FILM · 1990 · USA
Back to the Future Part III
- Directed by
- Robert Zemeckis
- Runtime
- 119 min
- Studio
- Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment
127 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Nov 2026
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.
127 Interesting Facts About Back to the Future Part III
Interesting Facts (98)
- #001
While filming the scene in which Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen tries to lynch Marty, Michael J. Fox was accidentally hanged, which briefly rendered him unconscious. He recorded the incident in his autobiography "Lucky Man" (2002).
- #002
Permission was sought from Clint Eastwood to use his name for Marty in the film. He agreed and was said to be tickled by the tribute.
- #003
To film the destruction of the DeLorean (immediately after Marty McFly's return to 1985), the producers consulted the engineer of the diesel freight train that would tear the DeLorean apart (VCRY #9, belonging to the Ventura County Railway). Asked whether the car's disintegration might derail the train, the engineer replied: "Are you kidding? I've been waiting to do this my whole life!"
- #004
As Doc and Marty prepare the DeLorean at the drive-in for the trip to 1885, Marty mentions Clint Eastwood and Doc replies: "Clint who?" In this shot, on the drive-in's wall, there is a movie poster showing Revenge of the Creature (1955) and Tarantula (1955), some of the first film appearances of a young, then-unknown Eastwood. Marty even glances at the poster and briefly points to it as he tells Doc, "That's right, you haven't heard of him yet."
- #005
Tom Wilson, who plays Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, performed all of his own riding stunts. He also performed the trick of roping Marty with a lasso just before meeting Doc in 1885.
- #006
The saloon in 1885 Hill Valley occupies the same location as Lou's Café in 1955, the gymnasium in 1985 and Cafe 80's in 2015.
- #007
Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen is arrested by Marshal Strickland's Deputy rather than by the Marshal. During the arrest, when the charge of "robbing the Pine City Stage" is read out, the camera cuts to Marty and Emmett. Both of them have a reason: Buford was initially arrested for murdering Marshal Strickland. The murder scene was deleted because it was deemed too dark for a family film, and the line was dubbed.
- #008
Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis felt they had done all they could with Marty's family in this film, so the film's focus was shifted to Doc Brown.
- #009
Building the sets and completing the scripts for Back to the Future Part II (1989) and this film took two years. To take advantage of the long hiatus Michael J. Fox had from Family Ties (1982), which was nearing the end of its run, they were shot back to back over eleven months. While Part III was being shot, Part II was being edited.
- #010
In 1885 a horse dealership belongs to the Statlers. In Back to the Future (1985) there is a radio advertisement for "Statler Toyota" in 1985. In 1955 "Statler Motors Studebaker" is visible near the town theater.
- #011
In the novelization, after the small boy returns Marty's gun to him, he asks Marty where he got the idea to strap the oven door under his clothes, and Marty says he saw it in a movie. The boy asks Marty what the movie was. Before Marty can answer, a woman calls out the name "David… David Llewelyn Wark Griffith." This is the real name of pioneering filmmaker D. W. Griffith. Born in 1875, Griffith would have been nine or ten years old in 1885.
- #012
In the first film, Doc tells Marty that he got the inspiration to create the flux capacitor after hitting his head on the bathroom sink while trying to hang a clock above his toilet. In this film, when Doc rushes to the bathroom in a frenzy after seeing Marty at his house, you can see the clock hanging above the toilet he slips on.
- #013
One of the DeLoreans used in the filming of this movie was displayed at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Honolulu, Hawaii, until the restaurant closed in 2010. It was hung from the ceiling and suspended upside down so that restaurant patrons could see the vehicle better from above.
- #014
The bandana worn by Doc Brown was made from the shirt he wore in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
- #015
Michael Winslow ("Jones" from the Police Academy fame) performed the sound effects for Michael J. Fox's feet during the breakdancing scene. He received a "Special Thanks" credit.
- #016
The location of 1885 Hill Valley was the same one used in Clint Eastwood's Pale Rider (1985). Ironically, that film was knocked off the number one spot at the box office in 1985 by Back to the Future (1985).
- #017
This is the only film in the trilogy in which Marty and Doc Brown share each other's catchphrases. Marty says "Great Scott!" and Doctor Brown replies "Yeah, this is heavy" while talking about the photograph of the gravestone.
