Back to the Future Part III
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Back to the Future Part III | |
|---|---|
 Back to the Future Part III movie poster |
|
| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Produced by | Steven Spielberg |
| Written by | Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale |
| Starring | Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri James Horner (Universal logo only) |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Editing by | Harry Keramidas Arthur Schmidt |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | May 25, 1990 |
| Running time | 118 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$40,000,000 |
| Preceded by | Back to the Future Back to the Future Part II |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
| Part of the article series on Back to the Future trilogy |
 |
| Movies |
|---|
| Back to the Future Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part III |
| The McFly Family |
| Marty McFly · George McFly Lorraine Baines · Jennifer Parker Seamus & Maggie McFly |
| The Brown Family |
| Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown Clara Clayton · Jules Brown Verne Brown · Einstein |
| The Tannen Family |
| Biff Tannen · Griff Tannen Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen |
| Related articles |
| Other characters · Hill Valley Animated series · The Ride Video games · Timeline |
Back to the Future Part III is a science fiction western comedy film starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd that opened on May 25, 1990. It is the third and final part of the Back to the Future trilogy, following Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II. The film is mostly set in the year 1885.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Like Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III picks up at the moment where its predecessor left off. Doc Brown has been accidentally sent back to 1885 by a lightning bolt. However, he was able to send Marty a letter, telling him where the time machine is. He enclosed instructions for Marty not to come for him and to destroy the time machine once he returns to 1985. Marty works with the 1955 Doc, and they recover the DeLorean from a mine. Before leaving the mine, they discover the tombstone that shows where Doc was buried in 1885. Just six days after he wrote the letter to Marty, Doc was shot in the back by Biff's great grandfather Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen "over a matter of $80." Going against the 1985 Doc's instructions to go immediately back to that year, Marty decides to go back to 1885 to rescue his comrade.
They haul the car back to Doc's mansion and restore it to working order. However, since adequate parts for a DeLorean car would not be accessible until years later, the 1955 Doc must fix it with parts from that era. The DeLorean is now equipped with new whitewall tires, and a series of vacuum tubes to replace the damaged time circuit control microchip, which, due to the damage, could not get Doc back to 1955 himself. The time machine's flying circuits were destroyed by the lightning bolt, so the car will never again have the flying capabilities it had in Back to the Future Part II. Doc and Marty take the fixed DeLorean to the Indian-motifed Pohatchee Drive-In Theater outside of town. Marty takes off from the back of the lot and heads towards the screen tower, reaching the required 88 MPH and traveling to 1885 just before hitting the tower.
After surviving scares from Indians, a bear, and even the cavalry, he finds refuge with his own great-great-grandfather Seamus McFly (also played by Fox). He introduces himself as Clint Eastwood, and Seamus, followed reluctantly by his wife Maggie (played by Lea Thompson), agree to help Marty find his "Blacksmith Friend". Marty goes into Hill Valley, and goes into the local saloon to try and find out where Doc lives. Buford shows up however, and picks a fight with Marty, in no small part due to the ridiculous "Western" clothing given to him by the 1955 Doc. Eventually Marty ends up being hanged from the partly-complete clock tower, at which point Doc shows up and saves him. Buford then demands $80 from the Doc to replace a horse he shot a few days previously, blaming a horse-shoe the Doc attached for $75, and $5 for a bottle of alcohol that was broken when the horse threw its shoe. Doc refuses, and Buford promises to kill him. Doc takes Marty back to his workshop, and the two are set to return home, only for Marty to tell Doc that he ripped the DeLorean's fuel line. Marty is unconcerned, believing they can use the 2015 model "Mr. Fusion" to draw energy from any object placed inside to power the time machine, but a devastated Doc tells Marty that Mr. Fusion only powers the time circuits and Flux Capacitator. The actual car has always run on Unleaded Gasoline and always will. "There won't be a gas station around until sometime next century...", hence they are out of gas and out of luck. Doc's first idea is to get a team of horses to pull the DeLorean to 88 MPH, but this fails, as the car barely breaks 20 MPH. The next plan is to fill the DeLorean's gas tank with whiskey from the saloon; unfortunately, this proves too volatile and destroys the fuel injection manifold. Because it will take too long to repair it, Doc desperately thinks of another idea.
