Paramount

With "Rock of Ages" thundering through theaters on Friday, the retro spotlight will once again shine on the crazy '80s, the decade of decadence when rock stars were true rock stars and unapologetic about being so.

In anticipation of the nostalgia this will inspire, we're looking at nine hard-rock and heavy-metal films that have made noise in the mainstream. Horns up!

9. 'Detroit Rock City' (1999)

New Line

While a majority of teen flicks tend to focus on love, partying and sex, 'Detroit Rock City' has a singular directive -- getting four teenage KISS fanatics to a concert after one of their mothers burns their tickets and banishes her son to Catholic school. Naturally that's not going to stop them, and once reunited, the four garage bandmates (including Edward Furlong) go on a wild road trip that involves drugs, fights, a botched mugging and robbery, a strip club contest and other ridiculous situations. Despite flopping at the box office, 'Detroit Rock City' has developed a cult following over the years.

8. 'Detroit Metal City' (2008)

Panasia Films

Timid college grad Soichi Negishi loves playing sappy bubblegum pop. But he earns his livelihood anonymously behind the sinister visage of the evil Dr. Krauser in the misogynist Satanic metal band DMC (Detroit Metal City), which espouses rape and murder. His pop passion excites his journalist crush, but she abhors the twisted music that has made him famous. This clever Japanese comedy balances the sticky-sweet with the brutally loud as Soichi lives a dual life, not made easy by his gleefully violent band manager. Which side will win out? The resolution is surprising and cleverly riffs on how many rock stars are unlike their alter egos.

7. 'The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years' (1988)

New Line

Penelope Spheeris dove headlong into the hard rockin' Sunset Strip scene of late '80s L.A. She sensationalizes the hedonism -- Paul Stanley lounges in bed with numerous groupies, W.A.S.P.'s Chris Holmes floats drunkenly in his pool -- but things were insanely funny, hedonistic and stupid back then. The focus on hair bands discounts the more intelligent metal being made (although Lemmy, Alice Cooper and Dave Mustaine represent), but there are some ugly truths to be found here about the scene's nihilism and misogyny.

6. 'Rock Star' (2001)

Warner Bros.

Loosely inspired by the real-life story of tribute singer-turned-Judas Priest frontman Tim "Ripper" Owens, this tale of a cover band singer (Mark Wahlberg) who gets to sing for his heroes Steel Dragon gets some real-life details right -- you're now part of the club but will never run it -- while indulging in cliche excess. Real-life musicians Jeff Pilson, Jason Bonham and Zakk Wylde lend credibility, while the original songs are pretty catchy. This '80s period piece is a guilty pleasure, even though it's a stupid film cynically declaring that all rock stars are disposable. That may be true now, but it wasn't back then.

5. 'Conan the Barbarian' (1982)

Universal

This isn't a music movie, but few veteran metalheads haven't enjoyed watching Arnold Schwarzenegger seek violent retribution against the evil cult leader who murdered his parents and smashed his childhood innocence. And let's face it -- this sword 'n' sorcery epic has undoubtedly influenced numerous Viking metal bands, while Schwarzenegger's movies have served as fodder for Austrian Death Machine, the heavy side project of As I Lay Dying frontman Tim Lambesis. "Conan" is truly metal, an angry revenge pic with a sword-wielding barbarian unapologetically slashing and screwing his way to his goal.

4. The 'Bill & Ted' Movies (1989 and 1991)

Orion Pictures

Whether collecting famous historical figures for a high school history project through time travel ("Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure") or seeking to escape hell and stop their evil robot doubles from withholding their music from the masses ('Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'), the Wyld Stallyns bandmates always manage to be oblivious to the utter craziness around them. They just have fun learning to play as well as Eddie Van Halen, seeing real iron maidens and defeating Death at Twister and Battleship. And excellent news: a third 'Bill & Ted' installment is being planned. Party on, dudes!