- #018
Tom Wilson based his characterization of Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen on Lee Marvin's Liberty Valance in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).
- #019
In early 2008, many directors, including Steven Spielberg, voted to create a shooting room for Universal Hollywood that would house rare and old costumes and sets. Two items pulled from the warehouse vaults were miniatures of Doc's time-traveling train and the railway version of the DeLorean. The full-size version of the time train can be seen at Universal Studios Orlando.
- #020
In a deleted scene (shown on the DVD), Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen was to shoot Marshal Strickland in the back and kill him, with Strickland's son present. It was cut from the final film because it was considered too depressing. As a result, Strickland's Deputy is the one who arrests Buford at the end of the film instead of Strickland himself. To compensate for the change, the Deputy's dialogue in his second scene had to be re-dubbed.
- #021
When Marty returns from 1885 by train track, you can see that the ravine is no longer called "Clayton Ravine" but "Eastwood Ravine," because Marty, known as Clint Eastwood, presumably died in the accident.
- #022
The inscription on the photograph Doc gives Marty reads "To Marty - Partners in time - September 5, 1885."
- #023
One of the film's composing bands has a cameo as the band in 1885, playing a variation of "Doubleback."
- #024
Clara can be seen behind Marty and Doc as she looks at the map at the train station.
- #025
FRANCHISE TRADEMARK: In every film of the trilogy, Tom Wilson is covered in manure.
- #026
Robert Zemeckis would fly to Los Angeles for approximately three weeks after his day's filming of the train climax of this movie to approve the sound dub that Bob Gale had been supervising of Back to the Future Part II (1989). He would then get up at 4:30 a.m. the next day to fly back to the northern California set to continue with his filming for that day.
- #027
In the "Making of" on the DVD, producer and screenwriter Bob Gale describes the character Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen as "Biff's worst intentions realized."
- #028
In the "wake-up juice" scene, a bottle of Tabasco sauce is visible in the saloon. It has a period-appropriate design.
- #029
Before the new courthouse clock is reset to 8:00 ready for its official 8:00 start, it can be seen behind Doc and Marty when they are looking at the map of the ravine where it reads 10:04, the precise time in the future it is destined to stop.
- #030
The town was at Chinese Camp in California, and ironically it was destroyed by a lightning strike in 1996.
- #031
When the time machine is destroyed, it is made up of components from every era it visited in the films: the 1980s DeLorean chassis, the 2015 Mr. Fusion and flying conversion, the 1955 vacuum tubes and transistors (replacing a burnt-out microchip), and the 1885 train wheels.
- #032
Each of Needles' henchmen comes from one of the other gangs in the trilogy. J. J. Cohen played Skinhead in Biff's gang in Back to the Future (1985) and Back to the Future Part II (1989). Ricky Dean Logan played Data in Griff's gang in Back to the Future Part II (1989), and Christopher Wynne played an unnamed member of Buford's gang in this film. Cohen appears in all three films.
- #033
When Marty walks along the railroad tracks and finally reaches the town, he arrives at the train station. He then walks toward the town while the camera slowly rises above the station, eventually showing Marty walking toward the town from a long distance. This scene is shot in exactly the same way as the scene in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) in which Jill arrives at the station.
- #034
Writer/producer Bob Gale owns two pieces of the destroyed DeLorean: the time circuit display and a table lamp made out of Mr. Fusion by special effects supervisor Michael Lantieri.
- #035
According to the clock behind them, the photo of Doc and Marty is taken at 8:08 p.m. This is probably a reference to the eighty-eight miles per hour the DeLorean must reach before traveling through time.
- #036
In Back to the Future Part II (1989), Biff watches A Fistful of Dollars (1964) in the alternate 1985, in which Clint Eastwood's character uses a steel plate under his poncho. Marty (who calls himself "Clint Eastwood") uses the stove door under his poncho in 1885. In 1985, the sign at the train crossing identifies the location (formerly Clayton Ravine) as "Eastwood Ravine," dedicated to Marty's character.
- #037
The four pictures above Doc's fireplace in 1955 show, from left to right: Sir Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas A. Edison and Albert Einstein.
- #038
As a tribute to the Clock Tower scene, the fireworks that are set off have exactly the same pattern as the moment the lightning strikes the tower in the first film.
