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Back to the Future Part III movie corrections
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Quotes

Doc: And in the future, we don't need horses. We have motorized carriages called automobiles.

Saloon Old Timer: If everybody's got one of these auto-whatsits, does anybody walk or run anymore?

Doc: Of course we run. But for recreation. For fun.

Saloon Old Timer: Run for fun? What the hell kind of fun is that?

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At the very end Doc comes back to 1985 in the train. When the train is slowing down they cut to Marty and Jennifer on the ground and the shadow of the train is not moving. But when they go back to the train it is still slowing down. See more...

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Director Robert Zemeckis asked for Clint Eastwood's permission to use his name for BTTF 3. Clint Eastwood felt so honored that he said yes. See more...

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Back to the Future Part III (1990) - 77 corrections

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Christopher Lloyd, Elizabeth Shue, Lea Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Michael J. Fox, Thomas F. Wilson (add more)

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

Comments made in brackets are corrections from other visitors. To submit your own corrections for mistakes, just click "edit" under an entry, then choose "correct entry". You can also submit corrections for corrections, if you think a mistake has been unfairly removed.

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In the scene were Doc is at the saloon, after Clara doesn't believe him, he orders a drink. The bartender then says "I don't know about that, remember what happened on the Fourth of July?" Doc arrived in 1885 on September 1st. He wasn't there on the Fourth of July. [Doc got zapped back to Jan 1st, 1885. In his letter at the beginning of BTTF 3 he mentions that he had been living for 8 months in 1885. So it is possible that he was there on the Fourth of July.]
Edit
Doc Brown can build a time machine but is unable to figure out how to build a still to extract pure ethanol from Whisky in order to use as fuel for the DeLorean. He stated to Clara that he is a "student of all science" so this should include chemistry. Chemists know how to build a still. Doc, however, tried to fuel the car with strong Whisky without distilling it. [He needed a quick solution and thought the whiskey would work. Apparently his expertise does not include the workings of internal combustion engines or he never would have tried it. Pure ethanol would also probably not have worked in the DeLorean.]
Edit Corrected by BocaDavie
In 1885 Marty meets his great-great-grandparents. His great-great-grandfather looks like him so that we can be sure of their relation. BUT, his great-great-grandmother looks like his own mother. This makes no sense as in this way his parents are related by blood due to the resemblance of their ancestors. [Even if a blood relationship is implied, it still isn't close enough to be an issue. My great-great-grandfather and my wife's great-great-great-grandfather were the same person. Perhaps it's merely an implication that the McFlys and the Baines are two families destined to be together. Or perhaps she simply happens to look like Marty's mother and has no genetic relationship to her whatsoever.]
Edit Corrected by Phixius
There really should have been no reason for Marty to risk going back to 1885 to rescue Doc. Obviously, 1985 Doc being killed by Tannen, did not negate his eventual existence (as evidenced by 1955 Doc still existing). It's understandable Marty would want to prevent his friend being murdered, but when they learned of this fact in 1955, this event had already happened 70 years ago. 1955 Doc surely would have realized the pointlessness of Marty going to rescue his future self in the past when 1955 Doc would eventually become 1985 Doc again through the natural course of time. In light of this, surely 1955 Doc would have explained to Marty there was no reason to go back and possible cause more damage to the Space-Time Continuum. [You're missing the point; if Doc is killed in 1885, there will be a paradox. 1955 Doc wouldn't know that he went back to 1885 yet, so wouldn't know he could be killed, so wouldn't think to warn Marty in 1985. Besides, Seamus would have been killed because of Doc's influence in 1855, so Marty never would have existed either. There were plenty of valid reasons to go back to 1885.]
Edit Corrected by rswarrior
When doc picks out clothes for Marty to wear to the old west, Marty asks if they are authentic, so Doc says "sure, haven't you ever seen a western?" Considering Doc is supposedly a genius and the old west is his favorite historical era (he himself said it was his favorite era in part 2) he should know that Hollywood's version of old west clothing and the reality of it are two different things. Doc should know better than to base his knowledge on Hollywood films. [This is 50's Doc Brown talking, not 80's Doc Brown. It is 80's Doc Brown who tells Marty that the "Old West" is his favorite era. It's entirely possible that 50's Doc Brown hadn't yet done the research 80's Doc Brown had no doubt made.]
