When Time Ran Out - Plot

Plot

Shelby Gilmore (William Holden), who owns a newly constructed hotel on a remote Pacific island, wants desperately to marry his secretary, Kay Kirby (Jacqueline Bisset) and proposes to her under the impression that she'll become his seventh wife. Kay is in love with Hank Anderson (Paul Newman), an oil rigger whose scientists are warning him that a nearby active volcano is about to erupt.

Shelby's son-in-law, Bob Spangler (James Franciscus), assures guests at the hotel that the threat of the volcano is a total exaggeration, explaining that it only erupts once every thousand years. Spangler is married to Shelby's daughter Nikki (Veronica Hamel), but is cheating on her with Iolani (Barbara Carrera), an executive with Shelby's hotel. Iolani is engaged to Brian (Edward Albert), the hotel's general manager. Unbeknownst to all except Spangler, who chooses not to reveal the secret, Brian is his illegitimate younger half-brother and therefore half-owner of the island.

Guests at the hotel include a bonds smuggler, Francis Fendly (Red Buttons), who is being tailed by a New York City private investigator, Tom Conti (Ernest Borgnine). Also on hand are Rene and Rose Valdez (Burgess Meredith and Valentina Cortese), who are retired circus tightrope walkers. Hank's oil-rig workers include Tiny Baker (Alex Karras), who has a wager going with cockfighting rival Sam (Pat Morita) with a prized rooster that has just been delivered to him. Sam and his wife Mona (Sheila Allen) own a local bar.

When the volcano does erupt, most of the island's population are wiped out. The only survivors are those at Shelby's hotel, overlooking a disaster that will surely come straight for them, as the volcano is spewing fireballs. Tiny and all of Hank's workers are killed in town when a tidal wave crashes onto them.

Hank and Kay organize a getaway to a safe side of the island to await rescue. Shelby bids a farewell to Nikki, who insists on staying with her husband. Spangler convinces many of the other guests to stay, including mistress Iolani. After one final attempt to persuade others to join them, Hank and Kay leave the hotel along with Shelby, Brian, Sam, Rene, Rose, Fendly and Conti, plus a few more. Conti, blinded by a fireball, is guided by Fendly, becoming friends. At the hotel, Nikki stumbles upon her husband's affair with Iolani, but now it is too late for her to follow the others.

Trucks carrying survivors manage to travel as far as a mountainside gorge. Everyone must cross the gorge on foot. From there, the party comes upon a rickety wooden bridge over a pit of molten lava. Hank crosses first to see if it is safe. The others go in pairs. Two native children, whose father died crossing the gorge, are afraid and run away. Rose, who had stopped to rest with Rene because of her weak heart, dies after telling her husband to find the children.

After an explosion beneath the bridge causes the death of Sam and a female employee from his bar, Rene hoists a child onto his back and recreates his old tightrope act in getting the child safely across. Hank guides the second child to safety. The survivors take refuge in a cavern, during which time fireballs streak across the sky. Spangler gets his comeuppance when the hotel explodes, also killing Nikki, Iolani and all who had unfortunately chosen to stay. The survivors continue on toward a beach to wait for rescue.