Right so its time to wrap up my posts on the Back to the Future trilogy as I now move onto Part III which sees Marty try to save the Doc from fate who lives back in the old wild west. So with that let's warm up the flux capacitor, rev up to 88mph and get going....
So the film starts where Part II left off with Marty in 1955 having just witnessed the Doc's DeLorean get struck by lightning and minutes later receiving a letter from a man written by the Doc over 70 years ago, which states he is alive and well and living in 1885. Marty then runs off and finds the Doc of 1955, whom he shows the letter, which reveals the Doc of his Marty's time is living in the old wild west and he has left the DeLorean safely stored in an old abadoned mine, with the Doc's 1955 counterpart's help, will get Marty back home. As Marty and the Doc uncover the time machine, Marty spots a tombstone which has the Doc's name inscribed on it, which states he was "shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of 80 dollars". Marty then decides to go back in time to save the Doc from being shot and to take him back to 1985. The 1955 doc then repairs the DeLorean and sets the time machine to arrive the day after the doc wrote the letter on 1 September, and with that Marty travels back in time to 1885.
When Marty arrives in 1885 he parks the DeLorean in an old cave, narrowly escaping a stampede from the US Cavalry pursuing Indians, and as he emerges from the cave he realises the fuel line has been damaged by an arrow. Marty then travels toward Hill Valley, and on the way meets his great great grandparents, the Irish born Seamus and Maggie McFly (Fox and Lea Thompson) who point him toward the town. When Marty get's there however he runs into the infamous Buford Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) and his gang, who chase him and nearly hang up, but Marty is saved by the Doc. Marty later shows the Doc the letter and he agrees to leave 1885 with him, however on hearing the fuel line has been damaged and the car is out of fuel, the Doc says their chances of getting back to 1985 are extremely remote. After some experimentation however, the Doc eventually comes up with a way to possibly get the DeLorean up to 88 mph by using a locomotive train to push up to that speed. While they are out looking at the railway track they will use, the Doc and Marty spot a horse wagon in the distance spiral out of control, and the Doc goes after and rescues the passenger, Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) and they soon both fall in love.
At a town festival, Buford and his gang arrive and he threatens to kill the Doc, but Marty intervenes, and Buford ends up challenging Marty to a showdown, which Marty is forced to accept. As a result the photo Marty had taken of the Doc's tombstone starts to change as it no longer has his name on it, which the Doc suggests could mean that it could be Marty that is killed instead of him, but Marty insists as long as they leave early that morning before he is set to face Buford then nothing will happen. The night before they are due to depart, the Doc visits Clara and tells her that he is from the future and that he must go home, however she refuses to believe him and she angrily dismisses him. The Doc, heartbroken, heads to the local saloon and orders a glass of whiskey, which he eventually drinks as Marty arrives in the morning, and he passes out instantly. At this point Buford and his gang arrive outside to challenge Marty, where he must try to find a way to save himself, the Doc and try and race against time to reach the locomotive so they can get back to 1985.
Part III for me was a satisfying conclusion to the Back to the Future trilogy and even though I would actually consider it to be my least favourite of three films, its still a very entertaining one at that. The setting of the old west actually works very well in the film and it also allows for a set of new characters to come in due to the period setting. And with Part III Bobs Zemeckis and Gale have written another funny, intelligent and charming script which ties up all the ends from the previous two films very nicely. Its also fun to see not only Marty's story arc complete but also the Doc's who after many years as a lone obssessed scientist, has now fallen in love with a woman, Clara, a teacher who shares his passion for science and literature. Marty also learns a valuable lesson in the film as in Part II he was guilty of being hotheaded when someone called him "chicken" but here he learns not to care what other people think of him, which proves vitally important to his own future.
