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Biff: Why don't you make like a tree, and get out of here?

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When Marty returned to 1985, Red was on a park bench that had the logo for California Raisins. The California Raisin Board paid the producers $50,000 for this product placement. However, since it was so dark and dirty, and since Red was covering up most of the logo, half their money was refunded. See more...

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Back to the Future (1985) - 185 mistakes

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, Michael J. Fox, Thomas F. Wilson (add more)

Genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-fi

Where is Back to the Future ranked on the ultimate best to worst list? Cast your vote and find out!

Mistakes
Trivia
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Questions
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Visible crew/equipment: In the scene in the beginning where Marty meets up with Doc for the first time, Doc shows Marty how the DeLorean works with the remote control with Einstein in the car. In the shot that switches to see Doc put the car in reverse on the remote control, you can clearly see a crew member manually steering the car in a dog costume (You can even see his hands turning the steering wheel).

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Continuity: At the beginning of the film, when sending the DeLorean into the future, the wide shot shows the DeLorean heading for Marty and Doc then disappears leaving a trail of fire. Notice the cut as the car park goes from being dry to wet with puddles.

Edit Submitted by Paul Andrews Time
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Continuity: When Marty is playing at the dance the picture on the guitar disappears in some shots.

Edit Submitted by ShooterMcGavin34
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Continuity: When the lightning bolt hits the clock tower in 1955 and sends the DeLorean back to 1985, Doc Brown gets up and looks at the clock tower. What happened to that awful lightning storm of only a few seconds earlier? Not even a trace of wind is present in Doc's hair.

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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.

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Continuity: When Marty is at the "Start" line waiting for the alarm clock to ring, he moves up his return time and the engine stalls out. Next we see Marty turning an ignition key with several other keys on a chain like the ones used on ceiling fans with the little balls and a plastic fob with the paper insert that reads 555-1138 Out-A-Time on it. After Marty arrives back In 1985 in town square, he pauses and gets out for a moment. While returning the the car he puts the DeLorean in drive and again the car stalls out. Again we see Marty restarting the DeLorean, we see a different set of keys. The key mysteriously changed in the time travel to an after market type with a thin wire ring on it, no key fob and the other keys are missing.

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Revealing: When Marty crosses the park in front of the court house and the camera pans around following Marty while showing the town, watch one of the buildings in the middle background. Part of the building is grey and has 2 windows and is supposed to have a slanted roof, but if you watch closely, it appears that building is in fact only a wall with nothing behind it.

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Continuity: As the Peabodys try to determine what crashed into their barn, the DeLorean's left indicator flashes throughout. When the family is onscreen, the barn's interior goes completely dark between flashes - whereas there should be illumination from the headlights as well. Compared to a later point in time where Marty opens the barn door to get shot at, it's not hard to notice how bright the headlights are.

Edit Submitted by WebsterJake Time
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Visible crew/equipment: A boom mic reflection is visible on the vent window of Doc's van when Marty asks him if the plutonium was ripped off.

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Visible crew/equipment: A boom mic pole is reflected in the glass near Doc after Lorraine and her friends run past him in the school hallway.

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Continuity: When George is in the school cafeteria talking to Marty about science fiction stories, he holds the notepad differently with each changing shot.

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Continuity: When the wind unplugs the cable connected to the tower and Doc runs towards it, the position of the cable changes between one shot and the other in barely half a second.

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Revealing: After Einstein's time travels, when both flames cross Marty and Doc's legs, they cast no shadow, giving the feeling that they are floating, thus giving away the blue screen effect.

Edit Submitted by Sacha
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Continuity: When the 1950s clock chimes and Marty stares at it, a huge scaffolding structure is reflected on a glass billboard, which is nowhere to be seen in subsequent shots of the place.

Edit Submitted by Sacha
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Continuity: After the DeLorean with the dog in zooms in between Doc and Marty's legs, all of the angles show that there is no license plate anywhere around. Suddenly it appears spinning in front of them, as if it had been there all the time.

Edit Submitted by Sacha
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Continuity: After Marty exits the cafe to make himself a skateboard out of two wooden crates, the crates are half a meter apart from each other, but close in the next angle. Also, the chubby kid holding his friend's crate swaps to holding his between one frame and the other.

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Continuity: After Marty is looking in awe at the 1950's records store, his hair swaps from messy to brushed backwards right when he walks backwards on the grass.

Edit Submitted by Sacha
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Continuity: When Biff and gang are chasing Marty on the skateboard, they eventually crash into the rear of a manure-hauling dump truck. When the car swerves left in an attempt to miss it, it will obviously pull somewhat to the left. In the shot just before impact, you can see that just the rear half of the car should impact the truck, but in the next shot the car rests perfectly centered behind the dumps open load.

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Continuity: At Twin Pines Mall, when Marty is recording Doc Brown, Marty is raising the video camera to record Doc Brown saying, "No, no, no, this sucker's electrical," but when this piece of film is played back in the Doc's garage in 1955 it appears as if Marty was already recording when the Doc starts speaking.

Edit Submitted by Bunglebus Time
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Continuity: During the Johnny B. Goode song, the mike cable's position keeps changing depending on the shot, despite no-one touching it.

Edit Submitted by Sacha Time