Dante's Peak

Director: Roger Donaldson Roger Donaldson

Overview

Old Smokey develops a bad temper in this volcanic disaster spectacle. Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) is a volcano expert whose interest became more than academic after he lost the woman he loved in a volcanic emergency. When he is sent to investigate unusual seismic activity in the quiet Pacific Northwest community of Dante's Peak, he discovers people boiled to death in the local hot spring and plant and animal life dying or displaying unusual illnesses near the city's supposedly dormant volcano. Harry becomes convinced that a major volcanic catastrophe is in the cards. Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton), the town's mayor, is a single mother who also runs the local cafe, and now that Dante's Peak has been named one of the most desirable small towns in America, tourists have been flocking to the diner and other local businesses. While concerned with the safety of her community, Rachel takes a cynical view of Harry's warnings about the volcano; she has no desire to alarm either the town's residents or the wealthy visitors lining the city's pockets. Nevertheless, Harry tries to convince Rachel of the potential danger, as they begin to develop feelings for each other that are not strictly professional. The summer of 1997 was a big season for killer volcanoes at the movies, as Dante's Peak and Volcano opened within a few months of each other.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/22/2018
UPC:	0191329057797
Original Release:	1997
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Universal Studios

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Pierce Brosnan	Harry Dalton
Linda Hamilton	Rachel Wando
Charles Hallahan	Paul Dreyfus
Grant Heslov	Greg
Elizabeth Hoffman	Ruth
Jamie Renee Smith	Lauren Wando
Jeremy Foley	Graham Wando
Arabella Field	Nancy
James Fox	Stan
Brian Reddy	Les Worrell
Kirk Trutner	Terry Furlong

Technical Credits

Leslie Bohem

Roger Donaldson	Director
Andrzej Bartkowiak	Cinematographer
Leslie Bohem	Screenwriter
Louisa Bonnie	Set Decoration/Design
Conrad Buff	Editor
Allison Cowitt	Casting
Digital Domain	Special Effects
Mike Fenton	Casting
Mary Finn	Set Decoration/Design
John Frizzell	Score Composer,Songwriter
David M. Haber	Set Decoration/Design
Jim Halty	Stunts
Ilona Herzberg	Executive Producer
Tina Hirsch	Editor
James Newton Howard	Score Composer
Gale Anne Hurd	Producer
David MacMillan	Sound/Sound Designer
Marvin March	Set Decoration/Design
Patrick McClung	Special Effects Supervisor
Geoff Murphy	Associate Producer
Isis Mussenden	Costumes/Costume Designer
Frank Pezza	Art Director
David Sardi	Asst. Director
Marliese Schneider	Co-producer
George Simpson	Sound Editor
Joseph M. Singer	Producer
Howard E. Smith	Editor
Raymond Stella	Cinematographer
Tom Targownik Taylor	Art Director
Dennis Washington	Production Designer

Editorial Reviews

Formulaic disaster movies have endured as a genre because every so often, one of them perfectly captures the sense of normal life supplanted by utter chaos. Dante's Peak is a textbook case of this -- formulaic to a fault, yet exceptionally thrilling. Its de rigueur opening vignette establishes the gravity of a volcanic eruption quite nicely, as Pierce Brosnan's daring seismologist escapes from a native village at ground zero just a tad too late. If the fist-sized chunk of smoldering rock that punches through the roof of his pickup is enough to bring convulsive death to his girlfriend, just imagine the capabilities of the torrent of smoke and magma behind it. The tense opening lurks in the viewer's consciousness as Brosnan shows up in the Pacific Northwest and starts looking around ominously. Director Roger Donaldson has stacked the deck smartly, so when local government starts weighing Brosnan's calculations against lost tourist revenue, it's believably nerve-wracking and frustrating. Once the lava starts flowing, the film gives up some of its authenticity in favor of thrilling escapes and implausible science. But like the opening, and the best parts of every good disaster movie, it's the failed escapes that make for gripping theater. Dante's Peak is far superior to its unexciting rival from the same summer, Volcano, which forgoes the explosive pyrotechnics captured here in favor of (yawn) the effort to barricade a pesky lava flow slowly advancing on Los Angeles.

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