The numerous clocks are reminiscent of the 1960 time travel movie
The Time Machine, based on H. G. Wells' famous novel.
A man hanging from the minute hand of one of Doc Brown's clocks
foreshadows an event towards the end of the film.
The newscaster on TV is Deborah Harmon, who appeared in the Robert Zemeckis film Used Cars (1980).
The device which Marty plugs his guitar into is labeled "CRM-1 14",
which was the name of the message decoder aboard the B-52 bomber in the late Stanley Kubrick's
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
It was also the serial number of the Jupiter explorer in
2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968), also directed by Kubrick.
A similar scene of synchronized clocks chiming in the house
of the inventor is shown in the film The Time Machine (1960).
Many scenes in the film were shot here on the Courthouse Square set on the backlot at Universal Studios.
Stunt coordinator Walter Scott is the driver of the jeep.
The graffiti on the wall at the high school includes a large 'BOB'
- an obvious nod to creators Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale.
The school that served as Hill Valley High is actually Whittier High School in Whittier, California.
This was Richard Nixon's alma mater.
The role of band judge was musician Huey Lewis' first acting job.
Claudia Wells was also in the television comedy series Fast Times (1986), based on the film
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982).
The FOR MARY license plate on the car behind Jennifer and Marty was an homage
to Mary Radford, personal assistant to Executive Producer Frank Marshall.
The Statler family who owns the Toyota dealership were also responsible for selling horses
in Hill Valley in Back to the Future Part III (1990).
The round button on Marty's jacket reads "Art in Revolution".
Huey Lewis & The News contributed two songs to the Back to the Future soundtrack:
"The Power of Love" and "Back in Time".
"The Power of Love" was the first #1 single by Huey Lewis & The News and was nominated for an Oscar.
Michael J. Fox had to learn to skateboard for the film.
The present date here is October 25, 1985. This is the same date Director Robert Zemeckis used in
Death Becomes Her (1992) as the date Goldie Hawn's character drank the 'eternal youth' potion.
Wendie Jo Sperber is perhaps better known for her role as "Amy Cassidy"
in the television series Bosom Buddies (1980-1982). Robert Zemeckis also directed
Wendie and Marc McClure ("Dave") in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978) and Used Cars (1980).
It took more than three hours each day to age 23-year-old Lea Thompson into Marty's 47-year-old mother.
The song playing on Marty's radio is "Time Bomb Town" - performed by Lindsey Buckingham.
The Twin Pines Mall is actually the Puente Hills Mall in City of Industry, California.
- A refrigerator was considered for the time travel machine in an earlier draft of the script.
- Director Robert Zemeckis scrapped the idea because he worried that
children might climb into refrigerators and get trapped inside.
DeLoreans were manufactured in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland.
Devo suit refers to "Devo", a popular band in the 1980s.
Its members wore plastic suits similar to radiation suits.
Doc Brown's dog is named "Einstein" after the famous physicist Albert Einstein.
Fully fueled, a DeLorean weighs 2,712 pounds.
In an earlier draft of the script, the California license plate originally read "NOTIME".
- The fire trails were created using 80-gallons of a smokeless pyro fluid.
- The filmmakers needed a fluid that wouldn't stain the pavement surface,
and would burn a long time for effect.
There were a total of 8, 583 DeLorean automobiles manufactured from 1980 - 1982.
Two CO' extinguishers were installed inside the DeLorean for the exhaust effects.
Three DeLoreans were used in the filming of Back to the Future.
One of them was cut open to film the interior because the car was too small to accommodate a camera.
Einstein arrives from the world's first time travel excursion at 1 :21 AM,
and the DeLorean requires 1. 21 "jigowatts" of electricity to travel through time. Coincidence?
The date Marty travels back in time to, November 5th, is the same date of time travel in Time After Time (1979).
- November 5th is also the birthday of Back to the Future co-creator Bob Gale's father,
who unwittingly inspired the concept of the movie.
- While looking at his father's high school yearbook,
Bob wondered - if he went back in time would he be friends with his father?
Plutonium: A radioactive element capable of self-maintained explosive fission;
used as fuel in some nuclear reactors.
The DeLoreans used in the film were 1981 models. They had 4-cylinder Volvo engines.
The base for the nuclear reactor was made with a hubcap from a Dodge Polaris.
This dialogue foreshadows a major plot line in Back to the Future Part II (1989)
where Marty plans to gamble on the World Series with knowledge gained
from a sports almanac he purchased in 2015.
One of the DeLorean's most recognized features is its gull-wing doors,
which require only 14 inches of swing space.
The mall parking lot scenes took six consecutive nights to complete filming.
- Eli Peabody's son is named Sherman.
- Sherman was the name of a time traveler in one segment of The Bullwinkle Show (1959-1973).
- The dog that owned his time machine was named Mr. Peabody.
- Michael J. Fox was filming this movie and the television comedy family Ties at the same time.
His work days often lasted 18-20 hours.
