Joe Versus the Volcano
Joe Versus The Volcano Poster
Directed by	John Patrick Shanley
Produced by	Steven Spielberg Frank Marshall Kathleen Kennedy
Written by	John Patrick Shanley
Starring	Tom Hanks Meg Ryan
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	1990
Running time	102 min.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Joe Versus the Volcano is a 1990 comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan and was the first film directed by screenwriter John Patrick Shanley. It was the first of three films pairing Hanks and Ryan. Though it was praised by notable reviewers such as Roger Ebert at the time of its release in 1990, Joe Versus the Volcano was considered a box office flop, and one of Hanks' minor films. Since then, it has accumulated a cult following. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (499x755, 57 KB) This image is of a movie poster or title card, and the copyright for it is most likely owned by either the publisher of the movie or the studio which produced the movie in question. ... John Patrick Shanley (born in 1950) is a playwright from the Bronx. ... Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946), commonly referred to as Steven Spielberg, is a highly famous, enormously influential, three-time Academy Award winning American film director and producer who is one of the most prominent figures from the world of cinema and whose very name has become synonymous with... Frank Marshall (born September 13, 1946) is an American movie producer and director, often working in collaboration with Kathleen Kennedy. ... Producer Kathleen Kennedy Kathleen Kennedy (b. ... John Patrick Shanley (born in 1950) is a playwright from the Bronx. ... Thomas Tom Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer who starred in family-friendly and screwball comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor in well written plum roles in Philadelphia... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Warner Bros. ... // Chris Rock and Adam Sandler join SNL February 4 - Actor Tom Cruise and actress Mimi Rogers divorce. ... Comedy has a classical meaning (comical theatre) and a popular one (the use of humour with an intent to provoke[[ laughter in general). ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... Thomas Tom Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer who starred in family-friendly and screwball comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor in well written plum roles in Philadelphia... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... John Patrick Shanley (born in 1950) is a playwright from the Bronx. ... Roger Joseph Ebert (born June 18, 1942) is a Pulitzer Prize winning American film critic. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ...

Plot

Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) is a downtrodden everyman, working in a factory for a pointy haired boss, Frank Waturi (Dan Hedaya). Banks is chronically ill, and finds no joy in his existence. One day, he visits a doctor (Robert Stack) who finds a fatal "brain cloud", apparently an inoperable tumor. Ironically, it didn't cause his poor health. Those symptoms were psychosomatic — he was just imagining them. The doctor suggests, "You have some time left, Mr. Banks. You have some life left. My advice to you is: live it well." Joe promptly quits his job, tells his boss off, and asks former co-worker DeDe (Meg Ryan in the first of three parts) out on a date. It goes well, but when he tells her he's dying, she becomes upset and leaves. In literature and drama, the term everyman has come to mean an ordinary individual, with whom the audience or reader is supposed to be able to identify, and who is often placed in extraordinary circumstances. ... The original Pointy-Haired Boss is the fictional manager in the Dilbert comic strip. ... Dan Hedaya Dan Hedaya is a prolific character actor who was born on July 24, 1940, in Brooklyn, New York to a Sephardic Jewish family. ... Charles Langford Modini Stack (January 13, 1919 – May 14, 2003), better known as Robert Stack, was an American stage and movie actor. ... A psychosomatic illness is one with physical manifestations and supposed psychological cause, often diagnosed when any known or identifiable physical cause was excluded by medical examination. ...

The next day, Joe is visited by wealthy industrialist Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges), who has a proposition for him. There is a small Pacific island called Waponi Wu. It has deposits of a mineral that Graynamore wants to mine, but the native Waponis won't let him, unless he can solve a problem for them. They believe that the volcano on their island must be appeased with a voluntary human sacrifice once every century, but none of the Waponis is willing to volunteer this time around. If he can provide a willing victim, Graynamore can have the mineral. Having heard of Joe's situation, the businessman offers him the opportunity to "live like a king, die like a man." Graynamore will pay for whatever Joe wants, as long as he throws himself into the volcano afterwards. With nothing to lose, Joe agrees. Bridges in The Sound of Fury (1950) Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. ... For other meanings of Pacific, see Pacific (disambiguation). ...

Joe spends a day and night on the town in New York, where he solicits advice on style and life from wise chauffeur Marshall (Ossie Davis). Joe purchases an Armani tuxedo; for his valued assistance, Marshall also gets a tuxedo. Joe also buys four top-of-the-line, hand-crafted, waterproof steamer trunks from a fanatically dedicated luggage salesman (Barry McGovern). NY redirects here. ... Ossie Davis in The Green Pastures, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1951 Ossie Davis (December 18, 1917 – February 4, 2005) was an African American film actor, director and social activist. ... Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer (born 11 July 1934 in Piacenza, Italy), particularly noted for his menswear. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Barry McGovern is an Irish stage, film and television actor. ...

