''Nick of Time'' is a 1995 American
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
action thriller film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
produced and directed by
John Badham
John MacDonald Badham (born August 25, 1939) is an English television and film director, best known for his films ''Saturday Night Fever'' (1977), ''Dracula'' (1979), ''Blue Thunder'' (1983), ''WarGames'' (1983), ''Short Circuit'' (1986), and ...
and written by
Patrick Sheane Duncan
Patrick Sheane Duncan (born 1947) is an American writer, film producer and director.
A graduate of Grand Valley State University in Allendale Charter Township, Michigan, Duncan's career has been influenced by his Vietnam War experiences, which ...
. It stars
Johnny Depp
John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
,
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...
,
Charles S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Roc (TV series), Roc'' (1991–1994) and the television film ''The Piano Lesson (film), The Piano Lesson'' ...
, and Courtney Chase. Taking place in
real time, the film follows a public accountant who must assassinate a politician in exchange for his kidnapped daughter's freedom. It was released theatrically in the United States by
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...
on November 22, 1995.
Plot
Gene Watson, a mild-mannered, separated and widowed
accountant
An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy.
Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...
, arrives with his daughter Lynn at
Union Station
A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. As Gene makes a pay phone call informing an unidentified person that his train was late, two mysterious strangers in suits, known only as Mr. Smith and Ms. Jones, survey the station from a catwalk, discussing a yet-to-be-elaborated scheme. Noticing Gene retaliate against a skater who was harassing his daughter, Smith and Jones set their sights on him and swiftly approach the pair. Showing a badge, the two strangers convince Gene that they are police officers and whisk both father and daughter into a van without justification. Once in the vehicle, Gene begins to notice things are not right and gets nervous, but Smith subsequently
pistol whip
Pistol-whipping or buffaloing is the act of using a handgun as a blunt weapon, wielding it as an improvised club. Such a practice dates to the time of muzzle loaders, which were brandished in such fashion in close-quarters combat once the weapon ...
s him in the leg to get his attention. Smith then informs Gene that they will kill his daughter by 1:30 p.m. unless he murders a woman depicted in a photograph. He soon learns that the woman is Eleanor Grant, the
governor of California
The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard.
Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...
, and realizes that killing her would be a suicide mission.
Once at the
Bonaventure Hotel
The Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites is a , 33- story hotel in Los Angeles, California, constructed between 1974 and 1976. It was designed by architect John C. Portman Jr.. The top floor has a revolving restaurant and bar. It was originally ...
, where a number of campaign appearances are being held, Gene makes several attempts to warn people about his situation, but Smith consistently follows him around, taunts and viciously beats him whenever he does not make a move. Gene manages to find a young campaign assistant, Krista Brooks, who believes Gene's story and encourages him to report the matter to the governor's husband, Brendan Grant. Once in his suite, however, Brendan and a campaign lobbyist appear to disbelieve the story, and before anything more can be said, Smith shows up in the room and fatally shoots Krista, causing a tense scuffle between Gene and Smith. Gene awakens after unconsciousness and finds nearly everyone on the campaign, including the governor's staff and husband, are involved in the plot, with an unnamed
lobbyist
In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
masterminding it all in revenge for the governor not carrying out her campaign promises to his interests.
Gene eventually finds a disabled war veteran named Huey who polishes people's shoes at the hotel. While at first he does not believe the man's story, Smith talks to Gene about the plot, believing Huey to be completely deaf according to a sign. Huey reluctantly assists Gene to get to Governor Grant's suite and advise her of the conspiracy. Although skeptical at first of Gene's story, she later notices Brendan act suspiciously about Krista's whereabouts and realizes Gene was telling the truth. Being hastened by her husband to make the last speech, the governor greets supporters in a ballroom when Gene takes out the gun, points it at a projector room where Smith is watching him and shoots at the window. This unleashes a panic in the ballroom, causing a stampede and brief shootout between Gene and the security people. Thinking that his wife is dead, Brendan openly gloats about the plot's success, only to find out in horror that she had heard everything, confirming her suspicions about him.
In the meantime, Huey stalls the armed Jones, who is in the van with Lynn after she cannot get a signal from Smith. He then annoys her with a
squeegee man scheme to the point of a violent confrontation in which she shoots his wooden leg. Lynn quickly tries to get out of the van when Smith opens the door and begins to shoot at her. Right after she hides under the seat, Gene appears and shoots Smith. Ailing from his wounds, Smith congratulates Gene for becoming a killer just before he's finally killed by him. Before Jones can get a clear shot at the father and daughter, Huey beats her unconscious with his
prosthetic
In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...
leg and
wing tip
A wing tip (or wingtip) is the part of the wing that is most distant from the fuselage of a fixed-wing aircraft.
