Although very few Easter eggs appear in all three Back to the Future movies, one often overlooked gag does recur throughout the trilogy. The Back to the Future trilogy’s twisty timeline means that the movies can seem a little tonally and visually discordant. While 1985’s Back to the Future is a retro sci-fi comedy where Marty travels to the ‘50s to help out his hapless teenage father, Back to the Future Part II’s plot is a futuristic story complete with flying cars and hoverboards.
Meanwhile, Back to the Future Part III takes things in a totally new direction by sending Marty and Doc back to the Wild West for an adventure inspired by Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy. If this all sounds a little uneven, that is because it is. The three movies are a bit chaotic but consistently entertaining, meaning the odd storytelling decisions all make sense in the end. However, these wildly divergent stories mean that outside of Back to the Future’s Marty McFly and Doc Brown, there are few plot elements that appear in all three movies.
The Statler Family Has A Dealership In Hill Valley During All 3 Back To The Future Movies
The Statler Family Sells Cars And Horses Depending On The Decade
Since the franchise changes time period and genre on a dime, there are not too many Easter eggs that crop up in all three Back to the Future movies. Admittedly, there is a villainous member of the Tannen family in every timeline and every movie does feature some problem with powering the DeLorean time machine. Back to the Future’s lightning bolts and Back to the Future Part III’s gasoline aside, however, there is another Easter egg that appears in every installment of the Back to the Future trilogy.
Back to the Future Part III’s vision of the Wild West is essentially an ersatz echo of the modern-day town.
In every time period, the Statler family always owns a local Hill Valley dealership, whether it is cars or horses that they are selling. This mirrors the idea that Back to the Future Part III’s vision of the Wild West is essentially an ersatz echo of the modern-day town, since the sheriff is the grandfather of Back to the Future’s principal and plays effectively the same role in disciplining the townspeople. Similarly, Mad Dog Tannen is not only a ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ringer for his descendant Biff but also acts almost exactly the same as the violent bully.
The Statler Family Is One Of Precious Few Back To The Future Easter Eggs Included In Every Movie
The Trilogy’s Divergent Time Periods Make Consistent Easter Eggs Tricky
The Statler family’s business is one of the few times that the Back to the Future movies managed to incorporate the same gag into every installment. While Back to the Future Part II’s cut scenes would have brought back Marty’s brother Dave, he doesn’t appear in the third outing. Similarly, the repeated recasting of Marty’s love interest Jennifer makes it harder to see her as a consistent character. Despite this, viewers can rest ᴀssured that the fortunes of the Statler family are at least one reliable constant in Hill Valley.
The Statler family doesn’t play a big role in the Back to the Future trilogy, but it is evident that their shares in the local Hill Valley transportation market are beyond reproach. This gag allows the trilogy’s creators to provide a little more connective tissue between the tonally, visually, and narratively discordant movies, all of which speed off on their own timelines. No matter which Back to the Future movie viewers are watching, the Statlers are on hand to provide transportation to the heroes.
