Directed by:
Robert Zemeckis

Starring:
Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly
Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson as Lorraine Baines
Crispin Glover as George McFly
Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen
Claudia Wells as Jennifer Parker
Marc McClure as Dave McFly
Wendie Jo Sperber as Linda McFly
George DiCenzo as Sam Baines
Lee McCain as Stella Baines

• Marty doesn't hide the machine in the same place Doc Brown preserves the time machine. If the Doc and Marty starting messing with the prevered time machine, this would cock up the time line and Marty wouldn't even be there! - [S]isq[o]

• Near the end when Marty and Tannen face off for a duel, Tannen twirls his gun and puts it in his holster but the wrong way round - with the grip facing forward. However, sure enough in the next shot, his gun is the right way round. - The Big J

• (Revealing mistakes) When the DeLorean was buried, Doc knew that it would sit for 70 years, and from the tone of the letter he did not expect Marty within the next week. Most anyone knows that when a car is stored for any length of time, especially 70 years, all of the fluids are drained out of it to prevent a mess later. 70 year old gasoline would be a hard varnish or at best a gummy mess that would have been near impossible for Doc and Marty to clean out, and may have even warranted replacing the gas tank. Since no DeLorean parts were available in 1955, Doc from the old west had to make sure that everything would be ready to run once Marty and Doc uncovered it in 1955 and put fluids in it. Since oil, gasoline, and a 12v battery were available in 1955, there would be no need to keep the old stuff anywhere nearby. So by the time Marty arrives in the old west, the DeLorean has been buried, the letter has been written, and the gas (and most likely oil and battery as well) is gone. Also, some have commented that the tires would not have rotted off in 70 years. That may be so, but I see no traces of old rubber lying around the car when it is uncovered. Most likely the heat from the lightning bolt melted the tires or destroyed them in some way. The one thing I have a problem with is that the car was flying pretty high (over 8 feet). If the lightning bolt damaged the flying circuits, that would mean that in 1885 the car would not be flying and would fall to the ground. When was the last time you saw a car fall from over 8 feet and survive without any structural damage? Anyways, it is a movie... nothing more.... since time travel is made up in the movie, I try not to sweat the other fabricated plots and details in the movie... I just enjoy it for what it is. - fenderman49

• (Factual errors) Doc says that the train will explode when the temperature of the fire hits 2000, the train will explode. Trains don't explode because of temperature, they explode of pressure in the boiler. I've seen trains where the fire got over 5000. (VHS) - John

• (Continuity) In the part where Doc and Marty are in 1955 at the drive in theater, when Marty is revving the motor, notice the small dent on the passenger side above the headlight. Then in later scenes, t is mysteriously gone. - jt

• (Factual errors) In Back to the Future Part 3 the DeLorean travels down train tracks. In order for a car to do this, the steering system would have to be locked or it would not go down tracks. Especially if the cars front went into the air, such as the DeLorean did when the red line blew. There were no locks of any kind on the steering wheel or modifications to the DeLorean's axles in the Doc's shop. (VHS) - TG3

• (Plot holes) In the first Back to the Future film, Marty's letter saves Doc Brown's life. But in the third film, Marty catches the doc right after he sent him back the first time. Due to the following events, Doc Brown should have never had time to get the pieces of the letter, and moreover, should have assumed that he would've been fine if he lived to accidentally get hurled back into the old west. Marty also doesn't seem to remember the urgency of this fact as he now has so much time to tell him and doesn't. He should have remembered, especially since it had only been a day or two at the most (according to the storyline) since he tried to leave Doc the note in the first place. I find this is one of the biggest plot errors of the whole trilogy. - cort

Debated Goofs

• When Marty went back to the old west, he put the DeLorean in the same cave where Doc brown hid his, the one struck by lightning while hovering in 1955. But when Marty gets to the cave to "store" his car, Doc Brown's DeLorean is gone... if it had been there, they could of interchanged parts between the the cars and had taken off. - Lorne Cook/ Brak
  • Comment: But there is only one car. Doc sends a Western Union telling Marty where he hid the car, Marty and the 1955 Doc gets it and that is the car he goes back to the western days in. The same one that Doc was in when it was struck sending Doc back. Right? - Lena
  • Correction: Concerning the cave and why Doc's DeLorean wasn't in it; well it is because it wasn't the same cave. If you look around the cave when 1955 Doc and Marty go and get the car there is a cemetery, but there isn't one around the cave that Marty stashed the car in; and seeing as how Marty went back in time one week before Doc was supposed to be killed, I seriously doubt they would put one there in a week. And so, its not the same cave. - reno
    • Correction: Marty got the car in part 2, near the end of the movie. It was hidden in a cave. Doc Brown from 1955 fixed it up for him and sent Marty back into the old west. So, there should have been a DeLorean already there, gas and all. I highly doubt that doc Brown would have preserved the DeLorean the very day he arrived in the old west. Why can't there be 2 cars anyway? Marty and Doc Brown both went into the past and saw themselves. 2 of each person, right? bottom line is, there should have been two cars. When Marty took the car into the old west, at one point even shouted "the cave!" seeing it in his rearview mirror and backed up into it, so please don't give me this garbage that it was a different cave! - Lorne Cook/Brak
      • Addition/Correction: Reno is right, it is a different cave. In the letter that Doc sends by western union, Doc says "I have buried the DeLorean in the Delgato mine adjacent (that means next to, Lorne.) to the old Boot Hill Cemetery”. So clearly the cemetery was there. Later when Marty is getting ready to go back to 1885 Doc says “There's a small cave over there which will be a perfect place to hide the time vehicle” A cave, not the cave. When Marty gets to 1885 and backs into the cave it is clear that there is no cemetery within miles. There were two cars, one in each cave. - yarballs
        • Correction: It is not the same cave as the delgado mine. If it where you would be able to see one of the movie screens from the mine in 1955. Also Doc has to inform Marty of the cave, if it was the same cave Marty would have known the location from a previous visit to get the DeLorean. - Marty
        • Correction: Marty and Doc could not have canabalized the second delorian (the one Doc brought with him) because it has to be complete for Marty to be able to get it running in 1955. If they had, Marty could never have come back to 1885, and it would have created a paradox. So even if these parts were available in the other car, they had to stay there.
      
