‘Back to the Future’ Only Won a Single Oscar — And the Category Doesn’t Even Exist Anymore

It’s hard to believe it, but it has been 40 years since Back to the Future was released in theaters in July 1985. It was by far the biggest box office draw of that year, turning Michael J. Fox into the biggest star on the planet, and making the DeLorean every kid’s dream car. The film was such a success that it led to a trilogy, but Back to the Future is so much more than just a big moneymaker. Four decades later, it’s adored by fans as an all-time classic, and when it was initially released, it was praised heavily by critics.

Back to the Future is seen by many as a perfect movie that blended lovable characters with a compelling script of hilarious comedy and intense action scenes. It was so beloved when it came out that it was actually nominated for several Academy Awards the next year. It only won one, for Best Sound Effects Editing, and although the category no longer exists, Back to the Future was proof of why it was necessary to stick around for so long. With such a far-fetched plot, it’s the sound effects that pull us in and make generations believe in magic.

‘Back to the Future’ Won the Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing

Box office success often doesn’t transition to awards season success, especially if you’re an action comedy about a teenager (Fox) time traveling with his scientist best friend (Christopher Lloyd), and said teenager is trying to stop his mom from falling in love with him in a plot that even Disney thought was too controversial. But Back to the Future was so good that it couldn’t be denied. At the 58th Academy Awards in 1986, the film was nominated for an impressive four Academy Awards. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale were nominated for Best Original Screenplay, but lost out to Witness. A collection of people were nominated for Best Sound, but the Oscar statue instead went to Out of Africa. And in the biggest travesty of all, “The Power of Love” by Huey Lewis and the News, despite being nominated for Best Original Song, was robbed by “Say You, Say Me” by Lionel Richie for White Nights.

Custom image of Marty McFly against a lightning background

10 Things That Happen in Every Back to the Future Movie

Great Scott, there’s so much repetition!

Back to the Future did take home one award, though, with Charles L. Campbell and Robert Rutledge winning for Best Sound Effects Editing, beating out Ladyhawke and Rambo: First Blood Part II. If you’re confused about the difference between Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing (the latter was also called Best Sound Effects and Best Sound Editing sometimes), here’s the easiest way to sum it up. Best Sound was about the mixing of the sounds in the film, while Best Sound Effects was about the creation of those sounds. After 2019, the two awards were merged together simply into Best Sound, but Back to the Future‘s win for Best Sound Effects proves why the award was so necessary during its existence.

Sound Effects Make the DeLorean Come to Life and Feel Real

Back to the Future was thankfully created in an era long before CGI. Outside some camera tricks and animation, what you saw on screen was actually happening. Viewers were pulled in by the realism of the plot, even when everything happening on screen was implausible. There was no such thing as time travel, but we put that knowledge aside and gave ourselves over fully because we were placed in a world that felt so real. Part of that came from the performance of Michael J. Fox as the cool and lovable Marty McFly (a drastic change from the serious performance that got Eric Stoltz fired) and his relationship not only with Doc Brown, but his mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson), and father, George (Crispin Glover), when they’re teenagers and have no clue that they’re interacting with their future son.

Back to the Future wouldn’t have succeeded without its characters, but the story needed to be able to work on its own, no matter how well the people in it were written. Sound editing helped achieve that. Consider the opening scene where Marty goes to Doc Brown’s lab, and we not only see the abundance of clocks, but we can hear them clicking away, hinting at the passing of time. Think of the sound of Marty smashing into that impossibly large amplifier when he plucks at a guitar string, or how, when he travels back to 1955, sound effects are used to put us back in that era. Still, as effective as those small moments are, it’s the DeLorean sound effects that earned Back to the Future its Oscar.

In the script, Back to the Future‘s time machine was going to be refrigerator-shaped and not immobile, but the choice of a sports car made the film active. Still, to be a time machine, this couldn’t be just any type of car. With all of the technology on board, the sound effects made it seem real in ways images couldn’t. It’s through the sound that we understand. Can you ever forget the sound of Doc Brown turning on the time circuits? How about the buzz of the flux capacitor, the whoosh of the plutonium being sucked in, the purr of the engine as the car starts, the whir of it as it goes faster, and the bang as the car hits 88 mph and disappears? On set, none of these sounds were happening, but sound editing made the impossible real. Seeing the DeLorean was awe-inspiring, but hearing it truly brought it to life and made it so that, in this moment, we completely bought in to what we were witnessing. Back to the Future is the epitome of movie magic, and it’s the sound effects from Charles L. Campbell and Robert Rutledge that open our ears and thus our imaginations to a new world.

Back to the Future is now available to stream on Hulu in the U.S.