TWISTER (1996)

MORGAN'S RATING

The house rips apart piece by piece. A bellowing cow spins through the air. Tractors fall like rain. A 15,000-pound gasoline tanker becomes an airborne bomb. A mile-wide, 300-miles-per-hour force of total devastation is coming at you: Twister is hitting home. In this adventure swirling with cliffhanging excitement, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton play scientists pursuing the most destructive weatherfront to sweep through mid-America's Tornado Alley in 50 years. By launching electronic sensors into the funnel, the storm chasers hope to obtain enough data to create an improved warning system. But to do so, they must intercept the twisters' deadly path. The chase is on!

Helen Hunt (Dr. Joanne Thornton-Harding), Bill Paxton (William Harding), Cary Elwes (Dr. Jonas Miller), Jami Gertz (Dr. Melissa Reeves), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Dustin Davis), Lois Smith (Meg Greene), Alan Ruck (Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick), Sean Whalen (Allan Sanders), Scott Thomson (Jason 'Preacher' Rowe), Todd Field (Tim Beltzer Lewis), Joey Slotnick (Joey), Wendle Josepher (Haynes), Jeremy Davies (Laurence), Zach Grenier (Eddie), Gregory Sporleder (Willie), Patrick Fischler (The Communicator), Nicholas Sadler (Kubrick), Ben Weber (Stanley), Anthony Rapp (Tony), Eric LaRay Harvey (Eric), Abraham Benrubi (Bubba), Jake Busey (Mobile Lab Tech), Melanie Hoopes (Patty), J. Dean Lindsay (Dean), Dan Kelpine (Diner Mechanic), Sharonlyn Morrow (Waitress), Richard Lineback (Mr. Thornton), Rusty Schwimmer (Mrs. Thornton), Alexa Vega (JoAnne, Age 5).

THE DARK SIDE OF NATURE.

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Jan De Bont (The Haunting). WRITERS: Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. PRODUCERS: Ian Bryce, Michael Crichton and Kathleen Kennedy. ASSOCIATE PRODUCER: Glenn Salloum. EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Laurie MacDonald, Gerald R. Molen, Walter F. Parkes, and Steven Spielberg. ORIGINAL MUSIC: Mark Mancina. DISTRIBUTOR: Warner Bros.

FACTS

RELEASE DATE: May 10th, 1996 (USA) BOX OFFICE OPENING: $41.0 ?million (USA) BOX OFFICE RESULT: $241.7 million (USA) WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: $472.7 million BUDGET: $92 million (USA) - In order to get the background skies looking suitably stormy, the truck cab sequence had to be flooded with high intensity lighting for contrast. As a result, Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton suffered minor retinal burns through much of the filming. - A jet engine from a Boeing 707 was used to generate wind in some scenes. - A recording of a camel's moan was slowed down and used as the sound of the tornado. - Features The Shining (1980), directed by Stanley Kubrick, and also has characters named "Stanley" and "Kubrick". - The oil truck in the tornado bears the name "Benthic Petroleum", the name of the company in The Abyss (1989). - Trailers contain a shot not in the film: a truck tire hurtling towards the viewer. - Helen Hunt was injured while filming the scene where the truck drives through the corn when the door was forced back into her head. For later shots, the door was wedged open. - "It sucks" was originally going to be used as one of the tagline for the film, but the producers felt that it worked too much to the advantage of disappointed audiences and critics. - The real town of Wakita, Oklahoma had part of its old downtown area demolished by the film crew for the scenes after the twister passes. The studio then paid for the downtown to be rebuilt. The town also kept the new fire truck used in the film. - The original Director of Photography was Don Burgess, but he and many other crew members walked off the set midway through filming after a series of heated arguments with director Jan de Bont. - Was the first movie released on DVD. - Joss Whedon did an uncredited rewrite of the script. - During an early scene when Phillip Seymour Hoffman is sitting on the lawn chair, he lifts his leg in the air while laughing. His genitals were fully visible for a split second; this was edited out of DVD and VHS releases, but was leaked from VHS screeners sent to industry professionals. - The red combine used in the film is now at Watrous, Saskatchewan, Canada. - The laptops used in the film are early Silicon Graphics Indy laptop prototypes. - Nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound. Winner of one 1997 Razzie Award for Worst Written Film Grossing over $100 million, and nominated for one more Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress (Jami Gertz).

QUOTES

Dusty: "The Suck Zone". It's the point basically when the twister...sucks you up. That's not the technical term for it, obviously.

Rabbit: Uh...yeah, trust me. Rabbit is good, Rabbit is wise.

Dusty: Red meat, we crave sustenance!

Melissa: She didn't marry your penis...Okay, she didn't marry only your penis.

Melissa: When you used to tell me that you chase tornadoes, deep down I thought it was just a metaphor.

Jo: He really is in love with himself. I thought it was just a summer thing.

Aunt Meg: He didn't keep his part of the bargain. Jo: Which part? Aunt Meg: To spend his life pining for you, and to die miserable and alone.

Jo: Cow. (pause) 'Nother cow. Bill: Actually I think that was the same one.

Bill: Why can't we spend a normal day together?

Dusty: The extreme! It's the extreme! Bill: Oh, man. Don't start that shit.

Jo: Have you lost your nerve? Bill: Tighten your seatbelt.

Dusty: This gravy is famous. It's practically a food group.

Jo: You've never seen it miss this house, and miss that house and then come after you!

Dusty: You're gonna rue the day you came up against The Extreme, baby. We're talkin' imminent rueage!

CRITICAL COMMENTS

"Hang on for a wild and crazy ride." -- Pia Lindstrom, WNBC-TV

"A summer crowd-pleaser worthy of its wind." -- Mike Clark, Usa Today

"The effects were great, the story was dumb. I hate this movie." -- John Venable, Supercala.com

"An adrenaline-pumping thriller that leaves you with a deep respect for the terrifying power of nature." -- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Health