Edit Corrected by Phixius
Doc begins telling Marty about his accident with Rolls-Royce, before stopping himself and telling Marty it's better that he doesn't know. How exactly did Doc find out about the Rolls-Royce incident in the first place? When Doc was in the year 2015, he didn't actually talk to Marty or any of his family or Needles, so who told him about the Rolls-Royce incident? At that point, it had happened 30 years prior, so it's doubtful that a minor car crash from 1985 would still be the talk of the town in 2015. [A Rolls Royce is hardly a minor car to have an accident with. They are such a rare car, one being in an accident in Hill Valley would be unusual enough to be news.]
Edit Corrected by rswarrior
When Seamus McFly goes to comfort his crying baby son William, we can see that he is a very affectionate father. This was practically unheard of in the 19th century. Children were routinely beaten for even the smallest infractions at the time, it was the norm. Since William was only an infant, I doubt he would be beaten, but his father would not be so kind towards him either. His attitude would be more like "shut up kid, what are you crying about now?". The whole concept of being affectionate towards one's children is more of a 20th century idea. [And yet people are different, no matter the age or cultural norms. Some people are just nicer than others, it has nothing to do with some preconceived notion of how societal norms were for any given time. When my father was a child, it was acceptable to give a wife a backhand if she "got out of line", but he never did.]
Edit Corrected by rswarrior
Why would Doc label the toy car "time machine" when they both knew what it was? Having the car marked like that would only make sense for Clara to see it when she arrives at the livery so she would assume that Doc was telling the truth when he told her he was from the future. Since Marty and Doc wanted to minimize their true identities and their association with the future, they should have covered the train set up, just in case they failed in their attempt and/or had to come back. [This is a question, not a mistake. We already know from the first film that Doc is meticulous (apologizing for the model not being to scale).]
Edit Corrected by JC Fernandez
What are Great Plains Indians doing in California? [The cavalry are chasing them so they may be on the run. The U.S. army persued some Native groups deep into Mexico, so it's hardly unlikely for them to have fled this far.]
Edit Corrected by Josman
Freeze frame is recommended when trying to catch this one. When Clara rides out of the stable her hat falls off, however in the next shot of her turning the corner you can see the silhouette of the brim, indicating that it has returned to her head. [Freeze frame isn't recommended - it is required. This posting is invalid, per the rules of this site.]
Edit
When Doc and Marty locate the time machine in the mine/cave in 1955, the door/entrance to the mine cave is too small to have been used in 1885 to get the time machine into the mine cave. Others have said that Doc had the intelligence and time to disassemble the car/time machine, carry the parts in and re-assemble it inside the mine/cave. The problem with this is that while many parts (engine, doors etc.) could be disassembled, the body and frame can only be disassembled so much, they would still be too large to get through the door. Doc would have had to cut them up, carry them in, and then weld them back together. There were no signs of a welding process (weld bead) on the roof, which is part of the one-piece body. Since the body is stainless steel, the welds could not be sanded down and painted over, and there is no paint. [We only see ONE entrance to the mine. There could have been several more that were big enough to fit the DeLorean. Also, there most certainly would have been many large entrances back in 1885, when the mine would have actually been in use.]
Edit Corrected by JAGwire
In the letter the Doc sends to Marty in 1955 telling him where to find the time machine and telling him not to come back to 1885 to rescue him, he says he has met a wonderful woman and is thinking of settling down with her. When Marty goes back to 1885 the day after the letter was sent, the Doc has not met Clara yet and does not appear to have any other female attachments. [Doc does talk about settling down in the era, but makes no mention of meeting a woman in his letter.]
Edit Corrected by JC Fernandez
