Review: We Don’t Need Roads

We Don’t Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy by Cassen Gaines
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the wildly successful and beloved Back to the Future trilogy, just in time for the 30th anniversary

Long before Marty McFly and Doc Brown traveled through time in a flying DeLorean, director Robert Zemeckis, and his friend and writing partner Bob Gale, worked tirelessly to break into the industry with a hit. During their journey to realize their dream, they encountered unprecedented challenges and regularly took the difficult way out.

For the first time ever, the story of how these two young filmmakers struck lightning is being told by those who witnessed it. We Don’t Need Roads includes original interviews with Zemeckis, Gale, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Huey Lewis, and over fifty others who contributed to one of the most popular and profitable film trilogies of all time.

With a focus not only on the movies, but also the lasting impact of the franchise and its fandom, We Don’t Need Roads is the ultimate read for anyone who has ever wanted to ride a Hoverboard, hang from the top of a clock tower, travel through the space-time continuum, or find out what really happened to Eric Stoltz after the first six weeks of filming. So, why don’t you make like a tree and get outta here – and start reading! We Don’t Need Roads is your density.

I love the Back to the Future movies, I grew up watching them – over and over again – and still re-watch them at least once a year. They make me happy. They’re funny, smart, and silly. So, when the chance came to read this book, with it’s ‘behind-the-scenes’ aspect, I jumped on it.

Unfortunately, the book read very dryly. There’s a lot of information about casting, and filming, and production of the movie – which is interesting – but it’s put together haphazardly. There’s little cohesiveness to how the story is told, with backstory being dropped in at random places, and jumping around within the singular storyline.

I ended up skimming quite a lot of it because I just couldn’t read through page by page. Perhaps this is a case of ‘it’s me, not you,’ but I can’t say that I was happy to have read this book – even if I did only manage to get 25% of the way in.

Now, I think I’ll go re-watch the movies – again. It’s my density.