Back to the Future Part III

                 We have now reached my favorite film of the Back to the Future trilogy.

                At the end of Back to the Future Part II (I apologize if I ruin the ending for anyone) Doc (Christopher Lloyd) is zapped by lightning back to the year 1885.  He writes Marty (Michael J. Fox) a letter to let Marty know he is okay and where he has left the time machine.  Doc does not want Marty to come find or save him as he is happy working as a blacksmith in the time where he is.  Marty is fully willing to go along with Doc’s wishes and return to 1985 until he discovers Doc will be killed one week after he writes his letter to Marty.  Wanting to prevent Doc’s death, Marty changes his plans and programs the time machine to take him to 1885.  

                When Marty arrives in 1885 the fuel line on the time machine breaks.  He doesn’t worry about it too much as he figures the fuel line can be fixed later.  Marty leaves the time machine in a safe place and goes off to find Doc.

                Of course Marty’s journey does not go smoothly.  He gets chased by a bear, crashes into a fence and hits his head, meets his ancestors, and makes an enemy of Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) and his gang.  Mad Dog is known to have killed many people, and he is the one set to murder Doc as well.

                It is actually because of Mad Dog that Marty finds Doc.  After an altercation, Mad Dog and his gang try to hang Marty, but Doc comes along and shoots him down.  Doc is happy is to see Marty, but he can’t figure out why Marty is in 1885 as he specifically told Marty to leave him alone.  Marty explains to Doc that if Doc stays, he will be killed in a short amount of time.  Understanding the situation, Doc agrees to leave, but then he finds out about the broken fuel line.  With a broken fuel line the time machine will be out of gas and there isn’t any gas available in 1885.

                Once again Marty is stuck in time.  He and Doc have to devise a plan with limited resources to get the time machine up to the required speed for time travel.  The only thing that will work is a train, but the trains don’t come through every day.  They have to wait for the next train to come and end up getting in trouble in the meantime.

                The first thing that happens is Doc unknowingly alters history.  He sees a woman in distress and saves her from falling into a ravine.  Her name is Clara Clayton (Mary Steenburgen) and she has come to the town to be a teacher.  Doc is instantly attracted to her, but he becomes upset when Marty figures out Clara was supposed to die in the ravine and have it named after her.  By saving Clara, Doc has changed history which he always warned Marty against doing.

                Despite his mistake, Doc continues to get to know Clara and ends up falling in love.  Doc knows he has to tell Clara the truth about himself, and where he is from, but he does not know how she will take it.  To say she doesn’t take it well would be an understatement.

                As Doc figures out his relationship with Clara, Marty prepares for a standoff with Mad Dog.  As he and Doc have to be at the train around the same time as the standoff, Marty doesn’t think he will actually have to face Mad Dog, but he practices some moves anyways.  This ends up being a good thing because on the morning they are to leave, Marty finds Doc drunk and Marty is forced to fight Mad Dog.  However, very quickly, Marty changes the standoff to his advantage.  This lets Marty and Doc get to the train where the next question becomes: Can they get back to 1985?

                I’m not fully sure why Back to the Future Part III is my favorite of the trilogy, but I think it has to do with the history.  I’m much more of a historical person than a futuristic.  It might also be because of how both the characters of Marty and Doc have grown.  Marty is much more mature in this film, although he still has his foibles, and is stronger as a person.  Doc, while still the wild scientist, is not as intense.  The era really suits him and in many ways Doc is more free to be himself while getting back to basics.  Falling in love with Clara helps as well.  It is nice to see the full gentle side of Doc Brown.

                Something that was funny in this movie is how Doc and Marty seemed to flip rolls.  Instead of Doc saving Marty, Marty was saving Doc.  Then it was Doc who had the relationship problem and not Marty.  There were also scenes that were nearly identical to ones from the first film except this time the subjects were flipped.  But I think the truly noticeable moment of the role reversal was when Doc and Marty used each other’s catch phrases.

                Even though this film is my favorite, it’s always a little sad when I watch it. I know the trilogy, and the story, is over. But I do think this was a good place for the story to finish. The ending was done well and there weren’t any unanswered questions. We are left knowing the future can be whatever we make it to be, and forever the future will be unknown.