Marty just ran over a tree. The name Twin Pines Mall will become Lone Pine Mall at the end of the film.
- The song "Mr. Sandman" was originally released in 1954 by The Chordettes.
- The version heard here was recorded by The Four Aces the same year.
Playing at the theater is Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) starring Ronald Reagan,
who was President of the United States in 1985.
Leaded gasoline at this Texaco gas station is 19 1/2 cents a gallon in 1955. It was $1.09 in 1985.
Mayor Red Thomas is actually set decorator Hal Gausman.
The song is the "Ballad of Davy Crockett", performed by Fess Parker.
It's playing on a Wurlitzer Model 1015 jukebox.
Doc's telephone number is 5-4385.
Norman Alden is portraying Lou Carruthers.
You may recognize him as the voice of "Aquaman" on Superfriends (1973-1977).
Tab and Pepsi Free were popular diet soft drinks in the 1980s. By 1990, both were basically history.
One of Biff's cronies is Billy Zane, seen here in his first screen appearance.
Zane later starred as "Cal" in the blockbuster film Titanic (1997).
Lou's Café has become an aerobics center by 1985.
Crispin Glover also appeared in a 1984 episode of
Family Ties (1982-1989) as one of Alex P. Keaton's friends.
Donald Fullilove appears as "Goldie Wilson III" in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
Michael J. Fox also filmed a scene from Teen Wolf (1985) on this neighborhood street.
The street is Bushnell Avenue in South Pasadena, CA.
The line "Stella!" was made famous by Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).
First noticed in a series of Burger King commercials, Lea Thompson rose to fame
when she was cast opposite Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves (1983).
Lea Thompson later appeared in her own NBC sitcom, Caroline in the City (1995-1999).
The role of Milton is played by Jason Hervey, best known for his role as
"Wayne Arnold" in the television series The Wonder Years (1988-1993).
The Honeymooners (1955-1956) aired live from New York at 8:30 PM Eastern.
This would make it just after 5:30 PM on the West Coast when they are having dinner.
Robert Zemeckis & Bob Gale met George DiCenzo ("Sam Baines")
on the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
Frances Lee McCain portrayed "Lynn Peltzer" in Gremlins (1984).
John F. Kennedy didn't become President of the United States until 1960.
The exterior of Doc Brown's mansion is "The Gamble House",
the early 1900's summer home of James Gamble of Proctor & Gamble.
The interior of the mansion is a private residence called "The Blacker House".
Like the "Gamble House", it was built by architects Charles Greene and Henry Greene.
Bob Gale & Robert Zemeckis first met in 1971 at USC's School of Cinema-Television
in a class called Cinema 290 - a Super-8 production class.
Christopher Lloyd played a mental patient in the Academy Award-winning film
One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), which launched his film career.
Prior to Back to the Future, he was best known as "'Reverend' Jim Ignatowski"
on the television sitcom Taxi (1978-1983).
These photographs of Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison above Doc's mantle
are the same photos we saw above Doc's cot in his garage in the opening scene.
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity led to speculation about the possibility of time travel,
but only into the future.
All the scenes at the high school were filmed at night or during vacations, when the school was closed.
A deleted scene from this part of the movie showed Marty peeking in on one of the classes
and seeing his mother cheating on a test.
Co-creator Bob Gale's junior high team was the Bulldogs and his high school team was the Indians.
Crispin Glover also played a 1950's teenager in a 1983 episode of the TV show Happy Days (1974-1984).
His character was named "Roach".
James Tolkan will reprise his role as "Mr. Strickland" in Back to the Future Part II (1989)
and also as his ancestor "Marshal Strickland" in Back to the Future Part III (1990).
The TV series that George doesn't want to miss, Science fiction Theater (1955), was an actual television show.
The Edward Van Halen song Marty plays is called "Donut City" and originally appeared in the film
The Wild Life (1984), starring Eric Stoltz and Lea Thompson.
"Fantastic Story" was an actual pulp fiction quarterly publication in the 1950's.
This particular copy was the Fall 1954 issue, and had a cover price of 25 cents.
The twist-off bottle cap was invented in 1956. By the late 1960's it had become standard on soft drink bottles.
"The Wallflower (Dance with Me Henry)" by Etta James is playing as George walks into the cafe.
Density: Mass per unit volume. Stupidity; obtuseness.
Destiny: The predetermined course of events. Fate; future.
The 1950's were known as "the birth of American teen culture".
The "manure" was actually a mixture of wet peat moss
combined with mulch and alfalfa horse-feed pellets.
- Keeping it in the family: Here Biff Tannen runs into D. Jones' Manure hauling truck.
Dennis Jones was the Production Manager on Back to the Future and did plenty of "manure hauling".
Parallel scenes can be found throughout the Back to the Future series,
including this one in Doc's workroom.
In fact, when Doc Brown says the same line in Back to the Future Part III,
Marty finishes the statement by saying, "Yeah, I know Doc, it's not to scale."
