Ritorno al futuro - Parte III

As a loyal fan of the Back to the Future phenomenon, I long awaited a chance to publish my take on the series. It may be a bit surprising to some that I would choose to write my comments in the section specific to the last movie which has been considered to be the worst film of the trilogy.

For many years, in consideration of this one trilogy which served to inspire and excite me as to possibilities of the motion picture industry, I would look with a disappointment on BTTF Part Three, believing it to be an unwelcome, unexciting film which ended the legacy.

However, recently it came upon me to purchase the trilogy on VHS and re-experience it, as I had once did, though now from a more balanced perspective. I watched the first two Back to the Future movies avoided the third in the fear of being once again disappointed. Utter disappointment is no longer the feeling I can use to describe my take of the movie.

Back to the Future 3 is a well-written, well-directed, well-balanced piece. With an incredible musical score, brilliant acting and excellent composition, the movie reminded me that Back to the Future was never about action. It was truly about the characters we came to know and love in the first movie. It was a return to the basics, the friendship between Marty and Doc and how each was thrown through time to change not only the future of Hill Valley, but also their own lives and their future choices.

Robert Zemeckis' (the writer) decision to send the two friends back to 1885, in their final adventure, was brilliant. Imagery like the "famous Hill Valley courthouse under construction" and the "steam engine train wheeling up to the rear of the futuristic Delorean" was unforgettable. For example, the dancing at the Courthouse welcoming festivities contrasted with the action-laden scene (in BTTF2) between Griff and Marty at the same place just a century and a half later.

All in all, Back to the Future Part Three was a perfect ending to a perfect trilogy. To anyone who despises this film, I recommend another full watching. There are so many details which are kudos out to fans of the previous two movies. The movie successfully slowed the pace of the other two movies (in preparation for conclusion) without losing the loyalty of true fans. It captured the essence of what brought these fans to Back to the Future in the first place.

If you haven't seen it, rent and enjoy :) If you have seen it and wasn't particularly pleased, I beg another viewing.

L8r!

Marty and doc are back, but in another time. They go to the West in 1885 in order to save Doc's life and from then on the Western adventure takes place. It's a pity that so many people disliked the third movie because, in my humble opinion, it's a great finale to this fantastic trilogy. It is very well written with rich characters and clever dialogues. This third part does differ in the sense that it's set in the West and has less of the futuristic gadgets and gizmos (obviously, since it's not set in the distant future but you'll still see a few including a time-travelling freight train) but it still retains the same energy, a different kind of action and it pays a nice homage to Western classics. Fox and Lloyd continue their roles of the teen hero and the crazy doctor (and it never gets old) but this time there's a new female lead. Mary Steenburgen delivers a hilariously wonderful performance as the ditsy Clara. She and Lloyd are funny and sweet together. Clara is the perfect lady for Doc and Steenburgen fits the part like a glove. This time, Lea Thompson appears as an Irish settler. Zemeckis has brilliantly picked up from where the second one ended. The film ends on a delightful note and I would have liked to see more 'Back to The Future' movies. But, I'm still very pleased with the way it is. There have been only very few trilogies that have impressed me overall. My list includes names like Ray's 'Apu Trilogy' and Coppola's 'Godfather' trilogy and of course Zemeckis's 'Back To The Future' movies.

Picking up where #2 left off, Marty is stuck in 1955 again and has to explain to the 1955 Doc why he's back and uses a letter Doc sends him from 1885 to explain what happened. After fixing up the time machine (hidden in a from 1885 cave), they find out that Doc is murdered in the past by Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (played by Thomas F. Wilson) "over a matter of $80 dollars." So Marty decides to go back and rescue Doc before the murder can occur, but he is bedeviled by a rip in the fuel line - meaning they have to find another way to get the time machine to hit 88 miles per hour - and Doc falling in love with school teacher Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen). Along the way, he gets advice both from Doc and his 1885 ancestor Seamus McFly (also played by Michael J. Fox) that he should really learn to control his temper.

Fox and Lloyd are fun to watch as always, and I give my hat off to the studio for hiring Mary Steenburgen as Doc's love interest and not some super model type; it's more fitting of who Doc is. Wilson's Biff Tannen officially became a traditional "villain" in #2 with him murdering George McFly, and now Wilson plays an even bigger villain in Buford Tannen, whom he makes both funny and menacing.

