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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

6.8
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Ratings: 6.8/10 from 57,967 users   Metascore: 44/100
Reviews: 162 user | 60 critic | 7 from Metacritic.com

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

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Title: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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Tony Steedman ...
Rod Loomis ...
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Robert V. Barron ...
Abraham Lincoln (as Robert Barron)
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Amy Stock-Poynton ...
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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. Written by John Wiggins

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

Brace yourself amigos for a most triumphant video! (UK VHS Box) See more »


Certificate:

PG | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

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Details

Country:

Language:

| |

Release Date:

17 February 1989 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Dudes  »

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$40,485,039 (USA)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

In the film, Bill and Ted claim that they need Edward Van Halen in their band to make it better. After the film was released, he jokingly said he would have joined their band if they had asked. See more »

Goofs

When the phone booth is first created we see it start to form, then we see a shot of Rufus' face with a complete booth reflected, then back to a shot of a still-forming booth. See more »

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 ...
See more »

Connections

Referenced in The Fairly OddParents: Father Time!/Apartnership! (2001) See more »

Soundtracks

"Dangerous"
Written by Richard Czerny, Spencer Sercombe, and Kevin Kreis
Published by Irving Music, Inc. and DDL Music Show Publishing
Performed by Shark Island
Produced by Kevin Beamish
Courtesy of A&M Records, Inc.
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

Probably one of the most intelligently written screenplays of alltime.
19 November 2000 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

Any idiot can sit down and spend four or seven years of his life writing out his "masterpiece." You do some research, you do some hard work, you get a little help from friends and family, and you get it done. But, it takes a true writing genius (or geniuses, in this case) to create something as original as "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." The ingenuity of the movie can even be seen in its delightful tagline: "History is about to be re-written by two guys who can't spell." This tagline is both simple and clever, while being both corny and slightly comical. Like "Real Genius," this film utilizes ideas from both the highest form of screenwriting while still delving into the lowest common denominator, somehow doing both at the same time. For instance, to perfectly grasp the concept of Bill and Ted's "lingo," one would truly have to stoop to the lowest rung of the intelligence level. But, with such ingenius ideas as having Bill and Ted meet each other in the beginning of the film, then later finding themselves, allowing the audience to gain insight on what happened in the past is just a stroke of cinematic brilliance. And the running gag about "when the Mongols conquered China" was one of the many cherries on the cake. Even some of the background comments (after being told he's "too tall, man" making the phone booth even more crowded, Lincoln responds: "That's how I'm built.") Any movie where Genghis Kahn is tempted to come into a phone booth by a Twinkie has to be something special. If only production companies and filmmakers would take a chance on something as original as a time travelling phone booth carrying two idiots on the course to better the future, the public could finally go back to watching movies in theaters again.


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