Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann
Tags: cult, revenge

Plot synopsis:
Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) is a well-known dirt bike motorcycle racer who is in the desert competing in the Baja 1000, a multiclass vehicle cross-country race. Swann has a reputation for being a great rider but is plagued by technical problems from the high-tech gadgetry he incorporates into his C and J framed XT500 Yamaha. When Swann accidentally goes far off course, he stumbles across a time travel experiment that utilizes "maser velocity acceleration" to send objects (in this case, a simian subject by the name of Esther G.) back in time.
Swann rides through the field and gets sent back to November 5, 1877. The scientists in charge of the experiment soon realize what has happened, but Swann rides off, unaware of what has happened to him, before he can be returned to the present. While taking a swim break in a local pond, he runs into a gang of outlaws led by Porter Reese (Peter Coyote). Reese becomes obsessed with stealing Swann's motorcycle, and the outlaws pursue Swann into the small village of San Marcos, but his red suit and dirtbike scare the local Mexicans, who think he is the Devil or 'El Diablo' (Spanish for 'The Devil').
There, he meets a beautiful woman, Claire Cygne (Belinda Bauer), who gives him a safe place to hide, and who severely wounds one of Reese's men Carl Dorsett (Tracey Walter). The village priest (Ed Lauter) compels them to withdraw, but Reese continues to plot the capture of Swann's dirtbike. In the village, Swann is seduced by Claire and sleeps with her, but she is later kidnapped by Reese's henchman Claude Dorsett (Richard Masur) as revenge for her shooting and wounding his brother Carl.
They also manage to capture the dirtbike, leading to a series of hijinks, while Swann gets help from a posse of two U.S. Marshalls, Ben Potter and Daniels (L. Q. Jones, Chris Mulkey) who are trying to capture or kill the gang. Potter has a personal vengeance against Reese, for Reese killed Potter's son two years previously. Swann manages to retrieve his dirtbike and rescue Claire. Potter is killed by Reese in an ambush, and his 2nd, Daniels, is mortally wounded and dies later.
In a final showdown, Reese's band of outlaws faces Swann, the last survivor of the posse, and Claire atop a plateau. When a helicopter shows up (sent by the builders of the time travel experiment to take Swann home), Reese's men run away in fear, but Reese stays behind and fires at the helicopter, killing or wounding one of the pilots. The helicopter begins spinning wildly as the co-pilot tries to maintain control, knocking the dirtbike off the side of the plateau. Reese is killed by the helicopter's tail rotor. The helicopter manages to land on the plateau and extract Swann.
Just as the helicopter pulls away, Claire snatches a pendant from Swann's neck that was handed down from his great-great-grandmother, who had stolen it from his great-great grandfather as a reminder of "one incredible night they had together." Swann realizes that he is his own great-great-grandfather.

Review: If you plan to see the movie (and I recommend you do), do not read the rest of this.Both Gene and Roger felt that the title character seemed stupid in that he didn't understand what had happened (i.e. that he went back in time) until the very end.
I loved every minute of it, when HBO showed Timerider, I watched it everytime like I see it the first time, it perfectly fit my interest in motorcycles, it was funny (poor old guy), endless enjoy watching it, Years after, I was searching to get this movie, had hard time to find it, and I bought it on a used video tape for $70 bucks, later I find it on DVD, I bought that too.
I love time travel films, but there are two that disappoint me, this one and "Return to the Future".
This one was absolutely corny and I think primarily designed for American Motor Cycle enthousiasts ( the film is not even known in Europe and hasn't appeared on VHS or DVD ).
All time travel film is of course fantasy, but the story of this one is too corny.
Throughout almost all the film the bike rider doesn't even realise he has crossed time and the villagers, apart from being fascinated by his machine, don't understand where he has come from.
A guy on a motorcycle in the desert gets accidentally catapulted back in time by an experiment, and is himself unaware that this has happened.I liked the people of the 19th Century town, and the chemistry between Lyle Swan (Fred Ward) and the local beauty there (Belinda Bauer) is a plus.
The same jokes about futuristic marvels that he shows the astonished people get thin pretty fast, and some of the same dialog, like "Where's my bike?!?" even repeats.There's only one common thread running through the story that has any meaning as far as the impact of time travel adventure goes, and if you blink, even that will zip by.
