Franchise Reviews - Back to the Future Part III

I think most people would have made up their minds about Back to the Future Part III after seeing the trailer for it at the end of Part II. Any longtime readers of this blog know that I love westerns, so I definitely made up my mind.

Picking up where we left off, Marty McFly and Doc Brown had returned to 1955 to destroy a sports almanac so Biff couldn't use it to become Donald Trump a despotic billionaire. Although their mission is successful, Marty becomes stranded in 1955 after the DeLorean is struck by lightning, sending Doc back to the Hill Valley of 1885. He arranges for a letter to be delivered to Marty, stating that he is content to stay in the past and work as a blacksmith, but provides instructions so the younger Doc Brown can repair the DeLorean and allow Marty to return to 1985.

Unfortunately, plans in this series have a tendency to get complicated. While Marty and the younger Doc are recovering the DeLorean from an abandoned mine near an old cemetery, they discover Doc Brown's grave. Seven days after he wrote his letter to Marty, Doc was shot in the back by Buford Tannen, a notorious gunman and Biff's ancestor.

Although he was given strict instructions to go straight back to 1985 and destroy the time machine, Marty decides to back to 1885 and save Doc. Unfortunately, he rips the DeLorean's fuel line, meaning they can't accelerate to the 88 miles per hour needed to time travel. Worse, he falls afoul of Buford Tannen and ends up getting challenged to a showdown. He also meets his own ancestors, Seamus and Maggie McFly.

A lot of people weren't keen on the changed setting, but I'm fine with it. While I wasn't keen on Marty's change of character in the previous film (which they keep here), I'm glad that they try and develop that. It's also nice to see the film explore Doc Brown a little more, when he talks about his background and love of Jules Verne. He even becomes romantically involved with the local schoolteacher, Clara Clayton, although that does have ramifications: He initially saves her life by stopping a runaway buckboard from going into Shonash Ravine, which both Doc and Marty know as Clayton Ravine (indicating that she was originally destined to fall in). When Marty returns to 1985, it's been renamed Eastwood Ravine (yes, Marty went under the name "Clint Eastwood").

I think my favourite moment is a brief one, the day after Marty was challenged by Doc Brown. He'd taken a picture of Doc's tombstone in 1955, but now his name is blank. However, he's being measured for a new coffin, indicating that it could soon be his grave rather than Doc Brown's. He immediately says "Great Scott!" (Doc's catchphrase), while Doc replies "I know, this is heavy." (Marty's usual catchphrase)

Overall, I think this is still a good film. The action and the humour are still on top, and it wraps things up nicely.

Wait a minute, do ZZ Top have a time machine as well?