Ironically, Wilson is said to be a very nice man in real life. Leah Thompson makes the most of a thankless dual role as both Lorraine McFly and Marty's great, great grandmother Maggie McFly, and James Tolkan plays his Principal character's soft spoken law man ancestor (killed in a deleted scene by Buford Tannen; "Remember son... discipline.")

It should be noted that originally there were no sequels planned with the first movie; that bit with Doc taking Marty and Jennifer to the future to help their kids was just another gag. But the film was such a hit that the studio couldn't NOT do sequels, so this one and part 2 were filmed back to back, which is becoming more of a craze these days.

Although on the surface it's a lighthearted comedy about time travel, it's also about what it means to be a man. The first film defined being a man through violently standing up to your tormentors, while this film and #2 go with the theme that being a man also means you have to reign yourself in when people start annoying you. Marty' willingness to fight back was his strength in the first film but here it is his flaw, as people in both 2015, 1955 and 1885 continually get his goat. The message of self-control is bluntly stated when Doc says to Marty "You can' t keep going off the handle every time someone calls you a name, that's why you get into that accident in the future!" (referring of course to the car accident mentioned in part 2). It is not until Marty realizes his error when he's about to meet Buford in the gun fight that he achieves this ideal and, much to Seamus's glee, says of Buford and the opinions surrounding him "He's an asshole! I don't care what Tannen says, and I don't care what anyone else says either!" Because of this, he is able to avoid said accident.

Also loaded with gags, references to other great westerns ("My name is Clint Eastwood.") and Doc's response to being asked if his hijacking the train is a hold up: "It's a science experiment!"

And here comes the conclusion of one of the finest and most likable cinematic trilogies: "Back to the Future Part III", more than a sequel, a resourcing in the spirit that made the first film such an endearing classic, with an even more escapist value in the setting, the Far West during the 1880's. As a Sci-Fi Family Romantic Comedy, "Back to the Future Part III" is already a winner, but the Western is the defining aspect of its originality.

"Back to the Future Part III" was directly made after the second, basically recycling the same material, and using the same team, the same casting etc. The continuity between the two films is so determining that there's no way watching the second without getting immediately to the third, it's like keeping in touch with the same family. Indeed, as much as I can watch the first one alone, because it's a class on its own and a film I consider slightly independent from the two sequels, on the other hand, I consider the sequels too connected to each other not to be seen in a row. This continuity helps to appreciate the second part that feels more like a link between the two other films while "Part III" resurrects the spirit of the first one by focusing on the emotionality rather than the eternal "back to the future" mission.

This has always been Marty's preoccupation and the thrust of the trilogy but the travels also had the merit to solve some familial issues and help a beloved character to improve something in his life, if anything, the trilogy defines the notion of 'coming-of-age' as the inspirational aspect of the film, its encouragement for success through self-improvement. But since people were facing less materialistic issues than during the 80's, I guess there was a need to take some distance from these so-called philosophies of successes and a huge step back one century earlier when the 80's followed the Secession War and preceded the Industrial Revolution that would lead to demise of the frontier spirit. The Far West is less a setting or an era, than a state of mind, embodying the roots of the American spirit in its purest form, before greed and profit perverted its meaning. The Far West setting perfectly fitted the tormenting desire of Doc Emmett Brown for retirement and a tacit existential quest for love.

Consequently, while the central character of the first film was George McFly and the second part focused on the McFly Family, Gale and Zemeckis took the last film as a great opportunity to enrich the character of Doc Brown and close his story's arc through a love story in order to replace the "mad scientist" label by a necessary element of three-dimensionality. On the surface, Marty's mission is to prevent Brown from being killed by the villain who –for our greatest delight- is Biff's ancestor, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, but while Marty and Doc try to find a solution to push the DeLorean to 88 mph, destiny puts them in Clara's path. So Doc meets Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen), a teacher whose fate was to fall in the Shonash ravine canyon and give it a posthumous name.

At that point of the trilogy, we're all aware of the time travels' mechanisms, we can even be surprised by Marty's incapability "to reason fourth-dimensionally", who he traveled so much. But here, the film invites us to put all the scientific stuff into perspective and think of the real elements that predefine our fates. There's a strong philosophical material hidden behind the love story as the film concludes its approach on time travels with the idea that nothing is written except by our free will and our capacity not to let external elements direct our lives. But I may make the film sound too intellectual when it's also a great comedy and one hell of a western.

