I respectfully disagree with the idea that Durning's character should have caused the accident, and for a good reason. "No Time Like the Past," an hour-long episode of "The Twilight Zone" from the 1960s, covered that territory first.
In that classic 1963 episode, written by the great Rod Serling, Dana Andrews played a scientist who goes back in time to try and prevent some of history's great tragedies. He fails to persuade Japanese officials to evacuate Hiroshima just before the first atomic bomb is dropped. He also strikes out in attempts to assassinate Hitler and foil the sinking of the Lusitania.
Weary of the state of the world in the Cold War era, the scientist decides to travel back in time once more so that he can quietly live the rest of his life in a small Indiana town in 1881. He remembers that the town was the site of a tragic school fire in which many children were killed and injured. But in his noble attempt to prevent the tragedy, he actually winds up causing it!
As a result, I find the "Amazing Stories" episode to be quite satisfying, though chilling!
In that classic 1963 episode, written by the great Rod Serling, Dana Andrews played a scientist who goes back in time to try and prevent some of history's great tragedies. He fails to persuade Japanese officials to evacuate Hiroshima just before the first atomic bomb is dropped. He also strikes out in attempts to assassinate Hitler and foil the sinking of the Lusitania.
Weary of the state of the world in the Cold War era, the scientist decides to travel back in time once more so that he can quietly live the rest of his life in a small Indiana town in 1881. He remembers that the town was the site of a tragic school fire in which many children were killed and injured. But in his noble attempt to prevent the tragedy, he actually winds up causing it!
As a result, I find the "Amazing Stories" episode to be quite satisfying, though chilling!