Thirty years ago today, the most underrated threequel of all time concluded the greatest time travel saga of all time. "Rocky III". "Return of the Jedi". "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade". "Die Hard With a Vengeance". "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King". "The Bourne Ultimatum". Just a few of the 3s that are held in high regard, and Michael J. Fox spinning the tires of the Delorean for the last time to kick off the epic summer 1990 movie season is as good if not better than any of them. Six months after the second film's release, I couldn't wait to be transported to the Wild West for the first time in my moviegoing life. Part IV is a pipe dream, so join me as I recap one of cinema's sweetest farewells.
The lightning bolt that strikes the clock tower can be seen in all three films, as we're dropped right back in the middle of the closing moments of "Part II". The fact that both sequels were successfully shot back-to-back in 1989 doesn't get discussed often enough. The first two "Superman" movies tried it in 1977-78, before abandoning that overly-ambitious plan(much to the chagrin of director Richard Donner). Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale arguably wrote the blueprint that Peter Jackson would take to the next level a decade later. That would allow the Wachowskis to pitch continuous "Matrix" sequels in 2001. This style of unbroken storytelling is now the norm, as Harry Potter and "Twilight" and the Marvel Cinematic Universe has proven.
We're back in the spacious 1640 Riverside Drive residence, as 1955 Doc comes to his senses and reads the letter that he would send Marty in thirty-one years. I mean, seventy years earlier. This trilogy doesn't cater to mental midgets. Christopher Lloyd's delivery is divine, and the Old West sounds like a great place to spend your retirement years. His 1985 counterpart doesn't require a rescue. This scene reveals that Marty's pink hoverboard is still floating around, as is Doc's mind-reading contraption and burnt model car. The attention to detail in these movies is consistently incredible.
Marty and Doc make like explorers in a Jules Verne novel on Monday, November 14th, and find a 75 year old, well-preserved Delorean buried in an old mine on the outskirts of town. That's not the only thing they find. A nearby tombstone reveals that Doc won't live long in his new surroundings. Buford Tannen has a bullet with his name on it. That can't happen. Marty then announces his intention to take the time machine on one last trip with mature, bone-chilling conviction.
Doc restores the time machine to perfect working order with 1955 components, including big tires that provide a funny visual. Speaking of funny visuals, Marty comes out of a drive-thru restroom wearing a Western Halloween costume that Clint Eastwood definitely didn't wear in "Pale Rider" or the "Dollars" trilogy(Doc hasn't heard of him yet). The 1885 setting was an ideal destination for "Part III". The Bobs wisely chose not to maintain the manic pace and plot complexities of the second film, in favor of a more-straightforward narrative that echoes the original and pays homage to a genre with a rich history. Fun fact- Doc's pistol is the same one that failed him against the Libyans in 1985.
Marty drives the Delorean only once in the sequels, and it's to blast off into a tribe of Indians that weren't supposed to be there. The cavalry is in hot pursuit as the perils of the Wild West become immediately apparent. A bear cave provides our hero some relief. Or does it? Dean Cundey's gorgeous cinematography deserves a shout here. The "Halloween" DP worked on all three films, and would bring the same bright outdoor photography to "Jurassic Park", three years later.
The McFly men are very attracted to women that look like Lea Thompson. That's Bob Gale's humorous explanation for her appearance as Maggie in 1885 and it's good enough for me. The real explanation is that Lea is just part of the BTTF family and couldn't be excluded from the third film. I hope Marty didn't end up with a head injury from all those "Mom, is that you?" scenes. His great-great grandfather Sheamus is more than happy to put their strange visitor up for the night at the McFly farm. There's something comfortingly familiar about him.
