Back to the Future

A 17-year-old, Marty Mcfly, lives a lousy life. His dad, George, a nerdy scaredy cat, and his mom, Larraine, is an alcoholic, who met George through pity when her dad hit George with a car. Marty's brother is a fast food cook, and his sister isn't allowed to like boys. He loses at a guitar audition, and the car that he and his girlfriend were supposed to take into the mountains, was smashed up by his dad's bully, Biff. The only thing that he can do for fun is hanging out with the local scientist, Dr. Emmett Brown (Doc).

Doc shows Marty a time machine that he built, using a DeLorean and stolen plutonium from terrorists. The terrorists find the doc and kill him, but Marty escapes into 1955, the year his parents met. The Time Machine runs out of fuel, leaving him stranded. He follows his young dad (who's a bullied high school nerd) to the place where he meets his mom. Marty saves his dad from getting hit and gets hit himself. He wakes up in his young mom's room and realises that she's in love with him. He tracks down the young Doc and asks for his help.

Doc says that only a bolt of lightning can power the machine, and they decide to use the lightning that will strike the town clock tower in 1 week. In the meantime, Marty struggles to get his parents to meet, and fall in love, so that he'll have a future to go back to. He repeatedly saves his mom from Biff, and she grows closer to him. He devises a plan to get his parents together. Marty asks his mom to the dance, where his parents kissed for the first time. He has to harass his mother, and his George will see him in the car and tell him to get away from her, therefore proving to his mom that George is a loyal boyfriend. In the car, Marty sees that his mom drinks and smokes, and warns her about the effects of them. Biff pulls Marty out of the car and attempts to force himself on Marty's mum. When George comes to the car, he finds himself face to face with Biff, the bully who keeps beating him up. George stands up for himself and knocks Biff out.

He and Lorraine go the dance and have their first kiss, while Marty plays some music for them. Marty leaves the dance, and he and Doc harness the lightning into the time machine, and Marty goes back to 1985. He finds out that his dad is now a famous author, and is Biff's employer, no longer a nerd. His mom is sober, his brother is a businessman, and his sister is dating. Doc leaves for the future but comes back to tell Marty and his girlfriend, Jennifer, that they have to solve a problem with their kids. The three leave for the future, to find out what their problem is.

Back to the Future mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Marty chases after Biff on the borrowed 'skateboard', Marty is wearing a dark grey belt and a red/blue print shirt under his red/beige jacket. However, when Marty is hanging on to the front of Biff's car as they turn a corner (and in another shot), Marty (stunt double) is wearing a light brown belt and solid tan shirt. (01:07:00)

Super Grover

More mistakes in Back to the Future

Dr. Emmett Brown: Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88mph the instant the lightning strikes the tower... Everything will be fine.

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Back to the Future trivia picture

Trivia: In the battle of the bands scene, when Marty introduces The Pinheads, Huey Lewis, who provided "The Power of Love" for the film's soundtrack, plays the second judge from the left, and is the one who eventually says, "You're just too darn loud." (00:07:40)

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Question: Right when Marty gets back to Doc before he goes back to 1985, he's praising his dad's actions of the night. One line that's bothered me ever since I can remember is "My dad laid out Biff. He's never stood up to Biff in his life." And then the Doc pauses for a second and gets a strange look on his face and says, "Never?" To that, Marty says, "No, why?" and the Doc shrugs it off saying, "Nevermind." What's Doc thinking? The best I can come up with is that he's wondering what effects it'll have on the future, but that's a rough guess. If anyone out there knows, I'd be happy to hear it.

DenizenZERO

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.

Answer: It would have had to be something that would have happened anyway without the interference, otherwise Marty wouldn't have originally existed.

terry s

Answer: In the novel Marty adds that George is also thinking about college now. Doc says that this might delay Loraine and George having kids for awhile and adds that Marty might find himself like 10-14 years old when he gets back to 1985.

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