Howdy, folks. After traveling to 1955 to ensure the courtship of an unlikely couple and venturing to 2015 to prevent Marty’s son from ruining his family’s future, we’re heading to 1885 to course-correct a time-traveling conundrum in the Wild West with a look back at Back to the Future Part III.
Galloping into theaters six months after releasing Back to the Future Part II, the third and final chapter of Doc and Marty’s timey-wimey shenanigans places the silver-haired scientist in the spotlight for an old-fashioned and entertaining meet cute with Mary Steenburgen’s Clara Clayton, an accomplished school teacher, and the tritagonist of the final chapter of Robert Zemeckis’s time-honored trilogy.
Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures produced Back to the Future Part III for $40 million, which was half of a shared $80 million budget for Back to the Future II and III. It was Michael J. Fox’s idea to send Doc and Marty back to the time of shit-smattered outhouses, Dysentery, and deadly duels at dawn. While filming Back to the Future, Zemeckis asked Fox about what era he’d like to visit, with Fox expressing enthusiasm to hit the dusty trail of the Old West. Robert Zemeckis and writer/producer Bob Gale loved the idea but kept it in their back pocket. There was no guarantee that Back to the Future would succeed, and plans for a sequel, let alone two, were only in the cards once the original film became a surprise smash at the box office.
When Back to the Future Part II debuted on the silver screen in 1989, Zemeckis stunned audiences with a surprise preview for Back to the Future Part III ahead of the film’s closing credits. The Internet was a shadow of its current self then, so the only way to see the tease was in theaters. Word of mouth spread about the spur-sporting sequel quickly, leaving fans in a perpetual state of anticipation for another movie starring their favorite time-traveling duo.
I remember the crowd reaction to the preview when I saw Back to the Future Part II at the Brookhaven Multiplex in Medford, New York. Audible gasps and excitement filled the packed theater as Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly confronted the Old West to save his friend from an untimely end. The preview teased Marty’s run-in with Thomas F. Wilson’s Bufford “Mad Dog” Tannen, alongside heightened action atop horseback, a musical cameo from Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons, and the late Dusty Hill of the band ZZ Top, and Doc’s googly-eyed fawning for Ms. Clara Clayton. While the leap from an imagined 2015 to 1885 was jarring, my audience was ready to saddle up for one last cruise in Doc’s DeLorean.
Zemeckis shot the Back to the Future sequels back-to-back, creating a timely turnaround that kept fans engaged with the franchise. Instead of repurposing old sets, the crew built the 1885 Hill Valley from the ground up, tailoring the town’s look for a community on the verge of expansion. The western scenes were filmed on-location in Oak Park, California, and Monument Valley, while filming for Hill Valley took place in Jamestown, California, at Red Hills Ranch near Sonora, California. Zemeckis shot some train scenes at Railtown 1897 Historic Park, also known as The Movie Railroad.
Zemeckis shot the Back to the Future sequels over 11 months, with a three-week reprieve between productions for rest and recovery. Zemeckis’s schedule during production for Back to the Future Part III would have ruined me. He used to edit the second movie while shooting the third, then hop a private jet to reconnect with Bob Gale to collaborate on the dubbing process. Zemeckis would then get a few winks in at the Sheraton Universal Hotel before boarding a plane back to California to start the process again. I can’t get through most days without taking a quick nap. The thought of ping-ponging between productions exhausts me, and all I’m doing is writing about it. No amount of Red Bull or Deadly Grounds coffee could bring me to Zemeckis’s level of energy and dedication.
Because the sequels were filmed back-to-back, Zemeckis had little trouble securing the original cast members to star in one film after the other. The only outlier of the primary cast was Mary Steenburgen, who was reluctant to play Clara Clayton until her children begged her to accept the role. Zemeckis and Gale wrote Clara with Steenburgen in mind, inspired by the actress’s ability to combine demure characteristics with a thirst for action and adventure. The Bobs gave Clara a background in academia and the sciences to share common interests with Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, making her the perfect companion to capture the wiley scientist’s heart and soul.
The appeal of Back to the Future Part III goes beyond being part of a beloved franchise. The film is a tried-and-true Western with many tips of a ten-gallon hat to the genre. Zemeckis assembled Western icons like Pat Buttram, Harry Carey Jr., and Dub Taylor to frequent the bar where Marty meets Wilson’s “Mad Dog” Tannen, and Doc Brown reveals he can’t hold his brown. Buttram’s inclusion in the film is one of the movie’s most significant highlights for me, as he’s a legendary voice actor with parts in movies like Disney’s Robin Hood, The Aristocats, The Fox and the Hound, and more. Putting a face to the voice for the first time was mind-blowing for my eight-year-old brain.
