Marty & Doc visit the Old West

Rating: 5/10 (24 March 2017)

Released in 1990, "Back to the Future Part III" stars Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, a teen who travels back to 1885 to save his friend, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Mary Steenburgen plays a woman that catches Doc's eye in the Old West while Lea Thompson plays a McFly ancestor. Thomas F. Wilson returns as the villain, both as Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen and Biff, while Elisabeth Shue returns as Marty's girlfriend. There are also numerous Western icons featured in peripheral roles.
On paper this should've been a great ending to the trilogy and I expected it to be. Unfortunately, the filmmakers didn't take advantage of the great possibilities of Marty & Doc being in the Old West and the movie bogs down in the second act with several dull sequences. So it's definitely the least of the trilogy, but there's enough good here to make it worth catching for fans of the franchise. There are several amusing bits and the ending is worth waiting for. NOTE: To appreciate this installment it's mandatory to watch the two prior movies first.
The film runs 118 minutes and was shot in Jamestown, Port Hueneme, Oxnard, South Pasadena, Pasadena, El Monte, Ventura County, Sonora, Universal City and Los Angeles, California. Monument Valley, Arizona & Utah DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis. WRITERS: Zemeckis & Bob Gale.
GRADE: C+/B-