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  • The opening scene. Marty uses a key under Doc's doormat to get into his lab and proceeds to fiddle with different knobs and switches to activate a ridiculously gigantic amplifier at full volume. Which he is standing right in front of. Marty gets into position, readying his guitar pick...and is promptly blown across the room by the noise, destroying the amp in process and crashing into a bookcase.
    • Made even funnier when Doc calls afterwards to warn Marty not to use the amplifier because there's a slight possibility of overload.
    • The news report at the beginning about the missing plutonium, before we see a ground-level shot as Marty walks in and rolls his skateboard across the floor. Three guesses to what's hiding from Marty's view that it hits, and two of them are wrong.
  • A blooper version of Marty heading to school at the beginning. He kicks Doc's gate open...only it won't shut again, so he just throws his skateboard at it and runs away. Eagle-eyed viewers can see Michael J. Fox starting to laugh as he leaves the camera shot.
  • Huey Lewis cameos as an audition judge who tells Marty's band, The Pinheads, that they're "just too darn loud" when they play Lewis' own song "The Power of Love."
  • Marty and Jennifer having their kiss interrupted by the "Save the clock tower!" lady. Summarized best in this gif; just check out the look of exasperation on Marty's face.
  • Lorraine's execution around the dinner table of her reminiscing of how she met George. All of it. The fact that they met in such ridiculous circumstances makes it all the more funny what with how lovesick she sounds.
    Linda: [aghast] That was so stupid! Grandpa hit him with the car!
    Lorraine: [firmly] It was meant to be.
  • "If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles an hour... you're gonna see some serious shit."
    • And Marty (understandably) freaking out at the car vanishing is hilarious to watch:
      Marty: Jesus Christ..! Jesus Christ, Doc, you disintegrated Einstein!
      Doc: Calm down, Marty. I didn't disintegrate anything. The molecular structure of both Einstein and the car are completely intact!
      Marty: ...THEN WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?!
      Doc: The appropriate question is, "When the hell are they?!" You see, Einstein has just become the world's first time traveler! I sent him into the future! One minute into the future, to be exact! And at precisely 1:21 a.m. and zero seconds, we shall catch up with him and the time machine.
      Marty: [Beat]...Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Doc. Ah...Are you telling me you built a time machine...out of a DELOREAN?
      Doc: The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?
    • Marty initially seems dumbfounded about Doc making a time machine, but his last line almost makes him sound more concerned about what kind of car it is. Then it sounds like he's about to ask if he can borrow it so he can go to the lake with Jennifer.
    • LOOK at Marty's face when Doc is going over "when the hell" Einstein and the DeLorean have gone to. His amazingly confused/"what the flying fuck just happened?!?" expression is perfect.
    • Before that, there's a great bit where Doc is revving up the DeLorean, which is pointing right at the two of them. Marty starts to edge out of the way until Doc notices him and gives him a silent, confused look, as if he can't imagine why Marty would try to move. Marty sheepishly gets back into position.
      • May I suggest that the look was more of a glare with the unstated message, "Where do you think you're going?"
      • And then, as the DeLorean speeds towards them, Marty breaks to run to the side, and Doc just grabs him and yanks him back, excitedly saying "Watch this, watch this!" Especially funny (or terrifying) is that Doc seems almost more surprised than Marty that it actually worked. Given what we find out about Doc's scientific prowess in 1955...what are the odds he was just working on an incredibly-elaborate way to run himself and Marty over?
    • Blink and you will miss it: The DeLorean is equipped with Goodyear tires.
    • This puts Mr. Strickland's assessment of Doc Brown in a new light: it might not occur to Doc that if his calculations were incorrect, they'd be in serious shit.
  • Two words: "HOLY SHIT!"
  • After he time-jumps to 1955, Marty crashes into a scarecrow and screams. Then he notices he's about to crash into a barn and starts screaming again.
  • Marty stumbles out of the car after accidentally scaring the Peabodys into retreating to the house.
    Marty: Hello? Ah...excuse me? [points behind him awkwardly] Sorry about your barn. [Peabody begins shooting at him with a shotgun. Marty stumbles back and trips]
    Sherman: It's already mutated into human form, shoot it!
