"Running Against Time" is an enjoyable film that I happened to stumble upon early one morning. Time travel films have always fascinated me starting with "The Time Machine" with Rod Taylor, which won an Oscar for special effects way back in the '60s.
This film doesn't pussyfoot around with 20 minutes of build-up, they get straight to the meat of the plot relatively fast. You have a physics professor, Dr. Koopman (Sam Wanamaker) who is working on the time travel concept, secretly, with obviously, some success. His "clandestine" experiments are accidentally discovered by another professor (history), David (Robert Hays) who volunteers his help with the research. You see, he lost his big brother in the Viet Nam war and he'd like to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, thus saving his brother's life.
David's girlfriend (Catherine Hicks) is a TV reporter who is trying to get an interview with Dr. Koopman and is drawn into the overall intrigue.
Koopman, is outraged about the revelation of his work, but does not want the research made public. He's almost "blackmailed" into allowing David and his girlfriend to participate in his work.
He sends David back in time (1963) to stop the President's murder by Lee Harvey Oswald. What they did consider, but ignored, was that David's going back would effect his own presence on our planet in 1963: two life forces in one space.
Can you really go back and change history? It's fascinating to think that everything that has ever happened is still happening IN TIME. Just think, "Gone With the Wind" is still, and will forever be, in production in 1938! With time travel, we could go back and watch the filming of the burning of Atlanta, or any event in history. Going back, you could even see your own mother playing in the backyard in 1925.
When David gets back to 1963 at the book storehouse, Oswald is loading his rifle, but our time traveler is unable to stop the killing. Instead, he shoots Oswald and the police arrive with Oswald claiming that David was the shooter. The plot gets interesting at this point with Hicks having to travel back EARLIER than David to help him out of the jam.
When Hick's "travel plans" don't work out (upon arriving, she's hit by a car and taken to the hospital), Dr. Koopman decides to go back to rescue them. While back at his old house in 1963, Koopman decides to visit President Lyndon Johnson to convince him to get out of Viet Nam before it's too late. He warns him of what will happen if the war is esculated. Johnson is shocked by what he hears and SEES in a filmed documentary from THE FUTURE in which he sees himself deciding not to run for a second term.
I won't tell everything, but it gets exciting and also very sad, especially when Hays sees his older brother, aged 16, at a hospital where he (Hays) is dying of an unknown ailment (remember, two life forces sharing the same time in space?)
Tears well up in my eyes every time I see this film. I thought that the performances were wonderful and I wouldn't want to see any other actors playing these roles, this casting was perfect.
I wouldn't mind having this on DVD, even though the VHS copy I have is just fine.
This film doesn't pussyfoot around with 20 minutes of build-up, they get straight to the meat of the plot relatively fast. You have a physics professor, Dr. Koopman (Sam Wanamaker) who is working on the time travel concept, secretly, with obviously, some success. His "clandestine" experiments are accidentally discovered by another professor (history), David (Robert Hays) who volunteers his help with the research. You see, he lost his big brother in the Viet Nam war and he'd like to go back and prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, thus saving his brother's life.
David's girlfriend (Catherine Hicks) is a TV reporter who is trying to get an interview with Dr. Koopman and is drawn into the overall intrigue.
Koopman, is outraged about the revelation of his work, but does not want the research made public. He's almost "blackmailed" into allowing David and his girlfriend to participate in his work.
He sends David back in time (1963) to stop the President's murder by Lee Harvey Oswald. What they did consider, but ignored, was that David's going back would effect his own presence on our planet in 1963: two life forces in one space.
Can you really go back and change history? It's fascinating to think that everything that has ever happened is still happening IN TIME. Just think, "Gone With the Wind" is still, and will forever be, in production in 1938! With time travel, we could go back and watch the filming of the burning of Atlanta, or any event in history. Going back, you could even see your own mother playing in the backyard in 1925.
When David gets back to 1963 at the book storehouse, Oswald is loading his rifle, but our time traveler is unable to stop the killing. Instead, he shoots Oswald and the police arrive with Oswald claiming that David was the shooter. The plot gets interesting at this point with Hicks having to travel back EARLIER than David to help him out of the jam.
When Hick's "travel plans" don't work out (upon arriving, she's hit by a car and taken to the hospital), Dr. Koopman decides to go back to rescue them. While back at his old house in 1963, Koopman decides to visit President Lyndon Johnson to convince him to get out of Viet Nam before it's too late. He warns him of what will happen if the war is esculated. Johnson is shocked by what he hears and SEES in a filmed documentary from THE FUTURE in which he sees himself deciding not to run for a second term.
I won't tell everything, but it gets exciting and also very sad, especially when Hays sees his older brother, aged 16, at a hospital where he (Hays) is dying of an unknown ailment (remember, two life forces sharing the same time in space?)
Tears well up in my eyes every time I see this film. I thought that the performances were wonderful and I wouldn't want to see any other actors playing these roles, this casting was perfect.
I wouldn't mind having this on DVD, even though the VHS copy I have is just fine.