Director Nicholas Meyer and 'Time After Time' Made Me a Movie Lover for Life

As a kid growing up on the South Side of St. Louis during the 1970's, movies played a big part in my life.

At that time, videocassette recorders were playthings for the wealthy and cable television was non-existent in my neck of the woods. Home computers were just coming on the market, but these machines had barely enough memory to hold a simple program, let alone a complicated operating system.

When I had some extra pocket money, I went to the Granada, our neighborhood theater that had one giant screen. It was at the Granada that I was first introduced to Walt Disney classics plus some groundbreaking stuff from a guy named Steven Spielberg.

But it was director Nicholas Meyer who forever changed my perception of film. In 1979, Meyer directed "Time After Time," arguably one of the most ingenious time travel films ever produced.

Malcolm McDowell turns in an outstanding performance as Herbert George Wells, known to his friends as H.G. A prolific writer, Wells, according to the film, used the proceeds from his books and articles to fund his scientific experiments.

Believing the future was where he belonged, Wells created a time machine to carry him towards what he thought was a utopia. Before he could make the journey, his best friend, Dr. John Lesley Stevenson (David Warner), stole the machine.

In his murderous alter ego of Jack the Ripper, Stevenson had been killing women and, when the police closed in, he went forward in time to 1979. Wells, who had built an auto-return function into his device, followed his former friend to the future.

Though time travel is an essential plot point here, director Nicholas Meyer does not rely on special effects or gimmicks to tell his story. Instead, Meyer puts the focus on H.G. Wells and his efforts to navigate the strange new world of 1979.

A man of science, Wells has to figure out 20^th Century television commercials and the intricacies of ordering a meal at a fast food restaurant.

Wells also has to find the missing Dr. Stevenson and the methodology he uses to find his homicidal friend is a stroke of genius.

"Time After Time" also is a love story, with a relationship blossoming between H.G. Wells and Amy Robbins (Mary Steenburgen), a modern career woman who finds the 19^th Century Englishman utterly charming. Wells, who promoted free love in his own time, is somewhat intimidated by Amy's openness.

Meyer's work showed me that a director could tell a story without muddying the waters with lots of gimmicks. "Time After Time" is a story of relationships, one between two best friends and the other between a man and woman from different times and places.

In the 30 years following my first viewing of "Time After Time," I have watched hundreds of movies and own countless others on DVD. Yet, I will never forget that I owe a debt of gratitude to Nicholas Meyer and his directing style.