Time travelling with a gun slinging Klaus Kinski and western memorabilia nut William Devane? I won't have it any other way. "Timestalkers" is a playfully modest little made-for-TV production that's full of warmth and covers an interestingly ambitious concept.
The story follows Professor Scott McKenzie (William Devane), an old western memorabilia collector discovers in a photograph from 1866 a 20th century .357 Magnum revolver in the hands of a cowboy (Klaus Kinski). Scott soon starts questioning the possibility of time-travel and writes a paper on it. Then strangely a lady appears who claims that she believes him and he soon discovers that she's a time-traveller too. She wants him help her find out why this time-traveller has gone back to the old-west and eventually stop him from changing the face of history.
Early on the plot moves back and forth between the past and present. Some of the items that Devane's character looks at or purchases at an auction have a history that involves the magnum-toting gunman. Some foreseeable plot-holes creep in, but it's inventively told and works well with its collective gimmicks. The chintzy special effects create some charm, and so does the cheesy igniting sparks cutaways. The uncanny music is whimsically scored. There's a nice sense of humour in the script. Devane gives a winning performance and Kinski's glazed turn offers that venomously cold tinge. Lauren Hutton is fetchingly palatable. John Ratzenburger and Forest Tucker pop in with fun support parts. It looks cheap, but it's actually better than its limitations allow it to be. A smart, enjoyably harmless sci-fi yarn.
