Back to the Future Part III
| Back to the Future Part III | |
|---|---|
| File:Backfu3.jpg Promotional poster (caption: "They've saved the best trip for last… But this time they may have gone too far.") | |
| Directed by | Robert Zemeckis |
| Written by | Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale |
| Produced by | Steven Spielberg |
| Starring | Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson |
| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date | May 251990 |
Running time | 118 min. |
| Budget | $40,000,000 USD |
Back to the Future Part III is a movie starring Michael J. Fox that opened on 25 May 1990. It is the third part of a trilogy, following Back to the Future and Back to the Future Part II. It grossed $23 million in its first weekend of US release and $87.6 million altogether in US box office receipts – $243 million worldwide. It was not as successful as the second film but was not a disappointment either, especially given that it was released six months after the second film. 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 when it was released. In the DVD widescreen edition there was a minor framing flaw that Universal has since corrected, available in sets manufactured after 21 February 2003. Back to the Future Part III celebrated its 15th anniversary in May 2005.
The movie won a Saturn Award for Alan Silvestri (composer) and Thomas F. Wilson and an AOL DVD Movies Premiere Award.
Back to the Future Part III may be described as a science fiction Western, since it contains elements of both these genres. This third installment of the hugely popular series is set mainly in the Wild West of America in the year 1885. Back to the Future Part III ends with a freight train destroying the original time machine. The film ends with a message to all viewers that one's future is not written yet, but depends on what we make it to be.
Rock band ZZ Top recorded the track Doubleback for the end credits. They also made a cameo appearance in the movie as a Wild West musical trio.
Plot
Like Back to the Future Part II, Back to the Future Part III picks up where its predecessor left off. Doc Brown has been accidentally sent back to 1885. However, he is able to send Marty a letter, telling him where the time machine is. Marty works with the 1955 Doc, and they recover the De Lorean from a mine. Before leaving the mine, they discover the tombstone that shows where Doc was buried in 1885. Doc has been shot by Biff's great grandfather Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen.
They haul the car back to Doc's mansion and restore it to working order with new white-wall tires, and a series of vacuum tubes to imitate the integrated circuit chip. Instead of going back to 1985 as ordered, Marty goes back to 1885 to rescue his comrade. After surviving scares from Indians, a bear, Tannen, and even the cavalry, the two are set to return home... only for Marty to tell Doc that he ripped the fuel line. They are out of gas and out of luck.
Doc devises a plan to push the De Lorean with a train locomotive, only to find himself infatuated with the town's schoolteacher Clara Clayton, and Tannen, initially intent on shooting Doc in the back, is now hellbent on killing Marty (who introduced himself as Clint Eastwood) in a shoot-out. Marty is able to defeat Tannen (using a trick from an Eastwood movie, A Fistful of Dollars, which was foreshadowed in the second movie) 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. Clara slips on the outside of the train, but Doc saves her (Marty slips Doc the hoverboard he took back with him from 2015) and Marty is sent back to the future by himself after all. Upon arriving back to the year 1985, the De Lorean is destroyed by a train that hits it but not before Marty manages to get out. Marty reunites with his girlfriend Jennifer and his family at home - in relief that everything had returned to the normal 1985 after the events of Back to the Future Part II. He returns to the wreckage site with Jennifer where the De Lorean was destroyed. Thinking he would never see Doc again, Marty is in for a surprise as Doc returns before his very eyes in a flying train. Doc is now married to Clara and they have two sons, Jules and Verne (named after Clara and Doc's favorite author, Jules Verne).
Trivia
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" "letters" 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.
- Filmed simultaneously with Part II.
- In the five years since the original film was made, Michael J. Fox had forgotten how to ride a skateboard.
Cast and crew
- Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Seamus McFly and "Clint Eastwood"
- Christopher Lloyd as Dr Emmett L Brown (aka 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
- Robert Zemeckis: director/screenwriter
- Bob Gale: producer/screenwriter
- Neil Canton: producer
- Kathleen Kennedy: executive producer
- Frank Marshall: executive producer
- Steven Spielberg: executive producer
- Steve Starkey: associate producer
Video and Computer Games
LJN released a poorly recieved NES game called Back To The Future Part II and III, and an arcade version of the 'Back To the Future III film was eventually released for the Sega Genesis.
See also
External links
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