Joe Versus the Volcano [Blu-ray]

Director: John Patrick Shanley

Overview

Academy Award-winning screenwriter John Patrick Shanley's first foray into the director's chair is a quirky romantic fantasy, featuring Bo Welch's signature production design. Tom Hanks plays Joe Banks, a man who hates his job, thinks the overhead fluorescent lights are making him sick, and quakes at the presence of his boorish boss Frank Watori (Dan Hedaya). He is attracted to the office secretary DeDe (Meg Ryan) but is afraid to speak to her. Then his life changes when he visits Dr. Ellison (Robert Stack). Dr. Ellison tells Joe that he has something called "a brain cloud" that is rapidly spreading throughout his brain. He will feel great, but he'll be dead within five months. Instead of being depressed at this bleak prognosis, Joe suddenly feels free. He quits his job, asks DeDe out, and is contacted by a rich millionaire named Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges). Graynamore owns an island named Waponi Woo, whose natives need to be placated. The natives require a sacrifice to their island volcano, the Big Woo, so that the island won't sink beneath the Pacific. Graynamore offers unlimited wealth to Tom in exchange for Tom's becoming the object of human sacrifice. Joe has nothing to lose, so he accepts the offer. As he heads out to the island, Joe meets Graynamore's daughters -- Angelica, a Los Angeles socialite, and Patricia, Angelica's blonde half-sister (both roles played by Ryan). Joe arrives at the island, and as he stands at the lips of the Big Woo he has to decide whether he really wants to leap into the maw of the fiery volcano.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/20/2017
UPC:	0888574489786
Original Release:	1990
Rating:	PG
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:42:00
Sales rank:	5,042

Special Features

Behind-the-Scenes Documentary; Eric Burdon "Sixteen Tons" Music Video

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Tom Hanks	Joe Banks
Meg Ryan	DeDe,Bellman
Lloyd Bridges	Graynamore
Robert Stack	Ellison
Abe Vigoda	Waponis Chief
Dan Hedaya	Se?or Frank Watori
Amanda Plummer	Dagmar
Ossie Davis	Marshall
Barry McGovern	Luggage Salesman
Jayne Haynes	Nurse
Marion Dougherty	Actor
Jon Conrad Pochron	Actor
David Burton	Mike
Antoni Gatti	Actor
Jon Pochron	Tony
Karl Rumburg	Ralph
Brian Esteban	Emo - Waponi Lookout
Jennifer Stewart	Statue of Liberty
Paul Thorpe	The (Waponi) God Woo,God Woo
Wally Ruiz	Spanish Singer
Guillermo Guzman	Spanish Singer
Tommy Franco	Spanish Singer
Carol Kane	Actor
Darrell Zwerling	Actor
Jim Hudson	Actor
William Ward	Salesman - Hammacher Schlemmer
Mark Alberts	Native
Nathan Lane	Baw - The Waponi Advance Man
Tony Salome	Clerk
Courtney Gibbs	Saleswoman
Lala Sloatman	Waitress
Georges Delerue	Composer
Peter Gordon	Composer

Technical Credits

Kathleen Kennedy	Executive Producer,Producer
Frank Marshall	Executive Producer,Producer
Teri Schwartz	Producer
Steven Spielberg	Executive Producer,Producer
Roxanne Rogers	Producer
Carl Assmus	Special Effects
Gordon Davidson	Sound Effects
Greg Dillon	Sound Effects
Joaquin Elizalde	Sound Effects,Sound Effects
Mark Grechanik	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

The directorial debut of Oscar-winning screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, this quirky comedy is one of the few flops under the belt of star Tom Hanks, its off-kilter brand of loopy charm flying over the heads of most audiences. As a nebbish who thinks he's dying of a bizarre disease, Hanks diverges from his usual role of an intelligent, supremely competent professional, perhaps alienating his fan base, but delivering a winning, funny performance that ranks with his work as a wide-eyed innocent in Big (1988). In her first pairing with frequent co-star Hanks, female lead Meg Ryan loses herself in a trio of roles that rank among her best work and presage the most undeservedly ignored performance of her career in Courage Under Fire (1996). It's the goofball characters and sneaky symbolism of the screenplay by Shanley that make this wacko project the comic delight that it is, however. Whether it's Abe Vigoda as an Orange Crush-worshipping tribal chief, Lloyd Bridges as an eccentric millionaire, or the recurring visual references to fate (keep an eye peeled for hidden zig-zags and lightning bolts), the film is a major cinematic treat. Although trounced by many critics, Joe Versus the Volcano is a woefully underrated film, one of the decade's lost classics and a film that star Hanks has often singled out as the lone, unfairly tarnished gem on his resumé.