Robert Zemeckis closes the Back to the Future trilogy by trading hoverboards and neon for spurs, saloons and a steam locomotive. Back to the Future Part III picks up seconds after Part II, with Marty McFly stranded in 1955 and Doc Brown stuck seventy years earlier in 1885. The film opened in the United States on May 25, 1990, six months after its predecessor, on a $40 million budget shot back-to-back with Part II. It grossed $245 million worldwide and finished as the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1990. The audience score sits at 7.5/10.
Trailer, via Amblin Entertainment.
A Tombstone, a Letter, and September 2, 1885
The plot is a rescue. Marty finds Doc’s 1885 letter, digs the DeLorean out of a mineshaft and repairs it with the help of the 1955 Doc. Then he finds a tombstone: Doc killed by Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen over eighty dollars, six days after writing the letter. Marty ignores the warning and travels to September 2, 1885, arriving in the middle of a cavalry pursuit of Native Americans. He wrecks the fuel line, gets chased by a bear and wakes up in the care of his great-great-grandparents Seamus and Maggie McFly.
In Hill Valley, under the alias Clint Eastwood, Marty runs afoul of Buford and his gang. Doc saves him from a lynching. Without gasoline, the DeLorean cannot hit 88 miles per hour, so Doc proposes pushing it with a steam locomotive. While inspecting a rail spur, he saves schoolteacher Clara Clayton from the ravine and changes her fate. They fall in love.
Mary Steenburgen Makes the Third Trip Work
Mary Steenburgen is the reason this installment beats Part II. Clara Clayton gives Christopher Lloyd’s Doc something the previous films never allowed: a reason to stay put. The romance is the engine here, not the time machine. Michael J. Fox does double duty as Marty and Seamus, and Thomas F. Wilson gets a third Tannen in Buford, who calls Marty “yellow” and drags him into a two-day showdown.
The Western setting is a real change, not a costume. The festival scene brings a ZZ Top cameo, with Frank Beard, Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill playing the band. James Tolkan, Mr. Strickland in the first two films, returns as his ancestor Marshal James Strickland. Veteran Western actors Pat Buttram, Harry Carey Jr. and Dub Taylor fill the saloon.
The Numbers Behind the Trip
- Release date: May 25, 1990 (United States)
- Runtime: 119 minutes
- Budget: $40 million
- Worldwide gross: $245 million
- 1990 rank: sixth-highest-grossing film
- Audience score: 7.5/10 (TMDB, 11,807 votes)
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| November 12, 1955 | Doc vanishes; Marty learns he is in 1885 |
| September 2, 1885 | Marty arrives in Hill Valley |
| Two days after festival | Marty vs. Buford showdown |
| May 25, 1990 | U.S. theatrical release |
The tagline promises the best trip for last. That is only half true. The train sequence and Steenburgen’s Clara are the best material in the trilogy’s back half, but the film spends its first act untangling Part II’s mess. It earns its 7.5/10.
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