Back To The Future Secretly Told You Its Ending In The First 5 Seconds Of The Movie

Back to the Future has one of the most well-known and iconic movie endings, and the first five seconds of the 1985 film secretly gave it away. Doc and Marty McFly’s time-traveling adventure has become a classic, with many of its scenes instantly recognizable to anyone who grew up watching it. Back to the Future has no shortage of memorable quotes and moments, many of which hold up surprisingly well decades after its release.

Among the most iconic images from the 1985 movie is Doc dangling from the clock tower while he and Marty attempt to transport the latter back into the future. The Hilly Valley Courthouse and Clock Tower plays a significant role in their efforts, as it gets struck by lightning just a week after Marty arrives in 1955 — something he knows from learning about the Hill Valley Lightning Storm in his present-day timeline. Marty and Doc use the lightning-struck tower to channel the power required to send Marty through time. And Doc nearly falls off the fixture in the process, something the opening scene of Back to the Future subtly teases.

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Doc Brown Hanging From The Clock Tower Is In Back To The Future’s Opening Scene

Back to the Future opens with a credits sequence that pans over a number of clocks, as well as a television report discussing stolen Plutonium, before the movie shifts its focus to Marty McFly. Eagle-eyed viewers will notice that one clock from this Back to the Future scene features a man hanging off the front of it — an image that’s strikingly similar to Doc’s position at the end of the movie. This opener offers a clear depiction of what’s to come, but viewers won’t realize it until after they’ve sat through Marty and Doc’s story in its entirety.

Dropping this detail within the first few seconds of the film is a clever way of foreshadowing Back to the Future‘s ending without fully giving it away. The many clocks shown during the opening moments also establish the main theme of the movie: time. That on its own makes this scene a winner, but several other details are just as thoughtfully placed.

Back To The Future’s Opening Scene Perfectly Sets Up The Entire Movie

The clocks in Back to the Future‘s opening sequence perfectly set up the movie’s main storyline, but they aren’t the only detail that works toward that end. The TV report about the Plutonium is crucial to the plot, as Doc stole the Plutonium for his experiment, setting the events of Back to the Future into motion. The shift to Marty also effectively establishes what kind of character he is within seconds. By showing the guitar and skateboard, Back to the Future gives viewers a sense of who Marty McFly is, while everything around him teases the journey he’s about to embark on.