- #039
At the end of the film, Doc Brown's wardrobe is inspired by Professor Marvel's wardrobe in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
- #040
In some shots of the scene in which Marty is dragged by a horse, Michael J. Fox was actually being dragged by the "Benny the Cab" go-kart from Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
- #041
In a scene cut from the film, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen shoots Marshal Strickland in the back, just as disgruntled schoolchildren try to shoot their former school principal in Back to the Future Part II (1989). Apparently, the bullying and defiant Hill Valley residents of multiple generations constantly want to kill the tough, "by the book" Strickland men who have become authority figures over the decades.
- #042
The Colt salesman tells Marty that the shooting game is so easy even a baby could do it. In Back to the Future Part II (1989), the kids at Cafe 80s mock a shooting arcade game by saying it's like a baby's toy.
- #043
According to 'The Making of Back to the Future Part III' (1990), the manure consisted mainly of horse feed pellets, and it was noted that the pellets looked almost identical going into and coming out of the horse.
- #044
The location shoot was so dusty that much of the crew began wearing paint masks.
- #045
Two versions of the DeLorean were used for the destruction of the time machine. One was cut cleanly in half, while the other was destroyed in small explosions. The half-destroyed one hung upside down at Planet Hollywood in Honolulu, Hawaii, until the restaurant closed in 2010.
- #046
It was shot back-to-back with Back to the Future Part II (1989). In the four years since Back to the Future (1985) was filmed, Michael J. Fox felt he had forgotten some of his skateboarding techniques, though this was later believed to be an early sign of Parkinson's disease, which he was finally diagnosed with in 1991.
- #047
Each film in the trilogy contains an early scene that foreshadows an event in the third act. In the first film, a figure of a man hanging from a clock is seen in Doc's laboratory, heralding the climax in which Doc similarly hangs from a clock. In the second film, Doc says he wishes the post office were as punctual as the weather, and eventually a postal worker gives Marty a letter in 1955 at the very hour Doc was sent to 1885. In this film, while explaining at Clayton Ravine how the train will push the DeLorean to eighty-eight miles per hour, Doc complains that no one will be there to witness it. In the end, Doc stays with Clara and thus witnesses the event.
- #048
A 'bulletproof vest' appears in all three films of the trilogy. In the first film, Doc wears a bulletproof vest to avoid being killed by the Libyans. In the second film, Biff Tannen watches a scene from A Fistful of Dollars (1964) in which the Man with No Name wears a steel plate under his poncho. And in this film, Marty imitates that scene by putting the door of a cast-iron stove under his clothing to avoid being killed by "Mad Dog" Tannen.
- #049
Waking up in bed and facing Maggie McFly, Marty pauses briefly as he gets out of bed and checks under the covers. This is because he had already been in the same predicament in Back to the Future (1985), when they took off his pants.
- #050
While at the Pohatchee Drive-In in 1955, before returning to 1885, Marty asks why they are so far from town (since Marty will probably have to walk the whole way). Doc explains that the area is open, empty, flat land, so Marty won't crash into anything when he appears in 1885. Doc then casually notes that he wouldn't want to run over a tree that could significantly change the future. This is a nod to the first film, in which Marty arrives at Old Man Peabody's farm in 1955. Mr. Peabody, who had a crazy idea about growing pine trees, originally had two pine trees growing near his front fence. By 1985 the farm was long gone, and the shopping mall built on the land was named "Twin Pines Mall," featuring a logo of two pine trees standing side by side. As Marty fled the barn he ran over one of the pine trees, changing the future. When he returns to 1985, Marty passes the mall sign, now named "Lone Pine Mall" and bearing a logo of only a single tree.
- #051
The editor of the Hill Valley newspaper in 1885, "M. R. Gale," is a tribute to trilogy screenwriter Bob Gale.
- #052
When Doc blows the train whistle, he shouts, "I've wanted to do that all my life!" The boy who blows the train whistle in The Polar Express (2004) said the same thing. Both films were directed by Robert Zemeckis.
- #053
The train that falls into the ravine is actually a miniature model.
- #054
In this film, Mary Steenburgen played Clara Clayton, a 19th-century woman who falls in love with a time traveler from the 20th century. In Time After Time (1979), she played Amy Robbins, a 20th-century woman who falls in love with a time traveler from the 19th century.
