Nick of Time

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..

• Director: John Badham
• Genre:Crime / Drama / Thriller
• Runtime:89 minutes

Cast

Johnny Depp : Gene Watson
Courtney Chase : Lynn Watson
Charles S. Dutton : Huey
Christopher Walken : Mr. Smith
Roma Maffia : Ms. Jones

The film opens with Gene Watson (Depp), a mild-mannered, widowed accountant arriving with his daughter Lynn to a train station in Los Angeles.

As Watson makes a payphone call informing an unidentified person that his train was late, two mysterious strangers in suits (Roma Maffia, Christopher Walken), named Smith and Jones, survey the station from a catwalk, discussing a yet-to-be-elaborated scheme. Noticing Watson 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 Watson that they are police officers and whisk both father and daughter into a van without justification. Once in the vehicle, Watson begins to notice things aren’t right and gets nervous, but Smith subsequently pistol whips Watson in the leg to get his attention.

Smith then informs Watson that they will kill his daughter unless he murders a woman depicted in a photograph. He soon learns that the woman is State Governor Eleanor Grant (Marsha Mason) and realizes that killing her would be a suicide mission. He then must find a way to get out of this ordeal.

Once at the Bonaventure Hotel (where a campaign stop is being held) Watson makes several attempts to warn people about his situation, but Smith consistently follows him around, taunts and viciously beats him whenever he doesn’t make a move. Watson manages to find a young campaign assistant, Krista (Gloria Reuben) who believes Watson’s story and encourages him to report the matter to the governor’s husband, Brendan Grant (Peter Strauss). Once in his suite, however, the husband and a campaign lobbyist appear to disbelieve the story, and before anything more can be said, the psychopathic Smith shows up in the room and fatally shoots Krista, causing a tense scuffle between Watson and Smith.

Watson awakens after unconsciousness and finds nearly everyone on the campaign, including the governor’s staff and husband, are involved, with an unnamed right-wing lobbyist (played by G.D. Spradlin) masterminding it all. Read more

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