    Old Man Peabody: [fires shotgun] Take that, you mutatin' son of a bitch!
  • When Marty leaves the Peabodys' farm, he accidentally runs over one of the two twin baby pine trees. Old Man Peabody's reaction to the incident is absolutely hammy ("MY PIIIIINNNEEE!! WHYYYY YOOOU!! YOU SPACE BASTARD! YOU KILLED MY PIIIIINNNEEE!!"), but the true payoff occurs when Marty returns to the mall parking lot at the end of the movie: the mall was called Twin Pines Mall before he left, but is now called Lone Pine Mall.
  • From a deleted scene, after Marty looks at the newspaper confirming that he's in 1955, an elderly woman bumps into him. What does Marty do? He asks her to pinch him to confirm that this is real. He gets a slap instead.
    Marty: [holding his cheek in pain] Yeah, that'll do...
  • The whole Running Gag involving Marty's vest and everyone mistaking it for a life jacket.
    Skinhead: Hey, Biff, get a load of this guy's life preserver. The dork thinks he's gonna drown!
  • Marty's failed attempt to get directions to Lou:
    Lou: [interrupting] Are you gonna order something, kid?!
    Marty: Uh, yeah. Give me a Tabnote .
    Lou: Tab? I can't give you a tab unless you order something.
    Marty: Okay, give me a Pepsi Freenote .
    Lou: You want a Pepsi, pal, you gotta pay for it!
    • Marty eventually gets Lou to give him a sugar-free coffee. As Lou sets the coffee down, the camera finally shows that Marty is sitting next to George...which Marty doesn't realize until a moment later when Biff and his gang stop by to harass George. After Biff leaves, we get a hilarious shot of George staring straight ahead, trying his hardest to ignore Marty as he slowly leans farther and farther forward to stare at George's face with a "holy shit" expression. Not only that, but the shot frames it from the side, where Marty's aforementioned expression is made all the more funny slowly appearing from behind George's straight face.
      George: WHAT?
      • Further more on the coffee bit, Marty puts a handful of change on the bar that's no doubt the exact change (or close to it) for a cup in 1985. Lou leaves some coins on the bar, and gives Marty more change, prompting a confused look.
    • The immediate reaction of Marty replying with "You're George McFly!" when George finally cracks. Marty is only able to say that because he'd sound crazy otherwise, and the way it sounds makes it so ridiculous because he's already so shocked. What really nails it is George's "Yeah, who are you?" because he has no idea what he's making such a big deal about.
    • At that point, Goldie Wilson, the busboy and future mayor of Hill Valley, pops in to chide George for letting Biff walk all over him. Marty can't help but inadvertently blurt out to Goldie that he's going to become Mayor in 30 years. This ends up giving Goldie the idea to run for Mayor, to which Lou scoffs "A colored mayor? That'll be the day."
  • After Marty saves his father from getting hit by his Grandfather's car (inadvertently altering the timeline), his grandfather yells in frustration, showing that this wasn't the first time he's run into someone.
    Sam Baines: STELLA! ANOTHER ONE OF THESE DAMN KIDS JUMPED IN FRONT OF MY CAR!
  • Marty first meets his mother as an attractive teenage girl...and immediately experiences a mini-Oedipal breakdown, not helped by the fact that she's obviously into him:
    Marty: You're my muhh... you're my muhh...
    1955 Lorraine: My name is Lorraine. Lorraine Baines.
    Marty: [with an audible squeak] Yeah!... but you're hooonote  ...you're so hoooaah, you're so... thin!
    • Marty then backs off as his mother, completely unaware, makes her advances, before she gets so close that he ends up falling off the bed. Then, Marty's jeans are thrown back at him whereby he falls over trying to put them on and quietly hisses "Shit!".
    • If you look carefully in the mirror behind Marty, you can see Lorraine leaving the room, smiling as she briefly looks at Marty in his undies.
    • Lorraine thinks Marty's name is "Calvin Klein" because it's printed on the waistband of his briefs.
