Time After Time (1979)

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.

Director:

Nicholas Meyer

Writers:

Karl Alexander (story), Steve Hayes (story)

Stars:

Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, David Warner

7 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Malcolm McDowell	...	H.G. Wells
David Warner	...	Stevenson
Mary Steenburgen	...	Amy Robbins
Charles Cioffi	...	Lt. Mitchell
Kent Williams	...	Assistant
Andonia Katsaros	...	Mrs. Turner
Patti D'Arbanville	...	Shirley
James Garrett	...	Edwards
Keith McConnell	...	Harding
Leo Lewis	...	Richardson
Byron Webster	...	McKay
Karin Collison	...	Jenny (as Karin Mary Shea)
Geraldine Baron	...	Carol
Laurie Main	...	Inspector Gregson
Joseph Maher	...	Adams

Storyline

It's 1893 London. Futurist H.G. Wells believes that the future holds a Utopian society. He also believes in time travel. He has just built a time machine which he is displaying to a group of skeptical friends, including surgeon Dr. John Leslie Stevenson. Unbeknown to Wells or anyone else among that circle, Stevenson is better known to the public as Jack the Ripper. Just as the police are about to capture Stevenson, he uses the time machine to escape, with Wells being the only one who knows what happened to him. Not telling anyone except his trusting housekeeper, Wells follows Stevenson in order to capture and bring him back to face justice. Where Stevenson has gone is 1979 San Francisco. There, Wells is dismayed to find that the future is not Utopia as he had predicted. But Wells is also picked up by a young woman named Amy Robbins. As Wells and Amy search for Stevenson, Stevenson conversely is after Wells to obtain the master key to the time machine. As Stevenson continues his ...

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Plot Keywords:

time machine | jack the ripper | h.g. wells | time travel | bank | 

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Taglines:

The Wildest Chase of the Century!

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 September 1979 (USA)

Also Known As:

Escape al futuro

Filming Locations:

Trocadero Transfer, 520 Fourth Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Orion Pictures,Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In this film, Mary Steenburgen played Amy Robbins, a 20th Century woman who falls in love with a time traveler from the 19th century. In Back to the Future Part III (1990), she played Clara Clayton, a 19th Century woman who falls in love with a time traveler from the 20th century.

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Goofs

Amy invites her friend to meet Wells for dinner at her place on a Friday. However, when Wells and Amy fly ahead in the time machine in order to stop Amy's death, the day they advance to is a Saturday. When Jack appears at Amy's apartment and kills the friend, it's a Saturday, not a Friday. Amy even says to Wells her friend arrived for dinner at her place.

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Quotes

H.G. Wells: I have all those books to write, whatever they are. Fiction, I hope!

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Connections

Referenced in Tales from the Future: Third Time's the Charm (2010)

User Reviews

Always A Fun Ride

This has always been an interesting movie to watch because of the unique storyline: two famous characters in history traveling ahead in time and the opposing each other in the modern world.

Time travel stories appeal to me, anyway, so it's no surprise I found it fascinating. Regardless, there is such a good combination of drama, suspense, comedy, action and romance that it would appeal to most anyone.

Malcolm McDowell is particularly good as H.G. Wells and David Warner is chilling as Jack The Ripper. Mary Steenburgen, even though she is a big '70s liberal-feminist, is still appealing to me, probably because of her face and voice.

This is just a fun movie to watch and I've enjoyed viewing this about every four or five years now for 20 years. there are no dull spots in this movie.