Although Back To The Future Part III was Doc Brown’s third on-screen adventure, the Wild West-set sequel offered series star Christopher Lloyd a shocking career first. The Back to the Future trilogy made Christopher Lloyd a blockbuster movie star, but the actor had been a successful mainstay on the big and small screen for decades before that. Lloyd starred in acclaimed classic movies like One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The Postman Always Rings Twice, as well as appearing in cult classics like The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension and Goin’ South.
Meanwhile, Lloyd’s small-screen roles included appearances in Barney Miller and Cheers as well as a lead role in the popular sitcom Taxi. Although Back to the Future’s Doc Brown was a star-making role for the actor, there is no denying that he was a frequent screen presence well before the trilogy began. As such, it is fairly astounding that Lloyd, born in 1938, managed to act from 1975 until Back To The Future Part III’s release in 1990 without ever pulling off one on-screen rite of pᴀssage.
Back To The Future Part III Was Christopher Lloyd’s First Onscreen Kiss
Lloyd’s Lengthy Screen Career Never Focused On Romance Before Back To The Future Part III
Although the actor had been working for over a decade and a half at this stage in his career and had appeared in over 25 movies, Back To The Future Part III’s Doc Brown romance featured Christopher Lloyd’s first on-screen kiss. The embrace takes place during a date with his love interest, Mary Steenburgen’s Clara Clayton, as a shooting star pᴀsses in the background. In the trilogy’s ending, Doc Brown saves Clara from certain death by jumping off the time-traveling steam train and onto Marty’s hoverboard.
Despite Lloyd’s considerable off-screen romantic prowess, the actor shared some of Doc Brown’s lack of experience when it came to on-screen romance.
Although the trilogy’s movies are mostly Marty McFly’s story, Back To The Future Part III takes the focus off Michael J. Fox’s antihero for a while to flesh out Lloyd’s character. The result is a sweet romance between Clara and Doc that humanizes the unhinged scientist who, until this point, was something of an absurd, cartoony figure throughout the series. Despite Lloyd’s considerable off-screen romantic prowess, having been married five times, the actor shared some of Doc Brown’s lack of experience when it came to on-screen romance.
How Christopher Lloyd’s Situation Mirrored Doc Brown’s
Lloyd’s Lack of On-screen Love Interests Echoed Doc Brown’s Quiet Love Life
Since Lloyd had never had an onscreen kiss in his screen career and Doc Brown had never been in love before the events of Back To The Future Part III, the actor and his character created a neat unintentional mirror at this moment. While all three Back To The Future movies feature hilarious quotes from Doc Brown and chances for Lloyd’s character to steal the spotlight, it is Back To The Future Part III alone that concerns itself with his internal life.
The fact that Lloyd had missed out on this rite of pᴀssage earlier in his illustrious career makes Doc and Clara’s kiss a sweet meta moment, but the romantic subplot also stands up on its own. While making the third movie in the series a Western might have seemed like a strange choice at the time, this approach paid off as it facilitated the pair’s unexpected love story subplot. Thus, Back To The Future Part III offered Lloyd a perfect first on-screen kiss to go with his best trilogy storyline.
