Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Two seemingly dumb teens set off on a quest to prepare the ultimate 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 Esquire
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
Clifford David	...	Beethoven
Hal Landon Jr.	...	Captain Logan
Bernie Casey	...	Mr. Ryan
Amy Stoch	...	Missy / Mom (as Amy Stock-Poynton)
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:

time travel | failing student | school project | abraham lincoln character | profanity | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Music | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

MGM

Country:

USA

Language:

English French German Greek, Ancient (to 1453)

Release Date:

17 February 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dudes

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,167,651, 20 February 1989, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$40,485,039

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

Bill says, "Let's reach out and touch someone" before they use the booth for the first time, an old slogan for Bell System Phone Company. It was associated with their advertising campaign that introduced "touchtone" push button telephones in the 1960s. It resulted in massive sales of the new technology, which coincided with a major upgrade to telephone systems throughout the U.S. and eventually the world.

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Goofs

When Bill reads the assignment to Ted, he says, "Express to the class how an important historical figure from each of your time periods would view the world of San Dimas, 1988." His lips are actually saying, "San Dimas, 1987". (The "1988" was dubbed later because of a delay in the movie's release.)

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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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Alternate Versions

In the Television version, there are a few minor dialogue edits. For example, in the scene where Ted falls down a flight of stairs in a suit of armor and a "medieval dude" run the suit through, Bill says to the man who did that "You killed Ted you medieval Dickweed", the Dialogue is changed to "You killed Ted you medieval 'Bonehead'"

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Connections

Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Jake Gyllenhaal/Paul Reubens/Rita Wilson (2016)

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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

"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".