The film is the opportunity to rediscover and say goodbye to the wonderful characters of Hill Valley, to see the first McFlys in American land, to witness the inauguration of the clock tower which, as Doc said, was fitting that he and Marty could witness, not to mention Marty pretending to be named Clint Eastwood, at the risk of tarnishing this name by becoming the biggest yellow belly in the Old West. And the delight on the comedic level is in the way the humor works on a meta-referential level as if the film was breaking an imperceptible fourth wall, playing on its own trademarks. I can't resist to the scene where Marty, realizing that he might be killed instead of Doc utters a "Great Scott" followed by Doc's comment "I know this is heavy", when Marty wonders why they always have to "cut these things so damn close" or when, in the most dramatic situations, he reacts by an ironic 'perfect'.

And speaking of dramatic, the film also provides great thrilling moments you'd expect from a Western, and probably the most heart-pounding climax from the trilogy with the train sequence, so suspenseful, I remember I had to pause for seconds the first time I watched it. This was one of the few times, I needed to take a break because it was just too suspenseful, but what a fitting and rewarding conclusion. Action, escapism, duels, stage, rides, Indians, cavalry, "Back to the Future Part III" is also an independent homage to the Western genre with some exhilarating moments, served by Alan Silvestri's terrific score, probably his best work in the trilogy.

And this is why I consider "Back to the Future" as the greatest trilogy after "The Godfather" with a slight advantage that remains the consistency in terms of spirit, thrills, laughs and emotional value. So thank you Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale, Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd and all the team for these three unforgettable classics!

Even in the best franchises which proved that sequels can be just as good, if not better than the originals, the third parts are often fairly controversial. Look no further than to the third entries in "The Godfather" and "The Terminator" movies. "Back To The Future III" is no exception to that rule as it clearly is the weakest part in the trilogy, but it's still one hell of a great ride.

Writer/producer Bob Gale and writer/director Robert Zemeckis are two very clever men. They know the difficulties of sequels well. As Zemeckis explains somewhere on the "BTTF"-DVD set, the hardest part is to give the audience something new without moving too far away from the original's spirit. "Back To The Future II" achieved that goal gloriously (although Zemeckis who is very critical about his own work is always downsizing the greatness of it). Maybe the two Bobs went a bit too far away from what audiences loved about the original in part 3.

Although the movie is set mainly in the Wild West, it's still seen through the eyes of two people from the 80's. There are shootouts, horse chases and train robberies, but "Back To The Future III" is never a real Western. What makes this movie seem different from its predecessors is that fittingly it doesn't have a lot to do with teen culture anymore (save for a Michael Jackson-reference). Marty himself seems to have grown up quite a bit and you'll be surprised to see him behaving more focused on his mission than Doc in the latter half of the movie. This change of places by the characters was a deliberate decision by the writers and it does push the story and the relationship of Marty and Doc forward, but something about it just doesn't feel right.

It's intriguing to learn about the origins of Hill Valley and the ancestors of the McFly-clan. However, the earnest Seamus McFly and his family - that for some reason includes a woman looking like Marty's mother - seem strangely out of place in a BTTF-movie. They're just not quirky enough.

What makes the story seem even more estranged is the introduction of a new character, Clara Clayton, with whom Doc falls madly in love. Now, although we should all be happy for Doc having found his own private happiness, somehow we don't want him to behave like that. It's not Doc as we know and love him - and that's exactly the problem Robert Zemeckis was talking about. Marty and Doc used to be a team. Was anyone happy for John when Yoko got between him and The Beatles?

I still think "Back To The Future III" is an amazing accomplishment, a fine finale to one of the best trilogies ever made. You can't give enough praise to Zemeckis and Gale for not just making these movies for financial reasons but for actually trying to make them as good as possible. Personally, I love this movie to bits and I don't think it could have been realized any better. The only explanation I got for why this brilliant sequel got a lukewarm rating of 6.7 from IMDb users, is the dilemma Zemeckis himself was aware of, but couldn't fully avoid.

Fans who are still longing for a fourth part should keep that in mind and would be best advised to let it go. Zemeckis and Gale have said repeatedly that they don't plan on ever continuing the story. And why should they? Everything has been said, everything has been done. The movies are perfect the way they are. Let's be thankful there are still filmmakers that stick to their artistic conviction.