Small Details You Missed In The Back To The Future Movies | Netflix

There's a lot to love about the Back to the Future trilogy, from the time travel hijinks to the amazing score and everything in between. It's been more than 30 years since the first film, and we can't stop watching these movies. No matter how many times you've seen them, though, there are still some details you may have missed in the Back to the Future films.

The Back to the Future set designers started dropping plot hints within the first minute of the film. The opening scene in Doc's home shows dozens of synchronized ticking clocks. This is a tribute to the classic 1960 time travel movie The Time Machine, in which eccentric inventor H. George Wells has a similar collection of aligned timepieces.

Doc's collection looks pretty random, but one of the clocks gives away a major scene from the end. At about a minute in, we see a miniature model of a clock tower with a man holding onto the minute hand. Like all but one of Doc's clocks, the time on this one is 25 minutes slow. Later in the movie, in 1955, Doc Brown dangles before the face of the Hill Valley clock tower as he tries to connect the cable to channel the lightning bolt.

However, this prop wasn't made for Back to the Future. It was a real clock made in tribute to a different movie: the 1923 silent film Safety Last!, in which actor Harold Lloyd also clung to the minute hand of a clock above a busy street. Actors named Lloyd can't seem to avoid clock towers.

A major plot tease | 0:00
Doc Brown's backstory | 1:20
Famous musician cameos | 2:39
Subtle sequel cameos | 3:43
Attention to continuity | 4:50
Meatloaf and sci-fi | 6:06
Marty and Pepsi | 7:11
Shout-outs to the crew | 8:43
Tributes to other films | 9:55
Real history | 11:25

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Small Details You Missed In The Back To The Future Movies | Netflix

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[bigbadjohn]

The fact that we are even discussing this film in 2022 is a testament to how wonderful these films were. I have a few co-workers that are in their early 20's and had never seen these films, so recently I loaned one of them my Blu-ray set. I was actually jealous of her getting to watch these movies for the first time! I saw all three of these films at the Penn Theater on main street in my little town, which is now sadly an abandoned building. Anyway, when she returned my DVD's I said "well???" To which her response was... "EPIC"!

[speedjunkie]

I just realized, in the original timeline when they're eating meatloaf and watching the honeymooners in 1985, George McFly had been the one eating meatloaf and watching the honeymooners with Lorraine and her family in 1955, basically reliving the first night they met.

[hancock]

In Part 3, Doc and Marty get their picture taken in front of the courthouse clock. The photographer is Dean Cundey, who was the director of photography for the whole trilogy.

[space_lobster_racing]

the back to the future trilogy are the only films i can watch repeatly without getting bored

[MattJohnsonA]

Fun fact they missed: in the scene with the antique store window, the man talking with Marty about the Cubs winning the World Series in 2015 is Charles Fleischer, the voice of Roger Rabbit.

[JeffDeWitt]

One fun thing that doesn't get noticed very often is the dealership that the Toyota pickup is from is Statler Toyota. In 1955 Statler Studebaker is on the end of main street (across from the courthouse), and there is a Studebaker parked across the street from it. Also, that newspaper Marty picks up has a full page ad for the 1955 Studebakers.

Even more, at the drive-in in BTTF 3 there is a billboard advertising the Studebaker Golden Hawk, and in 1885 we can see construction of the Statler livery stable, about where the dealership was in 1955.

I love these movies!

[osamabad]

I never noticed the twin pines mall detail as a kid after watching it dozens of times. I watched it recently with my 10 year old son, and he noticed it immediately

[monicageorge]

Also in Back to the future III when marty gets back to 1985 there’s a sign called “Eastwood Ravine” instead of “Clayton Ravine” because he supposedly fell instead of her when he was going back to the future as the train track was incomplete

[barbarathesecretary]

One thing that always stood out to me, at the end of the third movie, several people in cars watch Marty roll by on the train tracks and subsequently the car gets destroyed by a passenger train. No one comes to his aid, no emergency vehicles are called to the scene and the train doesn't stop. Marty even has time to go and get his girlfriend, bring her back to see the wreckage and still, no one else cares to investigate the crash.

[joeyglusky]

Here’s another interesting fact you missed: The owner of the pine trees is Old Man Peabody and his son is named Sherman, which bears resemblance to Mr. Peabody and Sherman who were coincidentally time travelers.

[ReelMeurik]

More tiny details that might easily be overlooked:

Doc's first time travel experiment, involving Einstein taking a trip 1 minute into the future. It's a resounding success, and Doc proceeds to explain to Marty that Einstein skipped over that minute and arrived instantly 1 minute later. The departure time Doc calls out, is 1:20 AM and 00 seconds. Einstein's arrival time is thus 1:21 AM. The same numbers, as the 1.21 Gigawatt of electricity required to power the flux capacitor.

In the second film, Doc is wearing a colorful shirt in 2015 depicting cowboys and trains. Not only does this foreshadow the third film, but Doc repurposes this shirt as his bandana during the "science experiment" when Doc and Marty borrow the train in 1885.

[davesargent]

ZZ Top revealed themselves not just with the beards but their signature instrument spinning in unison.

[electricfil]

Van Halen part is the greatest. Also, I love in number 3 when Marty says "great scott" and doc says "I know, this is heavy".

[Synapticalist]

When you mentioned Roger Rabbit, the Riverside Tunnel in Back To The Future II was also the same tunnel in Roger Rabbit that would into the cartoon land.

[duartesimoes]

I was 19 when Back to the Future came up, in 1985. It was the happiest time of my life. I had a great girlfriend, a fine motorcycle, money enough and the right friends. Good times indeed.

[Borg]

BTTF number 1 is a perfect movie. I saw it twice in the summer of 1985 when it came out. You could tell even then that it was a classic.

[flightofthebumblebee]

Marty was the dude every kid looked up to. It's so crazy that Chernobyl happened a year after this.

[chuckwagon]

Huey Lewis did not write the Power of Love specifically for the film, he did offer to submit the next song he wrote to be used in the film. However, he did write Back in Time for the film.

[tylerthompson]

Best trilogy of all time. I used to hate the third one for being so different, but as a whole it’s perfect.

[briankurtz]

When Marty comes back to the future at the end of the third movie the ravine is called Eastwood ravine instead of Clayton ravine