      • This also leaves the viewer wondering why the hell Marty wasn't wearing his pants in the first place. Knowing that maybe SHE took them off makes the situation even more hilariously creepy.
  • At dinner with Lorraine's family, Marty finally meets his Uncle Joey, the future jailbird, who is still a baby at this point in time:
    Marty: So you're my uncle Joey. [taps the bars on the side of Joey's crib] Better get used to these bars, kid.
  • Marty asking Lorraine's parents where Doc's house is. Since this is 1955, they haven't heard of President Kennedy yet.
    • When Marty leaves, Lorraine's parents comment on his behavior. Irony abounds, and all the while Lorraine is staring lovingly after him.
      Stella Baines: He's a very strange young man.
      Sam Baines: He's an idiot. Comes from upbringing. His parents are probably idiots too. Lorraine, if you ever have a kid like that, I'll disown you.
    • A shot under the dinner table shows Lorraine caressing Marty's leg. His barely controlled discomfort changes when he abruptly stands up as she gropes him. And Lorraine's rosy gaze in Marty's direction at the same time. His uncomfortable expression nails it.
    • In fact, the entire dinner scene. Marty rescuing himself after being questioned about the plot of a brand new TV show and the concept of reruns by Lorraine's younger brother is especially notable.
    • Lorraine's mother introducing Marty to her three other children... while clearly pregnant with her fifth.
  • "My God! Do you know what this means? ...It means that THIS DAMN THING DOESN'T WORK AT ALL!"
    • Funnier thing is: It did work (somewhat), given that he pulled "Coast Guard" (instead of, say, Navy).
    • And if you look closely when that scene first starts, you'll see that the suction-cup thing Doc puts on Marty's forehead was originally on the top of Copernicus's head. Yes, before Marty showed up, Doc was trying to read his dog's mind.
  • Marty exasperatedly tugging the suction-cup thing off is pretty funny on its own.
  • After Marty desperately shouts through the closed door detailing how Doc injured his head, Doc re-opens the door and gives him this look.
  • Doc's reaction to learning who will be President in 1985.
    1955 Doc: Who's President of the United States in 1985?
    Marty: Ronald Reagan.
    Doc: Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who's Vice President? Jerry Lewis?! I suppose Jane Wyman is the First Lady! And Jack Benny is Secretary of the Treasury!
    • When the film was being screened at the White House, Reagan made the projectionist stop the film and replay that scene because he thought the joke was hilarious.
    • When Marty shows Doc his "portable television studio" (camcorder), Doc seems to come around about the idea of Reagan being President:
      Doc: No wonder your president is an actor; he needs to look good on television!
  • "ONE POINT TWENTY-ONE GIGAWATTS!?" (pronounced jigga-watt)
    • Marty (running after him): "What the hell is a gigawatt?!"
    • Doc briefly losing it and yelling at a portrait of Tom Edison.
    • "I'm sure in 1985, plutonium is available in every corner drugstore, but in 1955, it's a little hard to come by!"
  • The hilariously awkward photo of Marty, Dave, and Linda. Dave's standing there wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt and waving like a huge dork; Linda is wearing those ridiculous 80's leggings and that big pink bow thing; and Marty has a half-hearted smile on his face that basically says "I really, really wish I wasn't here right now".
  • The scene where Marty and Doc arrive to the school in 1955.
    Marty: Whoa. They really cleaned this place up! Looks brand-new.note 
    Doc: Now, remember. According to my theory, you interfered with your parents' first meeting. If they don't meet, they won't fall in love, they won't get married, and they won't have kids. That's why your older brother's disappearing from that photograph. Your sister will follow, and unless you repair the damage, you'll be next!
    Marty: Sounds pretty heavy.
    Doc: [baffled] Weight has nothing to do with it!
    • A Woolseyism greatly improves this line in French. Marty's "heavy" is translated with an expression ("C'est pas le pied") which literally means "this ain't the foot", leading to the predictable retort:
    Doc: No, the head goes first, I tell you!
    • And a little later on this happens, because Marty and Doc are still having confusion about the definition of "heavy":
    Marty: Whoa, wait a minute, Doc, are you trying to tell me that my mother...has got the hots for me?