I later discovered that Michael Nesmith (of The Monkeys fame) wrote the music as well as had some involvement with the production of the movie.The sound is pure 80's with the punchy and familiar distorted electric guitar.
Fred Ward deserves more attention as an actor...he did a great and believable job in this movie!
Some good ideas just get lost in the time/space continuum.Look at "Timerider".
Great idea (moto-cross racer Ward inadvertently rides through a time travel experiment that lands him back in the Old West, circa 1870), but once Ward comes upon an Old West town, that's where things kind of slow down to a crawl.
A gang of cowboys shoot at a revving motorcycle, they think Ward in all his moto-cross gear is some kind of demon and no one knows what an Exxon station is.
Thank goodness for pros like Coyote, Masur, Lauter and Walter; they help keep things lively and interesting for a while.
My favorite Fred Ward movie is Remo Williams:The Adventure Begins.
I don't know why I haven't caught him in anything since, but I certainly enjoyed that period of his career.I really enjoy time travel movies.
When I watched this, I had just finished another time travel film with William Devane and Lauren Hutton (Timestalkers).
Not first quality, but interesting nonetheless.This one starts off with Swann (Ward) getting caught in a time travel test and being shot back to 1877 with his motorcycle and full gear.
You can imagine the impact that had on an old Mexican.Swann spends his time trying to figure out where he is, while he tries to escape the bad guy, played by Peter Coyote, who wants his "machine." Interesting twist at the end of a mediocre, but fascinating movie.Would have liked to see more of Belinda Bauer, but I'll have to check out her appearance in Winter Kills for that..
"Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann" has an intriguing premise: What if a modern day motorcycle rider was transported back in time with his motorbike to the age of the cowboy?
The movie manages to mine some interesting and entertainment moments from this, ranging from the reaction of nineteenth century people to this modern figure and his machine to some interesting action moments.
It's also fun to see cult stars L.Q. Jones and Ed Lauter.While the movie passes the time acceptably, at the same time I couldn't help but feel that the screenwriters didn't punch up the script enough.
Lyle Swann, a motocross rider who got lost while racing in the Baja 1000, stumbles across a top-secret research testing site running a series of experiments regarding backwards time travel in the middle of the desert.
Such scenes gets a boost from the groovy electric-guitar and synth-heavy soundtrack courtesy of Michael Nesmith which serves to amplify William Dear's brisk pace in handling those said action-packed sequences.This flick features some of Hollywood's most underrated character actors who are very much aware that all they're making is a popcorn-and-drinks-while-watching-it kind of a movie.
And as for the bad guys, there's Tracey Walter as Carl Dorsett who accidentally suffered because of Claire's defense of Lyle, and Richard Masur playing Claude, the other Dorsett brother, with a restrained goofiness which serves to complement Peter Coyote's relishing that understated campiness in playing the role as the leader of the outlaws, Porter Reese, who's determined to get his hands on the Yamaha off-road motorcycle, which can be considered a part of the ensemble.
But that lack of sense kind of justifies the fact of that the story takes place in an almost barren, semi-arid location with lots of baffled peasants mistaking Lyle for the devil incarnate while the bandits are brave enough to dare take his motorcycle and stuff him lead bullets just to acquire it.
A wonderful adventure back to the Old West through time travel.
One of my favorite time travel movies.
In late 1982 the hero, an off road motorbike racer, named Lyle Swann, unwittingly gets caught in the middle of a time-travel experiment and is transported to the Old West of 1877.
As the film progresses Swann meets several people in 1877: outlaws, an attractive woman named Clare Cygne from Louisiana, a priest Quinn heading a small town and two US Marshalls.
When Clare pulls out a copy of Twain's "Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", written in 1865, viewers paying attention to the scene will recall that Twain is the author of one of the most famous time travel stories "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" written in 1889 and which probably inspires this film.
The priest and Clare work together bartering with Mexican locals, trinkets, guns, and food stuffs.The film showcases several adult themes ie: profanity, gunshots, mild sex scene.
At this point many viewers who have seen the film think that Clare's actions reveal her to be Lyle's great great grandmother.
Even if time-travel was real, Lyle Swann could not be his own great great grandfather or father his own great grandmother who would be the child Clare would conceive after the night of sex with Lyle.
