Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Please click the links to read my reviews of Back to theFuture, Back to the Future Part II, and Secrets of the Back to the Future Trilogy.

Back to the Future Movie #3 (Yes, I finally found a copy)

Synopsis: Robert Zemeckis runs out of ideas and makes a western.

Blurb From the VHS Jacket: “It’s action, laughs and romance in this grand finale to the blockbuster time-travel series.”

What Did I Learn?: Nobody ever bothers to look inside a cave or an old mine.

You Might Like This Movie If: You know that anything featuring Michael J. Fox just has to be good.

Really?: 1) Wouldn’t Doc Brown have known there’s no way a team of horses pulling a Delorean could reach 88 miles per hour? Didn’t he and Marty attempt that simply so the movie trailer could have a cool “Old West” scene? 2) It’s funny how neither Doc nor Marty considered the possibility of finding some oil and making their own gasoline. According to imdb.com, petroleum products (including gasoline) existed back in 1885. 3) I’m pretty sure that attempting to outrun a bear is an extremely bad idea. 4)  I realize Doc and Marty couldn’t use the Delorean already in 1885 to return to the future, but couldn’t they have siphoned out the gas from its tank? 5) Funny how a train destroys the Delorean, and nobody seems to give a crap...why wouldn’t the conductor hit the brakes? And where are the cops and the paramedics, afterward?

Rating: I’ve always considered Back to the Future Part III to be the weakest film in the trilogy. It’s not a bad movie by any stretch, but while the original dealt with human relations (1980s teenager gets a chance to see his parents when they were his age) and the technobabble was presented as important but not central, and the second was a plot-driven romp through different historical periods and alternate time-lines, Part III is basically just a Universal Studios ride. The film is a pastiche of Western movie clichés, along with formulaic scenes we’ve seen before: Doc Brown freaks out, Marty encounters Biff/Griff/Buford Tannen in a watering hole and escapes, the villain winds up in manure, yadda yadda yadda... 6.5/10 stars.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099088/