Dante's Peak (1997)

Director:

Roger Donaldson

Writer (WGA):

Leslie Bohem (written by)

Release Date:

7 February 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

The pressure is building...

Plot:

Dr. Harry Dalton discovers that Dante's Peak, which has recently been named the second most desirable place to live in America, is being threatened by a volcano that hasn't been live for years.

Plot Keywords:

Volcano | Mayor | Lava | Cascades | Volcanic Eruption

Awards:

4 wins

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Pierce Brosnan	...	Harry Dalton
Linda Hamilton	...	Rachel Wando
Charles Hallahan	...	Paul Dreyfus
Jamie Renée Smith	...	Lauren Wando
Jeremy Foley	...	Graham Wando
Elizabeth Hoffman	...	Ruth
Grant Heslov	...	Greg, USGS Crew
Kirk Trutner	...	Terry, USGS Crew
Arabella Field	...	Nancy, USGS Crew
Tzi Ma	...	Stan, USGS Crew
Brian Reddy	...	Les Worrell
Lee Garlington	...	Dr. Jane Fox
Bill Bolender	...	Sheriff Turner
Carole Androsky	...	Mary Kelly (as Carol Androsky)
Peter Jason	...	Norman Gates

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for disaster related peril and gore.

Runtime:

Poland:104 min | USA:109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #35097) | Iceland:12 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Finland:K-12/9 | France:U | Germany:12 (bw) | Netherlands:12 | Norway:15 | Poland:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | Spain:7 | Sweden:11 | UK:12

Filming Locations:

Agua Dulce, California, USA

Company:

Pacific Western

Trivia:

Pierce Brosnan plays a character with the last name Dalton in this film. Two years earlier he took over the role of James Bond, replacing Timothy Dalton.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When they go to save the grandmother, just before the lava comes bursting through the wall, the grandmother has a garbage bag in her hands. When the lava breaks through, she appears to drop the bag and starts running. Then they show the whole family outside, and the bag is back in the grandmother's hands, with no time for her to have picked it up. In fact it was Mayor Wando who dropped her bag; she was standing in front of the grandmother, making it appear that she dropped hers.

Quotes:

Greg: It's coffee time! Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee! Cappuccino, java, YES!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Weird Al Show: Al Plays Hooky (#1.9)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

Blue Moon Revisited

Volcano Plays Its Part Very Well

Yes, there are some cheesy, hollywoodish moments in this movie, but the actors bring enough charisma and presence to hold the story together. Pierce Brosnan makes a convincing scientist, whose passion and desire to protect the townspeople plays off nicely with Mayor Linda Hamilton's similar concerns.

But what I most want to say is that the volcano itself was both believable and accurate. So I want to commend the filmmakers for having enough integrity to make an entertaining film within the boundaries of scientific accuracy. And face it, you don't go to a movie like Dante's Peak to see insightful drama, or peer deep into the human psyche. The people and the volcano play off each other very nicely. It's not often you get a film with both chemistry and physics.