Image: Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment
About This Quiz
It's been 35 years since we met Marty McFly ... or has it been 65 years? Guess it depends on whether you're talking about the release date of the first "Back to the Future" or the year 1955, where McFly eventually found himself!
It's not even really fair to call "Back to the Future" a movie, is it? What it was, when it was released in 1985 (that year's highest-grossing film, by the way) was a cultural phenomenon. In the years that followed, two additional movies featuring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd were released, a ride at Universal Studios Florida was built, and we were inundated with movie memorabilia, from toys to T-shirts. Since a co-producer of the original film, Bob Gale, has said there will never be a "Back to the Future" reboot, we suppose we'll just have to live in the past to get our ... "future" fix. (Yeah, it's confusing to us, too.)
Are you the ultimate "Back to the Future" fan? Would you gladly hop in that DeLorean and travel back in time? (We might, but this time with better hair and a little more common sense.) Challenge yourself with this quiz of movie quotes, packed with 1.21 gigawatts of fun!
"Sorry, I'll play something else."
"What about a ballad?"
"Any requests?"
"But your kids are gonna love it."
Marty's guitar solo is very 1980s ... and less 1950s ... which is why he draws confused looks from those listening in. Funny how musical styles change! His quote is a reference to that fact.
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Goodness
Charles
Day
Scott
It's an unusual exclamation, for sure, but it's one of the quotes most closely associated with the "Back to the Future" franchise. Many have tried to trace the origins of this saying through history, but without a singular explanation.
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"Where we’re going, we don’t need roads."
Before getting into the DeLorean, Doc Brown utters this classic "Back to the Future" phrase to Marty. Marty and Doc are headed for 2015, a time Doc thinks that roads will have gone by the wayside. Boy, we bet he was disappointed!
"I thought we were flying!"
"You think I'd let you drive this thing?"
"What do you mean, 'roads?'"
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"Doesn't know my father?"
"Isn't who I thought?"
"Has got the hots for me?"
This quote only works in "Back to the Future"; otherwise, it's just creepy. Marty goes back to the future (duh) and interacts with his mother, surprised to discover that she may have developed a bit of a crush on him. Oops.
"Thinks I'm her husband?"
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"Let's be dense together."
"You're my density."
"I mean, your destiny."
George approaches Lorraine and a group of her friends in a diner and finds himself a little flummoxed as he tries to explain to her that he's her, um, destiny. We still think it's a sweet scene, though.
"See how dense I am?"
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"A car go that fast, Marty."
"That type of vest."
"A grown man cry."
"Purple underwear before, Calvin."
Lorraine says, "I've never seen purple underwear before, Calvin," although it's not "Calvin" she's talking to, but Marty. A quirky mixup has her thinking that her future son goes by another name altogether.
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"You know how to put on pants."
"You're even breathing."
"I was ever born."
Marty's advice to George in this scenario is to be natural and say "the first thing that comes to your mind." When George responds, "Nothing's coming to my mind," Marty delivers this quote: "Jesus, George, it's a wonder I was ever born."
"You ever got a date to begin with."
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"Out of a DeLorean?"
We don't know if Michael J. Fox's character is more impressed that Doc built a time machine or that he managed to build it out of a DeLorean. Honestly, if we had a time machine, we wouldn't care if it were a cardboard box.
"Like, real time travel?"
"And didn't tell anybody?"
"Out of the parts I gave you?"
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"If they don't dance, I wasted all this time for nothing."
"If they don’t dance, they don’t kiss and fall in love, and I’m history."
Marty is worried about himself here with this quote, trying to make sure that his dad and mom in the past dance, kiss and fall in love so that he can be born many years later. Is it weird that he's playing matchmaker for his parents?
"If they don't dance, they don't get their 'happily ever after.'"
"If they don't dance, then I'm going to!"
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"And battled Anakin Skywalker right in front of me."
"And told me that if I didn’t take Lorraine out, that he’d melt my brain."
This quote is part of a chat between George McFly and Marty, as George agrees to Marty's plan. Marty's response: "Yeah, well, let's keep this brain melting stuff to ourselves, OK?"
"And told me that time travel is only permissible for aliens and rogues."
"And gave me his lightsaber for safekeeping."
