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. The potential was there but it was not utilised. 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. All rather dull.

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. Grimy, vicious desperado Peter Coyote and his two dumb, craven, greasy, unwashed scuzzbag partners (marvelously played by the ever-grubby Tracey Walter and an uncharacteristically nasty Richard Masur) want to steal Swann's wheels. Swann seeks refuge in a small, remote Mexican village. The God-fearing peasant vocals think Swann is the devil incarnate. Only priest Ed Lauter and fiery, fetching femme Clair (the highly alluring and enticing Belinda Bauer) treat Swann with any hospitality and become his sole allies, protecting him from both Coyote's gang and a couple of bothersome federal marshals (one of 'em is grizzled Sam Peckinpah movie regular L.Q. Jones).

The fantastic premise is given a semblance of gritty, lived-in plausibility thanks to the brightly conceived script, believable reactions the 18th century characters have to both Swann and his motorcycle, sound acting from a top-rate cast, and especially director William Dear's harsh, rough around the edges, very dingy and fiercely unromanticized evocation of the Old West. It's this latter element of ragged, dust-under-the-fingernails filthy historical authenticity which makes "Timerider" such an effective and engrossing offbeat sci-fi/Western outing. Former Monkey Michael Nesmith co-produced, co-wrote the quirky screenplay, and supplied the lively, thumping, guitar-blasting, synthesizer-driven rollicking rock score for this interesting anomaly. The Anchor Bay DVD offers an excellent letterboxed presentation of this unsung favorite, along with a disarmingly candid William Dear commentary, two theatrical trailers and a bunch of TV spots.

"Timerider" has one of the stupidest plot premises I ever beheld, but apparently the film nevertheless supports a loyal fan base and is considered a modest cult favorite. I thought it was boring, imbecilic and forgettable. All the more proof that the term "cult favorite" is widely open for personal interpretation. 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. Of course, he's completely unaware of the troublesome situation he's in and when confronted with villainous cowboys and superstitious villagers that think he's "El Diablo", he only responds by pulling stupid faces. "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. It's a very boring film that does nothing extraordinary or memorable. 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. How stupid is that? The concept isn't properly worked out, neither and the plot is full of dreadful clichés and predictable twists. The futuristic guy on his bike is accepted amongst the townspeople rather quickly, rather than to continue regarding him as some sort of demon, and obviously the lead heroine later turns out to be his great-grandmother. There's one notably amusing sequence, when the gang of criminals that stole Swann's motorcycle – led by Peter Coyote – tries to operate it. Other than this short worthwhile interlude, "Timerider" is a dumb film that I cannot bring myself to recommend to anyone.