Back to the Future Part III

"They've saved the best trip for last... But this time they may have gone too far."

1990 1h 59m EN

🙌

7.5

BANGER

🍅

79%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.5

IMDB

★7.5TMDB · 11,882🍅79%Rotten Tomatoes●55Metacritic★7.5IMDB · 519,424

AdventureComedyScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

The final installment finds Marty digging the trusty DeLorean out of a mineshaft and looking for Doc in the Wild West of 1885. But when their time machine breaks down, the travelers are stranded in a land of spurs. More problems arise when Doc falls for pretty schoolteacher Clara Clayton, and Marty tangles with Buford Tannen.

“They've saved the best trip for last... But this time they may have gone too far.”

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Cast

Michael J. Fox
Marty McFly / Seamus McFly
Christopher Lloyd
Doctor Emmett Brown
Mary Steenburgen
Clara Clayton
Thomas F. Wilson
Buford 'Mad Dog' Tannen / Biff Tannen
Lea Thompson
Maggie McFly / Lorraine McFly
Elisabeth Shue
Jennifer
Matt Clark
Bartender
Richard Dysart
Barbwire Salesman

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Writers: Bob Gale, Bob Gale, Robert Zemeckis
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 6.1× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

36 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Back to the Future Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, shot by Dean Cundey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Editor Harry Keramidas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and Mary Steenburgen carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "They've saved the best trip for last... But this time they may have gone too far.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Zemeckis directs. Dean Cundey behind the camera. Alan Silvestri scores. Harry Keramidas cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 6.1× over at the box office.
236 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Back to the Future Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Robert Zemeckis, shot by Dean Cundey. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Alan Silvestri. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Harry Keramidas shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and Mary Steenburgen carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "They've saved the best trip for last... But this time they may have gone too far.".
9IMDB entry: tt0099088 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
1011,882 TMDB user ratings logged — serious cultural footprint.
11Classified under 24 themes, including "california", "saloon", "sports car", "inventor".
12Released under 37 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dean Cundey
Original score: Alan Silvestri
Editing: Harry Keramidas
Production design: Rick Carter
Costume design: Joanna Johnston
Makeup / hair: Dorothy Byrne
VFX supervisor: Scott Farrar
Sound: Tom Gerard
Stunt coordinator: Walter Scott
Runtime: 119 min · 1h 59m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.78:1 (16:9)
Status: Released
Budget: $40,000,000
Box office: $245,077,583
Return: 613% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG
IMDB: Back to the Future Part III (1990)
Rotten Tomatoes: 79% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 55/100
IMDB rating: 7.5/10 · 519,424 votes
MPAA: PG

Awards

5 wins & 11 nominations total

Part of

Back to the Future Collection

An American science fiction–comedy film series that follows the adventures of a high school student, Marty McFly and an eccentric scientist, Dr Emmett L. Brown as they use a DeLorean time machine to time travel to different periods in the history of Hill Valley, California.

Also by

Robert Zemeckis

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2017-02-10
★ 7/10
Oh, I know you did send me back to the future. But I'm back! I'm back from the future. Doc Brown is back in 1885 in the Old West, soon to be joined by Marty who has found that Doc is in mortal danger from Burford "Mad-Dog" Tannen. Rounding out what turned out to be a hugely popular trilogy, Back to the Future Part III restored the core essence heart of Part 1, whilst simultaneously tying up all the threads with a fully formed story. More sedate in its telling (not hard following on from the manic pacing of part 2) part 3 fuses science fiction malarkey with, well, Western malarkey. All played out with the usual array of clever jokes and series reprises - only in a Wild Wild West setting. An interesting point to note is how the roles of Doc & Marty have been reversed from the first film, here Marty is the maniacal plot axis, whizzing around getting into scrapes as Doc ambles around in love, courtesy of the delightfully classic looking Mary Steenburgen as Clara Clayton. Thomas F. Wilson returns for villain duties as Tannen, a Western bully villain pulled straight out of many a classic Oater from way back in the day, and Lea Thompson & Elisabeth Shue ensure the "past" is not forgotten. When Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale started making Back To The Future in 1985, could they have envisaged that they would make three films and end up with a steam engine time machine in the Wild West? Possibly not, but as part 3 hurtles (literally) towards the suspense laden finale, two things are for certain. One is that they wisely closed the series down with a surefire coda winner. Two is that between them they crafted one of the most entertaining family trilogies to have ever graced the screen. No doubt about the fact that part one is the uniformly class act of the three, but parts two & three themselves reward groups of all ages. Great Scot indeed. 8.5/10
JPV8522020-10-30
★ 8/10
As with Part II, I've come to appreciate this one more, a great blend of sci-fi and western and features once more some fine performances from both Fox and Lloyd, who each do great work portraying different characters (or at least for Lloyd a different time version of Doc Brown). Beyond that, well done set and costume designs and a good enough story to conclude the trilogy. 3.75/5
CinemaSerf2022-04-13
★ 7/10
"Marty" (Michael J Fox) is stuck in 1955 when he learns of the untimely demise of his mentor "Doc. Brown" (Christopher Lloyd) back in 1885. Luckily, the DeLorean is on hand and back he goes - to the wild west - to try and prevent this calamity. Once there, he has no idea how to get back; a task not made any easier by local bully "Mad Dod" (Tom Wilson) who has it in for this meek city boy from day one. Spielberg is at his best with stories like this, and borrowing heavily from the Western film genre - and quite a bit from Clint Eastwood too, we have a quickly paced an amiable adventure film as Fox and Lloyd have to stay alive whilst figuring out how to charge the flux capacitor and get themselves home. Wilson is super as the "baddie" and Mary Steenbergen gives the "Doc" a little bit of love interest as the story ticks along nicely. These three films fit nicely with each other, and happily they all decided to hang up their stetsons after this one. It's still great fun 30 years later, with fun pithy dialogue; loads of great action photography and strong entertaining performances all through. Good fun.