Ah, the foibles of youth. Growing up, I used to read my local newspaper, and I especially enjoyed the section that focused on what was on TV that week. This was back when local channels and cable were big. And I especially loved when a movie was playing because then it would give a star rating (out of 4) and other details to let me know about the film.

Best of the Trilogy

One time, all three Back to the Future films were playing back to back, and they had the following star ratings:

• Back to the Future: 3 stars
• Back to the Future Part II: 2 ½ stars
• Back to the Future Part III: 3 ½ stars

I was surprised about that because I had enjoyed the first two Back to the Future films better than the third one. I especially liked the second one because it had a flying car. I mean, what kid doesn’t love flying cars?

But I figured I had been wrong in my opinion, and the third film was objectively the best of the trilogy. After all, would a newspaper lie? Absolutely not, my child mind thought. If they said that a film was nearly perfect, then it had to be.

Because of that, I had it in my head that everyone shared the opinion that the series had started out well and really ramped up at the end. But it turns out that I was incorrect in my assumption.

A New Perspective

Years later, I saw an Angry Video Game Nerd video in which he said that most people think of Back to the Future Part III as the black sheep of the series. That was news to me. Admittedly, Back to the Future isn’t exactly a daily source of conversation for me with people I interact with, so I hadn’t asked anyone what they thought of the third film in that trilogy. As I heard more, it became clear to me that a lot of people thought that way.

After all, Back to the Future Part III was the lowest-grossing film in the trilogy, being the only one to earn less than $100 million domestically. And it’s a Western, which wasn’t too popular at the time except for a few outliers like Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven.

Westerns weren’t my favorite genre, growing up. The good Westerns I saw, like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and High Plains Drifter, I had to watch surreptitiously because I didn’t think my parents would want me watching them. I did like Quigley Down Under, and I’m glad my parents had no problem with that one. It wasn’t until later that I learned to appreciate the subtle nuances of The Searchers, McClintock!, The Quiet Man, and other amazing John Wayne movies.

Back to the Future Part III is in the same category as Quigley Down Under. It’s a good movie that somehow flies under the radar. Perhaps because neither of those films has a flying car in them, though one does have a flying train.

A Perfect Ending

My opinion of Back to the Future Part III hasn’t changed since I learned that other people may not like it so much. I really appreciate how it gives a perfect ending to both Doc Brown and Marty McFly. They have wonderful futures ahead of them. Marty is marching to a happy future, while Doc’s destiny lies in the past. It turns out that 1985 is just as much of a hinge point for history as 1955 because that’s the point where Doc and Marty part ways and begin their families.

The ending alone justifies a near-perfect rating because so few film series have stuck the landing and ended on such a high note as that. And there are many additional highlights along the way, like every scene featuring Buford Tannen, Marty meeting his ancestors and receiving sage advice from them, Doc being a hero and falling in love with a doomed woman, and all the funny Clint Eastwood references.

As I’ve matured, I’ve maintained my childlike love of each Back to the Future movie. The first film perfectly captures a beautiful nostalgia for the past. The second film explores both bright and dark visions of the future, as well as exposing characters’ hidden weaknesses. And the third film shows how the characters overcome their weaknesses and arrive at a hopeful juncture in time.

It turns out that my local newspaper had it right the whole time. Feel free to let me know if you’ve ever had a similar experience with a beloved film, realizing other people don’t like it as much as you.

This is the Deja Reviewer bidding you farewell until we meet again.

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