Back to the Future part III (1990)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Had I seen this before: Yes
Before we get into it, I think it's important to establish that the first rule of Lighthearted Time Travel Fiction is: you do not ask too many questions about Lighthearted Time Travel Fiction. This post will not be addressing any particular scientific or engineering hangups regarding the logistics of the BTTFCU. Things happen the way they do for storytelling purposes and in this space we accept that without any particular angst.
Except.
There is, for me, one choice in this very fluffy confection of a movie that casts a dark cloud of confusion and consternation, and I'd like to just get it out of the way up top: why does Marty's PATERNAL great-great-grandmother look identical to his mother? His paternal great-great-grandfather looks identical to him, sure, makes sense, and they couldn't use Crispin Glover any more by this point so Michael J. Fox in a double role it is. But his great-great-grandfather on his father's side should not be married to a woman who looks the same as the woman his father married! Especially since we, the audience, have already put in a lot of work to try not to think about the incest-y vibe of Marty's relationship with his mother in the first movie. And now you have them as a married couple! Why is this happening?? I understand that the answer is: so that Lea Thompson could be in this movie, and I do approve of putting Lea Thompson in movies, just for the record. But it raises some serious concerns about the diversity of the Hill Valley gene pool and the fact that it does not alarm Marty in any way is a distraction to me. Does he have other things on his mind? Sure. But I don't.
Oh, I guess I should say at this point that if you are not already intimately familiar with the first Back to the Future movie, you should...fix that. Okay, good talk!
The overarching premise of the movie is very simple: it's Back to the Future again, but they're in the Wild West. This third installment followed astoundingly close on the heels of the first sequel, which was Back to the Future again but everything is more confusing and also kind of a bummer. (I am showing my bias here, but my favorite part of Back to the Future Part II is when it ends with a full trailer for Part III like "can you believe we already have this one ready to go???" and my least favorite parts of Part III are when characters reference things I don't care about from Part II.) Some of the reasons I personally find Part III more successful than Part II are as follows: 1) it came out when I was ten years old and that is the exact perfect age for this; 2) the presence of Mary Steenburgen makes my heart feel calm and happy; 3) it's actually pretty straightforward for a time-travel movie with two previous installments; 4) everyone just seems to be having a very good time making a Western, which in turn leads me to have a very good time watching them do it.
Aside from my body's visceral rejection of Michael J. Fox and Lea Thompson as a couple, given that they are canonically mother and son in my brain, I think the main reason this oversight bothers me is that this is a wildly detail-oriented movie in so many other respects. A quick overview of the extensive trivia section of this film's IMDb page: when Marty first mentions the name Clint Eastwood to the 50's version of Doc, who does not know who that is, there are two movie posters in the background featuring young, not-yet-famous Clint Eastwood; the saloon in 1885 is in the same spot as the cafes from the other time periods; the "Statler" family sells horses in the 1800s, Studebakers in the 50s, and Toyotas in the 80s; likewise, the same family has owned all the wagon/vehicles full of manure, possibly the franchises' most unfortunate trademark; when they dedicate the clock tower in the 1800s, the fireworks are in the same pattern as the lightning strike from the first movie; in the 50s you can see the clock in Doc's bathroom that he references hanging in the first movie. And many, many, many, other things but I am bored of transcribing them now--the point is, all that careful continuity and poor Lea Thompson's bloodline is just a mess, constantly marrying into the McFly family for some reason.
All the performances in this are where they need to be--Michael J. Fox is still boyish and adorable (although at 29 he is starting to strain the "teenager" thing somewhat), Christopher Lloyd is turned all the way up, Mary Steenburgen is like a human Xanax as always. But I want to give a special shout-out to Tom Wilson for not only gamely giving life to one of the most energetically hateable villains (or, family of villains) of the late 20th century, but also for doing his own horse stunts in this movie. The lasso too! I see you and your dedication to the craft, Tom Wilson.
My favorite fun detail: Marty is going from the 1950s to the 1880s, so he dresses in the best 50s western wear he can find, which have a very mid-century atomic theme. Fun detail from my own life: due to the way Christopher Lloyd says it in these movies, I definitely thought the expression was "Greats Gott" until I was like...much older than one would guess. Detail pertinent to the current blog theme, which is now concluding: this is by far the most Monument Valley of any movie I've watched since Stagecoach--they were definitely really out there and it looks great. It is funny that the plan is to walk back to Hill Valley from there, which I believe is in California and therefore hundreds of miles away, but because this does not bring to mind any inbreeding-related complications we're going to let that one go.
Line I repeated quietly to myself: "Greats Gott!"
Is it under two hours: With two minutes to spare
In conclusion: I think it's nice that in this film, rather than giving Marty credit for basically inventing rock n' roll via his bootstrap-paradox influence on Chuck Berry, it just gives him credit for inventing the game of Frisbee, which is only stealing valor from some random 19th century Yale students.
Buttermilk Biscuits from The Cozy Cook
You know what they eat in this movie? Biscuits, corn on the cob, potatoes, and buckshot-filled rabbit. And? Not a single bean. Which is the actual reason I enjoyed this movie, and also know that it is not a true Western.
Up next: A brief Summer 2022 box office roundup
