Back to the Future Part III

Director Robert Zemeckis wrapped up his legendary time travel trilogy back in 1990 by throwing his heroes into a dusty western adventure. You watch Michael J Fox return as the teenage time traveler Marty McFly, who travels all the way back to 1885 to save his best friend. We get to see Christopher Lloyd finally get a romance storyline as the eccentric inventor Doc Brown falls for a local schoolteacher named Clara Clayton, played beautifully by Mary Steenburgen. I always tell my friends to watch this final chapter because it brings a ton of pure emotional heart back to the crazy science fiction premise. The plot drops you right into a dangerous frontier town where outlaws settle arguments with loud gunfights in the dirt. A closer look beneath the cowboy hats and steam trains reveals a very sweet story about accepting your destiny. A structural analysis shows that every shootout between Marty and the ruthless Buford Mad Dog Tannen mirrors his internal struggle to stop reacting to simple playground insults.

Cinematographer Dean Cundey trades the neon lights of the future for the wide open spaces of classic westerns. You immediately notice the breathtaking wide shots of Monument Valley that make the time machine look incredibly small against nature. I do get a little annoyed when the camera uses obvious bluescreen effects during the runaway train sequences. The mismatched lighting on the actors makes those dangerous stunts feel a bit too much like a cheap theme park ride instead of a real life or death situation. A quick return to the dusty streets of town thankfully restores a much better visual reality. The costume department gives Marty some incredibly loud and colorful cowboy clothes to completely separate him from the faded brown and gray dust of the actual period.

Pay attention to the set design and you will see how the town completely reflects a society still under construction. The messy interior of the local saloon feels very authentic because the cheap wood and dirty floorboards match a rough frontier lifestyle. A trip over to the famous Hill Valley courthouse offers a totally different vibe entirely. The wooden skeleton of the building and the shiny new clock dial look like a beautiful promise for a better future. My main complaint involves the giant steam powered time machine train at the very end. The flying locomotive looks a bit too magical and flashy for a franchise grounded in slightly realistic mechanics. The choice to put these advanced science characters in a primitive dirt town forces a natural comedy that jumps right off the screen.

You really have to listen to the acoustic guitars and fiddles to understand the fun cowboy energy of this finale. My ears constantly catch the loud metallic clank of cowboy spurs right before a major duel happens in the street. The editing moves at a very fast and thrilling pace during the final train robbery sequence. We hear a massive orchestral score composed by Alan Silvestri that perfectly blends the classic heroic theme with traditional western music. The sudden loud blast of a train whistle constantly interrupting quiet romantic conversations actually makes the ticking clock element feel terrifyingly real.

Let us clear up some common mysteries about this time travel western.

- Did they film parts two and three at the same time? Yes, the production crew shot both sequels back to back to save money and keep the actors from aging between the different stories.

- Was the futuristic train at the end a real locomotive? The special effects team actually built a massive scale model for the flying scenes and used a real historical steam engine for the ground shots.

- Did Michael J Fox really get hurt during the hanging scene? He actually passed out for real during a take because the rope got too tight around his neck, forcing the crew to quickly cut him down.

The incredible chemistry between the leads and the fun western setting keep me coming back, but I cannot deny that the plot feels a bit formulaic by the third round. Certain jokes get repeated so exactly from the first movie that you almost lose the sense of danger in this new time period.

Fans of classic nineties blockbusters will definitely love finding the hidden historical details in this dirt town. If you think you have the eye to spot the hidden hoverboard in our daily movie guesser challenge or just want to play a fun game with your friends, test your skills at Flickle. You can also try to guess the movie based on subtle visual clues to prove your ultimate pop culture knowledge.