3. 'Anvil! The Story of Anvil' (2008)

Abramorama

There have been many great metal documentaries released over the last few years -- Metallica's "Some Kind of Monster," Iron Maiden's "Flight 666" and "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey" among them -- but Anvil's story really represents metal's eternal underdog status. Canadian brothers-in-arms Steve "Lips" Kudlow and Robb Reiner had toiled in obscurity for nearly three decades when their old roadie-turned-screenwriter Sacha Gervasi followed them on a faltering European tour. Revealing an intense friendship that has survived more lows than highs, the film transformed Anvil into folk heroes, securing their legend. Soon after, the band opened for AC/DC.

2. 'Wayne's World' (1992)

Paramount

Perhaps the only cool "SNL" film (with a sequel), this comedy cleverly features two suburban Illinois dudes (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey) with a public access cable show dreaming of greater TV and music glory (party on!). But potentially bigger success and Wayne's blossoming romance (schwing!) with Crucial Taunt frontwoman Cassandra (Tia Carrere) starts crimping the style of their bromance. Their shenanigans are often hilarious -- the guys and their friends rocking out to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" in their car is classic -- and the cameo by Alice Cooper, who offers them a quick, scholarly history lesson on their community, is priceless (they're not worthy!).

1. 'This Is Spinal Tap' (1984)

Embassy Pictures

When it first came out, numerous bands thought this mockumentary was about them. Ozzy Osbourne thought it was a real documentary. The film has also created so many legendary moments -- turning amps to 11, penning a piano ballad called "Lick My Love Pump," opening for a puppet show -- that no other movie will ever come closer to accurately satirizing the craziness of the music business and metal. Core members David St. Hubbins (aka Michael McKean), Nigel Tufnel (Christopher Guest) and Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) took the joke further by playing a secret club tour in 1984 and full-on amphitheater tours in 1992, 2001 and 2009.

Getty Images / Starz / Anchor Bay

"My favorite movie right now is 'El Topo' because it is so philosophical. It is like The Bible concentrated into this two-and-a-half-hour movie with all the different scenarios. It's so brilliantly written and constructed that I just don't think anyone's ever topped anything like that, except 'Pulp Fiction' was real damn close.

"I know they're two different movies, but I loved 'Pulp Fiction' because it was so full of surprises. From the beginning of the movie, every three or four minutes you'd be like, 'What the f**k happened?! I can't believe what I just saw.' I like movies or anything that messes with me like that."

Sammy Hagar can be heard on the last Chickenfoot album "Chickenfoot III" and in their new video "Three And A Half Letters (I Want A Job)." His autobiography"Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock" was released on March 15.

Paramount

The unruly Veruca Salt may have been more than a handful for her overly permissive parents in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," but the actress who played her, Julie Dawn Cole, could not control an unexpected real-life development during filming as she, well, developed.

When NextMovie chatted with the cast over dinner at Rue 57 in New York City to celebrate the film's 40th anniversary, Cole revealed a never-told story, especially since director Mel Stuart was sitting right across from her.

"When we were filming I was 12, almost 13, and different things happen physically to a young girl at that age," explained Cole. "So I started as a very flat-chested 12-year-old, but I was quite proud, as any 12-year-old would be, about what was happening up top. Of course they filmed out of sequence, so we did the factory gates first of all, then something else. We finally did my finding of the golden ticket six weeks into the filming, by which time I had become a proud 32 AA."

Also Check Out: The "Willy Wonka" Club: Meeting the Cast 40 Years Later

Bryan Reesman

"You probably don't remember this, Mel, but I remember because I'm scarred by this for life, and you owe me many sessions of therapy," she teased, "but you and [producer] Stan Margulies stood around discussing whether I needed to wear binders because you could see my bumps. I was immensely proud of them, and you were going, 'No, you can't see them.' And Stan Margulies was going, 'Yes, you can.' 'No, you can't.' I'm going [speaks excitedly], 'Yes, you can! Yes, you can!' Anyway, I figured you inhibited my development, and I never became a DD. That's never been told before."

Stuart then chimed in, "I want to tell a story about this lovely young lady. My favorite moment in the film, that I like to see over and over again, is when she does the song 'I Want It Now.' The song is fantastic. She started rehearsing with choreographer Howard Jeffrey, and I didn't know what they were doing. They were working out the whole thing, and when we came on the set, everything was so delicious and good. I want everyone to look at that song again and see her timing and see when she hit the man in the stomach on the beat. It is personally my most favorite moment, seeing that song."

