Back to the Future
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Continuity mistake: When Marty confronts George as "Darth Vader", after George asks "who are you?" Marty plays the music again, and George presses his hands to his ears. In the shot from behind, his hands are cupped around his ears, in a very different position. Then when Marty says "silence earthling", in the shot from the front his hand is away from his ear entirely. (01:02:35)

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When George and Marty are talking outside the diner and George opens Marty's coke bottle for him, George's hair is all stringy and hanging down in his face. But when it cuts to another angle, it's neatly combed over to one side. (01:03:10)

Krista

Back to the Future mistake picture

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)

Paul Andrews

Back to the Future mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Marty is being chased on the scooter turned skateboard, he is hanging onto the corner of a blue truck. Biff tries to smash him between the two, and the camera shows him pulling himself along the side of the blue truck, then hanging off the back corner again. (01:04:10)

Back to the Future mistake picture

Continuity mistake: In the escape from Biff on the skateboard, Marty collides with a couple near some steps. His skateboard is left at their feet, but after a cut his skateboard's now behind the woman's head in an ideal place for Marty to grab it. The papers thrown in the air suddenly multiply and appear on the ground (under the people, which means they must have dropped the papers first before falling over!). (01:04:15)

Jon Sandys

Back to the Future mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 1955 Skateboard Chase Scene around Town square. After Marty falls over the couple, a shot of Biff's car shows all the passengers standing up, but in the very next frame everyone is sat down. Also, that is not Biff driving. (01:04:20)

Paul Andrews

Continuity mistake: 1955 Skateboard Chase Scene around Town square. Throughout the whole chase scene two visible different stunt drivers are used to drive the two different models of Biffs' Ford. One is a 1946, the other is a 1947. Note the different position and shape of the front turn sign. (01:04:25)

Paul Andrews

Continuity mistake: After Marty borrows the improvised skateboard from the boy, in the first close-up of his feet his tied looped laces are extremely short, but when he climbs over Biff's moving car and then lands on the skateboard, the length of his tied looped laces is significantly longer. It shortens again thereafter. (01:06:05)

Super Grover

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Continuity mistake: When Marty rides off after borrowing the skateboard, a woman in the background bends over towards the end of the shot, but in the next shot, she is standing upright. (01:06:10)

apikachu68

Continuity mistake: When Marty is on a skateboard being chased around the town square by Biff and his friends, he grabs the back end of a truck. After the truck makes a right turn, notice how the two kids he initially stopped to get a skateboard from at the beginning of the scene suddenly appear standing at the street corner between shots, holding their wooden crates. (01:06:25)

ryguy_1983

Continuity mistake: When Biff chases Marty out of the cafe in 1955 and Marty 'makes' the skateboard, there is an odd shot of a tree. When Biff's car drives through the grass, the big tree in the shot is shaking violently, yet all the trees are completely still during the chase before and after this shot. During this entire scene, differences regarding varying degrees of windy then calm, wet vs dry pavement and variations in shadows cast are numerous. (01:06:30)

Paul Van Scott

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Continuity mistake: When Marty McFly is being chased around the town square by Biff and his buddies in the black convertible, an extra set of lights appear under the headlights on the car (goes from a 1946 Ford to a '47/'48). (01:06:45)

Back to the Future mistake picture

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)

Super Grover

Back to the Future mistake picture

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)

Super Grover

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Continuity mistake: When Marty looks at the car he is about to crash into, there is no one standing on the pavement, but when he jumps onto it, a man appears. There was not enough time for him to appear. (01:07:00)

apikachu68

Continuity mistake: After Marty wipes out in front of the town hall, he clutches the hood ornament on Biff's Ford. As the car turns, Marty moves himself towards the fender, but between shots he repositions and is now clutching the hood ornament like before. (01:07:05)

ryguy_1983

Back to the Future mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Marty skates off after knocking over the couple, the car behind him is red and cream, but in the next shot, it turns completely red. A yellow car also appears in the second shot, when it was not present in the first. (01:07:10)

apikachu68

Back to the Future mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Biff's car slams into the manure truck, in the first shot the side of the truck is adjacent to the car's back passenger door, but in the next overhead shot the side of the truck is adjacent to the front windshield. (01:07:20)

Super Grover

Back to the Future mistake picture

Other mistake: The car that almost runs Marty over has the vehicle registration plate of 6S 48405. Later on, when Marty is hit by Sam, Sam's car has the same plate. (00:35:49 - 00:42:02)

apikachu68

More mistakes in Back to the Future

Dr. Emmett Brown: Don't worry. As long as you hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88mph the instant the lightning strikes the tower... Everything will be fine.

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Trivia: In the battle of the bands scene, when Marty introduces The Pinheads, Huey Lewis, who provided "The Power of Love" for the film's soundtrack, plays the second judge from the left, and is the one who eventually says, "You're just too darn loud." (00:07:40)

More trivia for Back to the Future

Question: What does the saying "Why don't you make like a tree, and get out of here", mean?

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."

Cubs Fan

More questions & answers from Back to the Future

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