Continuity mistake: In the cafe in 1955 Marty goes into the phone booth to look up Doc's name in the phone book. When he finds it the name is on the left hand page, but when he tears it out of the book he tears out the right hand page. One could say he turned the page to tear it right-handed, however when he is asking the waiter if he knew where the address was, he is reading the address on the same side he tore out - check the tears on the edge. (00:36:30)
Continuity mistake: When Marty enters Lou's Cafe for the first time, check a group of people gathered outside next to the doors who say goodbye and leave the place. A shot later, they're all back together, talking. (00:37:46)
Continuity mistake: When Marty is using the phone to call Doc while he is in the diner, his watch (which is on his left arm) starts beeping and the guy behind the counter gives him a strange look. Marty rips out the phone book page and asks the guy behind the counter where XXX Riverside Drive is. Marty is no longer wearing the watch which he just had on seconds earlier. (00:37:55)
Continuity mistake: In the cafe, the menu in front of Marty changes after Biff leaves. It starts looking like an ice-cream menu, with swirly lines at the top, but just before the future mayor comes into shot, the design on the front changes completely. (00:38:15)
Continuity mistake: When Biff's gang arrives at the diner for the first time, Skinhead walks behind Marty and plays with a ball. When the shot changes, he is walking behind him again, but this time he is not toying with the ball. (00:38:50)
Continuity mistake: While Marty is at Lou's Cafe, Biff and his gang enter. When Biff starts bullying George, note George's haircut with shaved sides, back (above his neck), and sideburns. In the following shots, George's haircut with its shaved areas change length. This happens again, when George is with Marty and then tries to ask Lorraine to the dance. (00:39:00)
Continuity mistake: When Marty and George are in the cafe talking about Goldie Wilson being mayor, George's head is turned facing Marty, but the next second his head is turned the other way. (00:40:35)
Continuity mistake: When Goldy (or Golby?) says, "Mayooorr", George is facing Marty. Then when Goldy starts saying, "Now that's a good idea," George is facing Goldy, without any motion of turning. (00:40:35)
Continuity mistake: As Marty watches George pedal away from the café, the amount of sunlight cast on the town square decreases greatly between shots. (00:41:00)
Continuity mistake: When Marty gets hit by the car and wakes up in Lorraine's bedroom. She constantly calls him Calvin. Marty says "Calvin, why do you keep calling me Calvin"? When he says this he puts his arm on his lap. In the next shot behind him when Lorraine replies, his hand/arm is by his side. (00:43:40)
Factual error: Marty McFly goes back in time to visit his mum-to-be and finds her watching an episode of The Honeymooners. The date is given as November 5, 1955 and yet the episode of the show - The Man From Space - was not screened until December 31, 1955. (00:44:15)
Continuity mistake: When Marty is in 1955 observing young Uncle Joey in his playpen, the colored balls on the second rung keep changing their positions from one angle to the next. (00:45:05)
Continuity mistake: As Lorraine's family watches "The Honeymooners" around the dinner table, a round pillow on the sofa nearest the lamp repositions itself. (00:46:05 - 00:47:30)
Factual error: When Marty walks out of Lorraine's house, next to the front door is a light dimmer switch. Dimmer switches weren't invented until the late 1950s to early 1960s. (00:47:34)
Continuity mistake: When Doc takes the photo from Marty, the way he holds it changes between shots. (00:50:07)
Continuity mistake: When the JVC recorder is first played, the screen on the TV is a blue colour. Later, when Doc is playing the Libyan part again and again, the screen seems to be a brownish colour. (00:50:10 - 01:05:40)
Continuity mistake: In 1955, when Marty shows Doc the flux capacitor, he points the flashlight in different directions between shots (first at Doc, then the flux capacitor). (00:51:35)
Continuity mistake: When Marty is playing back the Twin Pines Mall demonstration video for Doc, the camcorder tilts itself between shots, judging by the lens which sits higher above the TV set when Doc starts shouting, "1.21 gigawatts." (00:53:00)
Continuity mistake: When Doc and Marty are looking for his dad at school, you can see a girl with a blue sweater going downstairs twice. (00:56:49)
Continuity mistake: School Cafeteria 1955, Biff groping Lorraine Baines. Between Marty trying to convince George McFly that Lorraine fancies him and pulling Biff off Lorraine, note the dis/reappearance of the child in a blue/red t-shirt and a man in a blue shirt/tank top sat at the table behind George. (00:57:25 - 00:58:45)
Answer: It's a way of saying "scram" or "get lost." But Biff is so dim, he doesn't realize he's saying it wrong; the expression is "make like a tree and leaf", with the joke being that "leaf" is meant to sound like "leave."
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