Jeremy Clarke reviews

Distributed by
Pioneer LDCE

Cat.no: PLFEB 36241

Cert: PG

Running time: 113 minutes

Sides: 2 (CLV)

Year: 1990

Pressing: UK, 1997

Chapters : None

Sound: Dolby Surround

Widescreen: 1.85:1

Price: £19.99

Extras : Trailers: Jurassic Park, Twister, Casper, Back To The Future

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Director:

Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump, Contact)

Cast:

Michael J. Fox (The Frighteners, Mars Attacks!, The American President)
Christopher Lloyd (Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead)
Mary Steenburgen (Parenthood)
Thomas F. Wilson (Back To The Future 1 and 2)
Lea Thompson (Some Kind of Wonderful)

As trailered at the end of BTTF II, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) travels in the Delorean time machine back to the Old West of 1885 to rescue Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) from being stranded there. The Doc is unaware that he has only a matter of days to live after writing Marty the letter which reaches the latter at the finale of BTTF II.

The genesis of this third instalment - shot back to back with the second one - is that director Bob Zemeckis and screenwriter/producer Bob Gale set out to write a Part II and came up with an overabundance of material. We should be grateful all these ideas weren't crammed into Part II, as that film would have become overloaded rather than the impressive sequel it actually was.

Certain elements have been saved for Part III. If II surprised with its complex re-plotting around scenes from the original Back To The Future, III heads in the opposite direction - back to the linear narrative.

There's comparatively little split screen work, even though Fox gets to play a Irish frontiersman McFly ancestor; elsewhere Mary Steenburgen is Doc's surprise love interest while Thomas F. Wilson plays yet another member of Biff's family - this time the local outlaw.

Gags about past and future are sparse, despite hilarious references to such cherished institutions as the frisbee and rock band Z.Z.Top. For the rest, the film works more as a loving revival of the Western - pulled off not only with the expected Gale/Zemeckis flair but also the traditional Monument Valley locations.

Expect charging Red Indians, bar room brawls, shoot outs, railroads and other such Western ephemera and you won't be disappointed - but expect further complications of the BTTF II variety and you will be. In fact, BTTF III is so different from its immediate predecessor that, while it might help you a mite if you've already seen Parts I and II, it stands up pretty well on its own.

Not a movie I'd want to see fullscreened, BTTF III frequently employs the full width of the 1.85:1 frame. The sequence where Marty's Delorean hurtles through a drive-in movie field towards the screen and lands him in the middle of charging Indians looks particularly impressive in widescreen, as does the later sequence where Marty is roped by a bandit and dragged through the main street by a horse. Impressive night photography is topped by the Old West locomotive wheeled out for the finale which looks breathtaking here.

While it's the weakest of the three overall, BTTF III ironically has surround sound work throughout which is up there alongside the first film's superlative opening. A mine blast sends wood splinters flying to front left. After escaping the Indian charge, Marty hides the Dolorean in a cave under a desert rock outcrop over which swarm the U.S. Cavalry you hear them ride towards you from the front, then suddenly they're all about you. Equally superb is the moment where Steenburgen waits on a platform for a train, which approaches from the distance puffing steam from its sides until it passes towards you out of shot with the sound passing behind. Finally, the very last shot has a vehicle fly straight into camera with the sound building into a brief crescendo behind the viewer's head by way of a filmic exclamation mark. Needless to say, this disc's crisp sound transfer does such moments justice.

As with Pioneer's PAL discs of BTTF and BTTF II, there are again no chapters. Aaaaarrrrghhhh!! But then again, as we've said before, £19.99 is a pretty good price. On the plus side, the side break is perfect (you're advised to set your player to Film Mode if it has that facility so as not to punctuate the two night scenes either side of the break with PAL blue.)

The disc includes trailers for (such other Spielberg-produced fare as) Jurassic Park, Casper, Twister (all 1.85:1) and the first BTTF (full screen). But wait a minute - since these last two are also on the PAL BTTF II disc, it's a pity Pioneer couldn't have found some different (if equally appropriate) trailers. Still, at over 61 minutes per side, Pioneer are certainly maximising disc space here.

Film: 3/5
Picture: 5/5
Sound: 5/5

Review copyright © Jeremy Clarke, 1997.