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)
Continuity mistake: When Biff and his goon friends are in Biff's car, as they chase Marty on his borrowed 'skateboard', the car's rearview mirror repeatedly disappears and reappears, and the side mirror changes from round to square repeatedly. (01:06:50)
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: In the cafeteria, when Mr. Strickland is glaring at Marty and Biff, the table Marty was sitting at with George is behind him. When Biff leaves there is a close-up of the table and both the lunch tray and Marty's jacket have changed positions significantly from the previous shots (George had already left). (01:00:30)
Revealing mistake: When the DeLorean is struck by lightning near the end of the film, if you look closely, you can see that there are two people in the car, when it should just be Marty. You may have to look closely, but you don't need to zoom in to see it. Also, since they never re-shot this scene, you can see it in all three Back to the Future films. (01:40:40)
Continuity mistake: When the Libyan terrorists show up in the VW bus, there is no license plate at the front, but in some of the following shots during the scene a blue license plate is affixed to the front bumper. (00:28:55)
Continuity mistake: The second time the Libyans kill Doc, after the DeLorean disappears, the kiosk is in flames. A frame later the flames are gone. (01:44:19)
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: In the 1955 skateboard chase scene around the town square, note how the skateboard used throughout the whole chase scene changes at least 4 times. Namely different wheels, trucks and the trucks' wooden mountings. (01:03:15)
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)
Continuity mistake: During dinner, when old-Lorraine says "We all make mistakes in life, children", she swaps from having one hand on the glass to both hands, between one frame and the other. (00:15:06)
Continuity mistake: When the clock tower tolls at 10:00, Marty rushes to the DeLorean and as he drives off there are two huge cable spindles at the curb's red edge, near the cloth (lying on the street) that covered the DeLorean. In the next overhead shot, with Doc Brown on the ledge, the cable spindles are gone down below. (01:35:50)
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: 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: When young George walks to Lorraine's table to read the poetic lines, the pen in front of her books moves suddenly to being on the right side of the books. (01:04:42)
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: While Marty is admiring the new truck, Jennifer walks onscreen. Once the angle changes, Marty's left arm is resting on an entirely different part of the door. (01:49:50)
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: 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: Some of the items in Doc's lab change position between the shots of Marty standing in front of the amplifier and it exploding. (00:04:15)
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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