In the final installment of the highly successful Back to the Future trilogy, the old west provides the majestic background for the continuing adventures of famed time travelers, the loveable Doc Brown and Marty McFly. With an appearance by rock and roll legends, ZZ Top, and a new love interest for Doc, the wild days on the great frontier would never be the same.

First a little backstory - At the end of Part II, the eccentric Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) finds himself in 1885, due to a lightning storm that has sent his DeLorean time machine to the old west and left Marty (Michael J. Fox) stranded back in 1955 again. In the third installment, Marty finds an old telegram dated 1885 from the good doctor, who is now living 70 years in the past, perfectly content as a blacksmith and with no desire whatsoever to be rescued. Ever helpful, however, he does tell Marty where the cave is located in which he hid the time traveling sports car in 1885. Marty informs 1995 Doc of his discovery and together they discover a disturbing bit of history. It turns out that shortly after Doc sent that telegram, he was shot and killed in an old fashioned shootout against the dastardly Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen, an ancestor of ever-enduring villain, Biff.

Marty heads back to 1885 to save Doc, dressed in a costume found at a western souvenir shop, and almost immediately falls into his own brand of trouble. His fuel lines have been accidentally ruptured and he has to fend off attacks by an angry bear and a tribe of Native Americans. He is rescued by some ancestors of his own, Seamus and Maggie McFly who take the weary traveler in. Realizing that he is hopelessly stuck in the wrong century, he sets out to find Doc, the only man who can help him get back to the future. He finds Doc, hopelessly in love with the town’s new schoolteacher, Clara Clayton, and lacking the attention span to help him with his problems or heed the warning about Mad Dog.

Doc has little too worry about in regard to Mad Dog, however, as the gunslinger decides, rather, to focus his energy on the Clint Eastwood of Hill Valley, circa 1885 – poor ol’ Marty. Doc finds a way to help Marty avert certain disaster in the upcoming gunfight and return to 1985, even though the futurist invention, gasoline, isn’t yet available. Unfortunately, for Doc to pull this off, he will be forced to leave the love of his life behind and, should he do so, her death is assured. All of these pending problems lead to a Hollywood-style climax of gunfights, harrowing train rides, and, just for good measure, an entertaining little musical performance by the bearded boys in ZZ Top.

Back to the Future Part III was released in theaters a mere few months after the second installment and although, it was the least successful of the three films, it still managed to provide an entertaining adventure for all. A homage of sorts to the classic western, it featured a number of cameos from veteran western film stars such as Dub Taylor and Harry Carey Jr. and closed up the trilogy in rip-roaring, rootin-tootin’ style.