For a time-traveling movie set in the 1980s,Back to the Futureis a timeless classic. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg, this sci-fi adventure unfolds overone of the most magical scores in cinema.Back to the Future’stremendous success birthed two sequels,Back to the Future IIandBack to the Future III,creating a trilogy of stellar films.
The seriesfollows two of cinema’s most iconic characters: the ever-cool Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and the ever-quirky Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). It also features one of Hollywood’s most famous vehicles: the time-traveling DeLorean.
Back to the Future
Back to the Future follows teenager Marty McFly as he is inadvertently sent back to 1955, where he disrupts his parents' meeting. With the assistance of eccentric inventor Doc Brown, Marty must restore the timeline by ensuring his parents fall in love and find a way back to 1985.
Back to the Future Part II
Back to the Future Part III
The final entry in Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s timeless trilogy, Back to the Future Part III wraps up Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s adventures through time when Marty travels to 1885’s Wild West to save his mentor, meeting Biff Tannen’s ancestor “Mad Dog” and almost changing the course of history once again along the way.
Throughout the franchise, Marty and Doc must use the DeLorean to race across time, from 1955, to 2015, to 1885, and then all the way back to the future (1985 at the time). Fun, little Easter eggs are sprinkled throughout all three films. Some of them allude to the fictional world of the franchise. Others are subtle, and also not-so-subtle, real-world, pop culture references.
Let’s now climb into the DeLorean, travel through all threeBack to the Futurefilms, and see what Easter eggs we can find.
10Star Wars/Star Trek
This is one of the more obvious Easter eggs inBack to the Future. In the first movie, Marty needs to convince his timid father, George (Crispin Glover), to ask his teenage mother, Lorraine (Lea Thompson), to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. If not, then he risks changing the course of history and ceasing to exist. Marty decides that in this case, intimidation is the best course of action.
While wearing the radiation suit that Doc gave him earlier, Marty breaks into George’s house and wakes him up with hardcore Edward Van Halen music. “My name is Darth Vader,” Marty rasps through the mask. “I’m an extra-terrestrial from the planet Vulcan.”
9 Actors Who Almost Played Marty McFly in Back to the Future
Audiences everywhere fell in love with Michael J. Fox’s charismatic performance as Marty McFly, yet the actor wasn’t the only star vying for the role.
Marty’s alias humorously combines elements from two popular sci-fi franchises, which didn’t exist yet in the 50s:Darth Vader fromStar Warsand Spock’s home planet of Vulcan from Star Trek. Imagine George’s surprise when he sawStar Warsin theaters20 years later, and Darth Vader appeared on the screen.
9Statler Transportation Business
Eagle-eyed fans might notice that the Statler family has been running Hill Valley’s transportation business for 130 years. In 1885, Honest Joe Statler operated a horse and buggy dealership duringBack to the Future III.In 1955, Honest Joe’s company evolved with the times and became Statler Motors Studebaker, selling cars. And in 1985, during the trilogy’s main timeline, this family-run business becomes Statler Toyota.
Marty’s dream car, a 1985 Toyota SR5 Xtra Cab, can be seen brandishing a Statler Toyota sign. His parents later gift him with the car of his dreams at the end ofBack to the Future.It’s a “hot” car, as Marty says, butit’s certainly no time-traveling DeLorean.
8Twin Pines Mall Becomes the Lone Pine Mall
The Twin Pines Mall is a historical landmark inBack to the Futuremythology. It’s where Marty and Doc Brown meet up to test the time-traveling DeLorean for the very first time. The shopping center’s name can clearly be seen at the beginning ofBack to the Future.But after Marty time travels to 1955 and accidentally runs over one of the pine trees, he inadvertently alters the course of history. If you pay close attention to the finale, you’ll see that the mall’s name has been changed to Lone Pine Mall, a subtle and clever shout-out to Marty’s driving accident.
7Taxi Driver/Dirty Harry
Taxi DriverandDirty Harryare twoiconic movies that often get spoofed. Both feature memorable performances from Hollywood stars, Robert De Niro inTaxi Driverand Clint Eastwood inDirty Harry,both of whom deliver famously quotable lines.Back to the Future IIIhumorously pays homage to both films.
After finding himself in the Wild West, Marty grabs a cowboy hat and a pistol, manifests his inner Travis Bickle, and starts practicing his tough guy routine in front of the mirror. He recites Bickle’s most iconic line, “You talkin' to me?” while thrusting his gun at his reflection. Marty tops off his little monologue with one of the most famous quotes fromDirty Harry,“Go ahead, make my day.” It’s a fun mash-up of two of Hollywood’s biggest tough guys.
6Clint Eastwood
Dirty Harryisn’t the only reference tolegendary actor Clint EastwoodinBack to the Future III.In fact, once he arrives in the Wild West, Marty goes by the alias “Clint Eastwood” for the entire movie, alluding to the actor’s iconic roles in the Western genre. He even dresses like Eastwood’s most famous character, Blondie/the Man with No Name, rocking his signature poncho and brown hat. But that’s still not all.
