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Joe Versus the Volcano is a 1990 comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
The first film directed by screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, it was also the first of three films pairing Hanks and Ryan. Despite positive reviews from noted critics like Roger Ebert, Joe Versus the Volcano was considered a box office flop, and one of Hanks' minor films. Since then, it has attracted a cult following.
Banks (Tom Hanks) is a downtrodden everyman, working in a factory for an unpleasant, demanding boss, Frank Waturi (Dan Hedaya).
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Quotations
Angelica Graynamore: I am completely untrustworthy... I'm a flibbertigibbet.
Angelica Graynamore: I have no response to that.
Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life.
Dr. Ellison: You have some time left, Mr. Banks. You have some life left. My advice to you is: live it well.
to DeDe I bribed them to sing a song that would drive us insane and make our hearts swell and burst.
to Patricia I tell you one thing, though. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we're gonna take this luggage with us!
Encyclopedia
Joe Versus the Volcano is a 1990 comedy film starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
The first film directed by screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, it was also the first of three films pairing Hanks and Ryan. Despite positive reviews from noted critics like Roger Ebert, Joe Versus the Volcano was considered a box office flop, and one of Hanks' minor films. Since then, it has attracted a cult following.
Plot
Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) is a downtrodden everyman, working in a factory for an unpleasant, demanding boss, Frank Waturi (Dan Hedaya). Joyless, listless, and chronically sick, Banks regularly visits doctors who can find nothing physically wrong until finally Dr. Ellison (Robert Stack) diagnoses a fatal, incurable "brain cloud" unrelated to Joe's complaints . Ellison believes these were psychosomatic, caused by frightening experiences in Joe's previous job as a fireman. The brain cloud has no symptoms, except it will kill him in six months. Ellison advises him: "You have some life left.... live it well." Joe tells his boss off, quits his job, and asks former co-worker DeDe (Ryan) out on a date. It goes well, until he tells her he's dying; she becomes upset and leaves.
The next day a wealthy manufacturer, Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges) visits Joe to make a proposition. Graynamore needs to mine deposits of "bubaru" on the tiny Pacific island of Waponi Woo as a raw material for superconductors. The Waponis will let him mine the mineral if he can solve a problem for them. They believe that the volcano on their island must be appeased by a voluntary human sacrifice once every century, but none of the Waponis is willing to volunteer this time around. If Graynamore can provide someone, he can have the mineral. Graynamore offers Joe the opportunity to "live like a king, die like a man." He further offers Joe credit cards to pay for whatever he wants, as long as he jumps into the volcano at the end. With nothing to lose, Joe agrees.
Joe spends a day and a night on the town in New York, where he solicits advice on style and life from his wise chauffeur, Marshall (Ossie Davis). Among other things, Joe purchases four top-of-the-line, handcrafted, waterproof steamer trunks from a fanatically dedicated luggage salesman (Barry McGovern).
Joe then flies to Los Angeles, where he is met by one of Graynamore's daughters, Angelica (also played by Ryan), a shallow socialite who cautions him not to tell her anything, as she cannot keep a secret ("Daddy says I'm a flibbertigibbet!"). The next morning, Angelica takes Joe to a yacht owned by her father. The captain is her half-sister, Patricia (Ryan again). She had reluctantly agreed to take Joe to Waponi Woo after Graynamore promised to give her the yacht in return.
After an awkward beginning, Joe and Patricia begin to bond. Then they run into a typhoon. Patricia is knocked unconscious and flung overboard. While Joe is rescuing her, lightning strikes the yacht, sinking it. Fortunately, Joe is able to construct a raft by lashing together his buoyant steamer trunks. Patricia does not regain consciousness for several days. Joe doles out the small supply of water to her, while he gradually becomes delirious from thirst. Joe experiences a revelation during his delirium and thanks God for his life. When Patricia finally awakens, she is deeply touched that Joe gave her all the water. They then find that they have fortuitously drifted to their destination.
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.
Afterwards, Patricia refuses to be separated from Joe. When he is unable to dissuade her, they jump in together, but the volcano erupts at that moment, blowing them out into the ocean. The island sinks, but Joe and Patricia are rescued by their trusty steamer trunks again. At first ecstatic about their miraculous salvation, Joe puts a damper on things by telling Patricia about his fatal brain cloud. She recognizes the name of Joe's doctor as that of her father's crony and realizes that Joe has been lied to. He isn't dying and they can live happily ever after (if they can survive being on a raft in the middle of the ocean).
Cast
Carol Kane (using the pseudonym "Lisa LeBlanc") and Nathan Lane made cameo appearances.
Production
The original screenplay had a somewhat different ending with the doctor and the industrialist getting their comeuppance.
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.
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.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack for Joe Versus the Volcano was released in very limited numbers as a promotional item. Only 3000 copies were manufactured.
Eric Burdon's updated version of the old country song "Sixteen Tons" was used for the beginning of the film.
Recurring themes
- The image of a jagged thunderbolt keeps recurring in the movie. It is part of the company logo, the shape of the pathway leading up to Joe's workplace, visible in the plaster damage in Joe's apartment, in the lightning bolt that destroys Patricia's yacht, and in the path to the volcano. "Life is a crooked road", Joe states late in the movie. Other recurring images include ducks, the façade of the factory, dogs, and the moon.
- When Joe is ready to shed one chapter of his life for another, he also sheds a hat — one in the office and one at the dock.
- The lampshade in Joe's office has a picture of the volcano. There is also a volcano painted on the side of a building early in the film.
- Dee Dee sees Joe looking at his shoe and asks him what's wrong. He says "I'm losing my sole." Later, Joe asks the chief of the Waponis about a doll the chief is holding. The chief says "It's my soul." Joe says "I hope you don't lose it", to which the chief replies, "So do I."
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