Timequest

Every generation has its "I remember exactly where I was" experience. For the living the list of these events runs from the sinking of the Titanic to the destruction of the World Trade Center. For my generation it is a cascade of events that begins with JFK's assassination. Nov 22, 1963 we were in school, heard the news and rushed home to watch events unfold on television.

In this time travel story JFK doesn't die, he learns that his philandering will ruin his image and stops, he turns the Cold War driven space race into an international project and stops the escalation of US involvement in Viet Nam --thus saving 57,000 lives.

I'd have to agree with others that the story telling here needs work. The order in which we see events doesn't convey the story arc all that well. Production values are low, there's gratuitous use of course language which, while all too common now, was alien then. As for the nudity: well, it was something to see Marilyn Monroe reproduce one of her most famous poses for JFK. I won't quibble about that.

My generation has the images of that weekend burned into our consciousness. In this story the Zapruder film, taken on the "Grassy Knoll," doesn't show the top of JFK's head being blown off. In this story Walter Cronkite's first announcement of something going in the President's motorcade doesn't end with him saying that JFK is dead. (Note: those of us in school didn't see it live, but we've lived with the taped images ever since.) And, finally, the event that takes place in Parkland Hospital (just outside Dallas) is joyous. It's not the end of a Presidency that had begun to capture the enthusiasm of a generation with it's New Frontier and Peace Corps, but a celebration of something new.

For it's many flaws this film shows some beautiful healing images.

Sci-fi movies about time travel have always interested me and one about the JFK assination seem intriguing. The movie starts confusing in 1979 with mysterious government agents picking up a prisoner off a bus. Next is Nov. 22, 1963 in Dallas,Tx with Jackie Kennedy startled by an unexpected vistor. I won't spoil the plot, but it is not firmly grounded in theortical physics. However it does makes you wonder what would happened if JFK surived to have a second term. The best quote is when Robert Kennedy shows J.Edgar Hoover a picture of the F.B.I. director in comprimising situation,saying, "Nice dress you are wearing (in the photo). My wife has the exact same one in her closet." Unfortunately this intriguing movie has received little publicity.

This film is based on a great idea, but could have been done much better, perhaps with a larger budget. It is worth watching, and hopefully will open the door for other films to take on this subject.

The issues dealing with the Kennedy's were a bit generalized and stereotypical and could have been developed more. To compete with other time travel films, I believe the technology could also be stepped up a notch.

While I enjoyed the film, it left me wanting to see a more detailed and better version of it.

An interesting "what-if" story: a man from the future goes back in time and prevents JFK's assassination. This movie presents an optimistic view of how history turned out. The narration follows three threads; our time, following the death of JFK at 84; the presidency of JFK after Nov 22, 1963; and the Kennedy's involvement in the life of a young artist. Bruce Campbell does parody again, it's nice to see Ralph Waite, and Larry Drake looks like he may explode soon. Like any good time-travel story it leaves you bewildered at the end. It's a bad political history, though, and I found much of it unbelievable. The conservative Republican revolution would have happened anyway. The oil shocks of the 1970s would have happened anyway. Sure, Dan Rather stays in Dallas and the Beatles never break up, but whatever happened to Nixon? What happened to Barry Goldwater? What would have happened to Vietnam?

I will watch just about any movie that has some element of time travel in it. However, when I saw the cover art work for the Time Quest video I was pretty sure this was not going to be a very good pic. Cheeeeezy. That was maybe a year ago, and this evening was the 3rd or 4th time I have watched Time Quest. So, first thought I have is don't judge this film by its cover.

Time Quest leaves me with a feeling of melancholy for the opportunities lost. This is the film's finest quality. History is changed not only by the fact that the Kennedy's are not assassinated but by John and Bobby's knowledge of future events and their desire to use that knowledge to make a difference. No Vietnam and a space race that actually results in something.

The movie has several other qualities I should mention. It has a sense of humor; it is sensitive; it moves back and forth over time so that the watcher is kept guessing; and most of the acting seems reasonable. I particularly liked the detail given to the time traveler's suit and to the screen he projects his images on, and there is a gripping slow-mo shot of LH Oswald not being assassinated.

In a market where so few good sci-fi, let alone time travel, movies are made it seems a shame that more people aren't seeing this one.