When Time Ran Out... is a disaster film released in 1980, starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset, William Holden, James Franciscus, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Burgess Meredith, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Pat Morita, Edward Albert, and Barbara Carrera.
Produced by the "Master of Disaster," Irwin Allen, When Time Ran Out... is loosely based on a novel called The Day Their World Ended by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts detailing the factual 1902 volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée on Martinique, which killed 30,000 people in five minutes by pyroclastic flow. When Time Ran Out... has the distinction of being both the last notable "disaster film" produced at the tail-end of the 1970s cycle of the genre and Allen's last theatrically released picture.
When Time Ran Out... deals with the eruption of a volcano on a remote Pacific island, threatening a newly constructed resort, an oil drilling project and a volcano observatory perched on the edge of the caldera. After a major eruption causes a lava flow to head directly towards the resort, a small group of people attempt to escape to safety on the opposite side of the island, while others remain behind.
Allen recycled many of the ideas from his two huge hits, The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, but substandard special effects, continuity errors, and a convoluted storyline negatively impacted the film.
It was a critical and financial failure. While it cost an estimated $20,000,000 to produce, the film grossed only $1,700,000.
Reportedly, it was highly disliked by Newman, Holden and other cast members themselves.
Filmed on the "Big Island" of Hawaiʻi (notably at the Sheraton Keauhou Bay Resort and Spa), despite the exotic location, the film was rife with production problems. Holden was ill, and was upset about his billing under Newman (as was the case in The Towering Inferno five years prior). Newman was contractually obligated to do another Allen film after Inferno and was less than enthusiastic about appearing in this one. (In a 1998 interview with Larry King, when Newman was asked if he ever regretted making any film, he bitterly responded "that volcano movie.") Despite his reluctance, on a positive note, it is thought his salary for this film was used to start up his extremely successful Newman's Own company.
Despite being a flop, this film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
For early network television airings, an expanded version of the film was retitled Earth's Final Fury.
The DVD was released February 17, 2009. It was the final Irwin Allen film to be released on DVD. For reasons unknown, it does not include the extended version (23 minutes extra) as the VHS release did in 1994. It has also been cut to 109 minutes instead of the original 121.
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