National Film Vault
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FILM NOTES
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment released Back to the Future Part II in November 1989, reuniting director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale with the cast of their 1985 phenomenon. Shooting on 35mm, the production built elaborate practical sets to realize both a far-future 2015 and an alternate 1985, making it one of the more ambitious studio sequels of the decade. The film performed strongly at the box office and has remained a touchstone of late-eighties popular cinema.
This cell, titled Biff and Marty, captures three consecutive frames from a single interior shot, preserving the natural rhythm of the original 35mm photography. Biff Tannen occupies the foreground in a light shirt while Marty McFly is visible behind him, the near-identical compositions across all three frames offering a rare sense of the moment held in time.