Goofs for
Back to the Future Part III (1990) More at IMDbPro »

• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The complex logic, and conflicting theories, of time travel have resulted in a great many potential plot holes, especially when the movie is viewed in the context of the whole trilogy. But time travel movies are like that.
  
  
• 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: Doc in 1955 turns on the time circuits prior to Marty entering the car, but then an interior shot of the car with Marty inside shows the time circuits off.
  
  

• Revealing mistakes: At night when Marty is sleeping and Doc is awake thinking about Clara, the shot of Marty sleeping clearly shows that a double is acting in his place.
  
  
• Continuity: Whenever we see Marty's pick-up in Back to the Future 1 & 2 the lights on top don't have yellow covers on them, but at the end of Back to the Future 3 they appear.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the diesel locomotive, Sierra County Railroad S-6 #11, hits the DeLorean in 1985, the engineer doesn't stop the train, nor do any motorists seem to notice the accident (several are seen staring incredulously at the DeLorean as it passes by a nearby railroad crossing less than a minute before the DeLorean's destruction). Furthermore, Marty and Jennifer return to the scene roughly an hour later, yet no police/fire/EMS have apparently been alerted to what would have been a very serious accident.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The camera used to take Doc and Marty's photo in front of the clock wasn't invented until 1887, two years after the scene is set.
  
  
• 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 before running into the screen.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Continuity: After the scene in the saloon with Mad Dog and Marty, Mad Dog has a soiled shirt due to the spittoon. In the following scene when Mad Dog and his cronies are chasing Marty on their horses, Mad Dog has a clean shirt.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Marty arrives in 1885 and finds himself facing the Indians, he is able to skid the car to a halt and turn around quickly and easily. Time travel required a speed of 88 MPH. If he was actually going 88, there is no way he could have stopped that quickly.
  
  
• Continuity: Position of bear as it chases Marty.
  
  
• Continuity: The position of the shot glasses when Marty first meets Tannen. In one shot the filled glass is right next to the four empty ones, later on the filled glass disappears.
  
  
• Continuity: The shadow of the train at the end.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When the train enters the station with Clara standing next to it, the warning bell can be heard ringing, though it is not seen ringing in the split second in which it is visible.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Doc Brown was very concerned about the creation of a paradox if Marty's return altered events preventing his younger self's return to 1985 in Part II, even being careful when accidentally interacting with himself. However, in Part III Marty is unconcerned that his interactions with Doc might cause Doc not to tape his warning letter together and dying in 1985, creating another paradox.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Clara and Doc come back in the train time machine, and Marty and Jennifer look at them, the shadow of the train does not move while the train does.
  
  
• Continuity: When Doc and Buford Tannen are arguing at the clock tower, the shadows change repeatedly between shots.
  
  
• Factual errors: The train takes at least a minute to traverse the last quarter-mile of track, corresponding to a speed of 15 mph or less, nowhere near 88 mph.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Clara pulls the train's emergency 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.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The train jolts the camera as it pulls up into the station when Clara is waiting for it.
  
  
• Continuity: The arrow stuck in the side of the DeLorean was at a right angle to the driver's side of the car, but that side was not exposed to the Indians during the chase.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In some of the overhead shots of the train sequence with Doc and Clara hanging off of the train, the cables holding the stuntmen are visible.
  
  
• Continuity: When Marty wakes up and picks up his gun belt, there is a missing bullet on the far right side of the belt, but when standing in front of the mirror with his belt on, the gun belt is fully loaded.
  
  
• Continuity: The walkie-talkie in Doc's hand appears and disappears throughout the scene where he's climbing on the train to get to the DeLorean.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Marty is being hanged by Mad Dog Tannen, a hand is briefly visible on Marty's right foot, steadying him as he is lifted into the air.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When Marty is running away from Buford Tannen and his gang after their first encounter at the saloon, a crewmember in blue shorts and a white t-shirt is running alongside a camera on the left side of the screen.
  
  
• Continuity: As Marty walks past the train station the sound of a telegraph can be heard yet there are no telegraph poles or wires visible in either direction.
  
  
• Continuity: When Doc is about to hug Marty, he places his hand on top of Marty's shoulder, but in the next his hand is on Marty's arm.
  
  
• Continuity: When Doc climbs aboard the running train on his horse and helps Marty climb up, Marty's hat falls off. In the next shot his hat is still on his head.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: On the morning that Marty is suppose to have his shootout with Mad Dog, an automated machine in Doc Brown's shop makes breakfast. One part of the machine cracks some eggs and slides the frying pan over to an open fire. But as this happens, the eggs are pushed over too and you can see that some of the egg whites are already cooking, suggesting that the pan is already hot.
  
  
• Continuity: When Clara is on the train to leave town, she pulls a cord to trigger an emergency stop. Her hands are clad in dark brown leather gloves. However, right after she gets off the train and begins running, her hands are not gloved. She is then seen wearing these same gloves throughout the remainder of the film.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Marty is running up the street after Doc Brown thinks he's sent Marty back to 1985, you can hear the sound of Marty's footsteps. It sounds like Marty is running hard-soled shoes, not the sneakers he's obviously wearing.
  