Performance wise things are excellent again, starting with Michael J. Fox who does another fine job as the good natured and plucky Marty McFly, who is just desparate to get himself back to his own time as well as try and save the Doc in the process. Fox in Part III get's some great dialogue and some of his most fun moments such as where he first enters the saloon and tells Buford his name "Eastwood, Clint Eastwood!" to which Buford just laughs and says "What kind of stupid name is that???!" after which Buford shoots at his feet to make him dance, and Marty performs a bizarre moonwalk and jumps on a loose plank, holding a bucket of oily gunk, which lands all over Buford. Also in the scene where Marty attends the town festival and after he has confronted Buford, Seamus and Maggie express their concerns over his rash actions in accepting the showdown, and Maggie says to Marty "I hope you are considering the future, Mr Eastwood!" and she walks off, with Marty saying to himself "I think about it all the time". And there is also the scene where Marty looks at himself in the mirror wearing his gun belt and pointing his gun at the mirror, he says "You talkin to me?? You talkin to me, Tannen?! Well I'm the only one here. Go ahead! Make my day!". At the festival Fox also has some fun moments where he tries out a gun on shooting targets, and he misses the first go and tries again and hits all the targets perfectly leaving the gun salesman asking "where did you learn to shoot like that?" and Marty replies "Seven eleven". In the same scene Marty also eats a piece of from a metal circular tray which has the word "frisbie" inscribed on it, which Marty holds up to Seamus and Maggie and says "Hey Frisbie! Far out!" and walks off leaving them puzzled as Maggie says "It was right infront of him!". Another scene which is good is where he first meets Seamus and Maggie and he holds their baby son, William, and he says "So you're William. The first McFly to be born in America.... and you peed on me!".
Christopher Lloyd is again great as the eccentric Doc, who lives back in the old west and get's in trouble with Buford and his gang and also falls for Clara. Lloyd has some great highlights again such as in the scene where he is first introduced in the old west as she shoots down Marty from the noose his was tied to and he later says to Marty as he remarks on the silly western outfit he wears "What idiot dressed you in that outfit?" and Marty weakly replies "You did!". Lloyd also has some charming moments with Mary Steenburgen in their scenes together as the Doc and Clara as they reminisce over the writings of Jules Verne and also their break up scene is also quite poignant (if a bit corny). Although Lloyd's funniest moments come when he sits in the bar, heartbroken after breaking up with Clara he drones on about what the future is like to everyone in the bar who listens bemused, and Marty runs and tells him they need to go and the Doc downs the whiskey in one go and collapses instantly, which is followed by him being given some wake-up, which causes him to leap up, screaming he runs outside and dunks his head in the water trough! The Doc also later on after he has regained consciousness says "One thing I miss from the future is Tylenol!". Lloyd also has some fun moments with Fox in their scenes together as the Doc and Marty, and they have a moment where they trade phrases where Marty realises the photo of tombstone could have his name on it he says "Great Scott!" and the Doc says "I know this is heavy!". And the scene where the Doc and Marty reach the locomotive, the Doc pulls a gun on the driver, who asks them "Is this a stick up??" and the Doc says "Its a science experiment!".
Thomas F. Wilson is great again, this time in his role as the villainous outlaw Buford Tannen, and his character's rather slow dim-witted nature also makes for some amusing moments and he get's some good lines. In his first scene where he faces Marty in the saloon, he pulls a gun on Marty and shoots at the floor and he shouts "Come on, runt! You can dance better than that!". And another good line Wilson has is in the same scene where Marty makes the mistake of calling Buford his nickname, "Mad dog" and Buford get's real mad, "Mad dog, I hate that name. I hate it, hear you?! Nobody calls me Mad dog! Especially not some duded up egg sucking gutter trash!". Also later on at the town festival after he has made his showdown deal with Marty he goes up to him and says "8 o'clock Monday, Eastwood. If you aren't out there I'm gonna hunt you down and shoot you like a duck!" to which one of his gang corrects him as it should be "like a dog" and he get's angry "Let's go, boys! Let these sissies have their party!". But my favourite moment of Wilson's is the scene where he has his showdown with Marty who ends up getting the better of him, by punching his lights out and Buford falls face flat into a cart filled with horse manure. After this is pulled up out of the manure and the sherriff reads his rights and asks him if he has anything to say, to which Buford spits out a disgusting piece of a green manure and says "I hate manure!" (a line reprised from Part II when Biff crashes his car into a manure truck after chasing Marty).