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"You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too."
Mr. Strickland is pretty grumpy, isn't he? After telling Marty he has an attitude problem and he's going to end up in big trouble, he follows it up with this quote: "You're a slacker. You remind me of your father when he went here. He was a slacker, too."
"Get off my lawn! You're just like your dad."
"As I expected! I knew your father."
"Get out of my class! You take after your dad."
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"It's gonna explode!"
"You're gonna see some serious sh*t!"
He was a colorful one, that Doc. In this scene, he's explaining the logistics of transporting "back to the future" to Marty. Then the DeLorean hits 88 miles per hour and vanishes from the parking lot.
"You'll be blasted 88 years back!"
"Well, I don't know what'll happen!"
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"All your dreams will come true."
"A DeLorean is the finest vehicle around."
"Plutonium is available in every corner drugstore."
Oh, Doc, if only! He was so convinced that 1985 was going to have all the goods (like plutonium?!). He finished the quote with, "But in 1955, it's a little hard to come by." Hey, Doc, it's 2020, and we still can't buy plutonium at Walgreens — sorry!
"Scientists will appreciate my discovery."
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"Why not do it with some style?"
Doc's big idea of style? The DeLorean ... at least, that's what he told Marty. The scientist's reasoning was that if you're going to turn a car into a time machine, you might as well go all out. Of course, we're not sure the DeLorean is our idea of style ...
"Why not pick the world's biggest piece of junk?"
"Why not choose a convertible?"
"Why not add some rocket blasters?"
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"A gigawatt?"
1.21 gigawatts! That's what Doc needed to power his time machine. According to scientists, that's a whole lot of power — enough, in fact, to supply power to an entire medium-sized city. Whoa.
"A terabyte?"
"A kilogram?"
"A siriometer?"
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"And leave?"
"And get out of here?"
We hope this wasn't a trick question! Of course, most people would say, "Why don't you make like a tree and leave?" (Get it? Tree? Leaves?) Biff wasn't too sharp, though. This confused quote is one of the more famous taglines associated with his character.
"And blow away?"
"And hit it?"
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"What's weighing you down?"
"If it's heavy, you gotta let go of it, man!"
"It's not heavy; it's science!"
"Is there a problem with the Earth’s gravitational pull?"
Once upon a time, teenagers (in particular) used to use the word "heavy" as a way of saying "That's intense." In this instance, Doc just doesn't get it. He takes the idea of "heavy" way too literally.
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"Ronald Reagan? Why would anybody vote for him?"
"Ronald Reagan? The actor? Then who’s vice president? Jerry Lewis?"
Ronald Reagan started out as an actor, which would most likely make it hard for someone from the 1950s to picture him climbing to the presidency. Doc is one such person, demonstrating his disbelief of the comment by adding actor/comedian Jerry Lewis as vice president.
"Ronald Reagan? I had him pegged as a circus performer."
"Ronald Reagan? The Ronald Reagan from 'Bedtime for Bonzo'?"
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"Why are you wearing another man's clothes?"
"It’s written all over your underwear."
Ah, the days before we wore designers' names all over our clothing. Lorraine is convinced that Marty's real name is Calvin Klein, since it's printed all over his underwear. Wonder what she would've thought of Mark Wahlberg?
"I saw it on your belt."
"That's what your shirt says, anyway."
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"It'll all fall apart."
"The car will reappear."
"We'll all be burned up."
"Everything will be fine."
What an explanation! We're sure Marty's hands were trembling on this one. Such specific instructions! Marty has to "hit that wire with the connecting hook at precisely 88 miles per hour the instant the lightning strikes the tower" so that "everything will be fine." No pressure!
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"Raising cattle as friends."
"Farming for food."
"Building an airport."
"Breeding pine trees."
Just before this quote, Doc was saying, "Things have certainly changed around here. I remember when this was all farmland as far as the eye can see." Turns out, Old Man Peabody had a thing for pine trees!
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"The bad guy."
"Chicken."
There's one thing that burns Marty McFly's biscuits, and it's being called a chicken, apparently. Anytime someone disses him with this term, he just has to combat the situation head-on.
"A coward."
"Marty."
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"Quantum physics!"
"The Rubik's Cube!"
"Women!"
