Tear Jerker / Back to the Future

Doc: In about 30 years?
Marty: I hope so...

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• Marty's family situation in the beginning of the movie.
  • While they all clearly love and care about one another, they're all dysfunctional and it's clear both parents are clinically depressed, and Marty is told repeatedly that no one in his family ever amounted to anything.
  • Even in his late 40s, George is still the bullied doormat he was in high school. Biff continues to dominate and control his life, demean him in front of his family, and take advantage of him to drink and drive in his own car which he wrecks. When Marty calls him out George can barely muster a response of any kind, let alone an assertive one.
  • Lorraine is not in good shape either: she's a bitter prude, out of shape, and hits the bottle. Her conversation at dinner implies that she regrets marrying George.
  • Marty's brother David is slumming it working the night shift at a Burger King and his sister Linda has no social life or any prospects for a boyfriend.
• The movie doesn't dwell on it much, but Doc's situation is far from ideal either. He's a smart, good-natured, and enthusiastic man living with years of failed projects and malicious gossip. In terms of human relationships, Marty is all he has.
• Marty, while sitting in the cafe, shortly after arriving in 1955, witnesses his father's younger self getting bullied and harassed by his longtime nemesis, Biff, who still does so in the present. While Played for Laughs, imagine how it would feel to see something like this happen to your parent when he was younger, and realize it's been going on nonstop for over 30 years.
• Both times that Doc gets shot. Imagine seeing your best friend killed in cold blood, twice, and not being able to do a damn thing about it in either case.
  Marty: NOOOOOOOOO! BASTARDS!
  • And the second time, Marty's reaction to thinking that Doc is dead is heartbreaking. He just slumps back on the pavement and cries. He then looks up with an expression that screams "What am I going to do?" (not knowing, of course, that Doc is alive behind him).
  • You can also hear Einstein howling in the background the first time Doc gets shot. Marty isn't the only one who had to watch their best friend get killed.
• It's subtle, but after the skateboard scene where Biff and his goons chase down Marty, he heads back to 1955 Doc's lab... and finds that he made it to the end of the 1985 tape.
  1985 Doc: [on tape] Oh my God... They found me. I don't know how, but they found me... RUN FOR IT, MARTY!!! [tape rewinds] Oh my God... They found me. I don't know how, but they found me... RUN FOR IT, MARTY!!! [tape rewinds]
  • Despite this, Doc tries to play cool when he realizes Marty's watching him and refuses to hear an explanation of what happens that night, believing it'll just make the situation worse, but it's clear that he's been highly shaken regardless.
• The scene when Biff corners Marty and finds Lorraine in the car... At that point, Marty sums up Biff's character in two simple words.
  Marty: Leave her alone, you bastard!
  • And when George finds Biff with her instead of Marty, the fact that she sounds so terrified.
    Lorraine: [tearfully] George, help me! Please!
• During the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance, it looks like everything will work out—Marty's playing "Earth Angel" with the band, George is dancing with Lorraine, and all the couple has to do is kiss to secure Marty's (and his brother's and sister's) existence. But George is too shy to go in for the kiss even after Lorraine asks him, and a Jerkass pulls her away, leaving George to walk away defeated—and in an instant, Marty begins to fade from existence. He doubles over in pain and weakly begs for George to go back, while Lorraine desperately calls for him as well. It's less than a minute, but the intensity of that moment makes it feel so much longer.
  • Thankfully, it's immediately followed by a Tears of Joy moment as George doubles back, pushes the jerk away, and delivers the Big Damn Kiss to end all Big Damn Kisses. Marty, now saved, springs back up and watches with delight as the picture of himself and his siblings is restored.
• Marty hugging 1955 Doc goodbye before trying to get back to 1985. Now more than ever, his mind is on whether his friend will get the message. If he doesn't, this will be the last time he'll see him alive, and Marty knows it.
  1955 Doc: In about 30 years?
  Marty: [briefly looks like he's about to cry] ...I hope so.
  • And Marty can't even give 1955 Doc a proper goodbye, in case it really is the last time he'll see his friend alive, since 1955 Doc steadfastly refuses to listen to anything Marty has to say about his future!
• The moment right after Doc has torn up the letter and Marty is forced to climb into the DeLorean. Hitting the dashboard in grief-stricken frustration, Marty questions why Doc had to do such a thing and laments not having more time. The more poetic version from Get Thee Back to the Future possibly makes it worse: Marty refers to it as Doc tearing his chances of survival to pieces and tearing Marty's heart, because without some way to warn him, he'll lose his best friend again once he returns to the present.
• This small exchange, after George excitedly tells Marty about his short stories — since Marty is probably the only person to show any interest in George's hobby — but refuses to let Marty see them:
  George: Well, what if they didn't like them? What if they told me I was no good? I don't think i could take that kind of a rejection. [Beat] I guess that would be pretty hard for somebody to understand.
  Marty: [sadly] Uh, no. No, not hard at all.
  • Doubly so as it's almost (and the last line before the beat) exactly the same thing he said to Jennifer about send his demo tape to a record label. Marty realizes he and his dad are not so different, and Marty might end up like George.