The Top 10 Michael J. Fox Roles Of The 80s

Here we have a bit of an obscure movie and that is 1980’s Midnight Madness. Midnight Madness is a Disney movie that is pretty much all but forgotten about by the House of Mouse. It is actually a fun movie about these teams of college students who are trying to win a legendary college contest called The Great All-Nighter.

Michael J. Fox plays the role of Scott Larson, the younger brother of the main character Adam. This was the first movie role for Michael J. Fox and he plays the role of the younger attention-seeking brother really well. Midnight Madness is actually on Disney Plus and it is well worth watching if you are in the mood for a cheesy comedy from the early 80s. Also, a fun bit of trivia about this movie is that in the credits, Michael J. Fox was just credited as Michael Fox. How weird does it feel to miss out the J and just say Michael Fox?

I watched Class of 1984 for the first time recently and man did this leave an impression! This was another very early film role for Michael J. Fox and here he plays a young student called Arthur who is a good and kind-hearted kid who has an interest in music. He is easily one of, if not the most likable kids in the movie. The trouble is, this school is ruled by a gang of punks, led by this psycho called Peter.

Peter is at odds with a new teacher at the school called Andrew who ends up being the target of this group of punks. I was shocked at how brutal and violent Class of 1984 was! Even though Michael J. Fox does not have a major role in the movie, I was not expecting something like this. I highly recommend you check this one out if you have not already seen it. It is certainly one of the more interesting and unique movies from the early career of Michael J. Fox.

While Palmerstown was not the first TV series that Michael J. Fox would appear in during the early 80s, it was his first regular role. He would play the part of Willy-Joe Hall. This was a show about two kids who were best friends, but one was white and the other black. The show was set during the Depression era in the South, making it quite ahead of its time.

The boys’ families end up getting to know each other and become friends, despite their different backgrounds. Even though this is a rather early role, it is cool to see a young Michael J. Fox in something like this, you could tell from this early age that he was a star! The show was brought to us by the people who gave us The Waltons and it does have those same kind of family vibes.

In my experience, Light of Day is a movie that you tend to either really like or do not like at all. However, I do feel that no matter if you like the movie or not, there is no denying that Michael J. Fox does a great job here. Actually, before we get to his role, one of the coolest things about 1987’s Light of Day is that rock legend Joan Jett is in this movie and it was her very first role.

She and Michael J. Fox play a brother (Joe) and sister (Pattie) who are in a band and who also have a very dysfunctional life. Joe is a good guy and loves his sister, but to say that she has some real reckless behavior is a massive understatement. She is a single mother and Joe does all that he can to help her and his nephew all the while trying to make it as a band. It is ultimately a movie about family and how sometimes you have to realize that dreams are just dreams and you need to do what you can for those that you love. Once again, Michael J. Fox plays a super likable and relatable guy in this movie. I feel that this is one of his more underrated roles, to be honest with you.

By the time 1988’s Bright Lights, Big City came out, Michael J. Fox was the teen heartthrob that everyone loved! He played those likable kind of guys so well, but with him being such a talented actor, he clearly wanted to do more. Bright Lights, Big City is a much more dramatic role for Michael J. Fox.

Here he plays the role of a guy called Jamie Conway. Jamie is a writer, but he is currently working for a magazine. His life is completely out of control, addicted to the nightlife of drugs and partying. Jamie does these things to drown out the pain of losing his mother and his wife leaving him. His best friend Tad (Keifer Sutherland) really enables his destructive tendencies. The thing with this performance that I love is the way that Jamie does these dumb, reckless, and self destructive things, but you can tell that deep down he is a good guy and he just needs help or someone to listen to him. Michael J. Fox is such a great actor that this really does shine through and you want Jamie to be happy and get his life together!

It is crazy to think that Back to the Future and Teen Wolf were released so close together! Playing the role of a teenage Scott Howard, Michael J. Fox nails this role just as much as he did Marty McFly a few short weeks earlier.

Teen Wolf was such a fun spin on the whole werewolf gimmick. Scott is worried that he is destined for a super average life until one day he realizes that he is part of a family of werewolves. He embraces this and becomes a big shot at high school, but he does learn a few lessons along the way. This along with Back to the Future and his role on Family Ties made Michael J. Fox one of the biggest stars in the planet back in 1985!

1989 was a big year for Michael J. Fox. He not only once again got to light up the box office as Marty McFly, but he also got to star alongside Sean Penn in this war drama. This is a rather brutal movie and shows the horrors of the Vietnam War. It is actually based on a real situation, The Incident on Hill 192, although parts of the movie are dramatized and people’s names are changed.

Michael J. Fox plays the role of a young soldier called Erikson and he is the only one in his squad who does the right thing and who does not give into revenge or anger. It is a very horrific story, but again, it shows what a talented actor Michael J. Fox is. This truly is a great movie, but it is also very hard hitting and will stick with you for a while after you have watched it!

Bringing Michael J. Fox’s career to a close in the 80s and kicking off the ’90s were Back to the Future Part II and Part III. These were filmed back-to-back which was why Part II was able to be released in 1989 and then Part III just the following year in 1990.

Part II would see Marty head to the future to try and save his son and improve his own life, while Part III had Marty travel back to the Old West to try and save his pal Doc Brown. Both are fantastic movies and while I will always love the first Back to the Future more, I do think that Part II and III are a lot of fun in their own right. There was no better way for Michael J. Fox to bridge the 80s and 90s than by playing Marty McFly!

It is fair to say that after Marty McFly, Alex P. Keaton is Michael J. Fox’s most well-known role. Heck, the late 90s boyband LFO even referenced it in their hit song, “Summer Girls.” Family Ties was such a fun show and a real time capsule of the 80s.

Michael J. Fox played the young and ambitious Alex P. Keaton perfectly and it truly was a breakout role for him. Would he have gotten the parts in stuff like Teen Wolf and Back to the Future without this? He would also reprise the role for a TV movie/special called Family Ties Vacation in 1985. Not to mention cameos in Muppet Babies and Mickey’s 60^th Birthday special as well.

At this point what more could possibly be said about Back to the Future? Without a doubt, the role of Marty McFly is what Michael J. Fox is most known for and it is honestly a movie that is completely “timeless”. Sorry for the terrible pun there, but there is a good reason why Back to the Future never goes away and that is because it is the kind of movie that is so good it captures a new audience each generation.

The crazy thing about Back to the Future is that at first, it was not even Michael J. Fox who was supposed to be Marty McFly. Instead, Eric Stoltz originally was set for the role. Back to the Future is simply one of those movies that never gets old and it is a movie that is on millions of people’s greatest of movies of all time list! It is certainly the most iconic role in Michael J. Fox’s impressive filmography.