Universal initially balked at a lengthy sequel script in '88 that would have resulted in a three-hour film. Then "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" became the biggest hit of the summer, and the TWO-sequel plan got greenlit, allowing Zemeckis and Gale to expand on the Old West portion of the story that they were most passionate about in the early writing stage. Production designer Rick Carter spent a year overseeing the construction of the late 19th Century iteration of Hill Valley. His impressive work was the start of a stellar career that included a total of seven Zemeckis movies, and ten Spielberg movies(the fabled filmmaker actually discovered him with Richard Donner on "The Goonies"). And those tangible sets that enhanced the J.J. Abrams "Star Wars" movies? That was Carter too.
It's Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen, the Fastest Gun in the West. Tom Wilson is the saga's unsung hero. Marty's 'Clint Eastwood' moniker is just one example of the affectionate homages that are sprinkled throughout "Part III". I was well into adulthood before I realized that Zemeckis places us in Town Square with a recreation of a memorable crane shot from Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West". The saloon is populated with whiskey-drinking Western vets like Harry Carey Jr., Pat Buttram, Dub Taylor, and Matt Clark. Later, Bill "Deliverance" McKinney appears as the train engineer. Many young filmmakers today wouldn't even think to include these colorfully crusty old-timers.
Marty can't outrun an irate Tannen and his gang like in previous timelines, in this exciting sequence powered by Alan Silvestri's awesome score(how did he miss an Oscar nom?). Fun fact- MJF was legitimately losing oxygen and had a scary moment staging this attempted hanging. A tan and tough Doc looks like a real Western hero as he rescues his distressed friend with a modified rifle. Buford isn't going to just forget about that 80 dollars. The displaced duo have to watch each other's backs.
The firm friendship between Marty and Doc really comes through in "Part III", making it perhaps, the warmest film in the trilogy.
Doc's ingenuity never quits, as this giant humming contraption is revealed to be a rudimentary ice-making "refridgerator". After a few hours of relaxation and a much-needed wadrobe change, Marty is ready to wake Jennifer up in 1985. Not so fast. We wouldn't have a movie if this trip were that simple. Rough terrain led to a ripped fuel-line that won't allow the Delorean to make it up to 88 mph. What do we do?
In what Doc would surely call an eerie coincidence, "Part III" grossed $88 million domestically during a VERY competitive summer movie season that included the releases of "Bird On a Wire", "Total Recall", "Dick Tracy", "Another 48 Hrs.", "Robocop 2", "Gremlins 2", "Die Hard 2", and the year's big adult sleeper "Ghost". You just had to have been there with some of those titles. If you're under the age of 30, they all made money. Zemeckis and Gale may have sacrificed some greenbacks by completely committing to their Western premise, with the youth of 1990 unable to fully appreciate the classy callbacks to cinema's past. Fortunately, film is forever, and this one is aging beautifully.
Speaking of beauty and class, Mary Steenburgen enters at the 40 minute mark. One of the best character actresses of all time, Mary was perfectly cast as mythical schoolmarm Clara Clayton. She was supposed to die in that ravine, and now Doc may have seriously altered history again. Oh, well. That's the power of love. No one is immune to the feelings that Huey Lewis described, not even the world's greatest scientist/inventor. With another daring and elaborate plan unfolding, Marty and Doc have a huge distraction on their hands.
Please excuse the crudity of this model, it's not built to scale. Once the partners in time make like movie outlaws and steal the real locomotive, it's the future or bust.
Saturday night brings the town festival, and Marty and Doc just can't pass up on ZZ Top or a clock photo op. Of course, Clara is the real draw, and this is where the courtship really begins. The Doc can dance?
Marshall Strickland(James Tolkan) fails to maintain discipline at all times when Buford Tannen and his grizzled goon squad disrupt the festivities. Luckily, Marty has a Colt Peacemaker, and all the confidence that comes with being an arcade-loving '80s teen. Buford's hatred for Doc is fully transferred over to his brash, young Eastwood friend and his pie plate at this point. That train is going to come on time, right?
Tannen's belligerence doesn't stop Doc from having the best night of his life with Miss Clayton(this was Chris Lloyd's only onscreen kiss in his fifty-year acting career). Meanwhile, Marty is making like a cross between Dirty Harry and Travis Bickle and enjoying the newfound respect of the townspeople.
