History Film / WhenTimeRanOut

'''''When Time Ran Out...''''' is a disaster film notable for marking the end of Irwin Allen's theatrical career (though he only produced the film; it was directed by James Goldstone), and arguably marking the end of the golden era for 70's disaster movies. The film stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Edward Albert, Red Buttons, Barbara Carrera, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Alex Karras, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita, Creator/ErnestBorgnine, [[AndStarring and James Franciscus as Bob Spangler]].

'''''When Time Ran Out...''''' is a disaster film notable for marking the end of Iriwn Allen's theatrical career (though he only produced the film; it was directed by James Goldstone), and arguably marking the end of the golden era for 70's disaster movies. The film stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Edward Albert, Red Buttons, Barbara Carrera, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Alex Karras, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita, Creator/ErnestBorgnine, [[AndStarring and James Franciscus as Bob Spangler]].

"When Time Ran Out..." is a disaster film notable for marking the end of Iriwn Allen's theatrical career (though he only produced the film; it was directed by James Goldstone), and arguably marking the end of the golden era for 70's disaster movies. The film stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Edward Albert, Red Buttons, Barbara Carrera, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Alex Karras, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita, Creator/ErnestBorgnine, [[AndStarring and James Franciscus as Bob Spangler]].

Mildly based on the novel, ''The Day the World Ended'', the film can essentially be described as DantesPeak meets a soap opera, and, in the established Irwin Allen formula, follows a group of famous celebrities as they try to escape a catastrophe of some kind (in this case, an erupting volcano), while working out an incredibly complex web of emotional infidelity, leaving behind those who didn't listen to their warnings of imminent disaster, and having an old person with a special talent that will save the day. Oh yeah, and there's also a [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking guy attempting to win cockfights with his prized rooster]].

* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Bob Spangler.

* CloudCuckoolander: Tiny Baker.

* TheDitz: Tiny probably counts. The man is oblivious to everything going on around him that doesn't involve cockfighting.

* HellHotel: [[spoiler:Subverted when the hotel is lit at the end of the movie by fireballs spewing out of the volcano.]]

* IrwinAllen

* OhCrap: Plainly seen on the faces of many characters.

"When Time Ran Out..." is a disaster film notable for marking the end of Iriwn Allen's theatrical career (though he only produced the film; it was directed by James Goldstone), and arguably marking the end of the golden era for 70's disaster movies. The film stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Edward Albert, Red Buttons, Barbara Carrera, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Alex Karras, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita, ErnestBorgnine, [[AndStarring and James Franciscus as Bob Spangler]].

Despite the considerable talents at work, and a 20 million dollar budget, the movie was an infamous BoxOfficeBomb, making less then 4 million dollars, and was Allen's least successful film. Among it's many problems are a cluttered plot, [[SpecialEffectsFailure bad special effects]] (most of the film's budget was reportedly spent on location shooting in Hawaii), and the infamous bridge sequence, which consists of characters slowly crossing a bridge for almost ''twenty minutes''. The film also suffered [[TroubledProduction setbacks during production]], including numerous weather delays, and a cast who didn't really want to be in it (most of them realized the film was going to be a bomb early on). Paul Newman revealed in an interview that this was the one film he regretted doing during his career, and it was also the only one [[MoneyDearBoy he ever did just for the paycheck]].

------------------

Despite the considerable talents at work, and a 20 million dollar budget, the film was an infamous BoxOfficeBomb, making less then 4 million dollars at the box office, and was Allen's least successful film. Among it's many problems are a cluttered plot, [[SpecialEffectsFailure bad special effects]] (most of the film's budget was reportedly spent on location shooting in Hawaii), and the infamous bridge sequence, which consists of characters slowly crossing a bridge for almost ''twenty minutes''. The film also suffered [[TroubledProduction setbacks during production]], including numerous weather delays, and a cast who didn't really want to be in it (most of them realized the film was going to be a bomb very early in the production). Paul Newman revealed in an interview that this was the one film he regretted doing during his career, and it was also the only one [[MoneyDearBoy he ever did just for the paycheck]].

