When Time Ran Out...

An active volcano threatens a south Pacific island resort and its guests as a power struggle ensues between the property's developer , James Franciscus , and a drilling foreman , Paul Newman . Molten lava and explosion spread across the island . As an all-star cast is on the run when Mother Nature blows her top .

Exciting film about a volcanic eruption threatens a Pacific island that packs blasts , thrills , overwhelming scenes of blowing up , suspense , excessive talking and turns out to be slightly entertaining . Allen's shameless rehash of all his disaster film clichés set on a Pacific island in which time never seems to run out , as a video version runs 141 minutes . Disastrous catastrophe movie in which lacks characterization , being an immense bore . Lousy screenplay by the prestigious Carl Foreman and Stirling Silliphant ; both of whom were presumably well paid . This formula intrigue movie belongs to catastrophe genre of the 70s , being the undisputed king , ¨The towering inferno¨ along with ¨Earthquake¨ , ¨Two minutes warning¨ and many others ; this formula disaster movie was widely developed by Irwin Allen , previously winner of numerous Oscars for ¨Poseidon¨ until the failures as ¨Beyond Poseidon¨, ¨Swarm¨ and this ¨When the time ran out¨ , retitled ¨Earth's final fury¨ . Filmed at the height of the disaster genre from the 7os , this entry in the spectacular series profits of an all-star though really wasted and a suspenseful final that takes place at a bridge surrounded by molten lava . The bridge was 30 feet above the stage, with smoke bombs and light flashes used to simulate the lava. Main cast carries out average acting such as Paul Newman , Jacqueline Bisset and William Holden , he was hospitalized for six days during production to treat his alcoholism after director James Goldstone convinced producer Irwin Allen that Holden was a danger to himself and others in the cast. Furthermore , a top-notch secondary casting such as Valentina Cortese , Barbara Carrera , Veronica Hamel , Alex Karras , Burgess Meredith , Red Buttons , James Franciscus , Pat Morita and Ernest Borgnine . Ernest Borgnine claims in his memoirs that the reason why the film's special effects were so cheap looking was that the huge amount spent on location shooting absorbed what was usually spent on FX. Many actors were all under contract with Irwin Allen, and appear in this film to void their contracts.

Colorful and gripping photography in Panavision by Fred J. Koenekamp . Intriguing and thrilling score by Lalo Schifrin in his usual style . This big-budgeted disaster movie was middlingly directed by James Goldstone ; this was final feature film of Goldstone . He was a director and writer, known for Scalplock (1966) , ¨Jigsaw¨ ,¨A Man Called Gannon¨ , ¨They Only Kill Their Masters¨ , ¨Red sky at morning¨ , ¨Winning" or "500 miles" and ¨Swashbuckler¨ . Goldstone was also an ordinary TV movies director and subsequently made another catastrophe film , Roller-coaster (1977), much better than the disastrous and monumental bore ¨When time ran out¨ .

Paul Newman only bothered to be in "When Time Ran Out..." (ominous points make any title better) because he needed funding for a salad dressing company, so you can imagine how riveting his performance is. He reacts to the mayhem of a volcano eruption with the shocked grimace of someone who could really go for a salad just about now. In fact, every name actor in this movie completely phones it in. Most of them were there against their will because they signed a wonky deal with producer Irwin Allen, but come on, you still have to do your job. Burgess Meredith is the only one that really tries, so he deservedly gets to play a pivotal part in the movie's (ridiculous) climax. After they got all the stars on board there clearly wasn't any money left for the special effects, so the volcano action is mostly left to your imagination, bits of stock footage and one of those stupid background photos they used before stupid CGI was commonplace. Thankfully, all of this is put together so incompetently that you just can't help but laugh and have a good time. "When Time Ran Out..." starts of a little bit too slow to be a full-blown "so bad it's good"-movie (almost nothing happens in the first hour), but once the volcano erupts you get an absolute feast of terrible dialogue, mom&pop store explosions, forced suspense and marvellous genre clichés. Sorry Paul Newman, I'm going to have to recommend this.

3/14/18. I have forgotten how suspenseful these old disaster movies were, even formulaic as they were. Why mess with what works? Irwin Allen was always good with that: A love triangle, a helicopter, a loss of one or two of the big stars and you got yourself a hit. While many of the big stars featured were mostly past their prime, that was okay when the disaster was actually THE STAR of the movie. Catch it for nostalgia's sake.

A volcano creates problems.

Cool explosive special effects, a knockout Lalo Schifrin score, William Holden being pleasing as always and a well played sense of doom in the opening sections of the film. There are reasons to watch!

Paul Newman/James Franciscus go down in that craft to the very centre of the volcano. This scene alone makes the whole film worthwhile: very well done and full of suspense! All the scenes with William Holden and uncomfortable Franciscus together are well played.

In a nutshell: the movie is not perfect but something I return to with repeat viewings all the time.

Deleted footage: About 25 minutes of footage was cut out of the final release and I have seen the missing footage. The Burgess Meredith character gets a lot more screen time, there are moments of actors looking at the volcano and cars driving around a damaged Hawaii. There is also a long sequence right near the end involving the survivors talking away in a cave that was cut out. Basically, they did the right thing by cutting out this footage.

Another funny film by Irwin Allen. This one is a hoot to watch. I really like the blue screen effect whenever the lava is shown--lol. If it has Shelia Matthews in the cast, you can be sure that it is going to be a funny film, especially if it is a drama. The ending with the volcano is hilarious--I did not know that volcanos could shoot a fireball that far away and still hit the target head-on!! Impressive. Sort of like scenes from "Bird of Paradise" meets "Diamond Head" were taken and spliced together and then had a few more ingredients added. All that was missing was the sacrificial virgin--but then, maybe that is why the volcano exploded--LOL. Not a movie to be missed for laughs!!