1955 concluded @ Future Features

...BACK

NOV 13 SUN

OPENING CREDITS

Back to the Future, Part III

The opening credits sequence of Part III starts after a recap of the end of Part II. It begins with a shot of dark clouds, a visual reference to the opening credits of the second film. Then we see Doc's car, being driven by Marty, approaching Doc's mansion. The music is less urgent than Part II's opening and the images show a return to the homestead, a scene we associate mostly with Westerns. This goes someway to setting up the events of this finale chapter in the trilogy.

Next we go inside Doc's home. Beginning on the full set of photographs that we first saw in the credits sequence of BTTF, we move down to see Doc's letter from 1885 drying in front of the fire place. Slowly the camera pans across to Marty's feet resting on the HoverBoard. Not only do we have items representing the four different time periods of the trilogy (Marty representing 1985 himself), the HoverBoard will become an important component of the climax of Part III.

The sequence ends with the television coming to life with the "Howdy Doody" show

PART 3

OUT OF THE BOX

QUOTE

"Howdy Doody" is playing on Doc's television that has been left on all night

PART 3

Announcer: (on TV) "Hey kids, what time is it?"
Kids: "It's Howdy Doody time!"
(Doc Brown wakes)
Doc Brown: "Great Scott! ... Howdy Doody time?"

PART 3

7:01 PM

Doc records his observations about sending Marty back to 1985 after lightning struck the clocktower

PART 3

NOTE

The clock hanging above the toilet in Doc Brown's bathroom. He hung it there on November 5, 1955. He slipped, hit his head and had a vision of the flux capacitor - "Which is what makes time travel possible!"

PART 3

QUOTE

NOTE

Doc Brown: "That's a very interesting story, future boy."

PART 3

Doc refers to Marty as 'future boy' again, as he did when he first met him in 1955

PART 3

NOV 14 MON

QUOTE

NOTE

Marty: "Doc, check it out. Look at this."
(Marty points out the letters E.L.B. marked on some boards in the mine.)
Doc Brown: "My initials. Just like in Journey to the Centre of the Earth. That must mean the time machine is right through this wall."

PART 3

No mention is made of what Doc's middle name is in the trilogy. In "Back to the Future" (1991), the animated series which co-creator Bob Gale Executive Produced for Universal Cartoon Studios and Amblin, it is revealed to be Lathrop. While this Chronology does not recognize the two-season long television series to be canon, it does recognize that an early draft of Part III included a scene where Doc Brown encountered his mother as a young girl. Her maiden name was Lathrop, lending creedence to Lathrop being his middle name

PART 3

QUOTE

Doc Brown: "Unbeliveable that this piece of junk could be such a big problem... No wonder this circuit failed - it says Made In Japan."
Marty: "What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan."
Doc Brown: "Unbelievable."

PART 3

NOTE

Headstone reads: Here Lies EMMETT BROWN Died September 7, 1885. Shot in the back by Buford Tannen over a matter of 80 dollars. Erected in his eternal memory by his beloved Clara

PART 3

NOTE

Marty is looking through a book titled 'A History of Hill Valley 1850-1930.' 1850 must have been when the town was founded, 35 years before the events of Part III

PART 3

NOTE

Photograph of Doc Brown in front of the 'New Clock' on September 5, 1885. The clock reads 8:08

PART 3

NOV 16 WED

NOTE

The posters at the drive-in are for Revenge of the Creature (1955) and Tarantula (1955). They are Clint Eastwood's first two films and he appears in small roles and uncredited.

His first credited role was in 1955's Francis in the Navy (see NOTE below) and he would become better known for the television series "Rawhide" in 1959 and for the Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns in the mid 60s, Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, playing The Man With No Name

PART 3

NOTE

There are three films listed on the marquee. They are all sequels to Universal films.

The first is Francis in the Navy, the second Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki and lastly Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy. All of these films were released in 1955.

In the Navy is the sixth (and penultimate) film in the "Francis the Talking Mule" series, which was the inspiration for the talking-horse series, "Mister Ed" (1961).

At Waikiki is the seventh in a nine film series based around the Ma and Pa Kettle characters, who spun-off into their own film series from a picture called The Egg and I (1947), which starred screen legend Claudette Colbert. Ma and Pa Kettle were played by Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. At Waikiki included the last appearance of Kilbride in the role of Pa Kettle.

Meet the Mummy is second last film to star comedy team (Bud) Abbott and (Lou) Costello. This was the 14th and final film in the "Abbott and Costello in/at/meet/etc..." series. Their last film was called Dance with Me Henry.

PART 3

QUOTE

Marty: "You know, Doc, it's going to be a hell of a long walk back to Hill Valley from here."
Doc Brown: "Still the safest plan. After all, we can't risk sending you back into a populated area or to a spot that's geographically unknown. You don't want to crash into a tree that once exsted in the past. This was all completely open country, so you'll have plenty of run-off space when you arrive. Remember, where you're going, there are no roads."

PART 3

CUT!

NOVEL APPROACH

A short scene was cut from here, but it is included in the novelisation. Doc Brown asks Marty if he wants to take the gun with him. Marty says no thanks, he doesn't know how to use it anyway... which is interesting, because when he is handed a Colt back in 1885 he is able to use it.

DVD alert! This scene is included on the disc for Part III - in Region 1 only

PART 3

The novelisation suggests that it is not that Marty couldn't use a real gun, but that he didn't want to. While it has been established he is a crack-shot with the game 'Wild Gunman,' he still might not want to use a real gun to warn off a real person.

PART 3

QUOTE

NOTE

Doc Brown: (as Marty drives past in the Delorean) "Vaya con Dios!"

PART 3

"Vaya con Dios" literally means "Go With God!" but also implies good luck

PART 3

FROM THE CINEMA

When Chuck Yeager makes his first attempt to break the sound barrier in The Right Stuff (1983), his flying buddy says "Vaya con Dios!" to him. This is the third reference to the film in the trilogy

PART 3

10:00 AM

Marty leaves 1955 from the Drive-In Movie Theatre headed for 1885

PART 3

TRILOGY CHRONOLOGY

1885	1955
1985	2015
Real History of BTTF	BTTF References