Continuity mistake: At the dance, when Marty is parked with Lorraine, Biff reaches into the car and grabs the front of Marty's shirt/tie, but in the next exterior shot, Biff now has got hold of the back of Marty's suit. (01:20:10)
Continuity mistake: After George lays Biff out, Marty pulls the family photo from his pocket. The way he holds it suddenly changes, judging by the position of his index finger as the shots change. (01:23:45)
Factual error: The electric guitar Marty plays at the "Enchantment Under the Sea Dance" is a Gibson ES345. This guitar model debuted between 1957 and 1958 yet he's supposedly playing it in 1955. It would have been more accurate to have him using a Fender Telecaster (1950) or Stratocaster (1954) or a Gibson Les Paul (1952). (01:23:50)
Continuity mistake: When Marty is at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance and is about to disappear, he puts up his right hand and it starts to disappear. On the very next shot of him, he is putting down his left hand. (01:25:35)
Continuity mistake: Before his parents kiss, Marty's right hand begins to disappear. As he slumps to the floor both hands are visible holding his guitar. (01:25:35)
Continuity mistake: Enchantment under the sea dance: In addition to the comment about Strickland's hands covering his ears twice note some of the people around him have either moved or disappeared. (01:25:55)
Continuity mistake: When Martly finishes his rambunctious guitar solo at the dance the camera pans the crowd. In the distance on the left we see Mr Strickland uncovering his ears. After this they show a close up of him uncovering his ears again. (01:25:55)
Continuity mistake: When Michael J Fox's parent kiss and the family picture (with everyone standing on the grass) gets fixed, Michael places the photo on the guitar, gets very happy and starts playing the guitar enthusiastically. Seconds later, a brief shot of the guitar shows the picture with Marty only, his brothers are missing. (01:26:18)
Continuity mistake: During the Johnny B. Goode song, the mike cable's position keeps changing depending on the shot, despite no-one touching it. (01:27:30)
Audio problem: When Marty is playing the intro to "Johnny B. Goode" you can hear some cymbals in the background. But you can see behind him that the drummer isn't hitting any. (01:27:30)
Audio problem: Marty's singing during the "Johnny B. Goode" number is obviously dubbed; it goes out of sync several times. (01:27:40)
Continuity mistake: When Marty puts the letter in Doc Brown's jacket pocket he puts it in the right one (from the way the pocket is slanted, plus we see the buttons right next to it) but when Doc pulls it out it is in the left one. (01:29:40)
Continuity mistake: While Doc is waiting for Marty to get back from the dance, he looks at the watch on his left hand, his pocket watch, and the watch on his right hand. When he looks at the watch on his right hand, he is wearing it on the inside of his wrist. Then, as he is running around the car, he has no watch on his right wrist at all. Moments later, as he is pointing down the street, it is on the outside of his right wrist. When they are checking the alarm clock, he holds it in front of the alarm clock to check the time, and the watch is still on the outside of his right wrist. (01:31:15 - 01:32:30)
Continuity mistake: After the dance, when Marty arrives at the clock tower in Doc's car (across the street from the DeLorean), he parks precisely midway between the two stores. As the clock tolls, Marty jumps into the DeLorean, and in the overhead shot as Marty drives off, Doc's car is directly in front of the store with the blue awning. (01:31:20 - 01:36:00)
Continuity mistake: In 1955, when Doc Brown pulls Marty's letter out of his coat pocket, he either holds the envelope at its short side edge or at its long top edge, depending on the angle of the shots. (01:32:20)
Continuity mistake: When Doc finds Marty's letter in his pocket, the big hook fastened to the DeLorean's passenger side is seen facing the sky. Pretty soon Marty slides across the hood and into the DeLorean, but now at this point it's facing the ground instead. (01:33:35 - 01:35:50)
Continuity mistake: After the clock tower's ledge breaks and Doc's hanging off the edge, we see a shot from below, then of Doc looking straight up at the clock, which changes to 10:03. But look at the clock in the below shot: the minute hand ticks over behind him, then moves again in the close-up. (01:34:00)
Continuity mistake: At the clock tower, after the tree limb falls, Doc Brown grabs the loose, messy bundle of rope and instructs Marty, but in the next shot when Doc runs up the stairs, the rope is tied up in a rather tidy bundle. This rope bundle changes yet again as he rushes up and then reaches the top. (01:34:10)
Visible crew/equipment: When Doc Brown loses his footing on the clock tower as it begins to toll, in the next shot, when he swings about towards the clock the thin black stunt cable attached to his waist, that leads around the neck of the statue, is visible. Do not confuse it with the thick silver electric cable Doc is holding. (01:35:25)
Continuity mistake: When the clock tower bell sounds a third time, Doc backs away from the ledge and stares down below in shock. Doc's arms are hanging down at his sides, but once the shot changes he's seen cupping his ears. (01:35:35)
Chosen answer: I think that is *exactly* what he is thinking. He realizes that by standing up to Biff, George may have irrevocably changed his personal future, and therefore affected Marty's future as well. This is exactly the sort of thing Doc was so eager to prevent by refusing to hear any information about the future.
Phil C.