After returning from his first time-traveling adventure, Marty McFly is whisked away by Doc Brown to the year 2015 to prevent his future son from making a catastrophic mistake. But their mission goes awry when old Biff Tannen steals the DeLorean time machine and travels back to 1955 to give his younger self a sports almanac containing the results of every major sporting event for decades. Returning to 1985, Marty and Doc discover a nightmarish alternate reality where Biff is powerful, corrupt, and married to Marty's mother, forcing them to jump back in time once more to repair the timeline without creating a paradox.
Information |
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Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
November 22, 1989 |
Running time |
108 minutes |
Genre |
Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy |
Budget |
$40,000,000 |
Box Office |
$332,000,000 |
Crew |
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Directed by |
Robert Zemeckis |
Produced by |
Bob Gale Neil Canton |
Written by |
Robert Zemeckis Bob Gale |
Music by |
Alan Silvestri |
Cinematography |
Dean Cundey |
Edited by |
Arthur Schmidt Harry Keramidas |
Production Co. |
Universal Pictures Amblin Entertainment |
Distributed by |
Universal Pictures |
Top Cast |
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Official Trailer |
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Movie Collection |
Movie Order: #02 in Back to the Future Collection
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The Plot
The Mission to 2015
Picking up exactly where the previous adventure left off on the morning of October 26, 1985, Marty McFly and Doc Brown depart from Marty's house in the DeLorean time machine. They travel thirty years forward to the year 2015 with the urgent mission of stopping Marty's future children from destroying their lives. Because Jennifer Parker witnessed the time machine’s departure, Doc decides she must come along, though unaware that Biff Tannen has accidentally witnessed their takeoff while coming out to show Marty a new matchbook for his auto detailing business. Upon arriving on a skyway on October 21, 2015, Jennifer becomes overwhelmed with questions about her future. Adhering to his firm belief that no one should know too much about their own destiny, Doc uses a device to tranquilize her, putting her to sleep so she won't interfere with the mission.
Doc lands the DeLorean in an alleyway adjacent to Courthouse Square, where they leave the sleeping Jennifer safely hidden behind trash cans. Doc explains the grim future: Marty's son, Marty Jr., is destined to be coerced by Griff Tannen—Biff’s cybernetically enhanced grandson—into joining a robbery. The heist is foiled, Marty Jr. is arrested, and his sister Marlene later attempts a jailbreak that ruins her life as well. Doc’s plan is simple: Marty will impersonate his son at the Cafe 80's and refuse Griff's offer. Marty enters the retro-themed cafe and successfully encounters Griff, but the plan nearly falls apart when the real Marty Jr. wanders in. When Marty refuses the job, Griff calls him "chicken," a taunt that instantly enrages Marty. A fight breaks out, leading to a chaotic chase reminiscent of the 1955 skateboard pursuit.
The Hoverboard Chase and the Almanac
Fleeing the cafe, Marty grabs a hoverboard from a passing child and takes to the street. Griff and his gang pursue him on their own superior hoverboards, chasing him toward the Courthouse Square. Marty manages to outmaneuver them by gliding over the town pond; when Griff and his gang attempt to follow, their boards lose power over the water. Their momentum sends them crashing through the glass windows of the courthouse, where they are promptly arrested, thus preventing the robbery and changing the timeline for the better. An elderly Biff Tannen witnesses the event, remarking that there is something vaguely familiar about the chase.
With the mission accomplished, Marty spots an antique store selling 20th-century memorabilia. Remembering his father's struggles, he purchases Grays Sports Almanac 1950-2000, intending to place a few bets in the past to make extra money. When he returns to the DeLorean, Doc discovers the book and furiously throws it into a trash bin, lecturing Marty that he did not invent the time machine for financial gain. Unbeknownst to them, Old Biff has been eavesdropping. He retrieves the almanac from the trash and realizes that Doc Brown built a time machine. As Doc and Marty move to retrieve Jennifer, they discover she has been found by two police officers. Identifying her via thumbprint, the officers assume she is the 2015 Jennifer who has collapsed, and they escort her to her future home in Hilldale. Doc and Marty frantically follow, fearing a paradox if she meets her future self.
