Time After Time (1979)

Featured Audience Ratings

• AJ V

  
  This is my favourite of all the Jack the Ripper theory themed movies. It has a bunch of good actors, and the story is good, and it's a great adventure too.

• Stella D

  
  very entertaining. happy b-day, hg

• Ken S

  
  Take a barrel of monkeys, multiple that by pi and you'll have an idea of how fun this movie is. HG Wells allows Jack the Ripper to escape in time through the use of his time machine, so naturally HG follows him to 1979 in order to capture him. Surprisingly funny and light… More
  Take a barrel of monkeys, multiple that by pi and you'll have an idea of how fun this movie is. HG Wells allows Jack the Ripper to escape in time through the use of his time machine, so naturally HG follows him to 1979 in order to capture him. Surprisingly funny and light hearted for a movie of it's body count.

• Daniel H

  
  A well thought out "what if" crime caper. HG Wells seeks out his former best-friend now revealed as Jack the Ripper, as he takes up his prostitute-slaying ways in 1970's San Francisco. The morality lectures are short and to the point, and evoke a clever subplot: the… More
  A well thought out "what if" crime caper. HG Wells seeks out his former best-friend now revealed as Jack the Ripper, as he takes up his prostitute-slaying ways in 1970's San Francisco. The morality lectures are short and to the point, and evoke a clever subplot: the Ripper is delighted by the decadence of modern society, almost tenderly declaring that it is where he belongs... while Wells languishes as his ideals of a future utopia are crushed. Thankfully, for a time-travel film, the obligatory "culture-shock" sequences don't overstay their welcome, and a both characters manage to act with actual intelligence in covering up their origins to avoid being thrown into the nuthouse. A clever little innocuous exercise which stands out for deftly avoiding the genres pitfalls... though, it hardly rises above them.

• Chris G

  
  Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time is an interesting film. It takes two of the most prolific figures of turn of the century London H.G. Welles (Malcolm McDowell) and Jack the Ripper (David Warner, the photographer that loses his head in the Omen, or for you younger fans is the thug… More
  Nicholas Meyer's Time After Time is an interesting film. It takes two of the most prolific figures of turn of the century London H.G. Welles (Malcolm McDowell) and Jack the Ripper (David Warner, the photographer that loses his head in the Omen, or for you younger fans is the thug working for Billy Zane in Titanic.) and sends them to 1979 San Francisco. This probably sounds idiotic and ridiculous, but the film uses Welles folklore (mainly the time machine) to give the film a little more credibility as Welles chases Jack after his identity is revealed to the authorities. It's a basic fish out of water story for Welles, yet The Ripper fits right into the violence of late 20th century America. Welles does find a girl named Amy (Mary Steenburgen, who ironically ends up with another time traveler in Back to the Future Part III). Time After Time is a film that is actually better than you would expect. The story is far fetched, yet you can still believe H.G. Welles is wandering the streets of San Francisco. Malcolm McDowell delivers his best performance since Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange. His out of his element face and emotional force when needed makes you feel for his character and what he goes through later in the film. David Warner is equally great as the creepy Ripper, making you see where he's coming from when he tells Welles that he was made for this violent age. Steenburgen is cast in a conflicted role that has her liberated one minute and totally dependent on Welles the next. She pulls it off with great ability and succeeds in keeping up with her two co-stars. A fast paced adventure in our own back yard if you will, Time After Time is a great combination of thriller, adventure, and romance that delivers a film that far exceeds the total of its parts.

• Pierluigi P

  
  If you put H.G Wells and Jack the ripper side by side in modern times, it may sound ridiculous, well it is, but when it's done like this, with style, with two great actors like Malcolm McDowell and David Warner playing them, a beautiful score by Miklos Rozsa, adding time travel,… More
  If you put H.G Wells and Jack the ripper side by side in modern times, it may sound ridiculous, well it is, but when it's done like this, with style, with two great actors like Malcolm McDowell and David Warner playing them, a beautiful score by Miklos Rozsa, adding time travel, adventure, romance, and humour to the odd but sweet mix; all you can do is step aside and enjoy the ride.

• Lafe F

  
  Superb time travel movie with H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper in modern-day San Franciso. Very enjoyable and well made. There's romance with Mary Steenburgen as well.

• xGary X

  
  Enjoyable oddity that pits H.G. Wells against Jack The Ripper in "modern day" (well, 1979) San Francisco. A nice mix of sci-fi, thriller and romance.

• Burger S

  
  Jack the Ripper uses HG Wells time machine to do his thing in !970's San Francisco. Malcolm McDowell is actually the good guy for once!

