Back to the Future is one of the most iconic franchises in movie history. The fact that it’s been 35 years since we got a new movie and series, and despite a lack of sequels, remakes, or reboots, the movies are still popular. Anybody who has an original prop from the film is in possession of a piece of cinema history, and now the cast of the movie is coming together to find one of them.
Apparently, the red Gibson ES-345 guitar that Marty McFly plays “Johnny B. Goode” on in the film has been missing since shortly after Back to the Future was shot. Now, Gibson, along with Michael J. Fox, Lea Thompson, Huey Lewis, and others involved in the movie have come together to launch Lost to the Future, a hunt for the missing item. Check out the promotional video below.
In a movie full of famous moments, Marty McFly playing guitar is among the most well-known. Michael J. Fox actually plays guitar, so the scene was nearly as real as it looked on screen. That said, Fox worked hard to get it right.
It’s maybe not that much of a shock that the Back to the Future guitar disappeared. There certainly was no way to know that Back to the Future was going to be a massive hit and spawn two sequels back when it was made. Most of the movie's props were probably not preserved in any significant way.
And we know that sometimes, cast and crew will help themselves to props as mementos of the experience of making the film. The Gibson guitar would be the sort of prop that, if somebody played, would also be something they could actually use. Possibly to recreate the scene below.
Of course, if somebody from the Back to the Future production took the guitar, you’d think it would have been uncovered in the last 40 years. If it hasn’t turned up, it’s because the guitar ended up somewhere unexpected, and not only does nobody know where it is, but it seems there aren’t even any leads, leading to this campaign.
Having recently been to Universal Studios’ Fan Fest Nights, where I actually stood on the Clock Tower set of the Universal backlot, I know firsthand just what it’s like to experience a piece of Back to the Future history firsthand.
Hopefully, if somebody has the guitar and knows they have it, the campaign will become popular enough that the person in question will reveal their possession. Based on the video, it doesn’t appear that anybody is necessarily focused on obtaining the guitar, simply ascertaining its location. Although, depending on just how the person who has the guitar got it, it’s possible they might not want to talk about it. It wouldn’t be the first time that props were obtained through less-than-legal means.
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