Nick of Time (1995)

Director:

John Badham

Writer (WGA):

Patrick Sheane Duncan (written by)

Release Date:

22 November 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Within 90 minutes, someone is going to die... And the clock is ticking.

Plot:

Gene Watson is a public accountant who arrives on a train at Union Station in Los Angeles, accompanied by his 6-year-old daughter Lynn...

Plot Keywords:

Los Angeles California | Prosthetic Limb | Clock | Race Against Time | Hitchcockian

Cast

Johnny Depp	...	Gene Watson
Courtney Chase	...	Lynn Watson
Charles S. Dutton	...	Huey
Christopher Walken	...	Mr. Smith
Roma Maffia	...	Ms. Jones
Marsha Mason	...	Gov. Eleanor Grant
Peter Strauss	...	Brendan Grant
Gloria Reuben	...	Krista Brooks
Bill Smitrovich	...	Officer Trust
G.D. Spradlin	...	Mystery Man
Yul Vazquez	...	Gustino (Guest Services)
Edith Diaz	...	Irene (Domestic Maintenance)
Armando Ortega	...	Hector (Guest Services)
C.J. Bau	...	Mixologist
Cynthena Sanders	...	Beverage Server

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and language.

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (DeLuxe)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R (certificate #34003) | Iceland:14 | Philippines:R-18 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Brazil:12 | Netherlands:12 | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Chile:14 | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Canada:AA (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of the most remarkable film sequences involved one seamless take during which Johnny Depp and Christopher Walken board a glass-walled elevator and ride 35 floors to the top of L.A.'s Bonaventure hotel. Crammed into the confines of the elevator with the actors were, director John Badham, cinematographer Roy H. Wagner, focus-puller Todd Slyapich, sound mixer Willie D. Burton, boom operator Marvin E. Lewis and script supervisor Barbara Thaxton. Given the fact that the elevator was glass from top to bottom, was lit by 8 Kino Flo lamps, ensuring that camera and crew reflections were not captured on film was quite an exercise in and of itself.

Goofs:

Factual errors: Watson's business card lists a Santa Maria (California) address. Santa Maria is in the 805 area code, but the phone number on his card has a 310 area code (Los Angeles).

Quotes:

Gene Watson: Don't run off now, sweetpea. Stay close to daddy.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003)

Soundtrack:

Bouncin' at the Bonaventure

Riveting thriller with an excellent cast

Johnny Depp takes a break from his usual roles as outcasts, in this playing a clean-cut accountant who travels by train back to LA with his daughter after the wake of his deceased ex-wife. Upon entering the station, 2 people show him a police badge, take him into a van, and blackmail him into assassinating the governor in one hour or else they'll kill his daughter.

The remainder of the entire movie takes place in a hotel where the paranoid atmosphere gives clues about how big the conspiracy is and the political motives behind it; with nearly everyone keeping their eye on him and very little time, he's faced with the difficult task of getting out of this situation.

A must-see if you like edge of your seat excitement and an excellent cast, with Depp (great as Gene Watson), Marsha Mason, Charles S. Dutton, and Christopher Walken, playing the most despicable bad guy since Laurence Olivier in "Marathon Man".