• Danny R

  
  A literate, witty motion picture with moments of high suspense which is marvelously written and directed by Nicholas Meyer. The infamous Jack the Ripper, played superbly by David Warner who delivers a truly unnerving and chilling performance has returned to continue his horrific reign… More
  A literate, witty motion picture with moments of high suspense which is marvelously written and directed by Nicholas Meyer. The infamous Jack the Ripper, played superbly by David Warner who delivers a truly unnerving and chilling performance has returned to continue his horrific reign of terror in Victorian England years after he vanished, he has just finished murdering a prostitute by gutting her; with the police hot on his bloody trail he appears at a social gathering at the home of his good friend H.G. Wells, brilliantly played by Malcolm McDowell in a intelligent and extremely charming performance; the Ripper's real name is Dr. John Leslie Stevenson he is the chief surgeon at a London hospital, Wells informs his guests that he plans to travel to the future in a "Time Machine," which he has constructed for that very purpose, he escorts his guests to the basement where he shows them all the machine, and in detail explains how it operates; returning upstairs to the living room, Wells tells his guests that he strongly believes that the future will be an utopian society where men will live like brothers and in equality with women, then his maid enters and informs Wells that the police are at the door and wish to speak to him, when he goes to meet them; they tell him that the Ripper has returned and is in the vicinity and that they have cordoned off the neighborhood, as the police search Wells house they fine Stevenson's leather satchel containing a pair of bloody gloves and a knife. After the police leave to hunt Sevenson who has disappeared from Wells home, it dawns on Wells how he must of escaped justice, when Wells runs down to the basement and fines his machine gone, the empty machine returns back to the point of origin in the basement because Wells still has the key to it., which makes it come back. He gets into his machine and takes off after Stevenson who gone from the year 1893 in London to the year 1979 in San Francisco. Wells is amazed at the progress man has made over the course of a century, he also discovers that the cold-bloodied Stevenson has resumed with his sadistic murderous activities, Wells while searching for Sevenson meets and falls in love with a currency exchange officer named Amy Robbins, played wonderfully by Mary Steenburgen, she and McDowell have a terrific romantic chemistry that make their scenes together amusing and so endearing, as a matter of fact the two stars really fall in love during the production of this film and later married. Amy gives Wells information that leads him to Stevenson who has exchanged pounds for dollars at her bank; he escapes from Wells and is now targeting Amy, it becomes a deadly game of cat and mouse between them and time is running out! An engaging and utterly winning fantasy film. Highly Recommended.

• Alec B

  
  I'm not crazy about the love story, but its a mostly entertaining piece of science fiction pulp. Malcolm McDowell and David Warner shine in their perspective roles of H.G. Wells and Jack the Ripper.

• Jim W

  
  When H.G Welles (Malcolm McDowell) shows his friends a time machine that he invented, he never imagined that one of them were in-fact Jack the Ripper (David Warner). Jack the Ripper takes the time machine to escape the police and H.G. must follow him to 1979 to stop him from killing… More
  When H.G Welles (Malcolm McDowell) shows his friends a time machine that he invented, he never imagined that one of them were in-fact Jack the Ripper (David Warner). Jack the Ripper takes the time machine to escape the police and H.G. must follow him to 1979 to stop him from killing once again. While trying to find Jack the Ripper, H.G meets banker, Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), who takes an interest in him right away. However, the closer the two get, the more danger Amy's life is in, since H.G has the key to time machine and Jack the Ripper wants it. I actually never heard of this movie until recently and I wish I had, because it would've been on the top my favorite Sci-Fi movie list.Time After Time is clever, funny and about as good as Back the Future, even if the effects are a bit cheesy. The acting is surprisingly superb as well. McDowell was a bit under-rated in his younger days because he always gave an interesting performance and he's especially fun to watch in this film. While, I never realized that Steenburgen was actually type-cast in Back to the Future 3 since she also fell in love with a time traveler in that film as well. But hey, she does a good job in both films never-less. David Warner is excellent as Jack the Ripper as well. Just give the movie a chance, I'm glad I did!

• Jared H

  
  H.G. Wells travels through time to catch Jack the Ripper who also traveled through time from 19th century England and landed in San Francisco in the year 1979. Huh? It's a strange idea for a time travel movie, but on the whole, it works better than most. The main reason it… More
  H.G. Wells travels through time to catch Jack the Ripper who also traveled through time from 19th century England and landed in San Francisco in the year 1979. Huh? It's a strange idea for a time travel movie, but on the whole, it works better than most. The main reason it does is because of the stellar performances by the great Malcolm McDowell and the always sweet Mary Steenburgen. These are two of the most charming actors I've ever seen on screen, and their romance is so sweet and authentic that it grounds the otherwise proposterous plot onto something very heartfelt and believable.

• John M

  
  Very good film on many levels...only negative aspect may be weak special effects regarding the time machine's travel.

Read all 14 featured audience ratings