SPOILERS DOWN THE PATH; THE DISCUSSION BELOW WILL NOT BE COMPREHENSIVE WITHOUT IT.
TREAD CAREFULLY. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED.
THIS MOTION PICTURE IS OFFICIALLY AN AFFILIATE OF THE FILMMAKING PARAGONS.
Spawning right off Part II, Doc Brown (Christopher Llyod) is stuck in 1885. He warns Marty (Michael J. Fox) not to come looking for him as he is perfectly fine living happily as a blacksmith. Marty finds the 1955 Doc Brown who just sent him back to 1985 to fix the DeLorean's flying circuits. But upon accidental discovery, Doc Brown is destined to die in a few days in 1885. In order to stop that, here we go to the wild wild west!
Compared to its previous entry, Part III has more heart in it. As action-packed and exciting as it is, the difference here is it has more breathing room. It's tender, mellow and spends more time to develop the relationship between Marty and Doc Brown, and most importantly Doc Brown and his newfound lover Clara (Mary Steenburgen). And what an absolutely genius idea to commemorate one of the greatest science fiction films ever made by staging it in a popular genre like Western!
To witness the mirror image of events from the past never gets old! It's highly creative and dopamine-inducing! We've seen the future versions of these current characters, now we're about to see their ancestor forms! Mad-Dog Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) is the great-great-grandfather of Biff and the beef continues here! If you think about it, imagine the fun and talent these actors must have to pull off these wide range of different characters! Marty holding his great-grandfather who is a baby, Strickland (James Tolkan) as Marshall, tower clock building process, Marty's "Great Scott!" and the same bar encounters are some of the seminal examples! Callback from A Fistful of Dollars and the tribute to Clint Eastwood are hilarious too!
Probably the most heartbreaking part in this installment is the relationship between Doc Brown and Carla. It's sweet, simple and you don't want Carla to be left behind. She was supposed to die by falling into the ravine named after her demise, but our favorite duo protagonists change history again by saving her. As the arc progresses, it's abundantly clear that destroying the time machine is the end to it all, which is why it's unsure as to why Doc Brown had to reinvent one at the epilogue, which counteracts the highly emotional ending. This was probably to tie a sad knot to a cheerful, funny series, in other words, a producer's decision.
The steady screenwriting never misses its mark not one bit! Remember how the series preserves the tradition of high tension climax? Well here is no exception! Just as the time nears for Marty and Doc Brown to return to 1985, they don't let the shirt off easily! When the clock strikes 8AM, Doc Brown's still drunk unconscious, Tannen's arrival as promise for a standoff with Marty, Marty's conflict to not alter the past by killing Tannen, Marty's name eventually to appear on the tombstone if he doesn't do something, Carla chasing after Doc Brown, the chase to reach the DeLorean at the front of the train as Carla falls off... are you out of breath yet?! You have to witness it visually for an even more nerve-wracking experience!