Time-Traveling Trilogy: Part III

Back to the Future: Part III is my favorite of the trilogy.  Westerns are one of my favorite genres, and the fact that a Western is used as a storytelling device in a time-travel movie always excited me.  On rare occasions the final chapter of a trilogy can be disappointing (I’m looking at you, Iron Man 3), but Back to the Future: Part III is exactly the opposite.

Back to the Future: Part III is the final chapter of the trilogy, and now Marty must travel even further into the past so he can rescue Doc Brown from Biff’s great-grandfather Buford.  The fact that Marty uses Doc Brown’s 1955 counterpart to travel back to 1885 is sheer genius.  If it had not been for Biff, Marty would have never gone to 1955 in the first place.  So let me get this straight….Biff is to blame for all of this?!  I would have knocked him out just like George McFly did.  The 4^th dimension is used brilliantly in the movie, such as the painting of the Indians and the cave holding the time machine.  The fact that Marty and Doc Brown have to use 1885 technology to get them back to the future (see what I did there?) is fantastic.  I mean, a train pushing the time machine up to 88 miles per hour??  Robert Zemeckis, you are a genius!!!!  We even see the construction of the Hill Valley clock tower.  After everything is said and done, including an homage to Clint Eastwood and his movies, Marty finally gets back where he belongs.  He arrives in Hilldale where we see him live in the future in Part II, and also avoids the crippling car accident that was referenced in that movie. 

Mary Steenburgen joins the cast as Clara Clayton.  She is fascinated by Doc Brown and all of his interests.    Clara and Doc Brown fall for each other immediately, which is quite romantic to watch.  Steenburgen is wonderful in the role, and she provides good levity in a movie that has some very tense situations.

The Back to the Future Trilogy just may be the greatest trilogy of all time.  It is exciting, adventurous and has some of the greatest characters in film history.  The fact that kids today are still watching these movies proves that Back to the Future truly is a phenomenon.