WHEN TIME RAN OUT... (1980)

Note to self: never build a resort hotel next to a volcano.

Holden and Newman are back together again, baby!!!  Hell yeah.  This time, instead of fighting a towering inferno, they're fighting, well, actually they're just running like hell from a pissed off volcano.  And that's about it.  The End.

WHEN TIME RAN OUT... is alright.  I don't like the three dots at the end of the title, but the location photography in Hawaii is beautiful and the build-up stuff is fun.  William Holden is a rich dude and very busy, so when his hotel manager guy, James Franciscus, tells him everything is okay, he believes him.  So what if the volcano right next door to the hotel is smoking and lava's bubbling like it's a fucking witches cauldron.  That's nature, baby!

And the volcano ain't the only thing blowing it's load around here...Holden proposes to his secretary (Jacqueline Bisset), but she's secretly seeing local oil man (Paul Newman); Franciscus is cheating on his wife (Holden's goddaughter) with a hotel employee who happens to be engaged to another employee who is secretly Franciscus' illegitimate half-brother!!!  What the hell?  That's a lot to take in.  It's awesome and so pointless!  I love it.

Poor looking special effects, medium pace that actually gets slower as the film goes on, random tidal wave, Jacqueline Bisset in a low cut t-shirt, people crowding a helicopter like it's a zombie movie, zero nudity, a glass-bottomed elevator thing that actually lowers people down into the volcano(!!!), lava bombs, silly story.  Honestly, the best thing about WHEN TIME RAN OUT... is the cast.  The movie's not very good (it kinda feels like an old made-for-TV movie), but it's fun watching all of these big names running around.  (Red Buttons' speed walk is goddamn hilarious!)  I have no regrets about watching it and will most likely watch it again occasionally...at least the first two acts.  The third kinda stunk. 

Rumor has it WHEN TIME RAN OUT... had a budget of $20 million and brought in less than $4 million at the box office.  Ouch.

Post-review thoughts: I have absolutely nothing to back this up, but while watching the film, I kept thinking to myself that the character of Mona seemed like it would be perfect for Shelley Winters.  The actress even seemed to act a little bit like Shelley, at least to me.  It wasn't until later that I discovered the actress, Sheila Allen, was actually producer Irwin Allen's wife.

BULLITT (1968)

San Francisco police lieutenant Steve McQueen is brought in to protect (for 40 hours) a key witness for a upcoming Senate Subcommittee hearing on organized crime.  The witness is holed up in a cheap hotel, so McQueen goes over there and does some of the worst witness protecting in movie history.  The witness is killed and then McQueen decides to get serious.  Any by "serious" I mean: doing average movie detective investigative work, buying a lot of disgusting looking TV dinners, stealing a newspaper, causing a shoot-out in a crowded airport terminal and going on a highly dangerous car chase without using any sirens/lights or calling for back-up.

I'm sure back in 1968 BULLITT was fresh and exciting (it was the 5th highest box office draw that year), but I'm also sure that in 1968, 1968 porno was exciting.  But ain't nobody watching that shit nowadays!  That said, BULLITT is not a bad film.  I enjoyed it alright and can see how it was influential on countless other police movies, but it's just too slow for me.  Also, the entire story was moved forward by McQueen's bad decisions.  Nice editing, great-looking San Francisco scenery, laid-back acting, a hip jazz score, ancient technology (including some bizarre and extremely unsafe looking coffee heating device), cool old muscle cars, very minor roles by Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Duvall.

Worth watching for the historical importance, but if you're looking for an exciting action movie that'll knock your socks off, this ain't it.