''The Killing Time'' is a 1987 American thriller film directed by Rick King, starring

Beau Bridges Lloyd Vernet "Beau" Bridges III (born December 9, 1941) is an American actor and director. He is a three-time Emmy, two-time Golden Globe and one-time Grammy Award winner, as well as a two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee. Bridges was a ...

and

Kiefer Sutherland Kiefer William Sutherland (born 21 December 1966) is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He is best known for his starring role as Jack Bauer in the Fox drama series '' 24'' (2001–2010, 2014), for which he won an Emmy Award, a Golden Glo ...

. It was Sutherland's first role as a central character in an American film. It also features Kiefer's first wife, Camelia Kath.

Plot summary

A stranger (

) shoots a man named Brian Mars and buries him on the side of a road. Then he assumes his identity and moves to a small town in California to start a job as a deputy sheriff. His motives are unclear, but he has nightmares of being a child and finding his father's dead body hanging on a rope. Meanwhile, Deputy Sam Wayburn (

) is having an affair with Laura Winslow (Camelia Kath). Her husband is a cruel, powerful, and wealthy man named Jake Winslow (

Wayne Rogers William Wayne McMillan Rogers III (April 7, 1933 – December 31, 2015) was an American actor, known for playing the role of Captain "Trapper" John McIntyre in the CBS television series ''M*A*S*H'' and as Dr. Charley Michaels on ''House Calls'' ...

). After Laura gets beaten and raped by her husband, she and Sam decide they want him dead. After Sam discovers that "Brian" owns an unregistered gun, they decide to kill Jake with Brian's gun and frame Brian for the murder. However, as they are planning the murder, Brian is watching them from a distance and is well aware of their plans. The night of the planned murder, Brian sabotages them by disabling Laura's car and informing Jake of what his wife planned. He gives Jake a ride home, but as Jake is thanking him, Brian pulls out a gun on him. He explains that his father's death was Jake's fault and shoots him. Later, when Jake's body is discovered, Sam is ready to start explaining about Brian's unregistered gun, but the detective explains that Jake was shot with Sam's gun. As Sam is asking Laura why she used his gun, she explains that her car was disabled and she never had a chance to shoot him. Then they figure that Brian must have killed him. Sam goes to Brian's house to confront him and Brian angrily yells at him for trying to set him up and pulls his gun and chases him through some fields to try to kill him. Meanwhile, Sheriff Carl Cunningham (

Joe Don Baker Joe Don Baker (born February 12, 1936) is an American character actor and a life member of the Actors Studio. He established himself as an action star with supporting roles as a mysterious cowboy drifter in ''Guns of the Magnificent Seven'' (196 ...

) finds an all points bulletin identifying the body of the real Brian Mars buried off the side of the road and he heads over to Brian's house to arrest him. Just as Brian has caught up to Sam and is about to pull the trigger, Carl shoots Brian first. Even though Sam is cleared of any wrongdoing, he doesn't feel like he was a very good cop and resigns from the force and continues his relationship with Laura.

Cast

as Sam Wayburn *

as The Stranger *

as Jake Winslow *

as Carl Cunningham * Camelia Kath as Laura Winslow *

Janet Carroll Janet Carroll (December 24, 1940 – May 22, 2012) was an American film, stage and television character actress. Carroll's career spanned more than four decades and included major and supporting roles in Broadway musicals, television and Holly ...

as Lila Daggett *

Michael Madsen Michael Søren Madsen (born September 25, 1957) is an American actor. He has starred in many films and television series, frequently collaborating with director Quentin Tarantino, most famously in the latter's debut film ''Reservoir Dogs'' (19 ...

as Stu * Jeb Ellis-Brown as Brian Mars *

Shiri Appleby Shiri Freda Appleby (born December 7, 1978) is an American actress and television director. She is best known for her leading roles as Liz Parker in the WB/UPN science fiction drama series '' Roswell'' (1999–2002) and Rachel Goldberg in the L ...

as Annie Winslow

Release

The film was released on 23 October 1987 in the United States.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Killing Time, The 1987 films American thriller films 1987 thriller films New World Pictures films Films scored by Paul Chihara 1980s English-language films Films directed by Rick King 1980s American films