Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

"History is about to be rewritten by two guys who can't spell."

1989 1h 30m EN

👍

6.8

SOLID

🍅

83%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

6.9

IMDB

★6.8TMDB · 2,202🍅83%Rotten Tomatoes●50Metacritic★6.9IMDB · 148,777

AdventureComedyScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine.

“History is about to be rewritten by two guys who can't spell.”

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Cast

Keanu Reeves
Ted 'Theodore' Logan
Alex Winter
Bill S. Preston
George Carlin
Rufus
Terry Camilleri
Napoleon
Dan Shor
Billy the Kid
Tony Steedman
Socrates
Rod Loomis
Freud
Al Leong
Genghis Khan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Stephen Herek
Writers: Ed Solomon, Chris Matheson
Languages: English, French, German, Greek
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

90 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

37 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Greek.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Bill & Ted Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Stephen Herek, shot by Tim Suhrstedt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Larry Bock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Stephen Herek directs. Tim Suhrstedt behind the camera. David Newman scores. Larry Bock cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, French, German, Greek.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

190 minutes exactly — the "classic feature" runtime most directors aim for.
2Made its money back 4.1× over at the box office.
337 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4Dialogue crosses 4 languages: English, French, German, Greek.
5Part of the "Bill & Ted Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Stephen Herek, shot by Tim Suhrstedt. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by David Newman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Larry Bock shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter and George Carlin carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "History is about to be rewritten by two guys who can't spell.".
11IMDB entry: tt0096928 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 12 themes, including "jealousy", "school presentation", "journey in the past", "time travel".
13Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Tim Suhrstedt
Original score: David Newman
Editing: Larry Bock
Production design: Roy Forge Smith
Costume design: Jill M. Ohanneson
Makeup / hair: Daniel Marc
VFX supervisor: Barry Nolan
Sound: John P. Fasal
Stunt coordinator: Dan Bradley
Runtime: 90 min · 1h 30m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $40,510,984
Return: 405% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)
Rotten Tomatoes: 83% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 50/100
IMDB rating: 6.9/10 · 148,777 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

3 nominations total

Part of

Bill & Ted Collection

Three most excellent adventures: ‘Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure’ (1989), ‘Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey’ (1991), and ‘Bill & Ted Face the Music’ (2020), starring Alex Winter as William "Bill" S. Preston, Esq., and Keanu Reeves as Ted "Theodore" Logan—The Wyld Stallyns!

Also by

Stephen Herek

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Peter McGinn2020-10-14
★ 7/10
Another one of those movies I first watched a few years after it came out, and just watched again this week. It is still very funny to me in many places during their adventure. Their reaction to stuff that happens is hilarious sometimes, and just the speech patterns they use is witty. Little things like referring to Joan of Arc as Miss of Arc, for example. Remiscent of the valley girl language in Clueless, not so much what happens Is funny as it is how they respond to it. It is an amusing fun ride. There were a couple of minor letdowns for me this time, ones I don’t recall whether a I felt them the first time I watched it. I thought the fun of the action scaled back when they left Bill and Ted and followed Napoleon around back in San Demas. It just seemed to let the air out of the fun a bit. And the report, which is the reason for the adventure, was okay, but could have been funnier. It almost seemed like a letdown after the main action getting there. But it is all harmless fun and I wouldn’t discourage anyone from watching it for a laugh or three.
CinemaSerf2023-01-04
★ 7/10
Any film thats starts with "Joan of Arc was not Noah's wife" has got to be worth a look! "Ted" (Keanu Reeves) and best mate "Bill" (Alex Winter) have the knowledge at school - who uses "audacious" even now? They are, however, completely unfocused and like any other teenage boys, distracted by just about anything but schoolwork. Faced with flunking their history project though, they have to get their acts together else their band "Wyld Stallyns" (probably a real porn name in California) might be their only hope of a job, or of avoiding military academy! Luckily, they encounter "Rufus" (George Carlin) and his amazing "Tardis"-esque phone box that they discover they can now use to travel through time and actually meet the great and the good from the past - anywhere in the world. Can they manage to convince some of these people to come to 1980s San Dimas and help them present a real story of time? This is good fun, this. There is a great deal of fraternal chemistry between Reeves and a particularly engaging Winter. The escapades are enjoyably episodic in nature, peppered with just enough history and humour to stop the overall effect becoming puerile. The two lads genuinely engage with the audience as their kindly nature and curiosity proves just a little contagious. Of course, they face obstacles - some with a samurai sword, some with a flashing blue light - and no, there isn't a great deal of jeopardy with the plot - but I really quiet enjoyed this well paced, written and delivered characterful fantasy adventure.