  
• Continuity: The shadows during the showdown: the camera angle from low down behind Marty shows him in full sunlight from the front, in other shots the sun is clearly throwing shadows at angles to Marty. After he's being shot, Marty ends up well into the shadows of houses.
  
  
• Continuity: When Buford Tannen starts to hang Marty at the new courthouse, we see him whip one loop of rope around Marty's neck before he pulls the rope tight to tie it to the hook. After Marty is pulled up into the air we see a close-up of him with his fingers inserted into at least three loops of rope around his neck.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: As Biff is closing the car door for Marty, when he finally returns home, camera and crew can be seen in the small window of the car door next to the mirror.
  
  
• Continuity: As Clara's wagon goes over the cliff it rolls over sideways spilling some of the contents, but in the next shot the wagon is going over straight forward with the contents still in it until it almost hits the bottom.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt doubles for Marty and Doc when they jump off their horses and onto the train. (Marty's is more noticeable, since he seems taller than the 5'6" Michael J. Fox)
  
  
• Continuity: The telescope changes position in Emmett's hands while he's talking to Clara in the barn. This is evident from the position of the adjusting wheels on the side of the telescope. Their position keeps changing showing the telescope is being rotated, but throughout the conversation, Emmett never moves his hands in that manner.
  
  
• Continuity: When Marty is backing into the cave, there is no arrow sticking out of the DeLorean.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When the train hits the DeLorean, a flash of dynamite from inside the car can be seen for one frame just before the train hits the car. Dynamite was used to blow up the car in filming, as Bob Gale says on the DVD extras.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Aircraft contrails visible when the horses are pulling the DeLorean.
  
  
• Continuity: When Doc pours whiskey into the DeLorean's gas tank, he is adding it in the correct spot. However, he does this with the hood closed, indicating that this particular DeLorean has a fuel filler flap there. Previous shots of the DeLorean's hood showed no flap (which is correct - the flap was deleted partway through production of the cars), thus revealing on screen that multiple DeLorean's were used.
  
  
• Factual errors: After attempting to fuel the DeLorean with whiskey, a component blows out and is said to be the "fuel injection manifold". The part shown (correctly) is the fuel distributor used on the DeLorean's Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system. However, this part is located on top of the engine, not underneath. Moreover, it is unlikely that it would ever explode or blow off the engine in this manner.
  
  
• Factual errors: Marty damages one of the DeLorean's fuel lines while evading the Indians, and fuel is shown pouring straight down from the left of the undercarriage. However, the fuel lines are located much closer to the car's centerline.
  
  
• Continuity: When Emmett dunks his head into the horse trough, only the top part of his outfit gets wet. When Marty and the bartender pull him out in the next shot, he is completely wet.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the train smashes through the "1/4 mile remaining" sign, we see that it is going at 80mph and accelerating. So 80mph is the initial velocity. Since the time machine needs to achieve the velocity of 88mph in order to work, we can assume that 88mph is the final velocity. Using the kinematic equation d = [(vi+vf)/2]*t, the total time would be .00298 hour, or 10.714 seconds. Doc seemed to have a lot longer to rescue Clara with the hover board.
  
  
• Continuity: The color and length of the hair on the bear in the cave changes, indicating it is not the real bear at all, but an actor in a bear suit.
  
  
• Continuity: Buford Tannen's clothes are covered in tobacco stains as a result of the spittoon landing on him in the saloon, but the stains disappear and reappear during the shots of Marty being chased by Tannen and his men.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: At the beginning of this movie (and the end of part 2, as well) when Marty races over to talk to the 1955 Doc, you can see he was really crouching behind one of the cars.
  
  
• Factual errors: The type of locomotive used could have never safely achieved 88 miles per hour. It was only designed for maximum speed of 45-50, any faster than this and the wheel bearings would overheat causing the wheels to lock up, or perhaps even fall apart. Also the speed of the locomotive is not determined by the pressure of the boiler as depicted. Cylinder size, wheel diameter, boiler size, and even the condition of the track would have to be much different to go 88 mph.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: As we zoom in on Marty and Jennifer after they arrive in Hilldale, two crew members pushing a camera are reflected in Marty's truck.
  
  
• Continuity: Right after the third log blows, in a long shot of the train from the side, you can see Clara's feet dangling from the train briefly, even though in the previous and subsequent shots, she is hanging upside down.
  
  
• Continuity: When the third log blows, the head lamp on the train blows off completely. When the train is scene several shots later, the lantern is still intact, save for the light.
  
  
• Continuity: When the final log blows in the locomotive, a close-up of the boiler shows rivets popping out and jets of water coming out of the holes. In all subsequent shots of the locomotive, all the rivets are still in place.
  