Upon hearing this, Cole was visibly moved and teared up. "Now you're making me cry," she said. "It's the nicest thing you've ever said to me!"

Also Check Out: "Willy Wonka" Is an Everlasting Masterpiece on 40th Anniversary Blu-ray

"Tell them what happened when you jump and go down the chute," added Stuart. "She had to jump down the chute, and she was worried that the guys down there would see her knickers as she came down."

"He was worried about my falling down," she admitted, "and I was worried that the people there were going to see my underwear. Now you've heard it all."

Bryan Reesman

While it is considered a classic today, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" was not a hit upon its 1971 release and was even criticized by some people who thought it was mean to children.

But in directing the adaption of the Roald Dahl book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," director Mel Stuart crafted a tale for adults, not kids. That is probably a big reason why it has endured and influenced everyone from "The Simpsons" to Marilyn Manson, on top of the brilliant performance from Gene Wilder as the eccentric yet calculating candy maker. And let's face it, kids love it too. They get it.

The imaginative story about five children who win a tour of Willy Wonka's top secret confectionary plant -- and the chaos they create with subsequent consequences they did not foresee -- is filled with all sorts of great characters, from Wonka to the irrepressibly bratty Veruca Salt to the singing Oompa-Loompas. And then there is the good hearted Charlie Bucket, the only child not spoiled by his parents and trying to hold on to good values.
 
Five of the cast members and director Mel Stuart were in New York this week to promote the 40th anniversary Blu-ray release of "Willy Wonka," and NextMovie broke bread with them and collected their thoughts and stories about working on this famous film.

Warner Bros.

What's your fondest memory from the set?
Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt): Just the people. Good people.
Rusty Goffe (Oompa-Loompa): All of it. I loved the entire experience from when I arrived in [Munich, Germany, where they filmed] to when I left. It was an amazing experience.
Julie Dawn Cole: I cried all the way home [after we left]. This has been your family for three or four months, and then you go, "Bye."
Peter Ostrum (Charlie Bucket): Just the whole process. When you're doing it, you have no idea how it will come together. To see the finished product at the premiere was incredible. There were different scenes that I was not involved with, so I had no idea how they would be incorporated, like the vignettes of people finding or not finding the golden ticket and the Dan Rather nightly news scene. Those are great.
Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee): For me, it was the Chocolate Room and the stunt with the exploding gum in the Inventing Room. It was dangerous because they yanked the back of my pants with a wire, and I tumbled into a stand which was full of copper pots and pans so that they could clatter on and around me. That was fun. I might've gotten clunked in the head or not, I don't know. It doesn't matter. I wanted to do it again, but they said it was fine, they got it. They didn't want me to get clobbered.
Denise Nickerson (Violet Beauregarde): The Chocolate Room. When he opened the door, you truly had no idea [what to expect]. I was standing at the top of the stairs, and it wouldn't have mattered even if I knew what I was looking at. It's something I will never see again, and on film it doesn't even portray [what it was really like]. Even when I see it and hear the music now, it takes me back like I was there.

Also Check Out: 'Willy Wonka' Is an Everlasting Masterpiece on 40th Anniversary Blu-ray 
 

Warner Bros.

