Charles Austin Miller

Question: In this film, Marty suddenly appears and spends one week in 1955. So, how does Marty freely roam the hallways and cafeteria at Hill Valley High School (even getting into a physical altercation with another student) without challenge from teachers and administrators such as Mr. Strickland? All the kids are talking about Marty, but nobody in authority questions the fact that he's not enrolled, he's completely undocumented, he doesn't attend any classes, and he's apparently a troublemaker.

Charles Austin Miller

Answer: High school in the 1950s was different from today, which has tight security and students are more closely scrutinized. Not every teacher, and even Strickland, knows every student, so Marty would not necessarily be immediately suspected as an outsider. And though the students are talking about Marty, that doesn't mean the adults are aware. Teens have their own closed-off society. Being as Marty was only in the past for a week, and he isn't at the school all that much, he could conceivably move about mostly unnoticed. If he was there any longer, the school would eventually wise up about him. Also, it's a movie, and suspension of disbelief is employed here. The audience just accepts the plot's premise.

raywest

Thanks. But I also remember (giving away my age) that teachers and administrators back then were very much aware of students "playing hooky" (skipping classes and wandering around the halls and off-campus during school hours). Back then there were even "truant officers" who patrolled the streets looking for school-age kids skipping school. With all of the attention to 1950s detail in this film, I was really kind of surprised that no-one apparently suspected Marty of truancy.

Charles Austin Miller

I also remember those days. As I mentioned, since Marty was only briefly at the high school during the one-week period he was in the past, he hadn't yet attracted enough attention to be considered a problem or a truant. It can be seen that Strickland notices Marty, but had not yet considered anything as being amiss.

raywest

Trivia: During the title sequence, as the camera is panning across all the clocks in Doc Brown's lab, we briefly see a simple electrical timer with its mechanical dial rapidly spinning. Electrical timer dials normally move at the same rate as a clock's minute hand, which is imperceptible. For this sequence, the timer's dial is spinning quickly as an inside tribute to the tabletop clock seen in the 1960 George Pal film, "The Time Machine" (the clock spun rapidly when the Time Machine was activated).

Charles Austin Miller

Question: When Biff and his gang are first chasing Marty on the skateboard in 1955, Marty escapes by grabbing the tailgate of a passing pickup truck which tows him around the corner. The gang jumps into Biff's convertible to continue the pursuit, and Biff's convertible actually has a rear-end collision with the pickup truck, barely missing Marty. How is it that the truck driver doesn't even react to all this insane activity and the rear-end collision? Rather than stopping and demanding an explanation, the truck driver continues away from the scene without even slowing down.

Charles Austin Miller

Chosen answer: It's likely any answer would be speculation at best, so it's hard to say. We can start with the fact that Biff barely taps the guy's bumper. He's seen stopping when Marty moves out of the way, although not enough, but I would not call it a "collision." Second, the style of the truck's metal bumper would have absorbed the impact to the point the driver didn't feel anything. In terms of if he actually felt an impact, in an era where you can't just call 9-1-1 on your cell phone to get police help, the man probably thought it prudent not to confront a car full of crazy teenage boys who just wildly rammed him for no reason. And if he did pull over, Biff had already turned the corner and so the man in the truck would have been off camera, so perhaps he does get out and inspect the damage and even sees Biff hit the manure truck, after which we don't know what happened.

Bishop73

Trivia: One of the reasons that Eric Stoltz was fired from BTTF is because he took the role too seriously and had no comedic instinct. But there were other reasons, too. Following his method-acting chops, Stoltz was always in character; he insisted on being called "Marty" all the time, both on and off the set; and he was always trying seduce Lea Thompson, which made the cast and crew leery of him. Also, Eric would not fake a punch; he made full contact in fight scenes, because he believed it was the only way to achieve realism. Co-star Thomas F. Wilson (who played Biff Tannen) said he was very pissed off that Eric Stoltz kept slamming him full-force in the cafeteria scene, take-after-take, until Wilson's shoulder and collarbone were bruised. In fact, the much larger Thomas Wilson had planned to give Eric Stoltz an actual beating in the parking scene at the school dance, in revenge. Fortunately for Eric Stoltz, he was fired from the role of Marty McFly before they filmed the parking scene, or Thomas Wilson may have killed him. Once Michael J. Fox was hired, everything went smoothly.

Charles Austin Miller

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.