- #055
Doc Brown stands at the bar all night with a shot of whiskey and passes out right after drinking it, after which the bartender mixes a special concoction called "wake up juice" to revive him. In Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), an already quite drunk Doc Schultz (Dub Taylor) similarly drinks a single shot of whiskey at a bar and passes out immediately afterward, and the bartender then prepares a special drink of Doc's own design to revive him quickly. In this film, Dub Taylor plays one of the three old men who accost Marty and Doc Brown in the bar.
- #056
While filming the scene with the train and the DeLorean, for safety reasons the builders arranged it so that the DeLorean could flip over at any moment.
- #057
The clock on the clock tower started running at 8:00 PM on September 5, 1885. The date is given in the caption of the photograph Doc gives Marty at the end of the film. Lightning struck the clock tower at 10:04 PM on November 12, 1955. This means the clock tower ran for exactly seventy years, two months, seven days, two hours and four minutes.
- #058
In the scene at the town festival, just as Marty and Doc are about to have their photograph taken in front of the newly dedicated clock, Marty says "Smile Doc." The photo is then taken and Doc smiles but Marty does not, a humorous nod to the fact that people did not smile in photographs at that time.
- #059
The DeLorean's wheels are in a position suitable for driving on railroad tracks. The car's track width is 62.6", and the front wheels are 6" wide. The standard gauge used on US railroads is 56.5".
- #060
In each film, Doc always builds a miniature model of a town to help explain his plan to Marty. He also always apologizes for it being 'crude' because it is 'not to scale' — but the models are, very amusingly, always quite detailed and astonishing and prepared impossibly quickly.
- #061
The time machine model in this film was built using spent shotgun shells.
- #062
Buford says "Well, looky what we have here" to Doc's dance date (Clara). In the first film, Biff says the same thing to Marty's dance date (Lorraine).
- #063
At the end of the film there is a hint that Marty has no intention of racing Needles. If you are used to driving a manual transmission, it is clear that Marty puts the truck in reverse before the traffic light turns green.
- #064
Despite acquiring six shooters, Marty is never seen firing a gun (except at targets). He carries one and even threatens to use it, but never does. Even against Mad Dog he chooses to punch him and drop him into manure. Marty never harms anyone, and apart from his fists and a metal plate he is never seen using a weapon. Using a single weapon and a surprising fighting strength, he effectively defeats Biff in all three films.
- #065
The scene in which Marty enters the Palace Saloon in 1885 and tries to order ice water mirrors the scene in the first film in which Marty enters Lou's Cafe in 1955 and tries to order a Tab.
- #066
As noted before, ZZ Top guest-star as the town band in the big dance scene; if you watch closely, right after Marshal Strickland breaks up the fight between Marty and Tannen, they do their signature guitar spins and say, "Let's have some fun!"
- #067
In Back to the Future Part II (1989), during his crash in the Rolls-Royce, Marty uses his injured hand to clumsily try to play "The Power of Love" on his guitar; the same song plays on the radio in Needles' truck when Needles tries to goad Marty into racing him, and if Marty had agreed to the race, it would have been the same event in which Marty broke his hand.
- #068
The scene in which Doc explains to Clara that he is from the future resembles the scene in Back to the Future (1985) in which Marty first meets the 1955 version of Doc. In this film Doc tells Clara: "I'm from the future. I came here in a time machine that I invented. And tomorrow I must return to the year 1985." In Back to the Future (1985) Marty tells Doc: "I'm from the future. I came here in a time machine that you invented. And now I need your help to get back to the year 1985." In both scenes the explanations are immediately rejected.
- #069
During the drag race, Marty blocks Needles by driving in reverse. Steve McQueen pulls the same trick in The Blob (1958).
- #070
Just as in the first film (when Lorraine surprises them in Doc's garage), when Clara suddenly appears in Doc's workshop, both Marty and Doc have to cover the DeLorean in a hurry.
- #071
The DeLorean that was specifically used for travelling back to 1885 is the only other fully intact on-screen DeLorean to have been shown to the public other than the original A Car (the one used in all three films), by the time the A Car reached the Peterson Auto Museum. Both cars have been on display there, but not at the same time.
