Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982)

A maverick motorbike racer wanders into a top-secret time-travel research test site which unintentionally teleports him to the mid-1800s and ends up having to fight violent outlaws for his survival.

Director:

William Dear

Writers:

William Dear, Michael Nesmith

Stars:

Fred Ward, Belinda Bauer, Peter Coyote

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Fred Ward	...	Lyle Swann
Belinda Bauer	...	Claire Cygne
Peter Coyote	...	Porter Reese
Richard Masur	...	Claude Dorsett
Tracey Walter	...	Carl Dorsett
Ed Lauter	...	Padre
L.Q. Jones	...	Sheriff Ben Potter
Chris Mulkey	...	Daniels
Macon McCalman	...	Dr. Sam
Jonathan Bahnks	...	Jesse
Laurie O'Brien	...	Terry
Susan Dear	...	2nd Technician
Bruce Gordon	...	Earl
Ben Zeller	...	Jack Peoples
William Dear	...	3rd Technician

Storyline

Lyle, a motorcycle champion is traveling the Mexican desert, when he find himself in the action radius of a time machine. So he find himself one century back in the past between rapists, thiefs and murderers....

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Plot Keywords:

motorcycle | cult film | backwards time travel | time travel | predestination paradox | 

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Taglines:

Lyle Swann is a champion off-road racer. But to the people of 1877, he's something very, very different...

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Miguel Sandoval's movie debut.

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Goofs

When Porter Reese and his henchman enter the cellar to steal the bike, neither of them are lifting the door, but one of them has his hands on top of the door. It appears to be a heavy wooden cellar door so it would require some serious lifting. But the door is rising slowly and steadily on its own as though it were mechanically rising.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Company Spokesperson: Ladies and gentlemen of the press, it is my pleasure to welcome you on behalf of International Computel Corporation to Project Timerider. Project Timerider is the 16th in our series of experiments in time travel, and today will be our first experiment with a live animal.
[murmurs in the audience]
Company Spokesperson: A live female Rhesus monkey named Esther G.
[some chuckles heard in the audience]
Company Spokesperson: This experiment, once again under the direction of Dr. Samuel Stellar, hopes to send Esther G. back in time to...

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Crazy Credits

Music Mixed with the Aphex Aural Exciter.

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Alternate Versions

In the original theatrical release, Porter Reese was so distracted by the destruction of the motorcycle that he did not notice the approach of the helicopter's tail rotor until it was too late -- there was a scream, a splattering sound, and a shot of empty gore-drenched boots. For the Anchor Bay DVD release, the shot was replaced with a shot of motorcycle wreckage on the ground and a pickup shot of Reese cowering; the audio, however, was not changed. The original sequence is preserved in the laserdisc release as well as the more recent Shout! Factory Blu-ray. The Spanish DVD release preserves the boots scene but entirely omits the sequence where Swann scares the old man to death.

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Connections

Featured in 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994)

User Reviews

good film, even though both gene and roger disagreed with me

The following comment includes a piece of the plot. If you plan to see the movie (and I recommend you do), do not read the rest of this.

Both Gene and Roger felt that the title character seemed stupid in that he didn't understand what had happened (i.e. that he went back in time) until the very end. I, on the other hand found it most believable. If you were lost in the desert, and you came across a _rural_ town, wouldn't it take quite a lot before you'd reach the conclusion "Oh, I must have gone back in time!"

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 August 1983 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Timerider

Filming Locations:

Old Tucson - 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Zoomo Productions, Eaves Movie Ranch

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 80 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1