While I’m not typically a fan of the Western genre, Back to the Future Part III elevates the rough-and-tumble setting for a spirited franchise finale. My favorite aspect of the Back to the Future films is how Zemeckis and Gale repurpose vital scenes and plot points to connect the dots of each era, showing how the same event can create a butterfly effect on Marty’s life and lineage. If nothing else, spending a few days in the Wild West will make you appreciate all the modern amenities and conveniences we often take for granted. Whether it’s curing yourself of disease, finding a meal without buckshot seasoning, or something as simple as adding ice cubes to your drink, the Wild West is a nightmare of American history, regardless of how filmmakers often glorify it on the silver screen. It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.
I also enjoy watching Doc and Marty adapt to every curveball as mucking with the timeline inevitably goes awry. When he’s not losing his cool over immature taunts, Marty is a relatively breezy and calculated time traveler. He understands what’s at stake and remains on task despite the wonders surrounding him, always returning to the mission instead of getting lost in the moment. This focus is particularly true in Back to the Future Part III, as Marty continuously reminds Doc about their mission schedule’s lack of wiggle room. He’s also a quick learner. Watching him throughout all three films, Marty’s ability to operate Doc’s inventions is impressive. He presses buttons and pulls levers with a depth of confidence, coming a long way from the opening scene of the original film when he destroys Doc’s sweet sound system.
For Christopher Lloyd fans, Back to the Future Part III finally allows the veteran actor to share the spotlight alongside Fox. While Doc is a vital part of the first two films, the trilogy’s third chapter focuses on the mad scientist’s future, allowing him to live out his dream of tussling with cowpokes while witnessing a pivotal turning point in a great nation’s history. Resources are scarce, but watching Doc circumvent the limits of technology to invent fantastic machines from rudimentary parts is a joy.
It’s also fun to watch Doc get reduced to a befuddled Casanova while unable to resist the charms of Steenbergen’s Clara Clayton. When Clara calls, all logic and urgency fly out the window, revealing Doc’s desire to connect with someone other than Marty. Falling for a woman of science is something Doc never accounted for in his life of experimentation, time travel, and pushing the boundaries of reality. In many ways, Clara is Doc’s future, someone he can share all knowledge and time with, the Marie Curie to Doc’s Pierre.
While the Back to the Future trilogy provides its male leads with nuanced roles, I cannot say the same for Lea Thompson’s Lorraine Baines, Elizabeth Shue’s Jennifer, and Mary Steenbergen’s Clara Clayton. Beyond her misguided lust for Marty, Lorraine becomes little more than a rag doll for Biff, with sexual assault and an unfulfilling marriage to George McFly to look forward to as time ticks on. Jennifer spends much of Back to the Future II and III asleep, then is lied to about her time-traveling journey before discovering the truth for herself. While an accomplished school teacher by trade, Clara is little more than a damsel in distress cliche waiting to be saved by her white-haired knight in a brown cotton trench. As incredible and timeless as the Back to the Future trilogy is, it’s more than a shame the series doesn’t utilize the talents of its female cast to a greater degree when the potential is right there. To Thompson, Shue, and Steenburgen’s credit, they knock their performances out of the park, giving us reason to want more from them, not less.
Setting aside the trilogy’s few but notable failings, Back to the Future Part III offers a thrilling swan song for the trilogy. Marty sets his future straight, and Doc rides into the sunset aboard a hover-converted, time-traveling locomotive, proud of his accomplishments with a new family along for the wild ride. With three iconic eras in American history explored, the potential to continue the franchise remains. Still, Zemeckis remains adamant about Hollywood keeping its money-grubbing mits off the Back to the Future property. Regardless of quality, Universal would likely leap to remake Back to the Future for modern audiences, but what would that look like? Who would they cast? Would it be a retread of the trilogy, or would Doc and Marty go someplace new? There are too many questions for me to feel comfortable about any of them. I hope Hollywood never gets to sink its fangs into Back to the Future. Like my dream of owning a neon pink Mattel-brand Hover Board one day, let it remain in the past.
Few films feel as formative as Zemeckis and Gale’s Back to the Future trilogy. As a child of the ’80s, Doc and Marty were practically superheroes of the silver screen for me, able to manipulate time and prevent catastrophic events from altering the fabric of society. What could we accomplish with such power? How would we underestimate that power? What if it fell into the wrong hands? Would it corrupt and tarnish our morals, trapping us in an infinite loop of do-overs? With so many uncertainties laid bare, perhaps time travel should remain science fiction.
Do you think Back to the Future Part III is better than Part II? Let us know in the comments.