Tell us about working with Gene Wilder.
Peter Ostrum: It was great. He ended up being a close friend, and both he and Jack Albertson (who played Grandpa Joe) were my mentors and helped guide me through the process. Listening to his take all of these years later, I understand Mel now, but he was difficult to work with. Both Gene and Jack guided me through the process, so I almost relied on them more than Mel. He knew what he wanted, but it was difficult for him to convey that to his actors. He knew what he didn't want.
Rusty Goffe: Gene Wilder was awesome. I had known Gene Wilder from "The Producers" and "Bonnie and Clyde," and he was just becoming a big, big star. He was an amazing guy to work with, this genius of comedy. He was absolutely sensational.
Julie Dawn Cole: But also quite quiet. I think people thought he was going to be some zany, eccentric character the entire time, but he was normal. He was great. He was very kind and fun.
Mel Stuart (director): We both came to the conclusion that he [Wonka]'s got to be kind of a nutball, that you shouldn't know what he's up to you. You always have to be surprised. When we went into the factory to see the Oompa-Loompas making the stuff, and when we were standing outside, we came up with the idea of him speaking to the people in German. It doesn't make any sense, but it's all part of the strangeness of Wonka that makes him such a character. That's very important. When we were in the boat, the craziness at the end was his, where he went over the top. I didn't know, I was filming it. Suddenly he goes into this blast of yelling and screaming.
Paris Themmen: Gene Wilder was a great guy. The problem is that it was a one-way relationship. The word on me as an 11-year-old was that I was very rambunctious. I was sort of the bratty younger brother, and for that reason, although I have very fond memories of Gene Wilder -- he was a very gentle, talented, well spoken person, albeit a little bit eccentric -- I was in the way of getting his job done on a day-to-day basis. You'll see footage of him disparaging me. On the DVD footage he says, "You know I love you now, but you were a handful." I met him three or four years ago at a Barnes & Noble where he was signing [a book], and I hadn't seen him in years and years. I went up to him and said, "Hi, Mr. Wilder, it's Paris Themmen, I played Mike Teevee many years ago." He said, "Oh, you were a brat." I said, "Yes, I understand, Gene, I know. I like to think that I've changed over the intervening 40 years." And he said, "Oh yes, yes, I'm sure you have." Basically the damage was done.
Denise Nickerson: Gene was spectacular and the antithesis of what you see on film. He was very quiet and soft-spoken, and when he did the Wonkatania and first did the song, there was no acting involved. This guy was a crackerjack. He was shy and one of the kindest people, totally opposite of what you'd expect.

Warner Bros.

What did you think of the Tim Burton remake of "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory"?
Mel Stuart: If you turn that [recorder] off, I'll tell you.
Peter Ostrum: It's totally different. Different flavors. There were parts of it that I like, but it struck a different chord for most people. You can't compare the two, and if anything it generated more interest in our film. Before it came out, we thought it would replace it as the gold standard.
Paris Themmen: For years I didn't want to answer this question. I would avoid it and didn't want to seem like a sour grapes guy. But after legions of fans have come up to my signing table at conventions and said, "The old one was great, the new one sucks," I now feel I can say that it was not as good. I could go on for some time telling you what I think they did wrong.
Denise Nickerson: I love Johnny Depp, he's one of my favorite actors, but Gene owns the role. I think Johnny Depp stuck more to the book, more to what Roald Dahl's vision was. Roald Dahl was a very formidable person sitting on the set. He didn't really joke with people.
Julie Dawn Cole: We often get asked about the thing that should not be named, the Johnny Depp version, and what we think of it. When I look at the remake, the children really weren't bad enough. It was almost ordinary. You have to go so, so far to be bad. Some of what the children did in "Willy Wonka" is now normal. That's rather worrying.
Mel Stuart:  But it's the parents who are wrong, always. You have to have children who grow up with a sense of discipline, and if they do not, blame the parents, don't blame the kids. If they're allowed to create havoc, it's not their fault, they will. They don't have a steering wheel in their brain yet, and it's the parents that form the steering wheel.
Julie Dawn Cole: Somebody asked me earlier, what was wrong with the kids? Where did they go wrong? And what was wrong with Veruca Salt? She was given no boundaries, and she was going to be bad. It wasn't her fault. It was her parents'. They didn't stop her, and children need boundaries. When you indulge children and you spoil them, that's what you get.
Mel Stuart:  Why wouldn't they want to be spoiled?

Also Check Out: The 9 Most Unintentionally Scary Movies

Warner Bros.