Doc devises a plan to push the DeLorean with a train locomotive across a bridge over Shonash Ravine (later to be renamed Clayton Ravine) that has not been completed yet, but will be in use in 1985 when Marty arrives. However, Doc finds himself infatuated with the town's schoolteacher Clara Clayton after rescuing her from falling into the ravine (the ravine was to be named after her, as Marty points out; however, Doc's intervention prevents this). Buford tries to kill the Doc at the town's festival, only for Marty to disrupt the attempt. The next day however, Marty notices that a photo he took of the Doc's gravestone is changing to read "Clint Eastwood" instead, and realizes that now Buford is after his blood. Marty is able to defeat Tannen (with a trick inspired by the real Clint Eastwood, as seen in part of a movie during part two), and persuade Doc to come back with him. However, Clara sneaks aboard the train as they attempt to push the De Lorean back to 1985. As Doc is climbing on the outside of the train to reach the DeLorean, Clara blows the train's whistle. Doc goes back for her, making the decision to take her back to the future. Before he can reach her however, the train releases an explosion (a result of how Doc fuels it to get it to increase speed), causing Clara to slip, leaving her suspended from the train). Luckily, Marty is able to slip Doc the hoverboard he took back with him from 2015. Doc rescues Clara and presumably floats back to Hill Valley. The DeLorean then hits 88 mph just before it hits the edge of the ravine, sending Marty back to the future by himself. The train flies off of the bridge, crashing into the valley, and is destroyed in a spectacular explosion.
Upon arriving back to 1985 on what is now named Eastwood Ravine, Marty escapes from the DeLorean just before it is hit by a train and destroyed. Marty reunites with his girlfriend Jennifer and his family at home - in relief that everything had returned to the now-normal 1985 after the events of Back to the Future Part II. On their way to the wreckage in Marty's truck, Marty runs into Needles and his gang, who challenges him to a speed race at a traffic light. Jennifer tries to persuade Marty not to accept it, but when Needles calls Marty a "chicken", Marty looks like he is going to take the challenge. However, using his better judgment, he escapes the challenge by shifting the truck into reverse; he then discovers that if he had gone on with the race, he would have hit a Rolls Royce (see Marty McFly page). In 2015, Jennifer had overheard Marty's mother and daughter talking about how Marty was sued by the driver, injured his hand, and gave up his dream of being a rock star.
He returns to the DeLorean's wreckage site with Jennifer. Thinking he would never see Doc again, Marty is surprised as the railroad crossing lights activate without a train in sight. The Doc has returned to 1985 in a new time machine, fashioned in the form of a modified 1880s-era locomotive. Doc is now married to Clara and they have two sons, Jules and Verne (named after Clara and Doc's favorite author, Jules Verne). Doc assures Marty that everything is back to normal in all times and that the future is "Whatever you make of it." After Marty inquires where Doc is headed next, and the inventor replies that he won't be returning to the future, as he has already been there. The train itself lifts off of the track and turns around in midair, much like the DeLorean did in part 1, accelerates toward the viewer, and vanishes into another time as the movie ends.
[edit] Release and recognitions
The movie grossed US$23 million in its first weekend of US release and $87.6 million altogether in US box office receipts – $243 million worldwide. On 17 December 2002 Universal Studios released Back to the Future Part III in a boxed set with the first two films on DVD and VHS which did extremely well. In the DVD widescreen edition there was a minor framing flaw that Universal has since corrected, available in sets manufactured after February 21, 2003.
In 1990, the movie won a Saturn Award for Best Music for Alan Silvestri and a Best Supporting Actor award for Thomas F. Wilson. In 2003, it received AOL Movies DVD Premiere Award for Best Special Edition of the Year, an award based on consumer online voting.
Many critics consider this installment "warmer" than the others because of its emphasis on the relationship with Marty and Doc Brown.
