"Back to the Future" is the perfect blockbuster: It has unforgettable characters, great moments of comedy, one of the most tightly-written screenplays Hollywood has ever produced, and perhaps the most suspenseful finale outside of an action or thriller movie. It also has a time-traveling DeLorean, so what's not to like? Robert Zemeckis' bright and breezy '80s classic is so widely beloved that it's hard to believe that the director had real trouble getting it green-lit in the first place. Indeed, it might have never happened at all without Michael Douglas doing his best Indiana Jones impression in "Romancing the Stone."

Zemeckis has been turning out hits for the past 40 years now, but he had a challenging start to his filmmaking career. Together with his college buddy and screenwriting par

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