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Time After Time
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Time After Time (1979) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
7.2/10   4,572 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 13% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Nicholas Meyer
Writers:
Karl Alexander (novel) &
Steve Hayes (story) ...
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Contact:
View company contact information for Time After Time on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
31 August 1979 (USA) more
Tagline:
H.G. Wells Races Through Time To Catch Jack The Ripper! more
Plot:
H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
5 wins & 7 nominations more
User Comments:
Cracking Sci-fi/thriller. more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Malcolm McDowell ... H. G. Wells
David Warner ... Jack the Ripper - John Leslie Stevenson

Mary Steenburgen ... Amy Robbins
Charles Cioffi ... Police Lt. Mitchell
Kent Williams ... Assistant
Andonia Katsaros ... Mrs. Turner

Patti D'Arbanville ... Shirley
James Garrett ... Edwards

Leo Lewis ... Richardson
Keith McConnell ... Harding
Byron Webster ... McKay

Karin de la Penha ... Jenny (as Karin Mary Shea)
Geraldine Baron ... Carol
Laurie Main ... Inspector Gregson
Joseph Maher ... Adams
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Additional Details

Runtime:
112 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Metrocolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Dolby

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Both stars, Malcolm McDowell and David Warner, played the Wing Commander character Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn: Malcolm McDowell in Wing Commander III: Heart of the Tiger (1994) (VG) and Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom (1996) (VG), and David Warner in Wing Commander (1999). more
Goofs:
Factual errors: Jack the Ripper's last murder victim was indoors (Mary Kelly - November 1888), not outdoors in an alleyway as the film shows. more
Quotes:
[as Wells and Amy are kissing on Amy's couch, she begins to remove pieces of his clothing - first taking off his glasses, then unfastening his collar]
H.G. Wells: Amy, I don't want to compromise you. Are you quite certain I'm not forcing you to...
Amy Robbins: Forcing me? My God, Herbert, I'm practically raping you.
H.G. Wells: [smiles] Yeah, that's true.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch: Time After Time (#6.15)" (2002) more

FAQ

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9 out of 9 people found the following comment useful:-
Cracking Sci-fi/thriller., 23 August 2004

I came across this film as I was browsing through some videos that I hadn't looked at in years. It did stick in my mind as being pretty good and on viewing it this time around I can say that my initial impressions were correct. McDowell is very believable as Wells, as is David Warner in his role. I found Mary Steenburgen slightly weak as Amy Robbins and at times she seems almost disinterested and just going through the motions. I think someone like Brook Adams or Karen Allen would have been much more suited to this role, but the rest of the plot and cast are so good this is incidental.

Someone mentioned this didn't do very well at the box office, which surprises me as science based fiction was all the rage at the time this film was released (1979). I can only imagine it was dwarfed by sci-fi giants such as Star Trek and Star Wars who were releasing films around this time, and it was subsequently overlooked.

The plot is fairly seamless as the brilliant but naive Wells creates his time machine only for it to be misused by the equally brilliant, but evil, Stephenson. Everything about it is well thought out, with the exception that why does he (Wells) get himself into such a panic about Stephenson's presence in late 20th century San Francisco, when Wells has the machine (and the key to it)to go back before Stephenson left and prevent him going in the first place! I don't pretend to be an expert on timelines(and alternative timelines)but if time is fluid (as is thought) and flows backward and forward, then by going back and preventing something from happening will obviously alter or stop it's progression into the future, no! But of course that would have undermined the films whole premise.

It's also quaint and naive to hear Wells speak of a socialist utopia, without realising that the socialist society, as with any other form of Government, can just as easily become corrupted and distorted from it's original ideal so it produces a monster like Stalin. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. In fact, Wells visited Russia after the Bolshevik revolution and met with it's then leaders (Lenin and Trotsky). I'm not sure how he felt about the revolution, but he did die a disillusioned man having lived through the 1st and 2nd World Wars.

All in all though this is a very good sci-fi adventure,and it is thoroughly recommended.

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Discuss this movie with other users on IMDb message board for Time After Time (1979)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Sloppiness. colbiau
Does anyone else think . . . Retro_81
I love this film! chokolat_kake
McDowell's performance Isleden-1
Was this a made-for-television movie? ghtx
Linguistic Nitpick John_Leslie_Stephenson
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