Back to the Future Part III

Director Robert Zemeckis's blockbusting trilogy went slightly off the rails with the second segment, but it got right back on track (literally) with this concluding instalment. Shot back-to-back with Part II, the film is set predominantly in the Old West and offers Michael J Fox the chance to indulge in all the sharpshooting situations that made Saturday matinée western serials such a treat for millions of children (including, one suspects, Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale). As before, the plot revolves around the need to tinker with time and the problem of how to power the trusty DeLorean car so that Fox can get back to the present. And once more Gale and Zemeckis have come up with an ingenious plot and a clutch of in-jokes, including the casting of western favourites Dub Taylor, Harry Carey Jr and Pat Buttram as a trio of old timers in the saloon. The inimitable Fox is again on cracking form as Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd's romance with Mary Steenburgen is surprisingly touching. Using the special effects intelligently, Zemeckis stages a spectacular steam-train finale and neatly ties up the trilogy's loose ends. Look out for a cameo appearance from ZZ Top.