When time ran out (1980)

Director: James Goldstone

Starring: Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden

An active volcano threatens a south Pacific island resort and its guests as a power struggle ensues between the property’s developer and a drilling foreman.

I love disaster movies. ‘When time ran out’ is clearly dated, but when viewing a movie, I always keep in mind when it was made, and what it must have looked like back then. Remember, ‘When time ran out’ was made in a time before CGI, so they had to rely an animation, and practical effects.

‘When time ran out’ is essentially a slasher movie, with nature as the killer. The film sees an all-star cast portraying the victims. William Holden stars as hotel owner Shelby Gilmore. He wants to marry his secretary, Kay Kirby (Jacqueline Bisset), but she is in love with oil rigger Hank Anderson (Paul Newman). A lot of time is spent on character set-up before anything interesting happens – I mean, considering this is a disaster movie. And boy, do some of these characters have issues!

When disaster strikes, the visuals are unfortunately not the greatest. Not sure if it would have been perceived as great back in 1980, but it certainly did not stood the test of time. The film becomes a tale of survival, and I enjoyed the adventure element as the characters flee from the impending doom. It’s not the greatest script, nor is it a truly great disaster movie, but I found it entertaining enough. Back in the day, I’m certain it must have been quite a suspenseful film.

If you’re into Volcano disaster movies, there definitely are far better (and more modern) films out there. ‘Dante’s Peak’ still tops my list for Volcano disasters. I can also strongly recommend the more recent ‘Skyfire’, a Chinese film which is so similar to ‘When time ran out’, it might as well have been a remake – only the visuals are a hundred times better!

‘When time ran out’ received an Oscar nomination for Best Costume Design. Unfortunately the film only recuperated around $3.8 million of its $20 million budget. Ouch!

Would I watch it again? I doubt it.