In the first movie’s first scene, while the credits are still appearing and before we even get any dialogue, we’re treated to a long pan shot of the interior of Doc Brown’s house. It’s full of clocks, all ticking and tocking, and all exactly twenty-five minutes late.
Looking closely, one can find a clock that has a man hanging from the minute hand. This is an allusion to the movie “Safety Last” from all the way back in 1923, a romantic silent comedy starring Harold Lloyd. It’s also foreshadowing for the end of the movie, which has Doc Brown hanging from the clock tower in much the same fashion.
Statler's History of Fine Vehicles
"Back to the Future" has plenty of running gags, and a lot of them are due to the changing – or not-so-changing – nature of Hill Valley. Whether we're in the eighties, the fifties, all the way to the year 2015 or all the way back to the eighteen hundreds, some things never change.
One of these gags is the Statler dealership. In 1885 it's Honest Joe Statler's Fine Horses, in 1955 it's Statler Studebaker, during the eighties it's Statler Toyota, and in the far-flung future of 2015, it becomes Statler Pontiac. People always need transportation.
A Nod to Kubrick
No matter what you think of Stanley Kubrick's movies, they have a unique style that sticks with you, and in-jokes to his movies will appear in a lot of other works.
For instance, CRM 114, the huge monitor that blows Marty through a wall at the beginning of "Back to the Future", is a fictional device used in "Dr. Strangelove", and is also the name of an experimental chemical in "A Clockwork Orange", two well-known Kubrick films. 114 is seen in lots of different films, such as "Star Wars" or "Men in Black", as a geeky reference to Kubrick or film history in general.
Have You Heard the News?
Huey Lewis and the News is a beloved band that contributed plenty of music to the films, including “The Power of Love” from the first film. He also makes an appearance in the first film as a school teacher during Marty's audition for the school's battle of the bands.
Amusingly, Marty and his band (“The Pinheads”) choose a Huey Lewis and the News song to play. Huey Lewis stands up, brings a megaphone to his lips, and tells the band they were “too darn loud.” If you either didn't recognize Lewis or the song, it might have gone over your head.
Recognizing the Assistant
There are lots and lots of details that will take repeated viewings to catch. One of them is a shout out from executive producer Frank Marshall to his assistant Mary.
Apparently, Mary was worth it enough for the executive to push a reference in the first film. After Marty's failed audition for the battle of the bands, he and his girlfriend Jennifer are walking down the street and discussing Marty's direction in life, they pass a car that has the license plate “For Mary,” and this is recognized as a nod to Mary Redford, Marshall's personal assistant.