- #072
Marty and Needles would've had the right of way during their drag race; as they had the green light which meant the Rolls Royce driver should have yielded but instead they ran the stop sign from the side road, and proceeded at speed without looking or checking for oncoming traffic in either direction, therefore placing that vehicle entirely at fault for the accident that ultimately ruined Marty's life and career in Back to the Future Part II (1989).
- #073
The scenes shot in Monument Valley took place in unusually cold weather, even though Doc and Marty wear summer clothing.
- #074
The hammer sound on the Hill Valley clock tower built in 1885 echoes the ticking of the clock in Back to the Future (1985) when Doctor Brown runs to repair the cable in 1955.
- #075
In Back to the Future Part II (1989), Biff's hotel in the alternate 1985 is called "Biff's Pleasure Palace." In this film the saloon is known as the "Palace Saloon."
- #076
Although Marty mentions Clara's name several times throughout the film, he never actually addresses her that way, choosing instead to refer to her respectfully as "ma'am."
- #077
When Marty first returns to 1885, he is wearing a cowboy shirt with an atom design on the collar and sleeves.
- #078
Robert Zemeckis worked 18 hours a day, shooting this film during the day and overseeing the editing of the second film at night.
- #079
When Buford shoots Marty (who has put a stove lid under his poncho), you can hear the bullet hit the metal.
- #080
The design of Doc's bathroom door, whose horizontal section slopes upward, is the same as that of garage doors. This reflects an unusual level of detail that almost no one would notice.
- #081
In the scene where they prepare the DeLorean at the Pohatchee Drive-In Theater, Marty says, "You know, Doc, it's gonna be a hell of a long walk back to Hill Valley." He really isn't joking. From Monument Valley, UT, where they built the drive-in set, to the zip code of the fictional Hill Valley, CA, 95420 (actually Caspar, CA), the shorter of the two main routes (by car) is 1,092 miles along Interstate 40. If Doc really walked it, the most direct route is 1,002 miles/334 hours, and walking eight hours a day would take about 42 days.
- #082
The steam engine blows black smoke from its chimney as if it were burning coal, but the tender is full of wood, which gives off blue smoke when it burns.
- #083
Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen makes Marty dance by shooting at the ground. After Marty spits at him, Tannen tries to shoot Marty directly, but he is out of bullets. In the first film, the Libyans shoot Doc at the Twin Pines Mall. The Libyan terrorist then tries to shoot Marty directly, but Marty is saved because the Libyan terrorist's gun jams.
- #084
After stopping Mad Dog Tannen from shooting Doc Brown, Marty tells Mad Dog and his gang to "lighten up," which brings puzzled looks to their faces and prompts Mad Dog to call them "mighty strong words." The phrase "lighten up" had not become popular until the 1940s, making this another example of Marty using a phrase ahead of his time, much as he uses "This is heavy" in Back to the Future (1985), which surprises Doc Brown.
- #085
Apparently, ZZ Top's manager repeatedly but unsuccessfully tried to persuade producer/co-writer Bob Gale to turn the band's famous car into the time machine for the film. The car appears in the video for "Doubleback," the song the band provided for the film.
- #086
Over the years many fans have suggested that Dannel Evans's behavior in the film's final scene was the child actor cheekily goofing around. The explanation from those involved in the production is more mundane: the poor kid was desperately trying to signal that he needed to pee.
- #087
When Biff says he "has a lot of room to talk" while accusing Marty of being "the little hothead" in Back to the Future Part II (1989), his own great-grandfather Buford had lost his composure and begun firing wildly into the saloon when Marty said, "You're Mad Dog Tannen." It seems that being extremely upset, offended and defensive when called a name that is not complimentary or flattering ("chicken," yellow, etc.) is a long-running trait of certain men in both the McFly and Tannen families.
- #088
When Marty finally returns to the restored 1985 timeline, he meets his parents and siblings and says, "Thank God, you guys are all back to normal," even though he had seen what happened to his parents in the alternate, dystopian 1985 of Back to the Future Part II (1989). In the original script for Part II, Marty was also to meet his brother Dave (a drunk bum) and his sister Linda (working as a prostitute to pay off her debts), but because Wendie Jo Sperber was pregnant and could not reprise the role of Linda at the time, the single scene shot with Marc McClure as Dave was cut from the final cut. Both actors were available again for their only scenes in Part III, which were probably shot during production of Part II (both films were shot back to back over 11 months) and not reshot to accommodate the changes made in the editing of Part II.