    Doc: Precisely.
    Marty: Whoa, this is heavy!
    Doc: There's that word again, "heavy." Why are things so heavy in the future? Is there a problem with the Earth's gravitational pull?
    Marty: [just as baffled as Doc] What?
  • When Marty and 1955 Doc go looking for Marty's father.
    Doc: Now, which one's your pop?
    Marty: [with a grimaced expression, raises his arm, one finger pointed off-camera] That's him.
    [We see that he's pointing at Biff's gang, who are surrounding George, mercilessly kicking him as George cheerfully tries to go along with it and begs them to stop, due to a piece of paper taped to his back reading "KICK ME"]
    Doc: [with a somber expression on his face] Maybe you were adopted...
    [Strickland walks in as Biff's gang leave George a wreck]
    Strickland: McFly.
    Marty: Hey, that's Strickland! Je-sus, didn't that guy ever have hair?
    Strickland: Shape up, man! [tears the "Kick Me" sheet off George's back] You're a slacker! Do you want to be a slacker for the rest of your life?
    George: No.
    Doc: [dumbfounded] What did your mother ever see in that kid?
    Marty: I don't know, Doc. I guess she felt sorry for him when her dad hit him with the car....hit me with the car. [rubs bump on the back of his head]
    Doc: That's the Florence Nightingale Effect. It happens in hospitals when nurses fall in love with their patients. Go to it, kid!
  • A Deleted Scene that's viewable in the various DVD and Blu-Ray releases:
    Marty: You know, [his Fake Danger Gambit] is the kind of thing that could screw me up permanently. What if I go back to the future and I end up bein'... gay?
    1955 Doc: Why shouldn't you be happy?
    • Another deleted scene (before the scene of Marty pointing George out to Doc) shows Marty peeking into a classroom window and seeing Lorraine cheating on a test. She's then seen telling her friends that she got an F anyways.
      • Even funnier is a joke version of the scene, in which Michael J. Fox shows up in a tank top, a hairnet, and a cigarette, and acts like a stereotypical Latino thug.
        LatinoThug!Marty: Eh, puto! There she is, mang, there's the bitch! [looks through the window] Cheatin', mang... SUNUVA BITCH, SHE CHEATIN', MANG! [bangs on door] EH, BITCH!! No homeboy for her tonight, mang.
      • Made even funnier when you see that Fox is visibly cracking up as they film it. And you can hear the crew laughing as well. But Christopher Lloyd amazingly keeps a straight face throughout.
  • "So why don't you make like a tree... and get outta here?". One of Biff's goons clearly rolls his eyes at this.
    • Strickland looking ready to intervene at any moment, only to be distracted by somebody throwing a paper plane.
  • Marty's first attempt at introducing George to Lorraine all but fails. George leans on the school locker casually, but Lorraine is so focused on Marty that she simply sees right through him and walks up to him instead. Leaving George awkwardly standing around before walking off.
  • When figuring out how to find a social event for his parents to meet and kiss, Marty replies to Doc's question of what they like to do for fun together with a realization of "Nothing."
  • Doc's penchant for using big words when smaller words could easily suffice, such as calling the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance "A rhythmic ceremonial ritual".
  • Marty's plan for getting George to ask Lorraine out:
    • "My name is Darth Vader! I am an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan!"
    • Not to mention Marty using a Walkman with a Van Halen tape as an Agony Beam, and in the extended version of the scene (available on the 25th anniversary DVD) passing off a hairdryer as a brain-melting gun. And the Brick Joke that Marty knocks George out with chloroform, and in the next scene, George says he missed school because he overslept.
    • The unwanted attention George draws from a passing couple as he babbles on to Marty about "Vader" threatening to melt his brain, with Marty just barely keeping him quiet about the unlikely encounter.
      Marty: Look, let's keep this brain-melting stuff to ourselves, okay?
  • Marty's little quip after he tries to get George to ask Lorraine out, only for George to tell him wildly that his mind is blank.
    Marty: Jesus, George, it's a wonder I was even born.
