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IMDbPro

Volcano

  • 19971997
  • PG-13PG-13
  • 1h 44m
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
78K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,425
1,007
Volcano (1997)
Home Video Trailer from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Play trailer2:26
1 Video
99+ Photos
ActionDramaSci-Fi
A volcano erupts in downtown Los Angeles and a city official and a seismologist try to stop its inevitable flow through the city.A volcano erupts in downtown Los Angeles and a city official and a seismologist try to stop its inevitable flow through the city.A volcano erupts in downtown Los Angeles and a city official and a seismologist try to stop its inevitable flow through the city.
IMDb RATING
5.5/10
78K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
4,425
1,007
    • Mick Jackson
    • Jerome Armstrong(story)
    • Billy Ray(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Tommy Lee Jones
    • Anne Heche
    • Gaby Hoffmann
    • Mick Jackson
    • Jerome Armstrong(story)
    • Billy Ray(screenplay)
  • Stars
    • Tommy Lee Jones
    • Anne Heche
    • Gaby Hoffmann
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 240User reviews
    • 85Critic reviews
    • 55Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards

    Videos1

    Volcano
    Trailer 2:26
    Watch Volcano

    Photos190

    Anne Heche and Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano (1997)
    Tommy Lee Jones and Gaby Hoffmann in Volcano (1997)
    Volcano (1997)
    Anne Heche and Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano (1997)
    Anne Heche and Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano (1997)
    Don Cheadle in Volcano (1997)
    Volcano (1997)
    Volcano (1997)
    Volcano (1997)
    Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano (1997)
    Tommy Lee Jones in Volcano (1997)
    Volcano (1997)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Tommy Lee Jones
    Tommy Lee Jones
    • Mike Roark
    Anne Heche
    Anne Heche
    • Dr. Amy Barnes
    Gaby Hoffmann
    Gaby Hoffmann
    • Kelly Roark
    Don Cheadle
    Don Cheadle
    • Emmit Reese
    Jacqueline Kim
    Jacqueline Kim
    • Dr. Jaye Calder
    Keith David
    Keith David
    • Lt. Ed Fox
    John Corbett
    John Corbett
    • Norman Calder
    Michael Rispoli
    Michael Rispoli
    • Gator Harris
    John Carroll Lynch
    John Carroll Lynch
    • Stan Olber
    Marcello Thedford
    Marcello Thedford
    • Kevin
    Laurie Lathem
    Laurie Lathem
    • Rachel
    Bert Kramer
    Bert Kramer
    • Fire Chief
    Bo Eason
    • Bud McVie
    James MacDonald
    James MacDonald
    • Terry Jasper
    • (as James G. MacDonald)
    Dayton Callie
    Dayton Callie
    • Roger Lapher
    Michael Cutt
    Michael Cutt
    • Armstrong
    Kevin Bourland
    • Bob Davis
    Valente Rodriguez
    Valente Rodriguez
    • Train Driver
      • Mick Jackson
      • Jerome Armstrong(story) (screenplay)
      • Billy Ray(screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      (at around 23 mins) Rachel mentions an incident in Paricutin. She's referring to the 1,500 foot (457.2 meters) volcano that emerged over a few months in 1942 in Paricutin, Michoacan, Mexico.
    • Goofs
      (at around 27 mins) During the first big tremor, the city has a blackout, and goes completely dark. Car headlights, which are not attached to the power grid, should still be visible.
    • Quotes

      [Museum personnel are moving paintings from a threatened museum]

      1st. Guard: Man, this Hieronymus Bosch is heavy!

      2nd. Guard: That's because he deals with man's inclination towards sin, in defiance of God's will.

      1st. Guard: I didn't mean it like that.

      2nd. Guard: Oh.

    • Alternate versions
      To attract more viewers the German theatrical version was cut to receive a "Not under 12" rating. The German video release contains the complete version and is rated "Not under 16".
    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Volcano/Shiloh/Romy and Michele's High School Reunion/Female Perversions/A Brother's Kiss (1997)
    • Soundtracks
      I Love L.A.
      Written and Performed by Randy Newman

      Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.

      By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

    User reviews240

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    What America needs is a few good volcanic eruptions?
    As a Big Budget movie, I'm sure that "Volcano" took more than a few months to make. Too bad someone associated with the movie didn't take that time to wander into the local library (the children's section, perhaps), and check out a book on "Volcanoes". I've seen Saturday-morning cartoons that have a better understanding of lava.

    Instead we get many scenes of outright stupidity that would challenge even the densest of viewers. In one scene, Tommy Lee Jones and an assistant are standing near a volcanic vent, and their protective suits start to melt (of course skin is stronger than a protective suit, so they escape unharmed). But in numerous later scenes, people walk by lava like you might walk past a lake. Maybe this is because no one seems to know it's lava. I lost count of how many times a character said something like "What is that stuff?" or "There's something really hot and glowing coming down the street, and things are melting into it. Wonder what it could be?"

    In what has to be one of the worst scenes ever filmed, two characters load an injured man onto the outstretched ladder of a hook & ladder truck. Then they hang onto a dangling fire hose as the ladder is lifted above the lava. The heat is so intense that the fire hose SPONTANEOUSLY COMBUSTS, but our characters are unhurt (their boots smoke a little). I didn't know that fire hoses were so flammable...

    But "Volcano"is not just a dumb disaster flick with bad science. No! It's also a Socially-Important Commentary on our Society Movie! Throughout the film there are numerous "social messages". These are so corny and contrived that they could only have been written by people who have never actually experienced them. A racist cop tries to arrest a guy for assault (in the middle of a disaster scene!), but then the two team up to help save the day. Aww. Later, a little kid notes that "everybody looks the same" when covered by ash and soot. Aww. America's racial troubles could be ended, if only a giant volcano threatened us all.

    More? Oh sure, there's more! Tommy Lee Jones is the too-hard-working dad who comes to value his daughter. Said daughter is a selfish brat who learns some responsibility, and respect for her dad. There's a guy whose only role in the movie is to say obviously insulting things. This makes him the "bad guy". One can see the writers of this movie hammering his role out: "We need someone who's rich and yuppie-like and snooty. Someone like us, only not as enlightened. Someone who wouldn't make a Socially-Important Commentary on our Society Movie like we are!" Of course, bad things happen to him and all is right with the world.

    In the end, the mysterious, glowing, sometimes-hot substance we come to know as "lava" is channeled into the sea, and all of LA lives happily ever after in a just and fair world. A world, of course, with a big smoking volcano plopped down into the middle of it. Certainly that won't affect the real estate values?

    The lessons of this movie are quite clear. 1) lava is harmless if you don't touch it; 2) small children will inevitably wander into incredible harm (but emerge OK), and 3) only through the trauma of sudden volcanic activity will we come to appreciate the true Brotherhood of Man.

    Whoever thought up this movie should be thrown into a volcano...
    helpful•141
    32
    • jpsaldibar
    • Aug 19, 2000

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • April 25, 1997 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
      • Spanish
      • German
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Whole Foods Market - 4520 Sepulveda Boulevard, Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production companies
      • Twentieth Century Fox
      • Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions
      • Moritz Original
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 44 minutes
      • Color
      • DTS
      • Dolby Digital
      • SDDS

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