The Back To The Future Detail That Fans Find Worrying
Most iconic movie franchises are filled with standout scenes and memorable quotes fans love to repeatedly revisit and scrutinize. The Back To The Future trilogy is no different. The beloved time travel series is packed with iconic lines and small details that fans still might miss after several re-watchings, but there's one line from the first film in the trilogy that has some fans worried about its connotation.
After Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels back in time to 1955 he tracks down his teenage father, George. Marty spots his dad up in a tree using binoculars to spy on his teenage mom, Lorraine. After Marty realizes his dad is a Peeping Tom, George falls from the tree, landing on the street below. Marty quickly pushes George out of the way of an oncoming car, letting himself get hit and falling to the ground in the process.
As George runs away, the driver, who we soon discover is Marty's grandfather, says to his wife, "Stella! Another one of these damn kids jumped in front of my car!"
How many kids has Marty's grandfather hit with his car?
As Reddit user toksic316 points out, "Lorraine's dad is a bad driver so, how many kids has Lorraine's dad hit with his car?" The question is a valid one, as the quote implies that there have been several kids prior to George who have jumped in front of his car, and who he's subsequently hit.
An even better question the Reddit user brings up is whether Lorraine's father is increasing his hit count because of his bad driving or because there are more Peeping Toms like George who happen to be using the tree for the same nefarious purposes.
Earlier in the film, 1985 Lorraine recounts the story of how she and George met when her father hit him with the car. "I don't understand what dad was doing in the middle of the street," Marty's sisters says. "What was it George, bird watching?" Lorraine asks George. George immediately gets nervous and avoids answering.
We find out George was watching her from a tree, but now, because of Lorraine's father's comment we have two lingering questions to which we may never know the answers: Was Lorraine's father a terrible driver who was constantly hitting kids or were there just a constant flow of peeping Toms falling from that tree?