Joe then flies to Los Angeles, where he is met by one of Graynamore's daughters, Angelica (also played by Meg Ryan), who cautions him not to tell her anything, as she cannot keep a secret ("Daddy says I'm a flibbertigibbet!"). She takes him to a yacht, captained by her half-sister, Patricia (Meg Ryan again). Flibbertigibbet may refer to: A character in Anglo-Saxon mythology, apprentice to Wayland Smith. ...

The ocean voyage starts out well; Joe and Patricia are attracted to each other. But then they run into a typhoon. Lightning strikes the yacht and it sinks. Joe rescues Patricia and fashions a raft by lashing his steamer trunks together. She does not regain consciousness for several days. Joe saves the small supply of water for her, while he gradually becomes delirious from thirst. When Patricia awakens, they find they have fortuitously drifted to their destination.

Joe and Patricia get married.

The Waponis treat them to a grand feast. Their chief (Abe Vigoda) asks one last time if anyone else will volunteer, but there are no takers and Joe heads for the volcano. Patricia tries to stop him, declaring her love for him. He admits he loves her as well, "but the timing stinks." Patricia gets the chief to marry them, which he does with comical haste. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Abe Vigoda (born Abraham Charles Vigodah on February 24, 1921) is an American movie and television actor. ...

Afterwards, Patricia decides to join Joe in his jump. When he is unable to dissuade her, they jump in together, but are spared when the volcano erupts and blows them out into the ocean. The island sinks, but Joe and Patricia find their trusty steamer trunks again. Upon discussion, Patricia recognizes the name of Joe's doctor as that of her father's crony. He had lied to him; Joe isn't dying and they can live happily ever after. Happily Ever After can refer to: Happily Ever After, a compilation double-LP comprising The Cure albums Seventeen Seconds and Faith; it was a U.S.-only issue by A&M Records. ...

Trivia

• Joe remarks to each of Meg Ryan's characters (DeDe, Angelica, and Patricia) that when he first saw them he felt he had seen them somewhere before.
• A recurring image of a jagged thunderbolt plays a part in the movie. It is part of the company logo, it is the shape of the pathway leading up to Joe's workplace, it is seen in the plaster damage in Joe's apartment, in the lightning bolt that destroys Patricia's boat, and in the path to the volcano. Other recurring images include ducks, the façade of the factory, dogs, and the moon.
• Carol Kane (using the pseudonym 'Lisa LaFleur'), Amanda Plummer, and Nathan Lane make cameo appearances in this film.
• The fictitious Waponi culture was created 1800 years ago when a Roman galley, crewed by Jewish and Druid slaves, was caught in a storm off the coast of Carthage. They were swept around the horn of Africa and, thinking that they were heading back to Rome, settled on a sparsly populated island in the Pacific. The Waponi tribe is a bizarre cultural mix of Polynesian, Hebrew, Latin, and Celtic influences. They are also major fans of "Jump Soda," an orange drink, and known throughout Polynesia for having no sense of direction.
• The name Waponi Wu means little island with a big volcano. The volcano is called the Big Wu.
• According to people close to Shanley at the time, the story is based on a near death experience Shanley had and is his attempt to describe and explain the altered outlook on life he adopted as a result.
• The original screenplay had a somewhat different ending with the doctor and the industrialist getting their comeuppance.
• Shanley wrote two songs for the movie, 'Marooned Without You' and 'The Cowboy Song', the former used thematically throughout and the latter performed by Tom Hanks on the ukulele.
• The soundtrack currently sells for over US$100. Only 3000 copies were ever printed.

Carol Kane Carol Kane (born Carolyn Laurie Kane on June 18, 1952) is an American actress from Cleveland, Ohio. ... A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Amanda Michael Plummer (born March 23, 1957 in New York, New York) is an Emmy and Tony Award-winning American actress. ... Actor Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born February 3, 1956) is an award-winning American actor of the stage and screen. ... Polynesian is an adjectival form which refers variously to: Polynesian pie Polynesian sauce, a food condiment available at Chick-fil-A the aboriginal inhabitants of Polynesia, and their: Polynesian culture Polynesian mythology Polynesian languages Category: ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... This article is about the European people. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Joe Versus the Volcano

• Joe versus the Volcano at the Internet Movie Database

• Joe versus the Volcano fan site the most comprehensive on the web