Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis | 119 minutes | action, comedy, western, adventure, science fiction | Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue, James Tolkan

For the third time, we accompany Marty McFly and Doc Emmet Brown to the past and back again to the future in this latest incarnation of ‘Back to the Future’. Although almost all familiar elements are in it, this film still has its own tone compared to parts one and two. The emphasis is less on parallel timelines than in the previous parts, where encounters with family members and other versions of yourself could have drastic consequences. There seemed to be more at stake and the alienating effect of another world, or rather another time, was greater. This part is more like an amusing, romantic vacation in the Wild West, topped with a ‘Back to the Future’ sauce.

This different angle and background was actually a requirement as the futuristic time travel perils, in which various adverse future scenarios should be avoided, were pretty exhausted. Part one was magical, amusing and captivating, with Marty taking a nostalgic look at the 1950s and trying to bring his own mother and father together. Part two was more complex with even more jumbled timelines, and grimmer, for its depressing, dystopian world of depraved and degraded characters. Elaborating on this probably wouldn’t have worked anymore: the novelty of the time travel concept had now worn off, as well as the additional complications. The time was right for a lighter form, and a return to a simpler time.

In the beginning of the film we see in a literal way the figurative journey that the audience makes when watching a film: Marty drives his DeLorean time machine onto the cinema screen and with it into the other world. He is now in the Wild West and is immediately chased by a bunch of Indians. Although, it is not yet clear whether he is immediately part of this new world after breaking through the cinema screen or (still) just a spectator: the Indians are involved in their own plot, in which they are chased by a (white) cavalry . This spectator metaphor actually applies to the entire ‘Back to the Future’ series: Marty witnesses an unfolding storyline that has already been written, and which he tries with all his might to influence (or not).

The humor, which was so important in part one, is again prominent here and is one of the driving forces of this film. Marty calls himself Clint Eastwood, wears a laughable pink cowboy suit, and moonwalks when his feet are shot. And, even though meeting relatives in another time is anything but new, when Marty holds his great-grandfather as a baby in his hands, who then wets him down, there’s no suppressing a smile. Sometimes funny, but in any case nice as recognition are the many winks to other films, especially westerns. Eastwood and his films are referenced more than once: Marty using the famous words: “go ahead, make my day”; Doc who, like Eastwood in “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” shoots through the rope Marty is hung on; and Marty who, like Clint in “A Fistful of Dollars,” uses a furnace lid as a bulletproof vest.

This film distinguishes itself from the previous parts by the somewhat calmer tone and showing the sensitive side of Doc Emmet Brown. Doc has settled in the Wild West and seems to have found the ideal place to spend his last days here. He is then delighted when he falls in love with Clara at first sight, something he would not have thought possible as a rational scientist. It’s nice to see the Doc from a different side, which gives him some more color. Together with the well-cast Mary Steenburgen, he forms the heart of this film.

While it’s essentially a romantic comedy now, the familiar elements are still there. This is a win as well as a limitation at the same time. On the one hand it gives a nice twist to the simple and straightforward story and it is occasionally a wonderful flash of recognition, but on the other hand it is tiring to keep coming across the same story elements. Doc must be rescued from his future death yet again; again a woman in love visits the workshop and the time machine has to be covered; again bad guy Biff shows up; and again the DeLorean needs to be powered in an original way during the climax (although it’s done in an engaging way again here).

The sets are not particularly impressive. The western town is adequate but small-scale and not really memorable. Alan Silvestri’s music is again very effective, and makes the events seem bigger and more important than they actually are.

You get a bit of an ambiguous feeling when watching the movie. The new angle and calm tone are both welcome and somewhat uninteresting changes, and the familiar structure is both a feast of recognition and a somewhat lackluster repetition. However, the effect is excellent. All in all, an entertaining and fairly satisfying finale to the trilogy.