Running Against Time

The plot of this 1990 made for TV offering seems to have been the inspiration for Stephen King's "11-22-63" novel. King expands on the possibility of what happens IF you actually succeed in such an alteration of history. That novel aside, this flick is very enjoyable and gripping. I wish it were available on DVD or BluRay. I'm hoping it will be before my VHS copy wears out.

***** SPOILER ALERT ******* This made for TV movie, while modestly produced, was well executed. Robert Hays suffers over the death of his brother in Viet Nam. He meets up with Sam Wanamaker, the inventor of a time machine. (I guess you have to suspend your disbelief over time travel, but then again over a professor in the basement of a university science building concocting a working time machine.) Hays goes back to 1963 to stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating JFK. I suppose this is based on the Oliver Stone premise that Kennedy would not have escalated the war in Viet Nam. A very debatable point. It is a good dramatic point;however, just as good the one used in the Time Tunnel Titanic episode. If only a few things had changed to prevent each tragedy. Gene Roddenberry had unsuccessfully tried to advance such an idea for the Star Trek movie series. He envisioned the Enterprise going back to 1963 as well. After several unsuccessful trips back to 1963, Hayes finds that history unfolded correctly in the first place. Except he managed to change just enough to save his brother's life.

It comes as no surprise to me this film was never big (25 votes) or a success, as it was good and written not with the intention of winning Oscars but of entertaining.

Almost from outset, it odes what any good film does & has the viewers mind wandering, you never know exactly where it is going, and you're hooked with interest. You even feel like you're in the film & start applying the concept to yourself.

Robert Hays is surprisingly very good, and it's a good family movie, not too far at all behind standard of Back to the Future and certainly alongisde any other good time travel movies ie Deja-Vu, The Final Countdown.

TV companies should show this more. You can't help thinking if only DeNiro, Pacino or Spacey had the lead, or a few exploding cars or some unnecessary violence cropped up, it would've had twice the acclaim.

It also gives some good insights into the Kennedy assassination, which I found fascinating.

But if you watch it in a light hearted manner, don't take it to seriously or be too critical, then it's great & explores one or two ideas.

Grab your popcorn and enjoy this for what it is: a nice Made-For-TV movie.

Time-Travel has always amazed me. And I'm somewhat a student of the JFK assassination.

Wonderful cast. Nice photography, considering the very limited budget with which the producers had to work with.

And I've not seen it mentioned, but Smooley, the dog, is a wonderful actor!!! And where on Earth did they come up with the name "Smooley"???

Solid 10 for me!

Time travel movies always assume that if we could travel in time, we could make the future better. Is that necessarily true? In this film, a history teacher travels back to Dallas in 1963, with full knowledge of Lee Harvey Oswald's whereabouts and intent. If he can stop the murder of JFK, he believes, he can prevent the war in Vietnam