  
• Factual errors: Both times the train appears in Hill Valley, it is going the same direction, and it is implied that the train did not pass through Hill Valley between these times. Therefore, it would have to have been going the opposite direction the second time. Also, both times, the train is carrying the exact same load of logs in the same condition, in the same direction. There is no logical reason for it to do this.
  
  
• Continuity: During the scene where Doc places the old white wall tires from 1955 on the front of the train as padding against the bumper of the DeLorean, he places the front tire with the white wall facing outward towards the bumper. Later as the train careens off of the uncompleted bridge, the tires are visible and none are white wall tires.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In one shot during the aftermath of Marty's "shootout" with Tannen, a modern California state flag can be seen hanging from one of the buildings. This design was not developed until 1911, the original having been destroyed in the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Theoretically, the only way Marty's great, great grandmother could look like his mother is if Seamus and Maggie are related. However, it may just be coincidence that Maggie and Lorraine look alike, implying that McFly men have always been attracted to women who look like her.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When Doc is attempting to repair the DeLorean, he seems to forget that he has a spare parts source in the "other" DeLorean buried in the mine. However, the 1955 Doc states, just before sending Marty off, that he put gas in the tank. Therefore, the "other" DeLorean was also out of fuel, and could not have resolved their biggest issue.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: At the end of the second movie, Marty sets the hover board on the ground while burning the book and doesn't pick it up at any point and doesn't have it in his possession when he gets the 1955 Doc to help him get to 1885, but it is still seen in the car when he goes back to 1885, even though it was apparently left at the sign. Marty does in fact have it in Doc's house at the beginning of the movie, and it's implied that a few hours have passed between films, so Marty would have had time to run to the sign, get the hoverboard back, and bring it to Doc's house.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The 1955 Doc states that his future self might have landed in the Dark Ages and been burned as a heretic. However, it's shown throughout the trilogy that the DeLorean can only travel through time and not space, so the 1985 Doc would have landed in California in the Dark Ages (circa 1000-1500 A.D.), at which time Christianity was unknown to the locals.
  
  
• Factual errors: The Time Machine is supposed to travel through time, not space. In order to land on the same spot on Earth it left from, but at a different time, it would have to take into account the Earth's motion through space, as the galaxy itself rotates around its center.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Marty and Doc were trying to figure out ways to get the DeLorean up to 88 mph. In doing so they ended up being in the area where Clara was to go off the cliff and into the ravine, and since they were in the area, they managed to save her. Doc would have never been in that area other than to help Marty and that being said, Doc and Clara would theoretically have never met because Clara would have died in the accident. However, Doc most likely met Clara at the train station as the mayor asked him to (in the 1885 before Marty's arrival), so the tombstone in 1955 dedicated by Doc's "Beloved Clara" does not represent a plot hole.
  
  
• Continuity: The condition of the DeLorean's door headliners varies from extreme sagging at the beginning of the movie to flawless at the end.
  
  
• Continuity: Just before starting to drive forward at the drive-in, Marty is clearly shown shifting the DeLorean into reverse.
  
  
• Continuity: When the train in 1985 is approaching the car, the shadow of the engine on the solid fence along the side of the tracks shows the engine is by itself but a couple of scenes later it is a full length freight train.
  
  
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Doc Brown cuts the engine away from the train, the rapid chuff of the exhaust indicates that the drive wheels are slipping, but they can be seen moving at a normal pace.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The scene with the drive-in theater and the cavalry chase, along with the horses pulling the DeLorean are filmed in Monument Valley on the Utah/Arizona border, a long distance from California.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the engine smashes apart the time machine towards the end of the movie the train keeps going, but by federal railroad administration rules when a train engineer sees an object on the tracks ahead the train must stop and if there is a collision emergency crews are fast on the scene.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Towards the end of the movie when the train is bearing down full speed towards the time machine the front of the engine has only the top headlight on but under federal railroad administration rules ditch lights (the lights on the catwalk on the front and rear of the engine) are required to be both present and on.
  
  
• Continuity: When Claire is showing the craters of the Moon to Doc, the camera pans down and you can clearly see the telescope is pointing to the right side of the sky, not to the Moon.
  
  
• Plot holes: At the end of the first film, the 1985 Doc had a bullet proof vest, because Marty had given him the note warning him of the terrorists. This would mean Doc remembered Marty visiting him in 1955 and giving him the note, which Doc tore up, then pasted back together later on. For some reason, in this film, the 1985 Doc, now trapped in 1885, does not remember his 1955 counterpart helping Marty get to 1885, because he asks Marty about what fool dressed him up in the clothes he arrived in. Marty's answer was "You did". In real time travel fashion, the 1985 Doc should have known Marty would be arriving in 1885 to find him, because his 1955 counterpart helped him get there.
  
  

• Audio/visual unsynchronized: SPOILER: When Doc prepares to enter another time period at the end of the movie with the train time machine, he can be seen ringing the bell, although the bell is not heard ringing.
  
  

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