Timerider - Das Abenteuer des Lyle Swann

This film is a great example of what can be done with a low budget, decent story, and a great cast. The direction is broad, and at the same time both light-hearted and dark. I think it's a good example of balance in that regard. Please see my comments in the message board regarding the ending of the DVD version. I think you have to be able to remember back to the day - 1982 - to appreciate this movie. Superior low-budget time-loops starting with "The Terminator" were still 2 years away....

Fred Ward deserves more attention as an actor...he did a great and believable job in this movie! (I especially like that part where he's asked where he got that map...he say's "got it at an EXXON Station") Peter Coyote was awesome!. What a bad BAD guy he was! and Belinda....WOHOO!....now that's a hot woman!, she can Rape me at gun-point anytime she wants! (ehh...don't tell my wife I said that!)

I love time travel films, but there are two that disappoint me, this one and "Return to the Future". This one was absolutely corny and I think primarily designed for American Motor Cycle enthousiasts ( the film is not even known in Europe and hasn't appeared on VHS or DVD ). All time travel film is of course fantasy, but the story of this one is too corny. Throughout almost all the film the bike rider doesn't even realise he has crossed time and the villagers, apart from being fascinated by his machine, don't understand where he has come from. Both these ingredients being missing, one is more or less guaranteed that the film will be a failure. In fact if you look well much of the time you just see a motorbike zooming around all over the desert. So what's interesting about that. Nothing. There is little dialogue of any consequence between the protagonists and the anacchronism of the main character is not put to good use (as it is for example in Time After Time ). There are no comic situations arising from the time difference and hardly even a romance to titillate your taste buds. This is one of the few films where I bought the dvd without having seen the film and then regretted my purchase once I had seen the film ! In addition to that picture quality on the dvd is not up to much, and there are no other language tracks, subtitles or extras. So all in all a bit of a dead loss (like Joe Loss's Brother ) !!!

"Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann" has an intriguing premise: What if a modern day motorcycle rider was transported back in time with his motorbike to the age of the cowboy? The movie manages to mine some interesting and entertainment moments from this, ranging from the reaction of nineteenth century people to this modern figure and his machine to some interesting action moments. It's also fun to see cult stars L.Q. Jones and Ed Lauter.

While the movie passes the time acceptably, at the same time I couldn't help but feel that the screenwriters didn't punch up the script enough. The bad guys are for the most part brutal thugs, and the reason for the chief bad guy wanting the motorbike is never revealed. The hero is also weak - we don't get to see much of him before he's transported back in time, and he seems mighty slow to figure out he's been transported back in time. And the movie doesn't take much opportunity for the modern day hero to use what he has and what he knows on these backward people.

Overall, the movie is worth watching, though when you aren't feeling that demanding. It also helps if you like westerns.

The following comment includes a piece of the plot. If you plan to see the movie (and I recommend you do), do not read the rest of this.

Both Gene and Roger felt that the title character seemed stupid in that he didn't understand what had happened (i.e. that he went back in time) until the very end. I, on the other hand found it most believable. If you were lost in the desert, and you came across a _rural_ town, wouldn't it take quite a lot before you'd reach the conclusion "Oh, I must have gone back in time!"