A Paradox in Hilldale
While Doc and Marty rush to Hilldale, Old Biff seizes the unattended DeLorean and steals it to travel back in time. Meanwhile, Jennifer wakes up inside her future home and hides in a closet, witnessing the bleak reality of the McFly family. She learns that the 2015 Marty is a miserable, washed-up office worker who gave up his musical dreams after permanently injuring his hand in a car accident involving a Rolls-Royce—an accident caused because he was goaded into a street race. She watches as future Marty receives a video call from his coworker, Douglas J. Needles, who pressures him into an illegal business scheme involving his CusCo credit card. When Needles calls him "chicken," Marty caves and agrees. Immediately, their boss, Ito T. Fujitsu ("The Jitz"), interrupts the call to announce he has been monitoring the transaction. He terminates Marty on the spot, sending a fax that reads "YOU'RE FIRED!!!" to every machine in the house.
Doc arrives in the neighborhood and tries to intercept Jennifer. As she attempts to escape the house, she encounters her 2015 self coming through the front door. The shock of the meeting causes both women to point at one another and scream, "I'm old!" and "I'm young!" before simultaneously fainting. Doc retrieves the younger Jennifer, while Marty is briefly distracted by the futuristic neighborhood. During this window, Old Biff returns with the DeLorean, parking it exactly where he found it. As he exits the vehicle, he clutches his chest in agony, breaking the head off his cane and leaving it inside the car before collapsing and vanishing behind a vehicle—a side effect of having drastically altered his own past. Oblivious to Biff's interference, Doc and Marty head back to 1985, with Doc vowing to destroy the time machine once they are home.
The Nightmare of 1985A
Upon returning to what they believe is their 1985, they leave Jennifer on her porch swing. However, Marty quickly notices something is wrong: the house has bars on the windows. He tries to enter through the back, but the gate is padlocked. Crawling through his bedroom window, he is terrified to find an unknown African-American family living there. The family chases him out with a baseball bat, believing him to be an intruder. Marty runs through the neighborhood, which is now a dilapidated war zone filled with chalk outlines of murder victims and stray dogs. He encounters his former principal, Mr. Strickland, on a porch. Strickland, wearing a bulletproof vest and wielding a shotgun, does not recognize Marty. When a car of drive-by shooters opens fire on the house, Strickland returns fire, shouting, "Eat lead, slackers!"
Marty flees to the town square, discovering that Hill Valley has become a corrupt, crime-infested wasteland dominated by a massive casino hotel and a toxic waste plant. The center of town features the "Biff Tannen Museum," dedicated to "The Luckiest Man on Earth." Marty watches a documentary explaining that Biff became a billionaire through a streak of impossible gambling wins starting in 1958. Even worse, Biff is now Marty's stepfather. Marty is knocked unconscious by Biff's goons and wakes up in the penthouse of the hotel. He finds his mother, Lorraine, who is now an alcoholic with surgically enlarged breasts, trapped in an abusive marriage with Biff. When Biff enters, a violent argument ensues. Biff threatens to cut off Lorraine's money and send Marty's siblings to jail if she leaves him. When Marty asks where his father George is, Lorraine tearfully reveals that George has been dead for twelve years.
The Divergent Timeline
Marty visits the local cemetery and finds George McFly's tombstone, which confirms he was murdered on March 15, 1973. Doc Brown appears and takes Marty to his lab, explaining the catastrophe. He draws a diagram on a blackboard to illustrate that the timeline skewed into an alternate "1985A" because Old Biff used the time machine to give the sports almanac to his younger self in the past. Doc presents the physical evidence he found in the DeLorean: the bag from the antique store, the receipt for the almanac, and the broken head of Old Biff’s cane. To fix the future, they must return to the past and retrieve the book before Young Biff can use it.