At one point, Marty is hanging from a noose, courtesy of Mad Dog Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson). Doc swoops in and rescues Marty by shooting the rope, a reference to Eastwood’s most famous western,The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
5Marvin and Chuck Berry
Marvin Berry (Harry Waters, Jr.) is the lead singer of Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, the band that performs during the Enchantment Under the Sea dance. After Marvin injures his hand, Marty fills in as the band’s guitarist and is even invited to give his own performance. Marty brings down the house with “Johnny B. Goode”, a rock and roll jam that didn’t exist in 1955, and sends the high school kids into a dancing frenzy.
Impressed by the performance, Marvin calls up his cousin Chuck and emphatically exclaims, “You know that new sound you’re looking for? Well, listen to this!” He holds out the phone at arm’s length, so Chuck can hear that new sound. Unless you know your music, this one will go right over your head. Chuck Berry, one of the pioneers of rock and roll, literally wrote and performed “Johnny B. Goode.”
The joke here is that Marty’s cover inspired Chuck Berry to make the song, creatingan interesting time-traveling paradox. Oh, and just in case you were wondering–no, Chuck Berry didn’t actually have a cousin named Marvin.
InBack to the Future II,Marty travels to the distant year of 2015, a time of flying cars and rejuvenation programs that extend your life. Unfortunately, many of the film’s futuristic ideas have yet to happen. But hey, at least we have better movie graphics than they do.
10 Ways Jaws: The Revenge Is More Compelling Than You Remember
Few films are as compulsively interesting as Jaws: The Revenge. It’s not always good (understatement), but it is definitely compelling.
At one point, Marty comes across a movie theater that’s playingJaws 19,a funny jab atthe slew ofJawssequels, when a terrible 3D graphic of a giant shark appears and snaps its jaws at Marty. This reference also pokes fun at Steven Spielberg, the director of the originalJawsand the executive producer of theBack to the Futuretrilogy. But that’s not all. If you look closely at the marquee, you’ll see thatJaws 19is directed by Max Spielberg, the eldest real-life son of the famous director.
3Antique Shop Window
If there’s one thing thatBack to the Future IInailed about the 2010s, it’s our obsession with 1980s nostalgia. At one point, Marty passes by an antique shop window for a Blast to the Past (the shop’s name). Except all the antiques are from the ’80s.
There’s a VCR, a Super-8 movie projector, a lava lamp, and Apple’s original MacIntosh computer. There’s also a copy ofJaws,another shout-out to Spielberg, and a stuffed animal of Roger Rabbit fromWho Framed Roger Rabbit?,a 1988 filmthat was directed by Robert Zemeckis and co-starred Christopher Lloyd. The most notable item, though, isn’t an Easter Egg. It’s the Gray’s Sports Almanac, a seemingly harmless book that drastically alters the future and sets the plot into motion.
Here, we have an Easter egg that only the most hardcore movie buffs would find.Back to the Futurekicks off with an iconic opening. An off-screen Marty plugs his guitar into Doc Brown’s amplifier and turns it up to full power. After he strikes a chord on his guitar, the sheer power of the amp sends Marty flying through the air.
The label on Doc’s amp reads CRM 114, a seemingly random combination of letters and numbers. But it’s actually not random at all. CRM 114 is a reference tolegendary director Stanley Kubrick, who used this combination as an inside joke in four of his movies.
In Kubrick’s black comedy,Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, the CRM 114 Discriminator is a fictional piece of radio equipment. In his sci-epic2001: A Space Odyssey, CRM-114 is the serial number on the Jupiter-bound spacecraftDiscovery.InA Clockwork Orange, the criminal youth Alex (Malcolm McDowell) takes a formula called serum-114 as part of his rehabilitation process, a near homophone of CRM 114.
And lastly, inEyes Wide Shut, the mortuary is located in Wing C, Room 114, which comes out to CRM 114 when abbreviated. It’s one of the most subtle Easter eggs in theBack to the Futurefranchise, a cool nod to cinematic history.
1Cafe ’80s
The antique shop isn’t the only place in 2015 that’s packed with 1980s Easter eggs. InBack to the Future II, Marty steps into Café ’80s. “It’s one of those nostalgia places but not done very well,” Doc tells us comically. Inside is a treasure trove of 1980s pop culture references, almost too many to name. There’s a cardboard cutout of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, the President and First Lady of the United States for much of the ’80s.
The waiters are all computer-generated, Max Headroom-style versions of 1980s pop-culture figures, like Reagan and Michael Jackson, appearing on bulky TV sets. There arePac-ManandWild Gunmanarcade video games, the latter of which foreshadowsBack to the Future III. There’s an American flag hanging next to the U.S.S.R. flag to represent the Cold War.
A wall of television screens shows reruns fromsome of the most popular 1980s TV shows, such asOprah,Miami Vice, Cheers,andTaxi,the latter of which co-starred Christopher Lloyd. Another wall displays the masks of iconic 1980s horror villains, such as Jason Vorhees fromFriday the 13thand Mike Myers fromHalloween.And while all this is going on, Michael Jackson’s 1982 hit “Beat It” is blaring in the background.