Have many people have recognized you in recent years?
Peter Ostrum: I look more like Jack Albertson now than Peter Ostrum as a youngster [laughs]. Not very many people would recognize me now, and I don't walk around with a sign saying, "I was Charlie Bucket." I fly under the radar. Thinking about the kids in the film, other than my family, this group of people that we have something in common with are my closest friends and the longest friends that I have. For years and years we didn't have any contact, up until 1997 when we were reunited. Periodically we get together, and because of the 40th we have gotten together several times this year. It's like your family -- everybody's a little bit different and everybody has their quirks.
Denise Nickerson: Not at all. I think at the 30th [anniversary event], they ushered in Julie, Peter, Michael and Paris, and I went to follow them in. The woman said, "No no, PR, you're over there." I said, " I'm not with PR, I'm one of the actors." "Sure you are, PR is over there." When you look at me and hear me, yes, but I'm not as recognizable as Julie or Michael or Paris.
Paris Themmen: People who recognize me are generally either rabid Wonka fans, people with photographic memories or visual artists who see that my face is still my face. I'm talking about people without context pegging me on the street. It's impressive.
Julie Dawn Cole: Rather scarily, yes [they remember], but I was only 12 at the time, so they're a little disappointed. But sometimes people still do kind of go, "Weren't you...? Aren't you...? Did you...? I know you from somewhere."
Rusty Goffe: Exactly the same thing for me.
Julie Dawn Cole: But Rusty doesn't have the orange face. He looks different when he's orange.
Rusty Goffe: I was more pretty.
Julie Dawn Cole: Now they have set the trend for young people being orange, being spray tanned.
Rusty Goffe: I was the first.
Julie Dawn Cole: It was always an Oompa-Loompa thing. You are a style trendsetter. The green hair hasn't caught on yet.

Getty Images

Forty years ago, Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Anthony Burgess' novel "A Clockwork Orange" became a cultural phenomenon, shocking moviegoers with its vicious droogs sipping spiked milk, going on binges of rape and violent behavior and, in the case of immortal villain Alex DeLarge, blasting Beethoven at home.

It's still a powerful and unsettling experience. Warner Bros. is celebrating the anniversary of this milestone movie with a sleek new Blu-ray edition, so star/main droog Malcolm McDowell sat down to discuss breathing underwater, working with Darth Vader and how he'd play Alex in a "Clockwork Orange" sequel.

You sustained a lot of physical abuse while making "A Clockwork Orange." Were you worried about passing out during the beating scene, where your head is underwater for what seems like an eternity?
No, it's a trick. Do you think I'm Superman? Some people asked me about it, and I just didn't say anything. Then I felt guilty that I didn't tell everybody what it was.

Warner Bros.

It was an oxygen tank, and they colored the damn thing. First off, they couldn't use warm water because it was so cold out it would steam. If you dunk your head in cold water, you can't stay under for more than five seconds. I mean, that's it. So we had a tank with a mouthpiece that I had to try to find, and every time I went down it would move, so it was just luck that I happened to glom onto it. I was able to breathe for two minutes or whatever the length of the take was. But it's a brilliant trick.

The only thing I will say about that is that it does take the audience a little bit out of the film. There were two things that I am not keen on, actually. You could say that was one of them because people are going, "How did he do that?" instead of, "Oh my God, this poor guy." The other one I don't like is me waking up in the hospital. [Imitates moaning of nearby nurse having sex.] It's funny, but it is the one gratuitous part of the movie to me.

Getting back to those difficult moments to film, how long did they haunt your memory?
I think worse than that was the exhaustion because you're working at such a rate of energy pretty much all the time that eventually you tend to keel over. So as soon as it was finished, I jumped into my car and headed for Cornwall, which is at the end of the boot of England, right at the very end. I just hung out on a beach. It was actually winter, but it was kind of desolate and it was just cool. I was being chased down there by another director who wanted me to do this film, which I did not want to do, to play young Winston Churchill. Please, after coming off "Clockwork Orange," how the hell could I play young Winston Churchill? I went, "I'm not interested. Get somebody who will do it justice, I can't do it." They wouldn't take no for an answer, so everywhere I would go, they would find out where the hell I was.

