Back to the Future Part III (1990) - 48 mistakes

Deliberate "mistake": During the train sequence at the end of the film in 1885, it is blatantly obvious that the train is not going the speed that the DeLorean's speedometer is showing. In some shots, the train looks as though it is going little more than 20mph.

Continuity: Watch the scene with the Indians (just as Marty sticks the DeLorean into reverse) and see the differences of how close and far the Indians are from the DeLorean.

Continuity: When Marty returns to 1985, he goes to his house and gets in his Toyota pick-up. Look closely behind his head when he first gets in the truck, there is no driver-side head rest. But when he picks up Jennifer, when they pull up to the stop sign the head rest is there.

Factual error: At the end of the train scene just before Marty travels to 1985, the train busts through a road block warning that there's only 1/4 mile of track left before the ravine. Keep in mind that the train is travelling at approximately 70-80 mph by this time. At 70 mph (and not even accelerating) it would only take the train 13 seconds to reach the ravine. The actual time in the movie is at least a minute.

Continuity: When the DeLorean is being pulled by horses, the clouds in the sky change in the next shot.

Revealing: At the end, when the train destroys the time machine, right at the moment when it hits (freeze-frame recommended), you can see a small explosion, which was used to trigger the destruction of the time machine.

Continuity: When Marty goes back from 1955 to 1885 and meets the Indians, note that none of the Indians shoots any arrows nor do any arrow hit the car. You can see that when he drives the car back into the cave. But when he gets back to the cave after the Calvary ride, a long arrow sticks out on the side of the car.

Factual error: In 1885 when Maggie McFly asks Seamus for a word, they walk into the other room and behind them are a few garments hung on pegs on wire hangers. The wire hanger was invented by Albert J. Parkhouse in 1903, eighteen years later.

Continuity: When Doc's about to send Marty back to 1885 from 1955, and Marty's dressed up...when Doc's walking back and forth loading up the car - look at the shadow from the building. You see it changes by several feet in a few seconds as the scene was obviously shot throughout the day.

Continuity: When Marty arrives in 1885 and runs into the Indians, he comes to a slow rolling stop. But the digital speedometer on the dashboard shows that he is still traveling about 70 miles per hour.

Continuity: When Clara first sees the train and starts after it on horseback, it is on her right side. She is at the top of a hill and starts down after the train. In the next shot shown from the front of the train you see the horse appear so the train is on Clara's left.

Continuity: When the train is coming and is about to run over the DeLorean, the shadow of the train on the wall shows that it is only the locomotive. When the camera changes view, it is a train with freight carriages.

Factual error: What are Great Plains Indians doing in California?

Continuity: When Doc drinks the 'wake up juice', he runs out and puts his head in the horse trough full of water. However, after a shot to Mad Dog Tannen, his shirt is mysteriously dry again.

Revealing: At the very end of this film, Doc appears in his locomotive time machine. In every shot the plate which says 'ELB' changes color. From red to orange. You would say this is a change in light angle, but when the locomotive rises and turns, you can see every angle of this plate and in every angle this plate is red.

Continuity: When Marty is about to go back to 1885, he starts driving and you see him pass the building: then when it shows the car's tires, you can see he passes by the same building again.

Continuity: When Doc and Marty first see each other in 1885, just before they hug, Doc puts his hand on Marty's shoulder, in the next shot it's on his arm.

Deliberate "mistake": When Marty is being chased by the Indians, a wide shot with the DeLorean at the bottom of the screen coming towards us and the Indians following reveals the entire background for a mile or two. However, there are no cavalry visible anywhere despite the fact that they pass over the cave in the following shot only five seconds after the last Indian does.

Revealing: During the sequence with the Native Americans chasing the Delorean in the beginning, in one shot looking up at the sky you can see contrails from a plane, obviously not around in 1885.

Continuity: When Mad Dog is hanging Marty outside the new courthouse, Doc takes aim stood in bright sunlight (when the camera is behind him), but immediately after shooting him down we see Doc from the front, stood in a large shadow.

Revealing: At the end when Needles tries to race Marty, Marty goes backwards and does a reverse 180. When the show the whole truck right when it's turning, you can see the tracks from the previous takes and the dust that helped the truck spin.

Continuity: When Marty is inside the cave (where he hides the DeLorean), keep a close eye on the huge landscape and very large mountains behind Marty when he is screaming at the bear. The entire background changes when he runs out of the cave to just a few hundred yards of ground before it drops down, where Marty falls into the fence. What happened to the vast landscape and mountains?

Factual error: When the red Presto-log is burning, rivets begin to blow out of the locomotive, supposedly from the pressure. The rivets in the boiler, which would be subjected to pressure, are not visible on the outside of a locomotive. The rivets which are seen to blow out in the movie are in the smokebox, an area which is subjected to heat and smoke, but no steam pressure.

