IMDb > Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) More at IMDbPro »

Videos (see all 3)
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) -- Trailer for this 80s comedy
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) -- Two seemingly dumb teens struggle to prepare a historical presentation with the help of a time machine.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) -- ZuGuide.com - Trailer (Flash)

Overview

User Rating:
6.7/10   27,983 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 87% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Chris Matheson (writer)
Ed Solomon (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
17 February 1989 (USA) more
Tagline:
History is about to be rewritten by two guys who can't spell... more
Plot:
Two seemingly dumb teens struggle to prepare a historical presentation with the help of a time machine. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
3 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(3 articles)
'Bill & Ted' actor Carlin dies, aged 71
 (From digitalspy. 23 June 2008, 5:26 AM, PDT)

Comedian George Carlin Dies At 71
 (From WENN. 23 June 2008, 12:05 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
A surprisingly gnarly comedy! more (137 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Additional Details

Also Known As:
Dudes (USA) (working title)
The Adventures of Bill and Ted (USA) (working title)
more
Runtime:
90 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
In the original script, the time machine was a 1969 Chevy Van, but the filmmakers thought that it would be a rip-off of Back to the Future (1985). So, they changed it to a phone booth (apparently unconcerned that "Doctor Who" (1963) uses a police telephone box as its time machine). Also, when they used the van, Bill and Ted picked up more historical figures than they did in the final film. more
Goofs:
Continuity: At the end of the film, onstage during the presentation, the phone booth antenna is undamaged and shows no traces of the "gum and cans" repair done earlier in the film. 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...
more
Soundtrack:
The Boys And Girls Are Doing It more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
37 out of 42 people found the following comment useful.
A surprisingly gnarly comedy!, 8 July 2002
Author: bluethunder35 (bluethunder35@hotmail.com) from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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!

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