Biff stands in front of the wall safe in his private office at Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino & Hotel in 1985A. The safe was hidden from view behind a full-size portrait of Biff himself (not shown here).
- " Marty followed Biff into his private office. Biff went behind the desk. Marty looked down at the coffee table next to him. It was piled high with matchbooks. / " 'Biff's Pleasure Paradise' ", the kid read aloud. Black letters on a white matchbook. "Very cute." / Biff scowled back at him. Apparently, he didn't have time for cute. / "Start talkin', kid. What else do you know about that book?" / Marty stuck the matchbook in his pocket. Biff was playing right into his hands. Now if he could just get him to tell him a bit more. / "First," Marty demanded, "you tell me how you got it. How, when, where—" / Biff stared at him for another minute. / "All right," he agreed at last. He stood up and turned to the oil painting behind him — a full-size portrait of Biff, like he was royalty or something. / He swung the painting out on its hinges, revealing the wall safe behind. / "November 12, 1955," he called over his shoulder as he started on the first of the three combination locks. "That was when." "
- —From Back to the Future Part II by Craig Shaw Gardner (quote, page 131)
- "Biff opened the safe. He pulled a box off the center shelf, then dug a key out of his pocket and unlocked the box. He grinned and pulled out the Sports Almanac for Marty to see."
- —From Back to the Future Part II by Craig Shaw Gardner (quote, page 132)
A safe was a strong, lockable steel container used to store valuables, which was either freestanding — being bolted to the floor — or secured into a wall.
It could be locked and unlocked as required either by means of a key, or a combination lock.
History[]
When Biff Tannen was given the Grays Sports Almanac in 1955 by his older self from 2015, Old Biff warned him to never leave the book lying around, to get a safe and keep the book locked up, and also to never tell anyone about it.
In 1985A, Biff kept the almanac inside a locked metal box in a wall safe behind the desk in his private office at Biff Tannen's Pleasure Paradise Casino & Hotel. The safe was hidden from view behind a large oil painting of Biff himself, and was opened by not one but three combination locks.
After Marty burned the Grays Sports Almanac in 1955, this nightmarish timeline was overwritten by 1985B — as a result of which the Pleasure Paradise had faded into nonexistence.
In 1983, Biff also had a safe at Tannen Manor in the alternate timeline, which Terry, who was part of the Hill Valley Civic Committee, attempted to break into to look for documents that might link Tannen to illegal activity so the committee could expose him as a criminal. It was believed that Biff was having dinner with his adopted family elsewhere and would not be at home, but Biff had in fact remained behind and caught Terry before he could open the safe. Terry was subsequently beaten to death by the corrupt Hill Valley Police Department, which Biff controlled.
Following the Stock Market Crash of 1929, which led to the Great Depression, Dr. Emmett Brown's mother, Mrs. Brown Ellsworth, developed a distrust of safes, along with banks, and began keeping her money in her house.
Appearances[]
- Back to the Future Part II first draft screenplay
- Paradox script
- Back to the Future Part II
- Back to the Future Part II novelization
- Back to the Future (IDW Publishing)
