When Time Ran Out...

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.

In the 1970s and into the very early 80s, disaster films were very popular and brought in a lot of money. The movies were HUGE and sensational...and the king of the genre was Irwin Allen. He produced such blockbusters as "The Towering Inferno" and "The Poseidon Adventure" and he was so successful that there were many copycat films by other producers, such as "Earthquake" and the "Airport" movies. But the problem with the genre was that they ran low on ideas and after a while the plots and disasters became stupider and more farfetched. This led to really bad films like "The Swarm" and "Concorde...Airport '79"...which effectively put the nails into the coffin of disaster epics. Still, there were hopes of reinvigorating the genre which led to some latter films like "When Time Ran Out...".

"When Time Ran Out..." was one of Irwin Allen's productions. But because the public had already seen many disaster films with star-studded casts, this one felt to many like an example of 'been there/done that' and it fizzled at the box office.

This story is set on a tropical island in the Pacific. A company is drilling for oil on this same island where there is also a resort full of rich vacationer. But the island is also volcanic and the hubris and greed of the drilling company result in a disaster being unleashed...one that could easily turn all these tourists and oil company techs into crispy critters!

Like the other Irwin Allen disaster epics, this one has a very impressive cast...with Paul Newman, Jacquelin Bisset and William Holden in the leads. And, as you expect, a ton of A and B-list actors are there to lend support...as well as to become human torches.

As for the plot, it's the usual formula and the story isn't good nor bad...it's just pretty typical. But what IS different is that the special effects look relatively cheap and are little like the great sets, explosions and the like of Allen's 1970s films. In particular, seeing folks falling off the bridge into the lava...well, it could have been done better with Barbie dolls! Additionally, there seem to be less explosions...possibly to save money.

So is it worth seeing? Possibly. I'd place this in the category of a time-passer and not much more. It's NOT horrible (and wow, are there some horrible disaster epics out there) but it's also incredibly familiar and offers little to make you want to see it.

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¨ .

Yes, this is the typical 70's all-star disaster flick. Though this one was made in 1980. This one, however, was not a hit. When "The Towering Inferno" was in theaters, it made over 100 million at the box office. When this one was at theaters, it made less than 2 million. Part of the problem is that it doesn't look much like a movie for the theater. In fact, when I first saw it, I thought it was a made for television movie. I think most of the budget in this one went to the stars, and not nearly enough went into special effects. The story in this one is typical of a volcano movie as it has someone trying to warn people that the volcano is going to erupt. Of course no one believes them and then an eruption occurs. We have people getting fried, and a select group trying to head for safety. Along the way they have to cross a bridge, and it turns out there is someone who has a special ability to be put in use here like the character in "The Poseidon Adventure" who was an excellent swimmer. This one has some good qualities though and if you have nothing else to do it may be worth a look-see, but it is definitely nothing special.

I faithfully watch When Time Ran Out every time it comes on television, and am never bored by it. I had no idea it was such a terrible movie until I read these reviews on IMDB. Sigh...reviewers can be so cruel. At least now I know that I have bad taste in movies so you can stop reading this now if you like.

There are a lot of familiar faces in the cast and they do a good job. This is my favorite Paul Newman movie by the way. (But to be honest I don't watch many Paul Newman movies.) Edward Albert is also great in it, and even though his role is too small, he does get to be heroic but don't blink or you will miss those moments. The women aren't given too much to do but aint that always the way it goes. Sigh again... I did like Veronica Hamel's little bitty role. She was classy but stupid. Should have hooked up with Edward Albert.

This movie is a great soap opera with love, betrayal, danger, greed, and a dastardly villain. Oh, and the way some of the characters die is kinda funny. Sort of like every other disaster movie from the 70's and early 80's. So cut it a little slack why don't you.