[edit] Cast and crew
[edit] Cast
- Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly ("Clint Eastwood") and Seamus McFly
- Christopher Lloyd as Dr Emmett "Doc" Brown
- Mary Steenburgen as Clara Clayton
- Thomas F. Wilson as Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen and Biff Tannen
- Lea Thompson as Maggie McFly and Lorraine Baines McFly
- James Tolkan as Marshal Strickland
- Elisabeth Shue as Jennifer Parker
- Jeffrey Weissman as George McFly
- Matt Clark as Chester, the bartender
- Dub Taylor as Saloon Old-Timer #1
- Harry Carey, Jr. as Saloon Old-Timer #2
- Pat Buttram as Saloon Old-Timer #3
- Burton Gilliam as Colt Gun Salesman
[edit] Crew
- Robert Zemeckis: director/screenwriter
- Bob Gale: producer/screenwriter
- Neil Canton: producer
- Kathleen Kennedy: producer
- Frank Marshall: executive producer
- Steven Spielberg: executive producer
- Steve Starkey: associate producer
[edit] Additional notes
[edit] Universal logo
Universal Pictures had selected Back to the Future Part III to feature its then-new computer generated logo for the first time. This was in celebration of the studio's 75th Anniversary. The logo featured the UNIVERSAL rolling in from the right angle of the animated globe. It also featured a light orchestral tune by film composer James Horner. Universal continued using this logo up until 1997, when a more modern-looking revamp of this logo (and new music) was introduced.
According to the DVD audio commentary, Bob Gale had originally suggested that the studio should use the Universal logo from the 80s so that all three films would be consistent. But Universal executives wanted to use the new logo, because they felt that Back to the Future Part III would be the studio's biggest film of 1990.
[edit] Music
Back to the Future: Part III is the second movie in the trilogy to feature a major-label band on its soundtrack. Southern rockers ZZ Top contributed "Doubleback" from their 1990 album Recycler to the soundtrack, and the trio even have a cameo appearance during the town's festival scene as the band (They are not credited as themselves in the movie, although their trademark appearance does not change for their roles.) The subsequent video for "Doubleback" also uses clips from the movie. This video is featured on the 2002 DVD release of the Back to the Future trilogy.
The movie also has a rendition of "Clementine."
[edit] Other notes
- When Marty arrives in 1885 and an arrow hits the gas line of the DeLorean, causing all of the fuel to leak out, fans often criticize the film for failing to have Marty siphon gas out of the other version of the car - the one that Doc had recently buried in the mine and which Marty will one day unearth (and from his point of view, already has) in 1955. However, it is unlikely that this car has any gas in it; when storing a car for long periods of time, one drains out all the fluids (including gasoline), and Doc would surely have done this before burying the car in the mine (this is borne out by a line of dialogue from 1955 Doc, after the DeLorean is unearthed from the mine. He says "I put gas in the tank" - thus, there must not have been any gas in the car when it was buried in the mine). Also, Marty would not want to risk damaging the other DeLorean because it would leave him with no car to use in 1955.
- In 1955, while fixing the time circuits, Doc sneers and remarks, "No wonder this circuit failed; it says 'Made in Japan'." Marty replies, "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan." His remark is based on the reputation of Japanese products that, until the "Golden '60s economic miracle", the products were often cheap and poorly made. By the 1970s (and even today), Japan has become one of the world leaders in technology.
- Doc tells Marty that his family, the Von Brauns, arrived in the United States in 1908, but changed their name to Brown as a result of World War One. Wernher Von Braun was a German scientist who is responsible for the design for the infamous V2 Rocket of the second World War, as well as assisting the Americans in their race to space in the 1950s.
- At the drive-in theater, Doc asks Marty who Clint Eastwood is. Marty looks at the poster next to him and says, "That's right; you haven't heard of him yet." The poster is for Revenge of the Creature, which starred Clint Eastwood in his first movie. Eastwood was not offended at having his name used in this film, and was reportedly rather amused at the notion.
- Marty's garish cowboy outfit when he travels back to 1885 can be taken as a subtle joke about Hollywood itself. In 1955, the common perception of the Hollywood cowboy was very much akin to the bright-colored "singing cowboy" archetype (Roy Rogers, for example.) It wasn't until the 1960s that the revisionist Spaghetti Western established the cinema cowboy as a grungier, edgier, more land-hardened man. This is where the homage to Clint Eastwood, superficially a running joke in the film, really pays off, as his appearance in Sergio Leone's Man With No Name trilogy firmly established the new cowboy archetype on which the Hill Valley of 1885 is clearly modeled.
- The clothes that Doc wears in the final scene in the movie were modeled after the Wizard in The Wizard of Oz.
