When Time Ran Out...

1980
PG
2h 1m

IMDb RATING

4.6/10

3.3K

YOUR RATING

William Holden, Paul Newman, and Jacqueline Bisset in When Time Ran Out... (1980)

Play trailer1:15

1 Video

81 Photos

Action Adventure Drama Thriller

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.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.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.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

4.6/10

3.3K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 2 nominations total

Videos1

Trailer 1:15

Official Expanded VHS Trailer

Photos81

+ 75

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Storyline

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Trivia
Toward the end of his life, Paul Newman confessed in interviews that this was the only film that he ever made entirely for the money. He called it "that volcano movie" and said that he and most of the cast knew right away it would be a flop from day one. Many people believe that part of his salary from this film was used as seed money for a salad dressing business he was setting up with A.E. Hotchner, with 100% of the profits, after taxes, going to educational and charitable organizations. As of 2022 Newman's Own, the company that Newman established in 1982, has raised over $550 million for charities all over the world, and continues to grow and prosper.

Goofs
An oil rig drilling into the side of a volcano triggers the eruption. Oil fields are not found on or near active volcanoes; there is not enough time between eruptions for any petroleum products to form or be deposited.

Quotes
Kay Kirby: I don't need the wine, you get me drunk!

Alternate versions
There are at least three versions of this film, the original 121 minutes vesion, a cut 104 minutes one, and a 141 minutes expanded video home version

Connections
Edited into La classe américaine (1993)

User reviews80

Review

Featured review

4/10

Terrible, a must-see

Paul Newman only bothered to be in "When Time Ran Out..." (ominous points make any title better) because he needed funding for a salad dressing company, so you can imagine how riveting his performance is. He reacts to the mayhem of a volcano eruption with the shocked grimace of someone who could really go for a salad just about now. In fact, every name actor in this movie completely phones it in. Most of them were there against their will because they signed a wonky deal with producer Irwin Allen, but come on, you still have to do your job. Burgess Meredith is the only one that really tries, so he deservedly gets to play a pivotal part in the movie's (ridiculous) climax. After they got all the stars on board there clearly wasn't any money left for the special effects, so the volcano action is mostly left to your imagination, bits of stock footage and one of those stupid background photos they used before stupid CGI was commonplace. Thankfully, all of this is put together so incompetently that you just can't help but laugh and have a good time. "When Time Ran Out..." starts of a little bit too slow to be a full-blown "so bad it's good"-movie (almost nothing happens in the first hour), but once the volcano erupts you get an absolute feast of terrible dialogue, mom&pop store explosions, forced suspense and marvellous genre clichés. Sorry Paul Newman, I'm going to have to recommend this.