Reconsidering “Back to the Future:Part III”

 

It’s funny how time can change your mind on things. When I first saw Back to the Future part III I did not like it. And one of my first articles was about the movie and the things I did not like. But looking back, I realize it wasn’t that bad. Part II was faster and more fun, but it also doesn’t have the heart that the first had. The third does, though with a slower pace.

Back over four years ago I did “five things I hated in Back to the Future Part III”. I decided to go back, now older and wiser,  and see if maybe I had changed my mind on any of them.


The parts in italics are the original entries, I am copying the earlier segments directly from the blog and keeping them exactly as a I wrote them.


#5. The opening. I still remember seeing this movie at the theaters and after the exciting re-cap of the ending of the 2nd movie, we get the action and thrill—of a rainstorm. I mean, I realize they wanted to change the tone of the movies a bit but that opening was such a letdown. We see the rain as Marty gets Doc back to his house. We are treated to a pan of the house while the dullest music ever plays. I know the first movie has kind of a quiet opening, but we don’t need to establish Doc’s character this time and for me this was just a disappointment.

Well, when you think about it they really need that tonal shift. The movies needed this break to pause and breathe, and while it was jarring when I saw it at first I get it now. Besides I love the beautifully recreated set for Doc’s old mansion (you’d never guess five years had passed!) and all the stuff in 1955 is really well done.




#4. Odd coincidences. Okay, follow me on this. After digging the time machine out of the cave, Doc sets everything up for the trip to 1885. Doc picks the location because it is wide and open, this makes sense. We get the exciting time travel sequence and then flash….Indians! Marty barely escapes the Indians and the pursuing Calvary. Marty finds a cave, and notices that the gas line was ruptured. Nothing else was damaged, just that. Then we find the cave has a bear, and running from it Marty crashes into a farm which just happens to belong to his great great grandparents. When he wakes he finds a woman who looks like his mother, even though she isn’t even a blood relative to the McFly family. This whole sequence is so contrived, even for a science fiction movie about time travel.

Wow…was I reaching for something here? Yeah this whole paragraph is stupid and I am amazed that I wrote it. Uh yeah it’s a tad contrived but we have to get the plot going somehow! And yeah we can pick on how Seamus and Maggie look like Marty and Lorraine, but let’s give the creators a break on that one. One thing I know now that I guess I didn’t then is that every movie has little things that don’t add up to move the story along. As long as they aren’t so huge that they distract from the plot, it’s all good. I tended to be to negative in the old days and made a big deal out of things which in the grand scheme of things don’t hurt the final product.





#3.A Western? I bet it sounded like a great idea, let’s go back to the Wild West! Sorry guys but I came to see a science fiction movie. In the first movie I didn’t go to see a period movie on the 50’s. The time period is all for the background, we don’t dwell on the fact that it’s the 50’s, it just is. Sure they throw in a few jokes but the plot is not central to the time frame, the characters are. This movie dwells on the fact that it’s the Wild West. We see gunfights, hangings, and everything. I think this is why so many didn’t like this movie. The characters are all western cliche’s and we don’t care about them. Ever notice how Doc and Marty figure out how to get home, but conveniently have to wait a few days. The movie is then put on hold so we can get a square dance and a gun fight. Then the movie resumes. In the first film the reason they had to wait a week made sense; here it’s obviously just to drag the love story out.

Yeah, this was more ranting I’m sorry to say. What’s wrong with a western? And while the characters were cliche’s the same could be said about the characters we got in the first movie. And despite my attempt to say otherwise the first film was firmly rooted in the 50’s. I mean we spend more than a few minutes after Marty arrives just soaking in the environment! Not to mention the little gags and jokes about the differences in the time periods. I was stretching to make this argument work. I think I was too hard on this because, if you don’t know, I am not a western fan. But the western stuff is really good (if a touch romanticized). I went on picking on contrivances again but I was blowing steam. The fact they had to wait until Monday does make sense in the context of the film and i have no idea what I was talking about here






#2. That ending. I mean the very ending, with the train and all that. I mean, talk about beating a horse to death. We had accepted that Doc and Clara had survived and were going to live out there days in the past. I may have disagreed with it, but whatever. They establish everything is back to normal, and even resolve that whole thing with Marty and the Rolls Royce. It seems like everything has been tied up nicely. Then what happens? Doc suddenly blows into town with a freight train. So much for no one seeing the time machine, how could no one have noticed that? And how in the world did he make this train? It works on steam, how? The worst part is when Doc gives Marty the photo and tosses in that line about our futures aren’t written yet, and blah blah. It was a silly ending so corny and over the top which rather than tying up the story just leaves it wide open.