    George: What?
  • Marty is talking with George while trying, and failing, to twist open a glass Pepsi bottle (twist off bottle caps haven't been introduced yet). George finally gets frustrated with watching this and grabs the bottle from Marty, popping the top off with a nearby wall-mounted bottle opener and handing it back to him.
  • George makes his attempt to ask Lorraine out while she's at Lou's for milkshakes. He orders one to calm his nerves first.
    George: Lou, give me a milk! [dramatic pause] Chocolate!
    • And the outtake where the glass slides too close to the edge of the counter, bouncing off Crispin Glover's hand and ricocheting to the floor.
    • "I'm your density." Just the way George awkwardly approaches Lorraine, holding his notebook out halfway over the table, and then Lorraine and her friends staring blankly at him as he breathes, "My density... has popped me to you." And she responds with a Flat "What".
    • Doubles as heartwarming when George finally gets it right and says "My destiny", only for Lorraine to respond with a soft "Oh..." and the most adorable smile ever. At least until Marty unintentionally upstages George with the skateboard chase that leads to Biff and his cronies getting humiliated.
    • Also heartwarming in the IDW comic series where he repeats it to Lorraine when they're already dating in the late 50s, and they both laugh about it.
  • When Biff and his gang are about to slam into the manure truck, they all shout in unison, "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!"
    • And afterwards, when Goldie Wilson reaches the car, he takes one sniff and his reaction is one of "Whoo! That is disgusting!"
  • Pretty much any of Doc's facial expressions throughout the trilogy. Christopher Lloyd's naturally overly-expressive eyes only make it better when he takes Doc's hamminess up to eleven.
    • A notable example is when the flaming wind-up car runs off the table and heads straight towards a bin overflowing with old rags soaked in flammable chemicals. Even though his eyes are covered by his goggles, his reaction is priceless. Merely typing "huh!" doesn't even begin to cover the emotion Lloyd conveys in that second. It's more like "YHHHUUUAH!"
      Marty: [deadpan] You're really instilling me with a lot of confidence, Doc.
    • This is after he has apologized (quite seriously) for the "crudity" of the model he's built because he hasn't made it to scale or painted it. It is otherwise a large and absolutely flawless model of the area around the clock tower, and as detailed as a miniature film set.
  • After the manure truck incident, Doc and Marty work out how they're going to get George and Lorraine together, as well as their plan for how to get the lightning bolt to power the flux capacitor...and then Lorraine turns up at Doc's house, having followed Marty here, to tell Marty that a real man stands up for the woman he loves.note  As she's saying this, Doc leans forward onto the covered DeLorean in a Head Desk. From the look on Doc's face, the whole time he is clearly thinking "this is bad, this is really bad, this is really, really bad".
  • The entire sequence of Marty explaining the parking lot plan in detail, as he has to tell George that he's going to basically molest Lorraine to get her upset with him, and how visibly uncomfortable he is with the idea of it, but it gets better when George runs up gesticulating wildly with his mother's bra in one hand, saying "You mean you're gonna touch her on her-?!". And Marty interrupts George while yanking the bra out of his hands, like he wants to avoid thinking about groping his own mother where possible.
  • Marty's insistence on George swearing when he opens the car door to 'save' Lorraine.
    George: Do you really think I ought to swear?
    Marty: Yes, definitely. Goddammit, George, swear!
    • From the same scene, Marty's Freudian Slip when he's going over the plan with George. His execution in rescuing the situation by quickly replacing the word "Dad" with "Daddy-O" is priceless.
    • And in a Deleted Scene, Marty tells George to punch him in the stomach for practice. George ends up giving him the most pathetic, weenie-ish little tap ever.
      George: There! That was good! She'll believe that. I know she will, I'm fine.
      • Which, of course, makes it all the more awesome when George finally grows a pair and damn-near takes Biff's head off with one punch.
  • Marty's confrontation with Biff when he shows up to toss George out. The way he towers over Marty who has just casually tripped him up in the cafe, the camera catching a glimpse of Marty's classically scared face (just watch his eyes) as it happens (the fact that he's barely able to see over Biff's shoulders shows it is hilarious). Marty then quickly pulls the oldest trick in the book by pointing at something behind Biff, punching him in the face when he's distracted, and then taking off. Doubles as Moment of Awesome.