- #089
The hands on the clock face point to "8:08." Marty and Doc are posing next to it in the 1885 photograph. It is a nod to the DeLorean's time-travel speed of 88 miles per hour. It is also 88 years after that date, 1973, the year Biff secretly kills George in the alternate timeline.
- #090
In 1885, Clara asked Doc whether travel to the Moon would ever be possible. Doc replied, "Definitely, although not for another eighty-four years." Indeed, 84 years later, in 1969, the first crewed landing on the Moon took place.
- #091
Clara (Mary Steenburgen) is a great admirer of H. G. Wells. In the film Time After Time (1979), Steenburgen played a character who interacts directly with Wells. Beyond that, in both films her romantic partner is a time traveler and she herself becomes a time traveler.
- #092
Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen looks markedly different from his briefly seen photograph in Back to the Future Part II (1989). According to Bob Gale in the DVD commentary, this was a photograph from an early makeup test for Mad Dog's appearance during the production of Part II. The appearance changed when Back to the Future Part III (1990) went into production.
- #093
Throughout the entire trilogy, every year that Doc and/or Marty travel to ends in the number five (1955, 1985, 2015 and 1885).
- #094
Doc Brown's signature hunch was born out of necessity due to him being taller then Michael J. Fox (Marty).
- #095
Two scenes from the short trailer for this film shown at the end of Part II were changed in the final version. The first is Doc Brown aiming his rifle and shouting "just try it Tannen" to Buford, which was omitted for unknown reasons. Buford's way of saying "hey McFly" to Marty as he enters the bar also differs from the final version.
- #096
Marty mentions Clint Eastwood and the posters on the wall showing several films starring Clint Eastwood. In the tent there is Francis in the Navy, a film in which Clint Eastwood also appeared as one of the sailors.
- #097
When Marty talks to Needles at the traffic lights, the steering wheel is not in the straight position but turned. This is indicated by the Toyota logo being upside down.
- #098
The Howdy Doody clip that wakes Doc is actually from a Kellogg's TV commercial. The film's producers could not obtain the rights to use a real clip from the show.
Production Story (1)
- #099
After Marty arrives in 1885 there are two DeLoreans: the one Marty arrived in (placed at Doc's cabin and used during the finale) and the one Doc Brown arrived in (hidden inside the cave). Doc's DeLorean had burnt-out time circuits but was otherwise fine; Marty's DeLorean had working circuits but its fuel tank had been punctured and drained. The idea was raised that they could assemble one working, time-traveling DeLorean from the parts of both cars: as long as Doc's car still had gasoline, they could theoretically repair Marty's tank and fill it with Doc's fuel. The reverse (taking Doc's car out of the cave and fixing it with Marty's time circuits) would probably create a time paradox (if Doc's car isn't left in the cave, Marty can't pick it up in 1955 and go to 1885). However, either of these points is already moot: since gasoline sitting in a tank for 70 years would partly evaporate and partly turn into substances that would irreparably clog the engine, Doc would certainly have drained the tank before hiding his car in 1885.
Behind the Scenes (7)
- #100
According to the book "Billy Gibbons: Rock & Roll Gearhead," ZZ Top was hanging around the set and was wanted as the town band. During a shoot the camera broke down. While waiting for it to be repaired, Michael J. Fox asked if they would play "Hey Good Lookin'," and they did. Further requests were granted afterward. Two hours later someone asked whether the camera had been fixed. Robert Zemeckis said it had been fixed long ago but that he did not want to stop the party that had developed.
- #101
Michael J. Fox compared filming the three movies to "being back in school," because it felt as if someone was always teaching him something for the films. During the shooting of the trilogy, Fox was taught to play the guitar, ride a horse and fire a gun.
- #102
The scene in which Marty and Jennifer kiss on the porch was the only scene shot during the filming of Back to the Future Part II (1989).
- #103
The festival photographer is the film's director of photography, Dean Cundey.
- #104
Two members of Buford's gang were stuntmen chosen solely for their horseback-riding ability.
