Go West, Young Man

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2005)

Robert Zemeckis shot both this film and Back To The Future II at the same time, so it was released just months after #2 ended it's theater run. With the story fresh in the minds of the movie-goer, the best they came up with was an excuse to visit the Wild West. I suppose of all of the times in American History, the most interesting was the lawless West, where drunks were as common as blacksmiths, I just wished the movie makers would have picked a different, maybe more interesting period of time to end the Back To The Future movies with. But as it is, Back To The Future is a worthy end to the trilogy, wrapping up all of the loose ends (there weren't that many to be tied up, so if you missed the first two movies, you're not too far behind) and with more than a wink to the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of the 1960s, Back To The Future III is fun and entertaining. It just could have been so much more. With Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) back in 1885 by way of the ending of BTTF 2, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox in his signature role) uses the time machine to rescue him. While there, they meet up with the town's new teacher who was supposed to fall in a glen, but was saved by Brown and McFly, another alteration to the geography of Hill Valley. The teacher, played by Mary Steenbergen, falls for Doc Brown, and this union of science minds sets up the climax for decisions that have to be made. Just like the other BTTF movies, McFly needs an alias, Calvin Klein (named after his underwear) in the first two movies, and Clint Eastwood in this one. Knowing that name allows the viewers to rejoice in an homage to "A Fistful of Dollars" at the end of the movie. Not as good as the first two movies, it is still a good film that ends the trilogy with fun and a satisfying conclusion.