- Despite the thriving business of drive-in theaters in the 50's (with over 4,000 in operation by 1958) and the use of real drive-ins in other movies (such as Grease and Ski Party), the Pohatchee Drive-In featured in BTTF3 was only propped specifically for the movie. Built in the open plains of Monument Valley, Utah, it was immediately torn down after completion of the film.
- A scene with Buford Tannen killing Marshall Strickland was filmed but not included in the movie, though it was retained in the novelization (and later as a bonus scene in the 2002 DVD release). Therefore, there was no explanation in the actual film why it was not Marshall Strickland who arrested Tannen at the end of the film. Because of the loss of this scene, this is probably why Tannen is charged with robbing the Pine City stage on-screen (the line being simply redubbed in post-production), rather than with the murder of Marshall Strickland as in the book.
- Gasoline, while not commonly available at gas stations in 1885, would still have been relatively easy to come by, as it was collected and burnt as a nearly useless waste byproduct of petroleum processing to obtain lamp oil and kerosene, which were more valuable. However, with the time restraint placed by Doc's impending death, it may have been impossible to travel to an oil processing plant and return in time, and Doc and Marty tried alternatives to gasoline which destroyed the fuel injection manifold.
- While shooting the stunt where Marty is being hanged by Tannen and his gang, Fox offered to try the stunt without using a box to stand on. He then miscalculated where his hand would slip between the rope and his neck, actually hanging himself, causing him to pass out.[citation needed]
- Doc says during the movie that Marty and he could use the DeLorean on ice to make it past 88 mph, but ice wouldn't appear until winter. However, after Buford Tannen is put in jail, they could have waited as long as they want, but the argument of the movie was that the train was the last and only hope.
- Maggie McFly would presumably be an ancestor of Marty's father George McFly. Oddly, however, she is played by Lea Thompson. This was done simply to allow the "Marty waking up after being hit on the head" scene to take place with Lea Thompson, just like the other two films. The producers have stated the scene shouldn't suggesting she is an ancestor of Marty's, and that a possible explanation is that "McFly men are genetically predisposed to be attracted to women who look like Lea Thompson."
- When Marty first arrives in 1885, the DeLorean does not have ice on it, as it does immediately after all other trips. This can easily be explained by the fact that the air temperature at the time being very hot and the car's velocity high prevented frost forming on the car.
- This was actors Mary Steenburgen and Christopher Lloyd's second film together, the first being the Jack Nicholson film Goin' South.
- Former President Ronald Reagan, reportedly a fan of the BTTF series, was offered the role of the Mayor of Hill Valley.
[edit] Video and computer games
LJN released an NES game called Back to the Future II & III, a sequel to their game based on the first movie. An arcade Back to the Future Part III game was also released that would eventually be ported to several home video game systems, including the Sega Genesis.
[edit] References in other media
- In an episode of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show when the family travels back in time to the old west, when main character and father Wayne Szalinski is asked his name by the town's inhabitants, he says it's John Wayne. When his wife gives him a look of disbelief, he says that if Marty could be Clint Eastwood in Back to the Future Part III, there was no reason why he could not be John Wayne.
- In the episode E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt) of The Simpsons, Homer is worrying about a duel the next morning whilst looking at a tombstone with his own name on it.
[edit] See also
- Back to the Future timeline
- Back to the Future trilogy
- Back to the Future
- Back to the Future Part II
[edit] External links
These links were last verified 27 November 2006
- Official Universal Pictures site
- BTTF.com
- BTTF Frequently Asked Questions written by Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis
- Back to the Future Part III at the Internet Movie Database
| Films directed by Robert Zemeckis |
|---|
| The Lift • A Field of Honor • I Wanna Hold Your Hand • Used Cars • Romancing the Stone • Back to the Future • Who Framed Roger Rabbit • Back to the Future Part II • Back to the Future Part III • Death Becomes Her • Forrest Gump • Contact • What Lies Beneath • Cast Away • The Polar Express • Beowulf • The Corrections |
Categories: Articles with large trivia sections | Articles with unsourced statements since March 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Back to the Future | 1990 films | American films | Films directed by Robert Zemeckis | Science fiction Westerns | Sequel films | Universal Pictures films | Adventure films | Western films | English-language films | Time travel films
