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Back to the Future Part III Movie Review

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Actors: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen
Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Back to the Future Part III
Continuing just before Doc gets struck by lightning in Part II, Marty gets the Doc from 1955 to find the DeLorean so he can get back to 1985. They then find out that Doc was shot a week after his arrival. Marty soon goes back in time once again to save him. There, Doc gets a love interest and Marty names himself Clint Eastwood, when he meets his ancestors. Meanwhile, Biff's relative, Mad Dog, has now set up a duel with Marty.
--Estefan Ellison, Resident Scholar

This movie is the best of the Back to the Future series. This is pretty unusual for a sequel. Marty and Doc Brown must again grapple with restoring the time-line, with constant distractions and dilemmas along the way. Doc Brown's romance with a nineteenth century schol teacher, Clara Clayton is a nice side-plot.
--trotsky, Resident Scholar

Picking up right where the second film left off, Marty discovers that while "Doc" appears to be happy in the Old West of 1885, he may be destined to die at the hands of Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen (an ancestor of Biff, apparently). So Marty decides to take the time machine DeLorean back to 1885 and rescue Doc. But there are a number of complications: 1) Indians hit the fuel line with an arrow and the car is out of gas, which it needs to achieve 88 mph escape velocity, 2) "Mad Dog" has challenged Marty to a gunfight, and 3) Doc is falling in love with the new schoolteacher, Clara Clayton (Steenburgen) and is not sure he wants to leave her. Thomas F. Wilson gets to do some splendid overacting as Tannen, Fox gets to play his great-great-grandfather Seamus as well as call himself "Clint Eastwood" in the Old West, Lloyd is terrific as usual, and ZZ Top makes a special appearance as the band at the town dance. As she did in "Time After Time," Steenburgen plays a woman who becomes enamored of a man from another century and has to swallow the truth, which takes her a while. Special effects and the final chase are pretty exciting, although an epilogue back in 1985 drags a bit. But all in all, an excellent closer to the trilogy, better than Part II and equal to Part I.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar




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Analysis of Back to the Future Part III
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Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 30%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzle - 50%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%



Time Travel: - primarily to the past
Romance Yes
Romance Plotlets: - destined love (predicted in dream/text)
Time Travel Story? Yes
To what time period? - Middle Ages-1899

Main Character
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - student
Age: - a teen
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
Hair color? - brunette (Brown)
Hair type - (man) short/medium straight
Body type - very skinny (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Secondary Main Character
Identity: - Male
Hair color - white/grey
Hair style - (man) short/standard wavy
Body type - very skinny (man)
How much in movie? - 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality - White (American)

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Profession/status: - criminal
Eccentric: Yes - wild
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - 60%
Hair color - brunette (Black)
Hair style - (man) short/standard straight
Body type - muscular (man)
Ethnicity - White
Sense of humor? - Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence - Ordinary Dumb
Physical condition - bulging muscles
How sensitive is this character? - mean, arrogant

Setting
Earth setting: - 20th century (1970's to Present) - 19th century - 20th Century (1950-1970)
Takes place on Earth? Yes
Desert? Yes
Misc settings - bar/restaurant
Small town? Yes

Style
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Comedy or somewhat funny movie? Yes
Any profanity? - Occasional swearing
Kinds of F/X - exploding vehicles
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