In Back to the Future, Marty McFly famously strummed a guitar at a 1950s high school dance, narrowly averting his erasure from existence before zipping back to the 1980s.
However, the real-life guitar wasn't so fortunate.
Despite filmmakers' efforts to locate the instrument during the production of the 1989 sequel, it remains missing.
Now, four decades after the film's debut, Gibson, the Nashville-based manufacturer of the iconic Cherry Red Gibson ES-345, has launched a public appeal to find it.
As the movie commemorates its 40th anniversary, Gibson is producing a documentary, Lost to the Future, chronicling the search for the elusive guitar and the film's legacy.
In a video by Gibson, with the movie's theme song playing in the background, Back to the Future stars such as Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Harry Waters Jr. make a cinematic plea.
There's also a surprise appearance by Huey Lewis, whose band Huey Lewis and the News performed the soundtrack's headliner song, “The Power of Love”.
Lloyd, in the cadence of Doc Brown, says in the video that the guitar has been “lost to the future”.
“It's somewhere lost in the space-time continuum,” says Fox, who played McFly. “Or it's in some Teamster's garage.”
In the film, McFly steps in for an injured band member at the 1955 school dance with the theme “Enchantment under the Sea”, playing the guitar as students slow dance to “Earth Angel”.
He then leads Marvin Barry and the Starlighters in a rendition of “Johnny B. Goode”, calling it an oldie where he comes was from even though the 1958 song doesn't exist yet for his audience.
Fox said he wanted McFly to riff through his favorite guitarists' signature styles – Jimi Hendrix behind the head, Pete Townshend's windmill and the Eddie Van Halen hammer. After digging and dancing to “Johnny B. Goode”, the students at the dance fall into an awkward silence as McFly's riffs turn increasingly wild.
“I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet,” McFly says. “But your kids are gonna love it.”
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