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 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

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 friends | 

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Taglines:

Party on, dudes!

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Bill & Ted's Excellent Online Adventure MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German

Release Date:

17 February 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dudes

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

Originally, Alex Winter auditioned for the role of Ted and Keanu Reeves auditioned for the role of Bill.

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Goofs

In the steady cam shot inside the jail, as the camera leads to Freud, just as the angle is about to change the boom mic drops in and out of the screen.

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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

Referenced in Growing Pains: Ben and Mike's Excellent Adventure (1989)

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Soundtracks

"Play With Me"
Written by Nuno Bettencourt and Gary Cherone
Published by Funky Metal Publishing (Administered by Almo Music Corp.)
Performed by Extreme
Produced by Mack
Courtesy of A&M Records, Inc.

User Reviews

A surprisingly gnarly comedy!

June 8, 2002 was an 80's renaissance for me. Playing an emulated ColecoVision on my PC, listening to Huey Lewis, Prince, and Men At Work, watching the A-Team on TNN, and seeing this film from 1989. I still enjoy the decade of feathered mullets, jerri-curled hair, acid-washed jeans, skinny ties, dominant pop music, and terrible fashions. The 90's will never have that to live down (except terrible fashions, but not as bad).

When Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure became the surprise hit of 1989, it made a star of everyone's favorite Lebanese-Canadian-U.S. rock 'n rolling actor, Keanu Reeves, who is one of the top stars at the box office today and one of the few likeable people in Tinseltown. It seems that he still carries a bit of Theodore "Ted" Logan in all his movies.

He and Alex Winter (an indie film dynamo) play Bill and Ted, a couple of 80's California dudes who want to start their own rock band (Wyld Stallyons). However, both are flunking in high school and will be expelled unless they get an A+ in history. To make matters worse, Ted will be sent to the military by his father, therefore squashing their dreams of rock stardom. Enter Rufus (George Carlin), a man from the future who plays Clarence to the boys George (shades of It's A Wonderful Life) who gives them a telephone booth. With it, they decide to use it to collect great historical figures and bring them to San Dimas, California to show them how mankind has evolved.

Surprisingly, the film holds up today. Bill and Ted are truly likeable boneheads and both Reeves and Winter deliver fine performances. Carlin is funny in his appearances, showing that he doesn't need trash-talk to be entertaining. The dialogue is truly amusing, probably because no one talks like that any more. The only weakness is that it's an 80's film, so if you didn't grow up in that era, you might not understand why there's music playing throughout the film, or why everyone looks and dresses so weird (yes, that's how everyone looked in the 1980's). The DVD version is quite nice, but it only has a trailer as a bonus. Still, a must watch, and much better than all the copycat films (including the horrible Dude, Where's My Car?). Party On!