Boy, if Doc thinks that time travel is dangerous, just wait until he gets a load of women! We're kidding. Kind of. We are laughing at Doc's thought process, though. Women may not be dangerous, but they sure are complex!
"Gravity!"
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"We have to go back to 1955."
Doc pops up just as Marty is about to meet an untimely end in "Back to the Future Part II." As he climbs into the DeLorean, Marty utters this quote. Doc, not surprisingly, is not shocked at all.
"We have to go back to 2015."
"We have to get out of here!"
"We have to hide this car!"
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"Battleship."
Biff is always good for a laugh. This time he confuses the quote, "That's about as funny as a screen door on a submarine," which is submerged in water, with "That's about as funny as a screen door on a battleship."
"Submarine."
"Prison cell."
"Locked house."
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"Worse than a wild animal."
"Can't be fixed. It's a permanent condition."
"You're not an idiot. Are you?"
"His parents are probably idiots, too."
Lorraine's father is pulling no punches with this one. Little does he know that the "idiot" is actually his family ... from the future! Lorraine's mother is much kinder, calling him a "very strange young man."
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"What's a Pepsi?"
"Get it yourself."
"You're gonna pay for it."
Marty knows all about Pepsi Free, a caffeine-free soda around in the 1980s, but his circa-1950s soda jerk doesn't. The exchange is comical because he thinks Marty's after a "free" Pepsi.
"We only got Coke."
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"Plutonium!"
Doc needs plutonium to power his DeLorean time machine. As we saw earlier, Doc thinks the 1980s will have plutonium on every drugstore shelf. Today, plutonium is used to power things like nuclear power plants ... and bombs.
"Thorium!"
"Uranium!"
"Caffeine!"
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"As heavy as the Earth, sir!"
"It's actually quite light, McFly!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Weight has nothing to do with it."
Here's that word "heavy" again! Doc Brown still hasn't gotten the hang of this saying in "Back to the Future." Anytime it's brought up, as in this case, he equates it to weight. His response? "Weight has nothing to do with it."
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"It's highly complicated and dangerous!"
"Unfortunately, you never know when or where it's ever gonna strike."
Doc is explaining where he's going to come up with the gigawatts he needs, telling Marty it can only come from a bolt of lightning. And, as you know, "You never know when or where it's ever gonna strike."
"At the appropriate time and location."
"Unfortunately, it's probably going to kill one of us ... or both."
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"I see that it was meant to be."
"That was so stupid! Grandpa hit him with the car!"
Hitting someone with your car is one way to meet somebody, although we wouldn't recommend it. It's still pretty funny, considering how it happened. Lorraine is trying to be helpful, but she doesn't realize what she's said.
"You guys have known each other since the Dark Ages."
"But I was never locked in a tower, Mom."
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"At least, I think it's your kids."
"Something's got to be done about your kids!"
Doc pops up on Marty and Jennifer in "Back to the Future Part II" as the pair are preparing to take a ride in Marty's new truck. He comes with an offer Marty can't refuse — to go back to the future — because, as the quote says, "Something's got to be done about your kids!"
"Do you know where they are?"
"They've gone back to the future!"
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"Who wants to know?"
"Why don't you tell me your name first?"
"Eastwood. Clint Eastwood."
In a "Bond. James Bond" type of delivery, Marty thinks quickly and responds to the men in the bar with "Eastwood. Clint Eastwood." Reportedly, Eastwood himself was asked for permission to use his name in the film.
"Marty's my name; party's my game."
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"Your future is your past and your past is your future. Got it?"
"Your future is whatever you make it. So make it a good one."
Doc Brown for the win, with the sage life advice! Sure, this one technically comes from "Back to the Future Part III," but it's just wise in general. Maybe we'll put this one on our mirror ...
"Your future starts in the past, so you better get back there and fix it!"
"Your future is all in your hands, so what are you gonna do about it, kid?"
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"Nope. One way in, one way out."
"Yeah, it's in the back."
Well, thank you very much, Captain Obvious! Of course, the back door is in the back. "Back to the Future Part III" is set in the year 1885, when the Wild West rules ... and Doc and Marty find themselves in a pickle once again!
"Not for you, bucko!"
"Who wants to know?"
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You Got:
/35