...The pendant, a seemingly valuable trinket as Lyle had been handed down to by his mother, is probably something from the 19th century and now it's returning to it's original time when Clare snatches it.
Amusing cult flick combines sci-fi and the Western in this offbeat tale of a motocross racer, Lyle Swann (Fred Ward), who gets lost and wanders into the testing area of a time travel experiment.
So good old Lyle is zapped back over a hundred years to the Old West where he confounds the locals with his outrageous (to them, anyway) get-up and his astounding vehicle, which slimy outlaw Porter Reese (Peter Coyote) wants to obtain no matter what.The film is co-written (with director William Dear), produced and scored by ex - "Monkee" Michael Nesmith, and overall is pretty entertaining, even if it's doing a lot of standard fish-out-of-water humour.
It never once occurs to him that he could have ended up in the past."Timerider" certainly features an impressive roster of character actors - Ward is likable in the starring role, the oddly matched Richard Masur and Tracey Walter are funny as bickering brothers, and Ed Lauter, L.Q. Jones, Chris Mulkey, and Macon McCalman are fine in supporting parts.
There is some violence, but never much in the way of gore.B movie enthusiasts will surely enjoy the premise of this little film, which does move along quite well and offer enough diverting set pieces and laughs to rate as acceptable entertainment.Seven out of 10..
Fred Ward is a very interesting actor in all his movies.
Bike-racing daredevil Lyle Swann (Fred Ward) loses his way during a test drive and passes through a scientific test area where he accidentally gets catapulted back in time to the year 1877.
"Timerider" predates "Back to the Future", the milestone that single-handedly popularized the time-traveling concept in cinema, so it just ends up being a lame crossover between Sci-Fi and comedy.
Lyle Swann only tries to recover his stolen motorcycle throughout the entire film and, in the end, he's rescued by a helicopter that got sent back in time as well.
It's not a good film because it lacks a cohesive plot, the narrative sorta just plods along and we never really learn much about Lyle Swann, the dirt biker part of a motor-cross marathon that accidentally gets sent from 1982 to 1877.
The film seems to end rather abruptly, and on a somewhat bittersweet note.The biggest complaint I always see about Timerider is that Lyle Swann is pretty stupid about what happened to him.
He doesn't seem to put together that he went back in time till literally the very last scene, even the moments leading up to that last part don't give a hint that Swann had realized he was sent back to the 19th century.
Though I do find it believable that most people would not suddenly think "hey I went back in time" simply because they are lost.
Swann's interaction with the old man in the desert or the villainous Reese and his crew would probably not be enough for him to make that connection, but I think that by the time Swann had reached the small village something should have sparked in his mind that this was not right.
By this point Swann should have seriously wondered about why people continue to assume he is some demon.I want to echo the sentiments of another poster, some of the stuff I really enjoyed about this movie was the raw unapologetic presentation of 19th century America.
I really liked this, when I saw this movie for the first time as a small child this struck a chord with me, as I don't think I had seen too many films up to that point that presented the old west like that.
Time Rider made today would be a great film.
Fred Wards continual sweating and saying things like "Where's my bike" and "I gotta get outta here" just don't hold you for 90 minutes.
Then there's Peter Coyote (wasted here) gritting his 50 or so gold fillings while saying "That's mine, that's mine" The premise here is good and the film entertaining but another 15 minutes of character building and a better use of Swan's gadgets would have been a big help.
One of the better time travel movies,and one of the more original of the genre.This movie is set in the Baja 1000,with a motocross driver who goes back in time.Not the best in production quality,but still very entertaining..
This was the first Cable movie I ever saw way back in 1983.The best things were its gadgets and predictions, more or less about our time believe it or not.
Even the girl seems thrown in as an afterthought.Probably the only good reason to watch this movie is to see Belinda Bauer.
Curious in a film that purports to be the adventure of Lyle Swann.
When he started to realize something was wrong, why did he not remember what he read on the plaque of the time machine?But being a fan of alternate reality and time travel, I do enjoy this movie a lot.
I get a kick out of time travel stories where there is a meeting of past and present, such as in this one where a helicopter rescues a hapless motorcyclist who gets sent back in time.
I think this is the first time travel movie I had ever scene as a kid.
