A_Different_Drummer Review of Timestalkers

Timestalkers (1987 TV Movie)

*Guilty Pleasure* My Favorite Time Travel Flick

[9/10 · 17 December 2013]

I have scrupulously checked out all the net "lists" of time travel movies and I believe I have seen over 95% of all the listed films, which ain't bad. I have seen TIMESTALKERS twice, no mean feat considering how hard it is to find a copy. It is my favourite. Why? Well let's start with the weaknesses. It has a "made for TV" feel, clearly some budget limitations, no major stars aside from deVane, and relies on a heavy-handed plot device -- the near-magical appearance of a beautiful woman (Hutton) from, of all places, the future. (As if we don't enough beautiful woman in the past and present, and we need to borrow some more from the future...?) I have written a lot of reviews for IMDb and usually at this juncture I would usually be explaining how the producer should consider another career, or deVane's agent must have been desperate when he signed for this...? But, no. This is, oddly, my favourite time travel film and I will try to explain why. Leaving aside the production standards, leaving aside the aforementioned bizarre plot device, I was hooked by the core story of a man who loses his wife and tries to carry on, as best he can, without her. But never for one moment does he forget or ignore his loss. To keep busy, he even takes up a strange hobby -- practising his "fast draw" with an old replica western revolver. And there you have it. In spite of all the negatives, those two specific plot arcs, and the way the writer ultimately resolves them both, captured my fancy and moves this to the top of my list. Klaus Kinski was a strange casting choice. An actor who never, even once, managed to speak English without an accent, he wandered through the 70s and 80s basically playing bad guys. But again, this is not about Kinski. This is about the way the writer resolves this story and frankly it is the best resolution I have ever seen. No more spoilers. You are on your own, and best of luck to you, if you can find a copy!