Back to the Futureis one of the most loved movies ever made, but it had a long journey from page to screen. The original script hada time machine that looked like a refrigerator instead of a DeLorean, no major studio was interested for the longest time, and then when filming actually started,Eric Stoltz,originally cast as the lead of Marty McFly, was fired, withMichael J. Foxbrought in for reshoots. It all worked out, asBack to the Futurewasthe biggest box office draw of 1985, launching a trilogy and making Fox the most famous actor in Hollywood.Back to the Futureis a classic passed down through generations, and it’s as loved now as it was nearly four decades ago. But that might not have been the casehad one shocking scene been left in where Marty makes the strangest of homophobic remarks.
Back to the Futureis a fun adventure with a cool teenager named Marty McFly (Fox) from 1985 who finds himself stuck in 1955. It’s up tothis timeline’s version of his scientist friend, Dr. Emmett Brown(Christopher Lloyd), to find a way to send him back. However, there is way more going on than just this one plot. Greatly complicating things is the fact that Marty accidentally messes up how his parents, George McFly (Crispin Glover) and Lorraine Baines (Lea Thompson), meet.Instead of falling for George,Lorraine falls for Marty, her own future son. If Marty can’t get them back together, he and his siblings will cease to exist.
This scenario leads to a lot of awkward laughs, with Lorraine totally smitten by this boy she doesn’t know is her own future offspring. While audiences thought these scenes were hilarious, major studios were initially turned off by it. In fact, when co-writersRobert ZemeckisandBob Galetook it to Disney,they turned it down because they thought it was incestuous. It took producerSteven Spielberggetting involved to finally getBack to the Futuremade.
In a Deleted Scene, Marty McFly Makes a Homophobic Comment
Marty McFly can’t go back to 1985 until he gets his parents to fall in love, but that is going to be difficult becauseGeorge is a cowardly guy with no confidence in himself. Marty needs to come up with a way for him to be a hero and win Lorraine over, so he and Doc come up with a plan.Marty will go to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance with Lorraine, where he will put the moves on her in the car. He’s obviously freaking out about this, but it has to be done, because it’s then that he has George ready to come along and stop Marty, becoming the hero. In the third act, it goes even better, with the bully ofBack to the Future, Biff (Thomas F. Wilson), interrupting them instead. What follows is an uncomfortable assault scene, beforeGeorge comes along and has to be the hero for real, knocking Biff out. As great of a moment as this was, a deleted scene would have ruined it.
You’ll Never Guess What Happened To Marty McFly’s Truck From ‘Back to the Future’
Great Scott! It ended up where?!
In the deleted scene, it’s the night of the dance, and Marty and Doc are talking about what the former will have to do in the car with his own mother.A nervous Marty says he doesn’t know if he can go through with it, adding, “You know, this is the kind of thing that could screw me up permanently. What if I end up going back to the future and I end up being gay?”
The Scene Would Have Ruined How We Look at Marty McFly
Marty does get his parents back together, and gets back to 1985 where he reunites withhis girlfriend and future wife, Jennifer (Claudia Wells). It’s a happy ending, one made even more so by the fact thathis underachieving family is now successfulbecause George and Lorraine now meet through George’s bravery. Marty McFly is a hero too and would continue to be throughout two more movies, but if that deleted line with Doc Brown had stayed in, it may have altered the future.
In 1985, it sadly wasn’t a big deal to make a homophobic comment in a movie. What’s worse is that Marty isn’t making a joke, but is seriously concerned.He thinks kissing his own mother in the past could turn him gay in the future. This means that not only does Marty think being gay is wrong, but bizarrely, that it can happen through pretending to be attracted to your mother?Sigmund Freudwould have a field day with that one.
Marty McFly is one of film’s most loved heroes. The cool kid who might be a little scrawny, but he stands up to bullies and fights for what he believes in. If the deleted scene had stayed in, how we look at the character would have changed. Thankfully, they were wise enough in their own time to know that the scene didn’t work and leave it on the cutting room floor where it belonged.
Back to the Future
Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.
Back to the Futureis available to watch on Netflix in the U.S.
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