First, they need to know exactly when the handover occurred. Marty confronts the alternate 1985 Biff in his lavish jacuzzi, turning off the movie A Fistful of Dollars to get his attention. Under pressure, Biff arrogantly admits that an old man gave him the almanac on November 12, 1955—the same day as the lightning storm from the first film. Biff explains the old man warned him that "a kid or a crazy wild-eyed scientist" might come for the book someday. Biff pulls a revolver, intending to kill Marty just as he killed George McFly with the same gun. After a tense chase through the hotel stairwell, Biff corners Marty on the roof and tells him to jump. Marty steps off the ledge, landing on the hood of the hovering DeLorean, which Doc has piloted up to rescue him. The DeLorean door swings open, knocking Biff unconscious. They immediately set the time circuits for 1955.
Return to November 12, 1955
Arriving back in 1955, Doc and Marty split up. Marty, disguised in a fedora and sunglasses, tracks the young Biff Tannen. He hides in the back of Biff’s car as Biff argues with a mechanic named Terry about a repair bill, during which Terry mentions the car has a tricky kill-switch. Later, Biff spots Lorraine and tries to harass her, but she rejects him and knocks him down. As Biff recovers, Old Biff from 2015 enters the car. The two Biffs drive to the Tannen garage, where Marty secretly watches the transaction. Old Biff hands over the almanac and demonstrates its power by correctly predicting the winner of a football game on the radio. He warns his younger self to "make like a tree and leave" and never to let the book out of his sight.
Marty is trapped in the garage until nightfall. When Biff leaves for the "Enchantment Under the Sea" dance, Marty follows. The situation is complicated because the "original" Marty from the first movie is also at the dance. Marty must retrieve the almanac without being seen by his other self or disrupting the events that unite his parents. He eventually spots Biff's vice principal, Mr. Strickland, confiscating the almanac. Marty infiltrates Strickland's office to steal it back, only to discover it is merely the dust jacket wrapped around a naughty magazine; Biff still has the real book.
The Battle for the Book
Marty tracks Biff down and witnesses the moment George McFly punches Biff. Taking advantage of Biff’s unconscious state, Marty grabs the almanac. However, Biff’s gang arrives and chases Marty backstage. Marty uses sandbags to knock out the gang members, saving his past self from an ambush. He heads to the roof to meet Doc, but encounters Biff again, who taunts him into a confrontation. Biff snatches the almanac back and drives away. Doc picks Marty up in the DeLorean, and they pursue Biff's car down a tunnel. Using the hoverboard, Marty daringly skims along the road, snatching the almanac from Biff's passenger seat. Biff tries to run him down, but Doc maneuvers the DeLorean to lift Marty to safety. Biff loses control and crashes his convertible into a manure truck—mirroring his accident from the original timeline.
With the almanac finally in his possession, Marty burns it in a bucket. As the pages turn to ash, the changes to the timeline ripple forward, restoring the correct future. Doc and Marty celebrate, but a sudden thunderstorm rages overhead. The DeLorean, hovering in the sky with Doc inside, is struck by a massive bolt of lightning and instantly vanishes, leaving only a pair of fire trails in the sky. Marty is horrified, believing Doc has been killed.
A Message from 1885
Moments after the DeLorean disappears, a Western Union delivery man drives up in the pouring rain. He asks Marty if his name is Marty McFly, explaining that he has a letter that has been waiting in the office for seventy years with explicit instructions to be delivered to a young man at this exact location and minute in 1955. Marty tears open the letter and discovers it is from Doc Brown. The lightning strike didn't kill Doc; it scrambled the time circuits and sent him back to the year 1885. Doc assures Marty he is alive and happy in the Old West.
Realizing his only hope of getting home lies with the 1955 version of Doc Brown, Marty runs back to the town square. He arrives at the clock tower just as the 1955 Doc is celebrating sending the "original" Marty back to 1985. As Doc turns around, cheering his success, he is shocked to see Marty standing there again. Marty says, "Doc, I'm back from the future!" Doc exclaims, "Great Scott!" and faints dead away. Marty kneels beside him, trying to wake him up as the screen fades to "TO BE CONCLUDED..." followed by a trailer for Back to the Future Part III.