- #105
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) used a "two-part prototype image manipulation system" called "the scanner," in which the 35 mm film of Back to the Future Part III was digitized using a Kodak scanner, processed on computers by special effects artists, and then transferred back to film from electronic images containing "4,000 lines of horizontal resolution, considered 'film quality.'" Sandra Ford Karpman of ILM stated that Back to the Future Part III was "the first time computer graphics were used to create full-scale blue-screen digital composites" for a theatrical release. For one particularly difficult blue-screen scene, ILM had to work on a purple dress worn by Mary Steenburgen. Although purple is a color ILM could not reproduce correctly using traditional blue-screen methods, the producers argued that the wardrobe choice was non-negotiable.
- #106
When Marty arrives in 1885, he is wearing red, decorated cowboy boots with his ridiculous cowboy outfit. Fleeing from the bear, Marty tumbles down into the valley, blinking from a long, rocky hill. At the top of the hill he loses one of his red cowboy boots, and as the stunt double rolls, Marty's shoes magically turn into white Nikes and stay that way until Marty steps in horse manure.
Characters & Cast (5)
- #107
Actor and former President Ronald Reagan was initially offered the role of Mayor Hubert because of his fondness for the first film in the trilogy. He reluctantly turned the role down, and it went to Hugh Gillin instead. Had Reagan appeared, it would have been his first film role in about 30 years.
- #108
The role of Seamus McFly was originally written for Crispin Glover, who had been offered to return as George McFly in Back to the Future Part II (1989). The joke was that Glover and Lea Thompson would again play a couple, but now in 1885 instead of 1985. However, Glover felt the salary he was offered was too low, so the scripts for Parts II and III were rewritten and Michael J. Fox was cast as Seamus.
- #109
FRANCHISE TRADEMARK: In each film of the trilogy, Marty faints and then wakes up and asks "Mom? Is that you?", after which a character played by Lea Thompson tells him to "just relax/there, there now" and mentions exactly how long he has been out in the cold. He then believes the previous events were a "horrible nightmare", and the Thompson character tells him he is "safe and sound now" wherever or whenever he is, making Marty realize it was not a dream. He then stands up and is stunned by the appearance of his "mom."
- #110
The Pohatchee Drive-In marquee lists a triple feature of Francis in the Navy (1955), Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki (1955) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955). One of the leads in that Francis film is Clint Eastwood, who is named in the film. All three films are Universal films and, like this film, are sequels.
- #111
When Clara buys a ticket to leave town by train, she is given the information "San Francisco end of the line." Mary Steenburgen had previously co-starred in the time-travel film Time After Time (1979), whose 20th-century portions of the story take place in San Francisco.
Easter Eggs & References (7)
- #112
The character Clara Clayton references Clara Clemens, the daughter of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). Clara Clemens went on a sleigh ride with her future husband, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, when the horse took fright at a windblown newspaper and bolted, causing Gabrilowitsch to lose control. At the top of a hill, beside a fifteen-meter cliff, the sleigh overturned and threw Clemens out. Gabrilowitsch jumped to the ground and caught the horse by the head, stopping it just as it was about to leap over the edge, and dragged Clemens, whose dress had caught on the runner.
- #113
While Doc and Marty talk with the conductor about the train's speed, the clock for the Hill Valley Clock Tower can be seen in the background being unloaded from the train. The same clock can be seen being unloaded in Clint Eastwood's film Pale Rider (1985).
- #114
Doc Brown states that his German ancestors' surname was "von Braun." This is a nod to Wernher von Braun, one of Germany's leading rocket scientists, who was brought to America after World War II and contributed greatly to the NASA program. He and Clara later discuss the technical aspects of moon rockets, another nod to Doc's supposed lineage. The term "It isn't exactly rocket-science" may also apply, since the time travel experiment Doc Brown conducts truly involved extremely advanced science.
- #115
Before sending Marty back to 1885, Doc mentions that he uses the drive-in theater so Marty doesn't run into a tree that existed in the past. In Back to the Future (1985), one of the first things Marty does in 1955 is run into farmer Peabody's pine tree that existed in the past.
- #116
When Doc shoots the hanging rope, it is a nod to the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), in which Clint Eastwood's character shoots the rope from which Tuco is hanging.
