Classic Horrors Club

Disaster Film Checklist

All-Star Cast (Oscar Winners):

• Paul Newman
• William Holden
• Red Buttons
• Ernest Borgnine

All-Star Cast (Oscar Nominees):

• Valentina Cortese
• Burgess Meredith
• Pat Morita

All-Star Cast (Others):

• Jacqueline Bisset
• Edward Albert
• Barbara Carrera
• Veronica Hamel
• Alex Karras
• James Franciscus
• John Considine
• Sheila Allen

Multiple Lives in Danger:

• An erupting volcano

Warnings Ignored:

• Bob Spangler refuses to believe that, even if the volcano erupts, there’s any danger to the guests at a luxury hotel.

Difference in Opinion about How to Proceed, Leading to a Dramatic Confrontation between Two Characters:

• Hank Anderson wants to lead people to the other side of the island to escape lava that’s heading toward the hotel. Bob Spangler tells the guests not to be influenced by a frightened man.

Death of Someone Who Deserves It:

• Bob Spangler stares death in the face on his hotel balcony as a huge fireball from the volcano comes hurtling toward him.

Survival of Children:

• Two children run back into the forest when the bridge they’re about to cross begins collapsing, but Rene Valdez promised his dying wife he would protect them. He finds them and brings them back to the bridge.

Daring Rescue:

• Rene Valdez then carries the girl across the frame of the collapsed bridge using a tree limb for balance, like the high wire performer he was in the prime of his youth.

Characters & Relationships:

• Shelby Gilmore, the hotelier, proposes to Kay Kirby, but she’s in love with Hank Anderson, who’s not the marrying kind.
• Iolani tells Brian she’s not ready to get married, while sleeping with Bob Spangler, who’s married to the clueless Nikki.
• Francis Fendly is on the run from the law and is being pursued by New York detective Tom Conti.

Physical Handicaps:

• Tom Conti is blinded by a fireball, but Francis Fendly, his arch-enemy, assumes the caregiver role, helping him reach safety.

Themes:

• Greed
• Power of nature
• Struggling to follow in your father’s footsteps

Thoughts

Reputation and memory led me to believe I would not enjoy When Time Ran Out… (1980) as much as I did. As the final nail in the coffin for the 1970s disaster film craze, it serves as a bittersweet little “greatest hits” or “best of” of compilation of what the subgenre offered in its heyday. Actors, plot points, set pieces, and relationships reminded me of better movies, but nevertheless gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Many of the cast appeared in other disaster films: Paul Newman and William Holden (The Towering Inferno), Jacqueline Bisset (Airport), Red Buttons (The Poseidon Adventure), Veronica Hamel (Beyond the Poseidon Adventure), Burgess Meredith (The Hindenburg), Ernest Borgnine (The Poseidon Adventure, Fire), James Franciscus (City on Fire), and Sheila Allen (The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno.)

Tiny scenes seem to pay tribute to other disaster films, not just Irwin Allen disaster films: A runway buckles like it did in Earthquake; equipment and people fall into fiery pits like they did in The Towering Inferno and The Poseidon Adventure; a tidal wave slams into a town like it did in Tidal Wave; and, after splitting into two groups, the ultimate survivors make it to “the other side” to be rescued (The Poseidon Adventure.) Red Buttons even fast-walks/jogs exactly like he did in The Poseidon Adventure.

Sadly, what’s lacking in the movie is the disaster. Wait, I just rattled off a list of mini-disasters caused by the eruption of the volcano. True, but each of them lasts only a few seconds. We see the least death and destruction of any disaster film of which I’m aware. (I remember when the movie Volcano came out in 1997, critics asked how threatening slow-moving lava could really be.)

When Time Ran Out… tries to compensate by having its volcano hurl fireballs toward the hotel. They simply destroy it, though, along with a large number of people. It doesn’t create any opportunities for a survival adventure. Then, the biggest obstacle the band of heroes face is walking across a bridge that’s collapsing due to lava flow beneath it.

That’s not to say the bridge scene isn’t exciting. However, I should add that it also requires suspension of disbelief, but not for reasons you might think. I had a hard time accepting that 73-year old Burgess Meredith could so easily carry a child on his back as he walked across the balance beam-like edge of the bridge, even though he used to be a high wire performer. He doesn’t even struggle.

There’s another fun set piece, too. The “pod” that scientists lower into the volcano crater to check activity malfunctions as the heat rises. With three characters inside, the bottom burns out and one of them falls to his death. The pod dangles and swings back and forth, the two other characters hanging on to each other to survive.

Every exceptional thing about When Time Ran Out… has something unexceptional about it. When the mechanism to raise the pod fails to work, suspend that ol’ disbelief again as Alex Karras single-handedly turns a wheel to pull it up. Karras was a former NFL defensive tackle and professional wrestler, but he wan’t Superman, for crying out loud.

I’ve read that there’s an extended version of the movie. You’d be disappointed, though, if you thought that meant more scenes of destruction and mayhem. It sounds like the extra footage is all extended character development and the band of survivors trudging through the forest. These were probably wisely cut in the first place to meet its 121-minute running time.

Quotes

I don’t need the wine, you get me drunk!

Kay Kirby

It’s bad down here, but it’s worse up there!

Hank Anderson

This thing’s a powder keg!

Hank Anderson