Both Lindsay Anderson [director of McDowell's Mick Travis films] and Stanley Kubrick were taskmasters. It seems you enjoy the challenge of working under those conditions. Why?
You've always got to work with the best if you can, and of course the best are the best because they're different. They expect certain standards, and they're usually very difficult people to work with. I had more fun working with Lindsay and Stanley than practically anyone... Well, Bob Altman and Blake Edwards... I've worked with some great directors, like Dick Lester. My favorite was Lindsay because he was a one-off, a great artist. [Yet] he'd come off as a total bastard. If you weren't intimidated, that was the key.

There are a lot of younger actors today who probably wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior.
That's why they're not very talented. That's why they'll be gone, forgotten. They can pick up their $5 million bucks now, but hey, it's only worth something if the movies are remembered, and most of the movies are instantly forgettable. I hate to say but it's true.

What was it like to work with David Prowse in "A Clockwork Orange," a few years prior to his playing Darth Vader?
He got Darth Vader because of working with Kubrick. He told me that. He got in the door. "Oh, you worked with Kubrick? Come in." Dave's a very nice man. He was very young then. Weren't we all? He didn't have a lot to do with "Clockwork," but Stanley wanted this huge guy. The thing that made me laugh is that his voice didn't match the body. His body's huge, but his voice [raises pitch] is like that. He's from the west country, so it's a bit like that. It was like, "Oh my God, that's so weird." It made me laugh. I wasn't laughing at him, but to see this huge guy and this little voice that didn't match... I guess he was a little bummed out that they didn't use his voice for Darth Vader.

Warner Bros.

You have talked about "A Clockwork Orange" being a black comedy. Often it feels like people laugh at the wrong things. Have you ever encountered weird reactions to the film?
I'm just grateful for any laugh. That's the difference between you and me. If they're laughing, I don't give a f**k whether it's funny or not. But if they're laughing, I'm happy.

As long as they get the point.
You know, you can't force-feed the point. But if they're laughing, they're engaged, even if it's a nervous laugh. Listen, of course we didn't make an out-and-out comedy. It's a difficult one. There were serious issues [being explored]. There are certain things which I think are very funny, and when it first came out, not a laugh at all.

Disregarding the tacked-on last chapter of the American version of "A Clockwork Orange" that the publisher demanded, what do you think happened to Alex after the end of the story?
The thing about this is it is fiction, and I don't really care what happened to him because it doesn't involve me, unless they want me to come back and play Alex as a 70-year-old in a couple of years, which I'd be happy to do. I could wear a codpiece and kick a few buggers along the way. That may be fun. That's worth thinking about. I could wear a nice tattoo on my butt or something.

What do you think is your most underrated performance and why?
I think Alex.

Really?
Honestly, when it came out, they thought it was Kubrick that had manipulated the performance. It's taken 40 f**king years for people to go, "Oh my God, it's really nothing to do with him." All I say is, look at the performances in other Kubrick movies.

Diane Bondareff for Universal Studios Home Entertainment

It's almost 2015, and we still don’t have flying cars, time machines or hoverboards, but the "Back To The Future" trilogy still rocks our world.

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first installment and the new trilogy Blu-ray release, Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, Christopher Lloyd and Mary Steenburgen -- plus singer Huey Lewis, writer-director Robert Zemeckis, producer Neil Canton and writer-producer Bob Gale -- reunited in Manhattan today to travel back in time to the making of this iconic '80s flick.

"To be associated with a film that just flat-out makes people happy is such a blessing and a tremendous privilege, and I'll always be grateful for it," stated Fox, who starred as Marty McFly. "People's eyes light up when they talk about it. I've been in Asia, Africa, Europe and even Bhutan; people know the movie there. It's just an amazing thing."

"The thing that created the phenomenon is the way the title of the movie has become part of the lexicon of the world," noted Zemeckis. "It's used to describe anything that is the past becoming the present or the old turning new. It has captured the imagination of the world."

Some vintage items from the set recently went on the auction block to raise money for Fox’s Foundation For Parkinson's Research, while some pieces came from Gale’s personal collection.

Thompson confessed she still has her pink prom dress.

"Every Halloween my kids try it on," she revealed. "I'm like, 'No, you can't wear that to a party.'"

Universal

Fox lamented not snagging the guitar he rocked out with when performing "Johnny B. Goode" at the climax of the first movie.