Doc is always banging on about making as little impact as possible in his new life as an inhabitant of 1885, yet the method of exit he chooses will change hundreds of lives and cause huge disruptions to all sorts of timelines. The train they destroy would not have been easy to replace, and would have been used by hundreds, maybe thousands of travelers to get to places they are now not going to get to, to meet people they are now not going to meet, to start family lines that now don't exist, and so on on so on. Now that Buford is no longer a threat, a far better alternative would be for Marty and Doc to leave town and live quiet, anonymous lives somewhere isolated - something Doc has already thought of and a far better idea than their returning to the future in such a damaging manner. [This is the final step in Doc's character development throughout the series. Initially, he is very concerned about the effects of altering the past, but he begins to ease up on these beliefs as the series progresses [hence his speech to Jennifer about her future not being written yet]. He has come to understand that the future will write itself and that any minor meddling by himself and Marty will not have the disastrous results he initially believed. This is why he wasn't concerned about building ANOTHER time machine in the 1800s.]
Edit
At the onset of the film, Doc and Marty discover Doc's grave from 1885 with the dedication by Clara Clayton on it. Now remember, this was before Marty had gone back to 1885 to meet Doc and further influence the happenings in that year, which included their chance meeting with Clara when she almost died. Even without Marty's influence in 1885, history of the film series up to that point said Clara went over the cliff and died. So therefore, it is inconceiveable that Clara could have lived to even meet Doc to put the dedication on his grave, as he died a few days after she would have. [You're forgetting that the mayor reminds Doc that he had volunteered at the town hall (before Marty's arrival) to meet the new schoolteacher at the station. So without Marty's intervention, Doc would have met her there and she wouldn't have died in the ravine. But since he *didn't* meet her at the station because of what Marty told him, history played out as originally fated and she lost control of the spooked horses.]
Edit Corrected by JC Fernandez
At the beginning, after Doc sent Marty back to the future, you can see Marty hiding behind the cars before he runs out. [Of course he was hiding behind the cars. He had to prevent his past self from seeing him. He then comes out when he's sure that the past self has gone.]
Edit
In the opening scene when Doc wakes up he turns on the TV to hear "Hey kids, what time is it? It's Howdy Dowdy time." Doc, on the phone, says the time is 7 o'clock AM. Any smart baby boomer knows that Howdy Dowdy aired at 5:30 PM EST. [Look at the mass of electronics on top of the television. It's likely that Doc has constructed a recording device and is using a recording of Howdy Dowdy as an alarm clock (remember his facination with the modern video camera in Part 1). We also know from the beginning of Part 1 that Doc has an obsession with setting alarm clocks.]
Edit Corrected by BocaDavie Time
The gravestone as seen by Marty and Doc in 1955 is in the same mint condition as when we later see it being made in 1885. Given that it has remained outside for 80 years, shouldn't it be more weather beaten or damaged? [Not really; I've visited dozens of graveyards and seen thousands of tombstones. Solid granite tombstones hold up very well in dry areas, like the setting of the graveyard in the movie. Tombstones in climates that have a regular change of seasons have more weathering damage.]
Edit Corrected by BocaDavie
When Marty suggests taking Clara back to 1985 with them, Doc refuses, saying that it would disrupt the spacetime continuum. Since she was supposed to die in 1885, she's not even supposed to be there. Taking her back to the future would fix the problem, not make it worse. [She was supposed to die, period. Taking her to the "present" would disrupt the space time contimuum for the "future". She'd affect the world of 1985 in ways it wasn't meant to be affected thereby altering the timeline. Since she didn't die, the most logical "place" for her is her own time.]
Edit Corrected by Phixius
When the Doc enters the destination time into the time circuits when he is sending Marty to 1885 from 1955, the time/date etc. go in as he's typing it. However, in the previous films and later in the 3rd film, the enter button must be pressed before anything appears for the destination time. [Yes but Doc had recently had to rennovate the car after it had been abandoned for seventy years. This could likely have included repairing the electrics. One result of this could quite plausibly be the change you mentioned.]
Edit
When Marty and Doc first discover the gravestone in 1955, watch closely as Marty puts his hand on it. It wobbles slightly, revealing that it's a prop made of lighter material as opposed to actual stone. [Old gravestones may wobble.]
Edit Corrected by Phixius

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