Biff's Ford Super De Luxe Convertible — and its occupants! — covered in manure.
- " Now, as they [Biff and his gang in Biff's car, with Marty holding onto the front end] were about to pass a large manure truck in the same traffic lane, new devilment was added. Match had picked up a beer bottle and was about to throw it at Marty's head. / "Got to get outta here!" he cried. / With that, he leaped up, sending the skateboard forward, under the car, and landed on Biff's hood. With no loss of motion, he bounded over the heads of the four open-mouthed boys, onto the rear deck and off the car, just in time to catch the skateboard as it passed underneath. / "Holy—" Biff wheezed. / So stunned were the four pursuers that all turned in their seats to look at Marty. / A split second later, they felt a crash and were hurled upward as the car roared into the back of the manure truck. Hanging in the air a moment, the convertible tilted forward, pitching Biff and his cohorts into the icky brown mass. "
- —From Back to the Future by George Gipe (quote, pages 179 and 180)
- "Manure! I HATE Manure!"
- —Biff Tannen
Manure was a common product around Hill Valley. The Jones family were the primary suppliers of manure.
History[]
Members of the Tannen family had a tendency of landing or crashing into manure after an interaction, chase and/or fight with Marty McFly.
On November 8, 1955, Marty—who had been sent to 1955 from 1985 by accident—had an altercation with a teenage Biff Tannen and his three stooges in Lou's Cafe, provoking the four teenagers into chasing Marty, who escaped on a makeshift skateboard, in Biff's car, a Ford Super De Luxe Convertible. The chase that took place around Hill Valley Town Square resulted in the convertible crashing into the back of a D. Jones Manure Hauling truck, causing manure to pour into the car.
On November 12, 1955, after Marty and Doc Emmett Brown time-traveled to 1955 from Biffhorrific 1985, Marty had to retake Grays Sports Almanac from Biff to prevent the alternate events of 1985 from ever happening. The chase and fight for the almanac that took place in River Road Tunnel resulted in Marty narrowly escaping with help from Doc and Biff crashing his car into the back of the same manure truck, once again causing manure to pour into the car.
On September 7, 1885, after Marty time-traveled to 1885 from 1955 and prevented a local outlaw Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen from killing Doc, he faced against Buford in a showdown in which Marty defeated Buford by delivering a blow that knocked the outlaw out, causing him to collapse into a A. Jones Manure Hauling cart.
Behind the scenes[]
- According to special effect supervisor Kevin Pike, the manure in the films is not real manure. It was made out of pellets of dirt with vermiculite, fuller's earth, and gardening soil to make it look more like manure.
- Back to the Future was not the first film in which the hero's nemesis was forced to crash into the rear of a manure truck causing their convertible to fill with manure. In the 1978 film Harper Valley P.T.A., as well as the first episode of the spin-off television series, the same fate was inflicted on the head of the P.T.A., Flora Simpson Reilly (played by Anne Francine).