A schematic of the mind reading helmet Doc wore earlier is seen on the wall behind Marty.
Christopher Lloyd is also known for his role as "Fester Addams" in The Addams Family (1991)
and Addams Family Values (1993).
In Back to the Future Part III it is Clara, Doc Brown's love interest, who knocks on the door.
Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson have starred in all three Back to the Future movies,
as well as Dennis the menace (1993) and The Right to Remain Silent (1996),
but this is the only time they have shared dialogue on screen.
In the backyard of George's house, the filmmakers added the clothesline and grass
in a spot where the homeowners were trying to grow a vegetable garden.
The radio weatherman is Chuck Campbell, the film's Supervising Sound Editor.
This is the same street used in Gremlins (1984).
Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
"Night Train" is performed by Marvin Berry and the Starlighters at the 'Enchantment Under the Sea' dance.
When the filmmakers originally shopped the script to major studios in 1981
one turned it down because they deemed it inappropriate, due mainly to the context of this scene.
Tom Wilson's career includes appearances in episodic television shows such as Knight Rider (1982-1986),
The Facts of Life (1979-1988), and Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000).
A scene deleted in this portion of the film showed George going to a phone booth to get the correct time
because his watch had stopped, only to be locked inside by Dixon, the guy who will soon "cut-in" at the dance.
Alan Silvestri composed the music for all three Back to the Future films.
His other credits include The Mummy Returns (2001), Castaway (2000) and Forrest Gump (1994).
Michael J. Fox was already an accomplished guitarist, having taught himself in junior high.
He and some of his close friends even formed a band called "Halex".
The guitar Marty plays is a Gibson ES-345.
The character Marty McFly is credited as a performer on the song "Johnny B. Goode".
It is actually sung by Mark Campbell with a guitar solo by Tim May.
Of course, Chuck Berry originally recorded this song in 1958.
Zoot suit: A suit with baggy, tight-cuffed pants and an oversized coat.
Christopher Lloyd reprised the role of "Doc Brown" in the early '1990s for the Universal Studios
theme park attraction Back to the Future...The Ride,
and for two seasons on CBS' Back to the Future- The Animated Series.
Doc places the torn pieces of Marty's letter into the pockets of his coat.
Michael J. Fox provided the lead character voices for the films Stuart Little (1999)
and its 2002 sequel, and Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).
In February 1999, Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox re-teamed in a reunion episode of Spin City.
The episode was called "Back to the Future IV - Judgement Day".
Marty actually gives himself 11 minutes instead of 10.
Doc Brown breaks a piece off the ledge under the clock,
which will remain unfixed in 1985 at the end of the film.
Doc is wearing Velcro shoes he found in the suitcase of his 1985 counterpart.
Doc Brown hanging from the hands of the clock is similar to a scene from the classic 1923 film
Safety Last in which comedian Harold Lloyd finds himself in the same situation.
And no, Harold Lloyd and Christopher Lloyd are not related.
When composer Alan Silvestri walked in to hand Zemeckis his first three-minute demo for
Romancing the Stone (1984), they both wore the same exact sweater and knew "they were connected for life".
The Town Theatre is showing The Atomic Kid (1954).
"Heaven Is One Step Away", performed by Eric Clapton, is playing on the radio next to the bum.
In June 1999, Michael J. Fox purchased two of Eric Clapton' guitars in a charity auction for substance abuse.
The theatre has now become the Assembly of Christ.
Formerly "Twin Pines Mall".
J. C. Penny is no longer a retail anchor at the Puente Hills Mall where this scene was filmed.
Doc's bulletproof vest foreshadows an event in Back to the Future Part III (1990)
where Marty is saved in a similar fashion.
The denim jacket Marty wore throughout this film will end up as an antique
in the "Blast From The Past" antique store in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
A poster for the Huey Lewis & The News' 1983 album "Sports" is visible on the wall.
Marty's self confidence has now improved, which is evident from the padded mailer he's holding containing
the audition tape he was reluctant to send earlier in the film.
Marc McClure is perhaps better known for his role as "Jimmy Olsen"
in the Superman (1978-1987) and Supergirl (1984) movies.
He also appeared with Wendie Jo Sperber ("Linda McFly") in I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
and Used Cars (1980).
Director Robert Zemeckis, Executive Producer Steven Spielberg, Composer Alan Silvestri,
Cinematographer Dean Cundey and Christopher Lloyd all reunited for the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988).
Marty now drives the Toyota SR5 4x4 truck he saw earlier in the film, instead of a skateboard.
This was the very first scene that actress Claudia Wells filmed for the movie,
which will later be re-created with Elisabeth Shue playing the role of Jennifer in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
The "Mr. Fusion Home Energy Reactor", which took the place of the plutonium chamber on the DeLorean,
was made from a Krups coffee grinder.
An alternate take of this scene was used for television, with Marty asking Doc if he and Jennifer
become "jerks" in the future.