A movie that dares to suggest that the way to end racism is to blanket the human race in volcanic ash.
Cinemas
An earthquake shatters a peaceful Los Angeles morning and opens a fissure deep into the earth, causing lava to start bubbling up. As a volcano begins forming in the La Brea Tar Pits, the director of the city's emergency management service, working with a geologist, must then use every resource in the city to try and stop the volcano from consuming LA.
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Cast & crew
6What people say
"Look at their faces. They all look the same"Gather around children of Letterboxd, and let me tell you a story. This is a story about one of the best days of my life, and along the way you might just learn why I love this film so much. After high school I was working at an independent music and movie store part time, and trying to get into a film program at a local polytechnic. Life for me was pretty great, given that I spent my time either watching movies or listening to music while I worked, while also spending almost all my pay on movies and music. Furthermore, this was a time when all of my childhood friends were still around town, so the nights were spent hanging out watching movies. During this great period of my life, a longtime friend who lived just outside of town would get asked on a pretty regular basis to house sit for a neighbour of his, often for weeks at a time. What made it better, was that this house wasn't just any old house, but rather a house that seemed to be stuck in the late 70s/early 80s. At the time that it was built, it must have been a really great place, but for some reason the owners never felt the need to update anything. I mean, just the basement alone had a hot tub in it, a full bar, a games area, and a 4:3 behemoth of a big screen tv. This was just the main area of the basement, with there being side rooms that led to other rooms, resulting in more than a few thoughts about the Overlook hotel. Making things even more interesting, was that the owners of the house had a relative die a few years previously, and they apparently weren't willing to get rid of any of this relatives possessions. So, while it wasn't a house quite worthy of hoarders, it almost was. Literally any surface that could have boxes on it, had boxes on it, and this gave the house a very unique vibe. What I hope you have gathered by now, is that a friend house sitting basically means that there is a house free to do whatever you wanted in, as long as whatever you wanted meant watching old VHS movies and raiding the outdoor fridge (yes, they had an outdoor fridge, and yes outdoor fridges are as amazing as the words outdoor and fridge put together suggests). So generally the first night that my friend started house sitting meant that I would bring over wings, and we would watch something stupid late into the night. After that, pretty much any free time that I had would be spent at this house, just watching movies and doing nothing else. One Sunday afternoon, a large group of people were over at the house, and we spent a good hour or so just searching that basement for VHS tapes. We settled on some movie about a virus in the arctic, and started to watch it, only to discover that is was pretty much unwatchable, that being a judge of the quality of the film making, and the condition of the VHS tape itself. Thus, we decided to choose another film. All while this was going on, my brother who was part of the group of people that were over, got a call from his girlfriend at that time. Her family owned a catering company, and she was helping cater a wedding reception at a local community center. Her reason for calling my brother was two fold. One reason was to ask for some assistance catering the reception, and the second reason was to let my brother know that a certain actor by the name of Vince Vaughn was in attendance at the wedding reception. Given that my town didn't often see the likes of someone like Vince Vaughn, this seemed like a rather ridiculous claim. Thus, everyone decided that the only thing we could do was to all go down to this wedding reception, and get a confirmation with our own eyes. Moments later we had all piled into a vehicle to basically crash this wedding reception, but then my brothers girlfriend (ex) called him to make sure that he wasn't bringing any of us with him. With our plans thwarted, we sent my brother to the reception with instructions to get a confirmation that it was in fact Vince Vaughn, and to also get back as soon as possible with his girlfriend (ex) so that we could start a movie. While my brother left, the group returned to the basement to decide on another movie. We decided on the Tommy Lee Jones classic Volcano, which only a hand full of people there had seen. Meanwhile, my brother reported in, confirming that it was in fact Vince Vaughn at the wedding reception. This news filled us with a strange elation that some reason put everyone in a fantastic mood. The jokes regarding crashing weddings flew, as we waited for my brother and his girlfriend (ex) to return to the house. When they finally did, they came bearing mountains of left over food from the wedding reception. We started the movie, and started to fill our bellies, and what followed was arguably one of the most memorable movie watching experiences of my life. See, Volcano is hardly a good or well made movie. For a movie that cost ninety million dollars, the film resembles a made for TV movie, more than a huge Hollywood blockbuster. What the film has in spades though is scenes that give ample material for jokes. These scenes were like fuel for our group of full bellied friends who were riding high off the knowledge that Vince Vaughn had graced our town with his presence. During the film's hour and forty four minute runtime, I laughed more than I ever have during a movie. There wasn't a single person whose jokes weren't landing with some serious power on the entire group, with jokes regarding the lava becoming sentient being particularly crowd pleasing. While we spent the whole time laughing at the movie, I don't think that there was a single person who thought it was bad. As for myself, I went into the store that I worked at the next day, and bought a copy of the film in order to memorialize the special time that we had. However, I have never rewatched the film until today. I didn't think that this rewatch of Volcano could possibly deliver the same joy that it had on the last watch, but I was wrong. While watching it, I still found everything that I found so funny about it funny, and I also gained a greater appreciation for the film itself. We need films like Volcano. We need films that are easily watched by anyone, no matter who they are. We need films that make days memorable. We need films that have Tommy Lee Jones running underneath toppling skyscrapers. We need films that have only one purpose, to entertain. We need films. We need films. It has now been many years since that Sunday afternoon viewing of Volcano. The people that were there watching it with me are now spread out far and wide. Some I speak to on a weekly basis, and some I haven't spoken to in years. There are some that I still get together with on a regularly, and there are some that have been consumed by new lives pursuing careers or higher education. Still, no matter where are lives get to, we will always have the time spent together hanging out and watching movies. We will always remember Volcano.
the best but is when tommy grabs a drill and just starts fuckin jack hammering the pavement to shit
Common questions
What is Volcano about?+
An earthquake opens a fissure in Los Angeles that triggers a volcanic eruption in the La Brea Tar Pits, forcing local authorities to find a way to contain the molten flow.
Who directed Volcano?+
Mick Jackson directed the 1997 film; he is a British director known for balancing television dramas and studio pictures.