* {{Padding}}: The infamous bridge sequence, which has been called the worst sequence in a disaster movie ever. Why? It consists of people very slowly crossing a bridge ''for over twenty minutes''. Granted, there's lots of lava explosions, wood falling down, and [[spoiler: Pat Morita's hilarious death]], but it's still twenty minutes of people crossing a bridge.

"When Time Ran Out..." is a disaster film notable for marking the end of Iriwn Allen's theatrical career (though he only produced the film; it was directed by James Goldwin), and arguably marking the end of the golden era for 70's disaster movies. The film stars Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, Edward Albert, Red Buttons, Barbara Carrera, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Alex Karras, Burgess Meredith, Pat Morita, ErnestBorgnine, [[AndStarring and James Franciscus as Bob Spangler]].

"When Time Ran Out..." is a disaster film notable for marking the end of Iriwn Allen's theatrical career (though he only produced the film; it was directed by James Goldwin), and arguably marking the end of the golden era for 70's disaster movies.

* Padding: The infamous bridge sequence, which has been called the worst sequence in a disaster movie ever. Why? It consists of people very slowly crossing a bridge ''for over twenty minutes''. Granted, there's lots of lava explosions, wood falling down, and [[spoiler: Pat Morita's hilarious death]], but it's still twenty minutes of people crossing a bridge.

''When Time Ran Out...'' provides examples of the following tropes:

* AsianGalWithWhiteGuy: Averted with Sam and Mona; Sam is the Asian Guy and Mona is the White Gal.

** How about the idiots who disobey Hank, hijack a helicopter (the only means of escaping the island), and crash it headfirst into the side of a cliff?

* AndStarring: ... and Ernest Borgnine... and James Franciscus as 'Bob Spangler.'

* ChekhovsVolcano: THE VOLCANO, of course.

* FakeNationality: Edward Albert, whose father, Eddie Albert, was American, and whose mother was Mexican. Here he is caked under so much makeup to make him resemble a Pacific Islander.
** Also poor Barbara Carrera, who is actually from Nicaragua, but was often miscast as Pacific Islanders as well.

* OhCrap: Many reactions of the characters.

* HeyIt'sThatGuy: Bound to come up a lot, since the cast features the likes of character faces Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Pat Morita, and Burgess Meredith.
* LoveTriangle: [[spoiler:Spangler, Brian, and Iolani.]]

* AssholeVictim: Spangler. The people who choose to stay behind at the hotel count as this.
* BittersweetEnding: Nearly the entire community and population of an island have been wiped out by a mildly active volcano... but at least there are SOME survivors.

* DontLookDown: Crossing the gorge and the bridge. Also when a hole is torn through the bottom of the glass-floor elevator as it is being lowered inside the volcano.
* DoomedContrarian: Bob Spangler, and the hotel patrons who refuse to go along with Hank and Kay. Spangler was pretty much dead meat from the beginning, when he refuses to believe that the volcano could possibly become active again.

* DroppedABridgeOnHim: Sam, quite literally, during the infamous bridge crossing scene.

* LoveTriangle: Spangler, Brian, and Iolani.

* PoliceAreUseless: Tom Conti, at least after he is blinded.
* RopeBridge: The climax of the film involves the survivors crossing a wooden plank bridge over a pit of occasionally exploding molten lava.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Thief Francis Fendly (Buttons) and Detective Tom Conti (Borgnine). Made even funnier due to the fact that the two played similar characters in ThePoseidonAdventure.
* TooDumbToLive: Tiny Baker actually chases after his chicken in the streets of the frantic town, as a giant tidal wave washes in over them.

* ClimacticVolcanoBackdrop.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Fendly and Conti. The two start out as enemies because Conti has been trailing the elusive thief Fendly for quite some time, although Fendly becomes Conti's personal guide when he is blinded during the several explosions at the hotel.
* TooDumbToLive: Tiny Baker actually chases after his chicken in the streets of the frantic town, as a giant tidal wave washes in over them.