    Lorraine: That's Calvin Klein! Oh my God, he's such a dream!
    • It doesn't help Marty's case when he punches Biff, because instead of noticing George, Lorraine gets even more lovesick with Marty than before.
      Lorraine: He's an absolute DREAM.
  • The Hypocritical Humor scene when Marty swipes the booze flask from Lorraine has a gag reel outtake: The prop crew secretly put real booze in it. Cue a real spit-take from an unsuspecting Michael J. Fox. Lea Thompson was in on it, judging from her amused expression and the inference that she had to take a nip from it in that scene before Michael.
    • In a magazine interview from 2015, Thompson actually pointed out that was her favorite scene to shoot, because everyone was in on it except Fox, and she comments that he was so tired from filming the movie and Family Ties at the same time that he probably wanted to just actually drink it in peace.
  • Marty reflexively jerking his face around to stare at Lorraine, horrified, when she dismisses his criticism of her smoking by saying he sounds like her mother (Marty's grandmother). And then Lorraine removes her jacket while Marty's head is turned around once more. When he turns back and sees his mother wearing a dress that shows off a lot of skin, he reflexively looks away with a "goddammit" look on his face.
  • Lorraine instantly backing off Marty after she tries to kiss him, instinctively feeling that it's wrong. "I can't explain it. It's like kissing...my brother."
  • Marty's cover of "Johnny B. Goode": Not the performance itself or the EPIC guitar solo, but everybody's reactions to it. The band give him concerned looks and gradually stop playing their instruments as Marty goes into a full-blown heavy metal solo (complete with playing his guitar behind his head, kicking over the amplifier, and flailing around on the floor), and when he is done, he opens his eyes...to see the audience silently staring at him like he's a lunatic. (And Strickland slowly stops covering his ears).
  • Marty explains that the plan to get his mother and father back together worked like a charm, even Biff was laid out in one punch. His father never stood up to him in his life. Doc contemplates this for a moment on how it might affect history, then shrugs it off. Seeing as he was so adamant about not changing history, it comes off as "Well, serves him right."
    • Fridge Brilliance: You could easily point to that moment as Doc working it out that Marty just had HIS life altered via George standing up to Biff, and there were seemingly no dire consequences. So he figures "What the hell?" and eventually pieces together Marty's letter of warning.
    • Also, Doc had seen how pathetic George really was, so he believes it might be for the best.
    • And, of course, the picture having everyone in it that it's supposed to, proves that whatever else happens, Marty has fixed things enough so that he will exist.
  • At the climax of the movie, Marty is about to set off in the DeLorean to get back to 1985. The car, of course, fails on him at this moment. After trying and trying to get it to start up, Marty finally loses it and bangs his head against the steering wheel in a fit of rage...which starts up the engine again. Marty's wide eyes and Adorkable gasp at this is hilarious.
  • A branch falls and disconnects the cable meant to bring the lightning bolt from the clock tower to the DeLorean to send Marty home. Doc climbs up the clock tower to reattach it, only for it to fall just short of the plug due to the branch's weight. Doc gives the cable a good yank... and the cable disconnects from the plug at the other end, back on the ground. Doc's scream is a perfect combination of Oh, Crap! and You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!
  • After Marty says goodbye to George and Lorraine at the dance, he starts to leave before quickly turning around and telling them that if they ever have a son who accidentally sets the living room rug on fire when he's eight years old (with hand gestures for emphasis on "accidentally"), they should go easy on him.
    George: [with a confused chuckle] Okay.
    • Right before then, as he says goodbye, he says to Lorraine, "It's been... educational."
  • Marty's adventures mean that he is ultimately named after himself.
    Lorraine: Marty.. such a nice name.
  • The Sequel Hook, with Marty and Jennifer piling into the DeLorean with Doc. Watch Jennifer's wide-eyed reaction to it all, and consider that, at this point, she has no friggin' idea what is going on.

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