Visible crew/equipment: When Doc's about to send Marty back to 1885 from 1955 at the open air cinema, you can see the shadow of the camera sticking out from the shadow of the building - it moves as the camera tracks Doc over to the car.

Continuity: When Marty is about to go to 1885, before Doc shoots his gun, you can see the coils on the face of the DeLorean is brown, later when he is driving toward the screen, the coils are clear silver again.

Continuity: When Doc and Marty get on the train at the end, Marty has some trouble getting on, and note that his hat falls off in the sequence, but in the next shot when Doc and Marty fall the hat is back on.

Continuity: In the last fifteen minutes of the film Marty wears his Wild West clothes, including his brown woolen poncho. The front of the poncho is unmarked, completely intact. Shouldn't it have a bullet hole in it?

Continuity: When Marty is shot by Biff, he is thrown off his feet and lands on his back. As he does, his poncho flips up, showing his shirt all the up to the middle of his chest. The stove door he is supposedly using as a bulletproof chestplate is conspicuously missing.

Continuity: Doc comes back from the past. Jennifer walks to stands next to him. In the following shot, she is still approaching Doc to give him the paper from 2015.

Continuity: When the Doc of 1955 is about to send Marty back to 1885, he turns the time circuits on. However, if you look at the time circuits after Marty has reversed, you can see that they are turned off.

Continuity: 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.

Visible crew/equipment: When Marty is with Jennifer in his new truck, as the camera cranes down to where they're talking, you can see a crewmember with a white shirt and some of the camera and crane.

Audio problem: When the very first song ends during the Festival scene, keep an eye on the guitarist to the right. His hand is still moving but no sound is coming out of his guitar.

Other: When Clara is waiting for the train to stop at the train station and the train has steam coming from in front of the wheels, as it passes by the camera it jolts the camera.

Continuity: While at the dance Marty is showing off at the shooting gallery. After shooting all the targets he twirls the gun and hands it back to the booth operator with the barrel in his left hand. Very the next frame shows the gun in his right hand.

Factual error: In the shot where Doc and Marty hijack the steam train, the form of the coupling between the tender and the carriages is a 'buckeye coupling'. Not available in 1885. It's seen before they hijack it, so it can't be an invention by Doc.

Continuity: When Marty is at the shooting gallery at the party and has his go, he points the gun in the wrong direction but still the targets go down.

Revealing: In the overhead shot of the train explosion, you can tell which explosion is 'real' and which one is fake - the second explosion appears out of nowhere from the first one.

Continuity: When Doc and Marty are chasing the train, first their shadow is on the left of them, then in the next shot it's on the right.

Continuity: When Marty is walking into the 1885 Hill Valley, he walks past an A. Jones manure hauler, which is embedded in shadow. In the very next shot, not only is he several more metres down from the hauler, the hauler is in sunlight.

Revealing: During the train sequence, when it's pushing the DeLorean, there is a wide shot of the green steam coming out of the train. The steam looks computer generated because it is far too bright and appears slightly away from the train.

Continuity: When Doc and Marty are chasing the train on horseback, Doc gets on the train first and his horse pulls forward. Then when the camera shows Marty on his horse, another horse can be seen in front of him. When Marty jumps on the train, his horse falls back. But in the next shot you can still see the horse as it moves off camera.

Continuity: When Doc has just consumed the 'wake up juice' and runs out of the bar and dunks his head in the horse trough, Marty and the bartender come out after him. You can see that Doc is now soaked and a trail of water is on the ground behind him from a previous take of Marty dragging him back in the bar, which hasn't happened yet at this stage. Only really noticeable in the cropped version.

Factual error: Each time one of the special Presto-logs begins to burn the locomotive suddenly accelerates. In real life the logs would heat the water faster and generate more steam, but there would be an appreciable time-lag between the time the logs begin to burn and the engine accelerates. Also, train engines must accelerate slowly. If too much power is applied the drive wheels merely spin on the rails.

Continuity: At the end of the movie, when Doc and his family leave in their newly built train, the neon lights that flash over the front of the train go from left to right. In the next shot, where the train actually rises from the ground, they go in the opposite direction.

Factual error: The type of locomotive used in the film was first used in 1896, 11 years later.

Continuity: Indians (or, more PC, Native Americans) did not "war whoop". Native Americans today actually take offence to this creation of Hollywood.  This was told to me directly by the Director of Native American Exhibits of the Children's Museum in Boston.

Audio problem: When Mad-dog Tannen is standing over Marty, who is playing possum, you see Tannen cock his gun twice between two shots, although there is no sound effect for the first time.