As Time Goes by

I've been wanting to watch this movie for years - having missed a broadcast on the BBC during the late 1980s. I'm pleased to say it's as quirky and inventive as 2 of the other reviewers have stated - it's low budget, but it makes up for it with a clever and funny story. The alien is a hoot - I'd be surprised if any fan of Hollywood noir movies doesn't enjoy his dialogue.

The idea of a sci-fi western parody probably wouldn't make sense anywhere else but in the remote Australian outback, maybe the perfect setting for this contrived madcap spoof. Among the cast of eccentrics are, in no particular order: a slightly goony surfer who's been waiting a quarter century to keep an appointment in the back of beyond; a bitter outback cop who once accidentally killed his own son during a cricket game; a scientist who dresses like Pee Wee Herman and hopes to capture a Nobel Prize and a genuine extraterrestrial; a cattle tycoon with plans to make the desert bloom using the Earth's ozone layer; his two sheep-hating henchmen; a shopkeeper with a passionate fear of dust; a spaceship that sells Budweiser beer; a cocktail shaker time machine; and a radioactive alien named Joe Bogart, played by Max Gillies, who behaves as if he wants to be known (fat chance) as Australia's answer to Robin Williams. With characters like this, who needs a plot?

"As Time Goes By" is an interesting, memorable film that I think any fan of Science Fiction would enjoy. I saw it in the late '80s at the Mill Valley Film Festival and I made a point to remember the name, because I suspected that this film might not get the publicity it deserved, and would become hard to find.

Aside from the S.F. elements, I would classify this as a mystery/drama with comedic touches. It's a low budget film and the director knows it, using this to keep the tone light and also to focus the audience on the characters and their story.

I especially like the way the filmmaker plays with the time travel element, showing me a trick or two I have never seen before. The alien is weird, wise and funny and even though I have read my fair share of S.F. I haven't encountered another one like him. Sure, the film isn't perfect, but it was easy to ignore the flaws because I like the spirit and intelligence of the people who made it.

I hope this gets released on DVD so I can buy it. "As Time Goes By" stands on my list as one of the top ten films of 1988. That's right, I'm not kidding! Top ten.

'As Time Goes By' is a missing classic, about a policeman, a surfer and an alien in the Bush. Marked by a characteristically awesome poster, the surfer is seen sunbathing in the desert beside his surfboard. The policeman is haunted by the cricket match that killed his baby sun. The alien by the other past we used to live in - we lost the war, we were all eating sushi, and we didn't like it!

It's all about jumping back in time to make important changes, to stop tragedy. Time loops? Paradoxes? The complications are attacked obliquely in the neon lit setting of Max Gillies' greasy spoon diner.

It stuns me that we have no archived source of this movie. In spite of issues of copyright, the general public's interest has often acted as a kind of 'casual backup' that prevents the loss of good shows from memory.

I'm trying to teach a friend about what was good in '80s SF, and plan on showing her Repo Man, The Quiet Earth and As Time Goes By. ATGB stands up well in that company - they all have a certain feel - and will be missed if I can't find it.