Because the wing tip shape influences the size and drag of the wingtip vortices, tip design has produced a diversity of sha ...
shoe. The final scene shows the conspiracy mastermind stepping on Gene's broken wristwatch and leaving the hotel in a car.
An alternate TV scene (and on some
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
versions) also shows the governor thanking Gene and Huey for saving her life.
Cast
*
Johnny Depp
John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...
as Gene Watson
*
Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...
as Mr. Smith
*
Charles S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Roc (TV series), Roc'' (1991–1994) and the television film ''The Piano Lesson (film), The Piano Lesson'' ...
as Huey
*
Roma Maffia
Roma Maffia is an American actress.
Life and career
Roma Maffia grew up in Brooklyn, New York and is of English, German and West Indian descent. Her Italian surname reportedly comes from her stepfather.
Maffia began her official acting career ...
as Ms. Jones
*
Marsha Mason
Marsha Mason (born April 3, 1942) is an American actress and director. She has been nominated four times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: for her performances in '' Cinderella Liberty'' (1973), '' The Goodbye Girl'' (1977), '' Chapter Two ...
as Gov. Eleanor Grant
*
Peter Strauss
Peter Lawrence Strauss (born February 20, 1947) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles in several television miniseries in the 1970s and 1980s. He is five-time Golden Globe Awards nominee.
Early life
Strauss was born in C ...
as Brendan Grant
*
Gloria Reuben
Gloria Elizabeth Reuben is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and singer. She is well-known for her role as Jeanie Boulet on the medical drama ''ER (TV series), ER'' (1995–1999, 2008), for which she was twice nominated for an Emmy Award, a ...
as Krista Brooks
*
G.D. Spradlin as The Lobbyist
*
Bill Smitrovich
William Stanley Zmitrowicz Jr. (born May 16, 1947), known professionally as Bill Smitrovich ( ), is an American actor.
Personal life
Smitrovich was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Anna (née Wojna) and Stanley William Zmitrowicz, a t ...
as Officer Trust
*
Yul Vazquez
Yul Vazquez (born March 18, 1965) is a Cuban-American actor and musician. He has appeared in ''Runaway Bride (film), Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''Bad Boys II'' (2003), ''War of the Worlds (2005 film), War of the Worlds'' (2005), ''American Gangster ...
as Gustino
*
Edith Diaz
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and var ...
as Irene
* Courtney Chase as Lynn Watson
Production
Filming
The majority of filming took place at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, California.
Reception
Box office
A
box office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, it grossed $8 million on a $33 million budget.
[
]
Critical reception
''Nick of Time'' received mostly negative reviews from critics. Based on 33 reviews collected from notable publications by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an overall approval rating of 30% and an average score of 4.6/10. The site's consensus reads: "It isn't the worst '90s action thriller, but by bungling a story pitting Johnny Depp against Christopher Walken, the rote ''Nick of Time'' ranks among the most disappointing". Audiences polled by CinemaScore
CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data.
Background
Ed Mintz founded Ci ...
gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
A more positive review came from Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
in ''The Chicago Sun-Times'' who gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4. He wrote the film was "too contrived" in places, but lauded Depp's performance as bringing "a low-key ordinariness" and liked his character's use of intelligence rather than action film
Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include life ...
cliches to solve his dilemma.
Soundtrack
The film's score – composed by Arthur B. Rubinstein
Arthur Benjamin Rubinstein (March 31, 1938 – April 23, 2018) was an American Emmy Award-winning composer. He composed several television series soundtracks and songs for film scores. He was frequently hired by film director John Badham, and the ...
– was released by Milan Records
Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan boasts an extensive electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases ...
on November 22, 1995.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nick Of Time (Film)
1995 films
American neo-noir films
1995 action thriller films
1995 crime thriller films
1990s English-language films
1990s political thriller films
American action thriller films
American crime thriller films
American political thriller films
Films about father–daughter relationships
Films about hostage takings
Films about kidnapping
Films about assassinations
Films directed by John Badham
Films scored by Arthur B. Rubinstein
Films set in hotels
Films set in Los Angeles
Films shot in Los Angeles
Paramount Pictures films
1990s American films