Back to the Future Part III Trivia Page

Back to the Future Part III

A lot of the trivia on this page has been noted before in other locations, so my personal text will be in black. Quotes from other sources will be in red.

Trivia

A horse dealership in 1885 is owned by the Statlers. In Back to the Future (1985) there is an ad on the radio for ``Statler Toyota''.
The above info is from IMDB. What the IMDB doesn't mention is that Statler Toyota is prominently visible on the town square as Goldie Wilson's campaign van pulls out of the scene (right after the band audition), and their ad is papered on the side of the four-by-four Toyota that Marty admires before Jennifer asks if his mom knows about the date at the lake.
And watch the Drive-in Theater scene for an ad for Statler Motors in 1955. Statlers were the Studebaker dealers in 1955. If you have a really clear freeze-frame, and a good print of BTTF, check the background in BTTF when Doc tells Marty "I'm Really gonna miss you" and Marty replies "I'm really gonna miss you". You can see the Studebaker letters underneath the Statler Motors sign on the same building that says Statler Toyota in 1985 !

As Marty walks through town, you can see a man shoveling manure into a hand pushed cart just after the undertaker is shown working on the headstone. The name on the cart is A. Jones. In 1955, the manure truck that Biff runs into is owned by D. Jones. A unique instance of foreshadowing.

The editor of Hill Valley's newspaper in 1885 is ``M. R. Gale'', a tribute to trilogy screenwriter Bob Gale.

In Back to the Future Part II (1989), Biff watches A Fistful of Dollars (1964) in the alternative 1985, in which Clint Eastwood's character uses steel plating underneath his poncho. Marty (calling himself ``Clint Eastwood'') uses the hatch from a stove under his poncho in 1885. The sign at the train crossing in 1985 identifies the location as ``Eastwood Ravine''.

References to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) : the train sprouts fins similar to the Professor's car.

Mary Steenburgen (the actress who plays Clara Clayton, Dr. Brown's romantic interest in "Back to the Future III") played Amy Robbins, H. G. Wells' love interest in Time After Time !

Mary Steenburgen and Malcolm Mcdowell in Time After Time

Mary Steenburgen in Back to the Future III

Look for Clara in her purple dress in the background as Marty and Doc discuss using the train to push the DeLorean. No one met her at the station!

Doc Brown's dog is named Einstein. This may be a vague reference to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) , where the inventor of a miracle car owned a dog named Edison.

Director of Photography Dean Cundey plays the photographer who takes Marty and Doc's picture in 1885.

Directors Trademark (Robert Zemeckis): [citation]: When Marty walks along the railroad tracks and finally reaches the town, he comes to the railway station. Then he walks into the town, while the camera slowly rises up above the station and finally shows Marty at a large distance walking into the town. This scene is shot exactly the same way as the scene in Once Upon a Time in the West(1969), when Jill arrives at the station.

Producer's Trademark: Steven Spielberg likes to include a shooting star whenever he can. I haven't spotted it in part I or part II, but you'll see one in the scene where Clara and Doc kiss after looking at the moon through the telescope.

CAMEO(Top, ZZ): the band in 1885. ZZ Top wrote some of the music for the movie.

Goofs

Continuity: When Doc says, "I put gas in the tank", the shadow of the building stretches only to a few feet past the DeLorean. But two lines later, when Marty says "Hoverboard" and gets it, the shadow has stretched all the way to Doc's 1955 car.

Continuity: The shadows of the speakers at the drive-in.

Factual errors: The pace at which Marty passes speaker poles at the drive-in does not correspond with the speed at which he'd need to be going in order to achieve 88 mph.

Continuity: The clouds in the sky when the Delorean is being chased by Indians.

Continuity: Position of the Indians in different shots when Marty arrives in 1885.

Anachronisms: An 1885 train wouldn't use knuckle couplers.

Continuity: The shadow of the train at the end.

Factual errors: The train takes a full minute to traverse the last quarter-mile of track, corresponding to a speed of 15 mph, nowhere near 88 mph.

Revealing mistakes: When Clara pulls the train's stop cable, there is a shot of the train stopping from head on that is obviously filmed in reverse, as the steam disappears into the train. Additionally, steam trains don't have stop cables; she actually pulled on the whistle cable.

In Association with Amazon.com Back To The Future III: Original Motion Picture Score [SOUNDTRACK]