One of my favorite films of the seventies, 1979's TIME AFTER TIME is a smart, funny and clever thriller that mixes history, time-travel and great storytelling.
The film opens in 1893, where novelist H G Wells (Malcolm McDowell) shares with his close friends that he thinks he has penetrated the mystery of time travel while writing his real life novel "The Time Machine".
When one of his closest friends, Dr. John Stevenson is cornered and discovered to be Jack the Ripper, Stevenson escapes in the time machine to San Francisco in 1979.
Wells realizes that he too must follow and stop him from destroying what he is sure is the perfect utopia of the late twentieth century.
David Warner (Tron, The Omen) is terrific as Stevenson, creating an intelligent and twisted adversary to balance Wells' naive and hopeful assertions of the goodness of man.
In modern day San Francisco (okay, 1979 modern day) Wells is shocked by what he finds, with the film deftly weaving in plenty of comedy around Wells expectations.
Mary Steenburgen is terrific as a bank teller who helps Wells and finds herself falling for him.
Stevenson finds his Ripper much more suited to the new era and begins a gruesome killing spree across the bay.
Writer/Director Nicholas Meyer deftly creates intelligent dialogue, a tense chase thriller and plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing.
Meyer was signed to write and direct "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" based on this well regarded, hit film.
Composer Miklos Rosza accompanies the whole film with swashbuckling, old fashioned music that nicely compliments every scene.
McDowell is perfect here, creating a terrific hero you will root for across the centuries.
This is a fun, exciting movie that delivers Time after Time, gets an A+ and a spot in my all-time Top 100 favorite films.
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