- #117
In the scene where Doc and Marty analyze the map and discuss how Clayton Ravine came to be called Shonash Ravine, Miss Clara Clayton can be seen in the background in her purple dress. The courthouse's recently installed clock is also visible.
- #118
Marty talks with Doc about love and says love hits you "like lightning." Doc replies, "Don't say that!" Lightning was used at the end of Back to the Future (1985) to send Marty back to 1985, and at the end of Back to the Future Part II (1989) Doc was struck by lightning, which sent him back in time to 1885.
Deeper Meaning (7)
- #119
Marty uses a "Frisbie's" pie plate to knock the gun out of Mad Dog's hand. The Frisbie Pie Company was founded in Connecticut in 1871; its pie tins were thrown around the Yale campus, which ultimately led to the invention of the Frisbee. This is another example of Marty bringing something into the timeline before its official invention and thus potentially giving the original inventors the idea to make them. In Back to the Future (1985) he turned a soapbox car into a prototype skateboard and unknowingly inspired Chuck Berry to write "Johnny B. Goode."
- #120
The name on the manure wagon in 1885 reads "A. Jones," while the name on the manure truck in 1955 reads "D. Jones."
- #121
The fastest steam locomotive in active service in the 1880s was the Eight-Wheeler Steam Engine (wheel configuration 4-4-0), with a top speed of forty-five miles per hour. Marty and Doc Brown therefore faced the task of doubling the speed of the fastest steam engine that existed at the time.
- #122
The steam locomotive used in this film is Sierra No. 3, painted and outfitted to resemble Locomotive 131. This type of locomotive was actually built in 1891.
- #123
The shimmering piano figure heard at the start of the film's main title theme is Alan Silvestri's homage to George Pal's H. G. Wells adaptation The Time Machine (1960). A nearly identical glittering piano or harpsichord motif can be heard at the opening of the piece "Fear" from the 1960 classic's original Russell Garcia score.
- #124
The unnamed man Doc Brown speaks to about barbed wire in the saloon is John Warne Gates. He was a salesman at the Southern Wire Company in St. Louis, Missouri, which in 1888 merged with William Edenborn's wire company to form the Braddock Wire Company, where Consolidated Steel and Wire Company was organized. With the help of Chicago lawyer Elbert Henry Gary, he created a monopoly in the American wire industry in 1898 with the American Steel and Wire Company. This was sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 (again negotiated by Gary) in a deal that made it part of the new US Steel holding. Gates was also the founder of The Texas Company, which became the Texaco oil company. This is another reference to Texaco, which is represented in the first and second films and (because of this reference) in all time periods.
- #125
An abandoned subplot was that Seamus and Maggie were in fact a religiously mixed couple (Seamus being a typical Irish Catholic name and Margaret a typical Irish Protestant one), which explained why they had to leave Ireland, the dark fate of Seamus's brother, and his consequent hatred of violence. Like Strickland's murder, this was essentially deemed too dark a direction for a light film ("the Troubles" were still heated at the time) and was dropped from the final film.
Life & Family (2)
- #126
FRANCHISE TRADEMARK: A common theme in each of the three films is that shortly after arriving at his destination, Marty finds himself in a public place and comes face to face with a Tannen shouting "Hey McFly!" In Back to the Future (1985), shortly after his arrival in 1955, Marty enters Lou's Cafe and is drinking a cup of coffee while his father George sits beside him. Biff Tannen walks in and shouts "Hey McFly!," which Marty acknowledges, not realizing that Biff is shouting at his father. In Back to the Future Part II (1989), this happens twice: shortly after arriving in 2015 with Doc, Marty enters the Cafe 80's, where Griff Tannen (Biff's grandson) shouts "Hey McFly!" at Marty's future son (Marty Jr.), who has just walked in after old Biff does the same to Marty, mistaking him for his son. In this film, shortly after arriving in 1885, Marty enters the saloon and comes face to face with Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen shouting "Hey McFly!" after mistaking Marty for his great-great-great-grandfather Seamus.
- #127
The scene in which Marty crashes into the fences and is found by his paternal great-great-grandfather resembles the scene in Back to the Future (1985) in which his maternal grandfather's car hits him.
Related pages
- Vantage Point — Back to the Future Part III comes up in the facts on that page
Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- Wikipedia
- IMDb
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