Customer Reviews

When Time Ran Out... (clamshell)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Very dissapointed in this release. Letterboxed presentation looks great but all previous VHS versions clocked in at 141 mins. The DVD is only 109 mins. A cars flying off a cliff, Alex Karras chasing around a rooster during an earthquake, more fireballs hitting near the hotel, and countless other scenes that made this disaster movie a extra campy disaster film are gone. What give Warner Home Video???

Sorry folks - This is not the 121 min. nor is it the 141 min. version
Warners has seen fit to release this in a 109 min. version - for what reason I do not know. SO Beware if yoy are looking for the most complete version

Not one of Irwin Allen's best, but overall a fun time with a huge all-star cast trying to escape peril from an erupting volcano. Good to see it arrive on DVD at last, but the mystery is why Warner Home Video isn't releasing the expanded 2 1/2 hour version they previously released on VHS, and which was shown on network television. They used the expanded version of The Swarm both on DVD and the older laserdisc releases (which actually made that one a much better movie), so since they're doing this release as part of a Paul newman tribute series, why the shortchanging for this movie when they obviously have the longer version in their archives?

In spite of the panning from the critics, this is a disaster movie I still enjoy to this day. The story is of a volcano threatening a tropical island where a new hotel is being opened . . . not a new idea, but the source of the disaster and all the mayhem that unfolds is a good forerunner to superior movies such as VOLCANO and DANTE'S PEAK. There are good guys and there are bad guys, and there are old faces like Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons(THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE), Paul Newman(TOWERING INFERNO) and HILL STREET BLUES's Veronica Hamel(remember her?) starring, to name but a few. The action and special effects may appear a bit cheesy in places, but this film sure delivers two hours or so of good entertainment.

I was happy that When Time Ran Out was put on DVD. I made a copy of it a thousand years ago when it came on TV, but I wanted to purchase a copy. The VHS version cost a lot of money and it is a used copy that I could purchase through Amazon. So when the DVD came out I purchased it. In viewing it, there were scenes that I recalled but did not see. In checking with Amazon, I discovered that the VHS has 142 minutes and the DVD has only 121 minutes. This was the part I was disappointed about not the movie itself. I still love the movie. I wish they recopy it and put back the scenes that were original on the VHS and TV version.

Well, after waiting patiently for 20+ years for a widescreen version, we finally get it on DVD, but that is rendered moot, because it is a BUTCHERED 109 minute version.

OVER 30 minutes of footage GONE!!

Another greedy attempt to get us to part with our hard-earned cash for an incomplete and inferior version. I'm glad I have the complete 143-minute VHS version. Even panned-and-scanned, it's far superior to this DVD release!

Can we hope that we'll someday get the proper version of the last of Irwin Allen's "Disaster" cycle? I'm Hopeful, but thinking we may have to wait another 20 years!!

SPOILERS.

This movie's a bomb. Get the shortest version possible as (I suspect) it's all the same in the end. It's hard to beleive Paul Newman agreed to play in this dog. A volcano erupts. The greedy hotel owner won't acknowlege the danger. In a showdown mid-movie Newman suggests taking the hotel guests to the other side of the island where he beleives it will be safe. The greedy hotel owner insists his hotel is the safest place to be, but Newman thinks the lava is going to come and make a Pompeii out of them. So Newman and a dozen guests make their way out to the safe area but since the road has fallen out in one place they have to go it on foot. They spend about a half an hour of the movie crossing this dilapidated bridge with a river of lava beneath it where a number of people fall to their death - not a first for those hanging out with Newman. Finally they make it across and reach safety but we never even find out how the people at the hotel fared!

If they didn't get killed by the volcano, I'm sure there'd be some people in Newman's group that would sue him for killing so many of them on his crazy journey when they could have just hung back at the hotel and enjoyed the fireworks show instead. That would have been a more interesting movie - could have been a prequel to "The Verdict". But we never do find out what happened to the others at the hotel. Say what!!! If so many people are going to be killed following Newman, shouldn't he (and we the audience) at least be vindicated by seeing the hotel demolished - so we can have the smug satisfaction of knowing Newman was right all along? I feel ripped off. While it starts off acceptably in typical 'disaster type' movie fashion, it goes on way too long with the limited material they were working with and it's got all the pizazz finally of a Love Boat episode - though I'd have prefered a Love Boat episode. I'm sorry but this is the stupidest movie I've seen in a long time.

The VHS Clamshell Version is the only version that gives you the complete 144 minute version.this video tape came out in 1986 so ask questions to the various sellers as to its playability.mine works perfect.and my seller did go the extra step to actually play the whole movie before selling it to me.the newest DVD version is only 109 minutes long!a major cut of footage.the only improvement on the DVD is that its widescreen,but with that much time cut from the movie,is it really worth it?you decide.To find the clamshell version you have to type into the amazon search window [From amazon home page]the words [when time ran out].then you will get a list of all the versions of this movie.choose the clamshell version.there is atleast 7 or 8 copies still available as of 8-13-2010.ask questions!the vhs is now 24 years old.properly stored,a vhs can last for decades.i have some vhs tapes dating to the late 1970s that still work as good as they ever did.using an older vcr from the late 1980s is also your best bet.the older vcrs were made with quality in mind.just feel the difference in weight alone between a 1980s vcr and one from 2006.the 2006 is mostly empty inside the casing.just enough components to push the tape along for maybe a year and then it dies.the vcrs from the 80s and 90s weigh 3 times as much and were full of components with every space filled inside the casing.i don't however recommend vcrs from the early 80s,those 1st decks were rather difficult to program if my memory serves me well.they got great after 1987 or so.good luck and dont always rule out vhs,sometimes it the only way to get your classic movie in uncut form,such as this one.this version has the whole movie including the extra footage from the television event back in the good old days.

This VHS Version is the only version that gives you the complete 144 minute version.this video tape came out in 1986 so ask questions to the various sellers as to its playability.mine works perfect.and my seller did go the extra step to actually play the whole movie before selling it to me.the newest DVD version is only 109 minutes long!a major cut of footage.the only improvement on the DVD is that its widescreen,but with that much time cut from the movie,is it really worth it?you decide.

Hollywood's decade-long obsession with the disaster epic was clearly in its death throes come 1980. "When Time Ran Out" is just another in a long line of predictable, formulaic disaster films. Of course, this one is different from the rest because the menace this time is an island volcano and it has Paul Newman(!). Even though the disaster film was getting tiresome and frequent parts of this movie of tedious to watch, it still warrants a barely-positive review because the scenes involving the pre-eruption of the volcano, its eruption, and escape on a rickety, old bridge across a river of lava are quite gripping and well done. Beyond that, however, the movie is a turkey. It comes with all the stock characters: the scientists who predict the volcanoes eruption, the macho man who tries to warn and save everyone (Newman's character), the arrogant business man who refuses to evacuate his hotel even when the volcano erupts, and the obligatory scorned wife and younger 'other' woman. Still, "When Time Ran Out" amuses and it can be occasionally seen as a UPN Saturday movie. So, if you have nothing terribly important to do, there are worse ways to kill two hours than watching this movie.