      

Commented Goofs

• In BTTF 2, lightning strikes the DeLorean and sends it back to 1885. In BTTF 3 Doc writes in the letter from Western Union that “The overload shorted out the time circuits and destroyed the flying circuits. Unfortunately, the car will never fly again”. So when the DeLorean goes back to 1885 it would arrive in the same place. From what I can tell that’s about 50 feet or more in the air. I doubt that a drop like that would leave the DeLorean drivable or even pushable. Never mind what would have happened to the Doc. - yarballs
  • Comment: Not necessarily. The Flying circuits might have worked a short while longer, giving Doc Brown enough time to land the DeLorean without harming himself or the Car.. - Hempman

• If Marty is visiting his ancestors on the McFly side of his family, the woman of the house wouldn't have looked like his mother. - Steve
  • Comment: Actually, while it's possible that they might not, Who's to say that McFly men don't have similar taste in women? - pmusachia

   

Corrected Goofs

• In the third back to the future before Mart goes back to the west to get Doc he encountered Doc's grave. In the tombstone it read something about his beloved Clara. Well Doc would've never met Clara if it wasn't for Marty coming back because they were going to the revine (Clara Revine in the future) to test out the D' Lorean, and end up saving Clara from wild horses throwing her over it. - Gironsy
  • Correction: It's Clayton Revine not Clara... - Twinstar82
  • Correction: In the goof about "Clayton Ravine," someone wrote that Doc would have never met Clara if Marty wouldn't have showed up because Marty was the reason that Doc went to the ravine. However, in the preceding scene someone from town stops in to remind Doc that he volunteered to meet the new school teacher "Clara" at the train station tomorrow and give her a ride. Realizing that this is the "beloved Clara" from the tombstone, Doc decides not to pick up Clara and goes to the ravine with Marty instead. - Creeping Death

• Marty is concerned about "driving" the DeLorean on the railroad tracks because the bridge at the end isn't finished yet. Then Doc explains to him that he's not "thinking in the 4th dimension... and in 1985, the bridge will be completed". Did you notice that when Marty returns to 1985, he appears rolling across a railroad crossing... and there is no bridge in sight. - Ed D
  • Correction: He does roll across a bridge, right after he comes back and all the red sparks are around the car, he then rolls onto the normal road. - acc

• (Spoiler) After the 1955 Doc sends Marty to 1985, chronologically, the Doc should go get the letter he ripped up and tape it together. Marty runs to meet the Doc and begins the whole Part 3 plot. By interrupting the taping of the letter, wouldn't this mean that when 1985 rolls around that Doc will really be killed thus disrupting the whole trilogy? - barble
  • Correction: Doc stuck the letter in his coat pocket. Besides, the scene cuts out early in BTTF1 when Doc looks up at the clock. You can assume Marty runs down the street and the events that happened afterwards led to the future being the same. Otherwise you'd have a major paradox. - jigawatt
  • Correction: Go get the letter? Doc put the pieces in his pocket! Who's to say Doc immediately taped the letter back together after Marty left in the first movie? It's possible he didn't get around to taping it together until the next day, or even later. (DVD) - Sam

Explained Goofs

• After Marty went back in time and he was running away from the Indians he tore the fuel line in the DeLorean which Doc later fixed; my question is why didn't they just go siphon the gas out of the DeLorean the Doc stashed in the cave instead of trying to use the booze which caused the fuel injection manifold to blow. - reno
  • Explanation: Gasoline is a contaminate so the Doc is obviously a smart man and would know this. He "Preserved" the DeLorean so that way Marty (in 1955) could fix it up in 1955 parts and go back, to the future. - Blanket

• Marty tells us that in 1985 the ravine is called "Clayton Ravine" because a teacher died by falling into the canyon. But when they went back in time to the old west they stopped that from happening. Therefore the Marty wouldn't have known that a teacher died falling into the ravine because it never actually took place! The movie is full of all kinds of space time continuum mistakes. - treehugger36
  • Explanation: It would've changed to it's original name, Shonash Ravine, the instant Doc was sent back to 1885. But Marty went straight to 1955 Doc when the lightning struck the DeLorean, so he wouldn't know about the Ravine's updated name; Marty still remembers it as Clayton Ravine. - Sam
  • Explanation: The reason Marty remembers "Clayton Ravine" is because he came from a timeline that did know about her going in. Even though they stop her from going in, that doesn't erase his memory, and that's the key, to a time traveler, all their memories are there because they are the ones traveling, not everyone else. - gilmourisgod
  • Comment: When Marty finds Doc's grave stone it mentions his beloved Clara. Clara Clayton died by falling into the ravine before she met Doc so had Marty and Doc not rescued her they would never have met and therefore would not have been on the gravestone. Interestingly enough after Marty returns to 1985 in BTTF3 the ravine has been renamed Eastwood Ravine after him!!! - jude