Such as the Peasent puts on cycle helmet and is blasted by rock music, and the sight of the helicoptor at the climactic end sequence.Goof - Time Travel Paradox in movieLyle Swann says to Belinda earlier in the movie that the pendant he wears is from his great grand mother.
At the end of the movie, Belinda snatches the pendant from the neck of Lyle as he is being lifted by the helicoptor.
Star motorcycle racer, "Lyle Swan" (Fred Ward) goes missing as he is in the middle to a race.
In reality, he stumbles upon a secret government time travel experiment, and is sent to the late 1800's.While in the past, he comes across a band of outlaws, who become obsessed with his "machine." He also meets the residents of a small town, who believe him to be the devil, as well as a woman (Belinda Bauer) and the local padre (Ed Lauter).The entire time, "Swan" is unaware that he is in the past.
A so-so time travel film that sounds like it would be a lot more fun that what is actually is.Unfortunately, despite trying, I can not get into the Western genre and after the first 10 minutes this film becomes a very sub-par Western film with the novelty element of someone who has gone back in time.
There whole time travel element is almost completely irrelevant to the storyline and is nothing more than an occasional novelty element in the storyline.Lyle Swann is accidentally transported back to the Wild West and from that moment it's a simple case of boy meets girl, girl gets kidnapped by baddies, boy rescues girl.
Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann.
I half expected this to be an adaptation of a children's book but surprisingly it isn't...but the whole premise predates the 'Back the the Future' franchise which makes you think.So basically a young Fred Ward plays the protagonist 'Lyle Swann', also known as the Timerider...kinda.
During the Baja 1000 cross-country bike race he goes off course and ends up riding into a scientific experiment that has been set up to...errm send things back in time.
The start of the movie virtually shows us nothing more than the title character riding through the barren Mexican desert on his bike, literately that for around 20 minutes!
Seriously they are conducting this major experiment in the desert yet there's no one there to safeguard it or keep people or roaming animals out the way.Once in the wild west of Mexico Swann comes across all the things you'd predict he would such as bandits, outlaws, a lovely lady, priests and terrified locals.
It is reasonably amusing how Ward's character doesn't know he's gone back in time, there are some nice moments based on that idea but most of what happens you can see coming a mile off like the locals thinking he's a demon from hell, Swann falling for the pretty female, the bad guys wanting his bike etc...I can't really complain about the clichéd plot line because the film was made in 82 and back then this wasn't clichéd or predictable, ditto the situations Swann gets into, nothing original or particularly exciting but back in the day it would have been different.I did like the twist ending surrounding his great great grandmother and father, bit of a time paradox thinker which shows that had Swann never gone back in time he would have never existed.
Then there's the usual old silliness of all the outlaws shooting at Swann on his bike yet failing to hit him every time.
The story only becomes really interesting right at the very end with the nice time paradox twist, up to that point its no way as cool as the movies poster makes it out to be.4.5/10.
Lyle, a motorcycle champion is travelling the Mexican desert, when he find himself in the action radius of a time machine.So he find himself one century back in the past between rapists, thieves and murderers....The thing that is wrong with this movie, and what deters it from other schlocky eighties movies of this nature, is the fact that there is no characterisation, no real story, no narration.The film at times doesn't know what to do with itself, so spends the time with Ward riding his bike to one situation that ends with a comedy moment, or with an action moment.But the most irritating thing about this movie is that not once does Swann ask what year he is in, thus making the title of the film pointless.There are a couple of good scenes, bloody boots and Coyote trying to start the bike, but it really doesn't hold a candle to cult movies like Zone Troopers or Solarbabies..
This is a very clever movie.I disagree with those that criticize the movie because Lyle can't figure out he has traveled through time; indeed, that's what makes the movie so effective.
Sappy, slap-stick sci-fi, ....maybe so, but a movie with a pseudo-classic line that makes one think about a side-plot years later can't be considered anything less than very effective!
A very cool and enjoyable low-budget 80's sci-fi/Western time travel favorite.
Fred Ward gives a typically credible and engaging performance as Lyle Swann, a hotshot off-road motorcycle champion who becomes lost in the Mexico desert while in the middle of a motorcross race.
Swann accidentally stumbles across a top secret government base that's conducting a time travel experiment and gets transported back to 1877.