As for the supporting cast, Mary Steenburgen does a nice job as Clara Clayton, the Doc's love interest, and she plays her pretty much as a nice straight laced lady, who has an enthusiasm for all things sciencey just like the Doc. Although her performance is a bit corny at times, particularly in the scene where she breaks up with the Doc, and she says "All you had to say was you don't love me anymore and you don't want to see me again. That would have been at least more respectful!" as she slams the door in his face and runs to her bed sobbing. Lea Thompson although she has a smaller role this time, again provides a nice performance as the Irish immigrant Maggie McFly who has recently arrived in America with her husband Seamus. James Tolkan also makes a welcome return in a previous incarnation of his character Strickland, who is the town's Marshall, who has it in for Buford and his gang. And he has a good scene where he warns Buford at the town festival about carrying firearms, which Buford ditches, and he says "Smile, Marshall. After all it is a party" and Strickland replies "The only party I'll smile at is the one that sees you at the end of a rope!". And later he says to his young son "Remember son that's the way you handle them, don't give them an inch, and always maintain discipline. That's the key: discipline!". Elisabeth Shue also briefly reprises her role as Jennifer, and she has a good scene where Marty wakes her up and she hugs him and says "Marty! I had the worse nightmare!". And finally Flea makes a welcome return in his brief role as Marty's rival, Needles, as he challenges him to a race at the end, which turns out to be a key moment in Marty's life.
Getting on to Robert Zemeckis who does a grand job once more in Part III and here he manages to inject a bit more charm to the proceedings, which was probably missing from Part II, as well as keep the plot and the pacing of the film moving along at a nice speed without the film ever feeling padded out. Zemeckis also uses the wild west setting to great visual effect in the film, as it is easily the most vivid and beautifully shot film out of the three, with superb photography by Dean Cundey (who was the DP on all three films). Zemeckis actually had his production team build a large set for the wild west Hill Valley setting out near a ranch in Jamestown, California. Zemeckis also created a very impressively staged climax sequence where Marty and the Doc attempt to get back to 1985 by using the locomotive, which was filmed out at an old heritage rail line in Jamestown. The film's music score is also again worthy of note, as Alan Silvestri provides a nice jaunty score around the wild west theme and it allows for Silvestri to have a bit of fun in the process, while he still deploys his usual methods of creating rising dramatic passages in the music, which can at times grate a little (especially when he overdoes it!). The film also includes a great catchy little ditty during the town festival while the townsfolk dance, which as soon you hear it, you won't forget it! ("Dee dee dee, dee dee dee!"). ;-)
So as for Part III, does it have any flaws??? Well while its not perfect, there isn't a great deal much wrong with Part III, however after the almost slightly cynical tone of Part II, in Part III things have been more softened in contrast and at times the film can actually be guilty of being a bit soppy and sentimental. The film's ending I also always felt was a bit daft and corny and while it certainly gives closure to the trilogy, it does leave you a little underwhelmed at how they finished it up. Especially as the Doc gives Marty and Jennifer the all important moral of the story that "The future hasn't been written yet! No one's has. You're future is what you make it. So make it a good one!". In that scene we also see the Doc and Clara's two children (who are rather cheesily named Jules and Verne) and the one on the right, also makes some rather creepy and suggestive hand movements in the background! (what was going on there I don't know?? But surely Bob Zemeckis should have looked into it! In fact the kid wouldn't have looked out of place in the Shining as perhaps a brother to the two creepy sisters! ;-)).
Anyway that all aside, Back to the Part III is still a very pleasant, funny and cleverly crafted finale to the trilogy and if you haven't seen it in a while, its well worth giving it another go.
And with that, that's my look at the Back to the Future trilogy over with. Till then next post, bye for now!
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