"I was so stupid to not buy that, and that little yellow Chiquita when the amp blows Marty back," he said. "I have some shoes and maybe some other stuff. I'm still tired from the movie. Does that count as a souvenir?"

(Fox filmed the first movie while also starring in TV's "Family Ties" and was exhausted by the experience.)

Lloyd almost didn't take the part of Doc Brown. "When I was offered the script I didn't want to read it because I had a theater job that was offered to me back East, and I wanted to go back to where my roots were," he admitted. At a friend's urging, he read the screenplay. "And here I am." Good call.

Some fans have memories that are not quite what they used to be. "I [once] got a call from a major reporter from a major outlet who swore there was a scene where Marty was smoking weed with Marvin Berry and the band," recalled Zemeckis. "He said, 'Did the censors make you cut that out for the DVD release? I know I saw that because I saw the movie in the theater.' I said, 'Were you high?' [He replied,] 'I might have been.'"

The talent gets to experience the movie in a new way when they show it to their kids. Many of them get to gauge how it holds up today both in terms of story and visual effects, which were state of the art for the time. 

Thompson said her kids love the story and the effects, while Fox had to explain to his children, who like the movie, how the effects were not done digitally like today and were more physically demanding.

"They see Travelers Insurance commercials with tigers riding on the backs of hippos and doves interacting with crocodiles," he said. "Back then those visual victories took a lot of work."

Diane Bondareff for Universal Studios Home Entertainment

"I always think it's funny when my daughter's friends say, 'You were so hot when you were in 'Back To The Future!','" beamed Thompson. "It's peculiar for me because I did play Lorraine [Marty's mom] at 17 and 47, and I'm just a little over that age right now, so it's an interesting experience because people still recognize me.”

 The actors agreed that being associated with the iconic film and series is all good. Fox and Thompson in particular stated that they have never gotten better parts. And there are other perks.

"I love being in Bhutan and someone going, 'McFly!'" quipped Fox. "It's fantastic and such a great honor."

Fans jonesing for something new will be excited that the new videogame "Back To The Future: The Game" is coming soon, with Lloyd and Gale involved. But don't expect any new cinematic adventures from Marty McFly and Doc Brown.

"We don't want to do a part four," Gale insisted. "We don't want to remake it with somebody else. We've seen franchises that have gone back to the well one or two times too many. We love 'Back To The Future' the way it is, and we don't want to screw around with the space-time continuum."

Want more "Back to the Future?" No problem! We're giving away five DVD sets!

Just follow us on Twitter and retweet the following message sometime between now and noon on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010: "We’re giving away Back to the Future Trilogy DVD sets to 5 lucky followers. RT this full tweet to enter! Rules: http://cot.ag/a1pyxN"

Click here for complete rules and details.

Getty / Paramount

"My favorite movie would be the Hal Ashby film 'Harold and Maude.'

"Because of the way he used music and the way he made two unattractive people, and their love affair, completely romantically attractive. It works."

Eric Roberts was last seen in "The Expendables," on DVD and Blu-ray Nov. 23.

More Favorite Movies: Simon Pegg | Adrien Brody | David Cross | Kristin Chenoweth | Anna Kendrick

Getty / Image Entertainment

"My favorite movie switches depending on my mood, but it's probably 'The Bicycle Thief' just because of how honest and perfect it is. I love all the stuff that [director Vittorio De Sica] doesn't need to put in a movie to move you. It's not manipulative in any real way.

"And I've always loved 'Matewan' and 'Badlands.' Those are probably my three favorite movies."

David Cross can currently be seen on TV's "The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret" and "Running Wilde." He also be heard in next month's animated adventure "Megamind."

More Favorite Movies: Will Arnett | Ryan Kwanten | Kristen Chenoweth |  Anna Kendrick

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"Hands down, 'Withnail and I.' It's the perfect movie.

"It's my kind of movie, which is brilliantly funny on a very profound level and has a lot of drama and a lot of heart to it as well. There's not a wasted word in that film."

Will Arnett can currently be seen on TV's "Running Wilde."

More Favorite Movies: Ryan Kwanten | Kristen Chenoweth |  Anna Kendrick