Book Review: We Don't Need Roads by Caseen Gaines

We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy by Caseen Gaines
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

‘Back to the Future’ hit theaters in late summer of 1985 and was massive blockbuster hit that spawns two sequels while made fans for life to many children, teenagers, and adults.  In “We Don’t Need Roads”, popular culture history author Caseen Gaines gives the backstory of the entire film trilogy with information for both super fans and those who just love watching the films.

Gaines jumps right into the biggest storm that ‘Back to the Future’ weathered as his jumping off point in the book.  Gaines developed the backstory of how the film got into production before the issue of miscasting of Eric Stoltz as lead character Marty McFly and how director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale handled the situation to get Michael J. Fox.  Instantly Gaines had hooked the reader by showing the challenges the production team faced in getting the film to screen.

Though interviews of numerous actors and crewmembers, Gaines gives a detailed account of how iconic scenes were created and how much people enjoyed the making the films.  One of Gaines biggest hurdles in the book was giving a well-rounded account of why Crispin Glover did not sign on for the sequels and how producers filled his absence, resulting in one of many lawsuits that ‘Part II’ endured.  Gaines also takes us behind the scenes of the famous hoverboard scenes, including the botched stunt that resulted in the second ‘Part II’ lawsuit.

Before wrapping his book, Gaines details how the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy continued to live after it had left theaters through fan clubs and fan websites that connected thousands of fans across the world with one another.  Gaines included this chapter to explain why ‘Back to the Future’ continues to be a part of pop culture, while so giving an unstated reason for why this book was in part written.  The final chapter, which included how the ‘Back to the Future’ community at-large has rallied around Michael J. Fox’s fight to cure Parkinson’s Disease, shows how a production team of crew and actors got through so many challenges to create a pop phenomenon that endures until today.  After reading this book, one’s appreciation of the original film, and its sequels, will only grow.

I received a Advance Uncorrected Proof edition of this book through LibraryThing Early Reviewers.


View all my reviews