Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

User Rating:

5.7/10   

Director:

Peter Hewitt

Writers (WGA):

Chris Matheson (characters) &
Ed Solomon (characters) ...

Release Date:

19 July 1991 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Hell Hath No Pizza

Plot:

A tyrant from the future creates evil android doubles of Bill and Ted and sends them back to eliminate the originals.

Plot Keywords:

Bill And Ted | Hell | Robot | Battle Of The Bands | God

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Keanu Reeves	...	Ted Logan / Evil Ted
Alex Winter	...	Bill S. Preston, Esq. / Granny Preston / Evil Robot Bill
William Sadler	...	Grim Reaper / English Family Member
Joss Ackland	...	Chuck De Nomolos
Pam Grier	...	Ms. Wardroe
George Carlin	...	Rufus
Amy Stock-Poynton	...	Missy Logan
Jim Martin	...	Sir James Martin
Hal Landon Jr.	...	Captain Logan
Annette Azcuy	...	Elizabeth
Sarah Trigger	...	Joanna
Chelcie Ross	...	Colonel Oats
Taj Mahal	...	Gatekeeper
Robert Noble	...	Johann Sebastian Bach
Hal Landon Sr.	...	Thomas Edison

Also Known As:

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure II (USA) (working title)
Bill and Ted Go to Hell (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Portugal:M/6 | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:PG | Finland:K-10/7 | Germany:12 | Iceland:LH (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:AL | Singapore:PG | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Interscope Communications

Trivia:

When Ted attempts to get into Heaven by proving himself worthy, he says, "Every rose has its thorn. Every night has a dawn. Every cowboy sings a sad sad song." These are the key lyrics of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", a song sung by the popular 1980s/1990s heavy metal band Poison.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Bill and Ted are being escorted out of their apartments by the Evil Bill and Ted robots, the face of Ted's double is briefly visible.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Chuck De Nomolos: It is time. They have reached the second crucial turning point in their destiny. Their message is about to reach millions. But, we will change all that. When our mission is successful, no longer will the world be dominated by the legacy of these two fools! No longer will we hear this.
[plays air guitar]
Chuck De Nomolos: We will stop them now! Brothers and sisters, are we ready?
[everybody cocks their guns]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Orion's Cloud (2002)

Soundtrack:

MY HONEY'S LOVIN' ARMS

Very underrated, and probably released in the wrong year

This movie is very underrated. It's highly imaginative, creative and clever. It's just plain fun and in my opinion this film tops the first one. But the film was forgotten when it first came out, and became even more overlooked as the years passed. "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" also bombed at the box office, whereas the first one was a pretty good hit and very popular.

I think the problem may be that this film was just released a couple years too late. In 1991, Bill and Ted already seemed "so '80s". Even though the '80s were only a couple years ago back at that time, the landscape of the music and style for kids had changed so radically with gangsta rap, hip hop, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, grunge and the Seattle sound. Bill and Ted with their Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen and Guns N' Roses music along with their '80s style seemed so out of place and very outdated in '91, and I think that's one BIG reason the film bombed at the box office. Nobody but surfers were still saying stuff like "excellent!" and "bogus!" in 1991. "Gremlins 2" which also came out in the early '90s suffered a similar fate of being a good film that bombed at the box office because it was too associated with the '80s. The transition from the '80s to the '90s was a much faster change then now with the '90s and '00s. 1991 was nothing like 1988 or 1989, whereas right now, 2002 and last year 2001 still looks/looked like 1995 or 1996.

If only "Excellent Adventure" which was made in 1988, was released THAT YEAR instead of 1989, and "Bogus Journey" was made quickly and released in 1989, then it too would have probably been just as wildly received as the first.