Umm…yeah I still pretty much feel this way about that ending. It was to over the top, I keep waiting for Disney music to kick in every time I watch it. No change here. Tried way to hard, though in hindsight Doc’s quote “You’re future isn’t written yet. No one’s has. You’re future is whatever you make of it. So make it a good one” is a pretty good line, I admit it.






#1. The plot. First of all, I totally disagreed with making Doc the focus on this one. These movies were about Marty, and Doc was just the words of wisdom that provided exposition and moved the story along. I mean, imagine if the focus of “Return of the Jedi” had been on C3PO and R2D2, while suddenly the others became minor characters. Sounds crazy, but that’s what happens here. We see Marty sleeping not once, but twice. Then to make matters worse, at the end when he gets back to 1985 the movie does a 180 and resumes his story! All of a sudden it is about him again. The worst part of all of this is that boring love story. Not putting down the actors, they were fine; I just don’t care if Doc falls in love. Remember in the first movie, we see Jennifer for about ten minutes. They establish Marty has a girlfriend, and then she doesn’t show up till the end. She’s almost forgotten about, so the argument that Marty had the love story in part 1 so this time its Doc’s turn is crazy. What should have happened is they changed time by saving Clara and had to figure out how to go back and set things right because, just like the first film, saving Clara would have the same unforeseen consequences that happened when Marty saved George from getting hit by the car. This drove the plot of the first movie, here it is mentioned then quickly forgotten. Doc loves her so screw the time line. (By the way Marty, it is a big deal if Clara survived that could radically alter history and the way Doc doesn’t care about how his actions may change the future is preposterous! As Marty reminds him, he’s a scientist!).  Rather than pursue that angle, which would have been much more entertaining, they do this boring love story. They should have gone “City on the Edge of Forever” with this, it would have added suspense to the romantic crap and then we could have had Doc return with Marty to destroy the time machine after Doc had realized all the potential damage he almost caused. Oh, and that B story about Marty getting into the gunfight was lame and ended very predictably especially if you saw part 2.

Ok, first of all making Doc the focus wasn’t so bad, and was handled smoothly. And it kind of makes sense since what the hell would Marty’s story have been here? The fight with Buford wasn’t enough, that’s for sure. The love story was kind of boring in spots but done well. I really can’t fault it. While I kind of agree with most of what I said here, they had a good plot right there for the taking but instead went the sentimental route, I realize that what I suggest basically mirrors the first movie. I guess you could argue they didn’t want to flat out copy the first movie note for note…and I gotta respect that. Though dismissing the paradox the way Marty did was weak, yes her not dying changes the future Marty! But kudos for not making this a cookie cutter sequel like so many others from that time. And the gunfight scene was not lame, it was actually decent even if it was spoiled by Part 2. Again, I was being way to hard on it.




So yeah in that article I was harping on the “science fiction” thing to put down the whole western stuff, but the truth is having it in the old west makes sense. The movie is called “Back to the Future” so shouldn’t that be the goal? And let’s be honest that whole train sequence was fantastic, right up there with the clock tower scene in the first movie (that was better, but the train scene was much better than the lame tunnel scene in Part II).  Another touch I love that took me forever to notice? At the end when Needles challenges Marty to the road race, ever notice what song is playing on the radio? “Power of Love” by Huey Lewis gets a reprise, of course it had been featured big time in the original. I love that callback!


Remember that had been a very early blog, probably rushed and not even researched, and I think I am wiser than that now. As I said, it’s funny how time and change your mind about things. Do I love this movie? Not love but I do appreciate more than I did. It is slow at parts.  While not quite the heart of Part 1 or the fun ride that Part II it does more closely resemble the tone set in the original. The original is far and away superior of course, but Part III works better as a sequel to the first. There, I said it.



Hmmm, did I just critique myself? That may be a new one! I have been thinking about doing a new series where I go back to old movies or even shows I dismissed and see if I was being to hard on them. Maybe next year.