Marty's macho posturing might end up putting his name on the tombstone instead of Doc. I like how the tone gets serious for a few minutes here. We get a nice dramatic exchange from Fox and Lloyd, as they essentially switch roles and contemplate an intentional disruption of the continuum, despite everything they've been through. Doc can't give up the best woman in ANY time period, but "the truth" proves painful. His little speech on Clara's porch is almost exactly what Marty says to him when they first meet in 1955. Steenburgen's response is another reminder that she was so right for this role.
Doc is getting drunk(?) and depressed, Buford is getting hungry, and a heartbroken Clara is boarding the train that's supposed to transport the boys out of 1885 Hill Valley. We've get a lot going on as we're hurled toward the third act. Structurally, "Part III" has three stories to resolve, much like the first film, and Zemeckis and Gale deserves a lot of credit for such neat, precise plotting. Future filmmakers, take notes.
Marty is forced into a highly-suspenseful showdown with a snarling Buford in front of the Palace saloon, with seemingly all of Hill Valley gathered to find out if Mr. Eastwood is what he appears. My ten year old self was briefly in a state of shock when my hero took a bullet to the chest. It's a good thing Marty saw the real Clint Eastwood get out of a similar situation with a makeshift bulletproof vest(forshadowed in "Part II"). This conflict will end with a knockout punch that would make George McFly proud and another manure bath.
Marty and Doc don't get to celebrate this victory for long, because they have to catch a train. It took three weeks to film what may be the most exciting sequence in all three films. The train-pushing-the-Delorean finale definitely rivals the original's clock tower climax for sheer edge-of-your-seat thrills, and it was all done the old-fashioned way. I'm talking about actual danger for the actors, the camera crew, and stunt performers. There shouldn't be any doubt that Bob Zemeckis is one of the best directors we've ever had, as Marty prepares to travel through time for the last time.
Clara complicates the plan, after realizing that Emmett really did invent a time machine. Why can't love be like this in real life? Just once. Just a little. It doesn't seem like too much to ask. At least we have Doc and Clara, reminding us that true love is worth hanging off a speeding locomotive for. They won't be able to reach the Delorean even with a hoverboard assist, and they don't mind one bit. The train/ravine crash was amazingly achieved with a miniature model and is 100% convincing.
The '80s ended the moment the Delorean was destroyed by an unforgiving freight train. This was Zemeckis and Gale emphatically letting the audience know that there wouldn't be any more BTTF movies. You have to respect their conviction and artistic integrity in steadfastly refusing to do a fourth film. You don't have to look far to find other franchises continuing well past their expiration dates.
Marty is finally free to resume his teenage life on October 27th 1985. A quick stop at home reassures us that we're in the correct timeline. Jennifer(Elisabeth Shue) is a fine young woman, and there won't be any drag races with that crazy idiot Needles(Flea) to ruin their futures together. Marty is smarter than that now. Still, there's something missing...
You can't keep a good scientist down. Doc returns from the late 19th Century(1893, to be exact) with his wife Clara and their sons Jules and Verne. The Time Train is a wondrous sight, that entices fans with endless possibilities for new adventures that are wisely left to our imaginations(unless, of course, you've explored the vast array of BTTF graphic novels and the animated series). ZZ Top's "Doubleback" is an underrated track, that always leaves me elated and totally satisfied.
The greatest trilogy of all time? Peter Jackson might have something to say about that, but he squeezed six movies out of Tolkien, and let's not get started on George Lucas/Disney. Sofia Coppola kept "The Godfather" from claiming that title in the OTHER "Part III" that came out in 1990. "BTTF" only grows in popularity and esteem with each passing year that gives us nothing like it, and I consider the series one big six-hour movie. But each part is always there to be watched and enjoyed any way you want. Jerry Seinfeld had a VHS copy of the only sci-action-comedy-Western romance on the planet in his sitcom apartment, and the poster pictured above adorns my wall. "Back to the Future Part III" is one of the world's greatest films.
