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When Time Ran Out

Play trailer Poster for When Time Ran Out PG Released Mar 28, 1980 2h 1m Adventure Play Trailer Watchlist
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0% Tomatometer 9 Reviews 20% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
An oil driller (Paul Newman) leads a dash for high ground when time runs out on a resort island's dormant volcano.
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When Time Ran Out

Critics Reviews

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Time Out A real movie disaster. Jun 17, 2008 Full Review Matt Brunson Film Frenzy I can’t agree with the consensus in many circles that this was the absolute worst of the disaster genre -- not with the existence of The Concorde … Airport ’79 -- but it’s pretty lousy. Rated: 1.5/4 Oct 14, 2023 Full Review Serge Daney Cahiers du Cinéma Here, it's a volcano that devotes itself to spewing some lava on a four-star hotel that a developer, mad with ambition, has built on a Pacific atoll. Naturally, this developer is the only slightly interesting character in the film. Oct 12, 2022 Full Review John Brosnan Starburst It is not a good movie. It is not even a good bad. Jul 25, 2022 Full Review Alberto Abuín Espinof To see Borgnine and Meredith's talent been wasted in such a way is really disappointing. [Full Review in Spanish] Aug 29, 2019 Full Review Adrian Turner Radio Times The eruption, when it finally comes, is a wonderfully cheesy amalgam of wobbly back projection, bathtub tidal wave and scared expressions from the cast. It's not as hilariously awful as Swarm or Meteor, though, which is a pity. Rated: 1/5 May 25, 2015 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Blu B I had the unfortunate luck of seeing the extended version. It got so boring that I had to do study a new language to make it through to the end. This is truly a candidate for the most boring hardest to sit through thing I've ever seen. Not the worst thing ever made because it makes perfect sense but man there is no concept of pacing in the slightest and I can't imagine cutting 20 minutes would've moved that needle. The editing also is so jumpy, sloppy, and lazy at the same time. It's horrifcally bad all around. No one has any real character to them and has no emotion half the time and when they do it feels so phoned in. The direction is so lifeless and uninspired. The production value is so cheap looking including the lazy stock footage of a volcano erupting. This easily could've been cut to a 30 minute short flick and 90% of characters cut and even than it still would'nt be good I don't think. I truly can't state how fasinatingly boring this gets. Anytime it picks up the slightest bit of momentum it cuts to characters standing around talking. Scenes always feel like they are double the length they are. This truly feels like 4 hours. Paul Newman is ok and probably the one close thing to being good but my god. All the explosions, destruction and starpower and it's amazing how it just adds up to nothing. Even the music gets draining on the ears and gets beyond boring. How do you do that....seriously skip this. It's a poor mans version of Dante's Peak/Volcano. A really bad poor man's version. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 05/14/24 Full Review Simon T Irwin Allen only ever produced one kind of movie: a bunch of contractually obliged A-listers arguing about the threat from bees, volcanoes, skyscrapers, upside down cruise ships, etc. This late entry is the last gasp and is very very bad. What on earth is Paul Newman doing here? Collecting a fat pay-cheque, one hopes. Deservedly forgotten. A complete waste of celluloid. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 12/29/23 Full Review Steve D Forgettable yet entertaining enough. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Irwin Allen is the Master of Disaster. But not in a good way. Here is another Irwin Allen produced movie that was pretty much of a B-movie (B stands for bad in my opinion. When Time Ran Out is filled with bad acting that you would either see from a soap opera or an actual B-movie (as we saw wooden acting Edward Albert & Barbara Carrera). They writing was beyond awful with factual geologic errors within the entire film. An oil rig drilling into the side of a volcano? Lava bombs that explode? A character claiming the victims of the Mt. Pelée eruption suffocated after the explosion sucked oxygen out of the air? All factual geologic errors! Irwin Allen made a deal with Warner Bros. in regards to a bigger budget. He gets a bigger budget...but he CANNOT direct. So he got $20M to produce When Time Ran Out and the visuals in this movie are still disastrous! In fact, everything about this movie was disastrous! Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Time should have run out sooner, if you ask me. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member So bad it was good... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews
When Time Ran Out

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Cast & Crew

Jeremiah Johnson 91% 89% Jeremiah Johnson Watchlist Raise the Titanic 38% 29% Raise the Titanic Watchlist Quicksilver 13% 38% Quicksilver Watchlist The Aviator 20% 45% The Aviator Watchlist Roar 72% 51% Roar Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis An oil driller (Paul Newman) leads a dash for high ground when time runs out on a resort island's dormant volcano.
Director
James Goldstone
Producer
Irwin Allen
Screenwriter
Carl Foreman, Stirling Silliphant
Distributor
Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co
Warner Bros.
Rating
PG
Genre
Adventure
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 28, 1980, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Apr 1, 2012
Runtime
2h 1m
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