveling phone booth to help them pass their history class by bringing back real historical figures like Billy the Kid, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon, Joan of Ark and what not. Now all they have to do is keep them from getting separated and jailed before they have to pass history! Along the way, Bill & Ted also fall in love with two sexy virgin princesses from the medieval circa.

Yeah it's not great cinema, but it's a fun romp of slacker dude madness thanks to the energy and enthusiasm of Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as the title characters.

Followed by "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey".