'Back To The Future's Screenwriter Explains The Biggest Plot Hole

Ah, Back To The Future. The movie where a young boy who’s pretty cool but has no friends for some reason seems to hang out with an old geezer all the time who then zaps him back to the ‘50s where his mom wants to bang him and his dad is a creepy Peeping Tom with terrible self-esteem. It’s the perfect movie, apparently.

Don’t get us wrong, Back To The Future is entertaining as heck, but it’s not all as perfect as some would proclaim. Even though it totally is. It’s quantum physics, it both is and isn’t. Or, as James Gunn so eloquently tweeted once:

It’s an issue many have pondered over the years: How in the world would George and Lorraine McFly not remember Marty (or Calvin Klein, as they knew him back in the '50s)? The kid literally brought the two of them together, and we don’t reckon that’s a face you forget, either. Oh dear, oh no … we just realized that Lorraine must probably be dealing with some super gross subconscious shenanigans seeing her teenage son grow up. 

Fret not (us, apparently), for co-writer Bob Gale offered an explanation for all this in 2020:

"Bear in mind that George and Lorraine only knew Marty/Calvin for eight days when they were 17, and they did not even see him every one of those eight days. So, many years later, they still might remember that interesting kid who got them together on their first date. But I would ask anyone to think back on their own high school days and ask themselves how well they remember a kid who might have been at their school for even a semester. Or someone you went out with just one time. If you had no photo reference, after 25 years, you'd probably have just a hazy recollection."

Fair point. High school was a haze and everyone pretty much looked like a different shape of a potato. It should also be mentioned that when parents have kids, their brains totally change. There is not time, there is only child. George and Lorraine probably wouldn’t even think about making the connection between their son’s familiar features and the cheeks of the guy who literally rocked their world for a week back in high school. 

At least, George wouldn’t.

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Top Image: Universal Pictures