Twister is a 1996 drama film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as storm chasers researching tornadoes. It was directed by Jan de Bont. The film was based upon a script by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin.
In the movie, a team of "storm chasers" try to perfect a data-gathering instrument, designed to be released into the funnel of a tornado, while competing with another better-funded team with a similar device during an outbreak of tornados across Oklahoma.
The movie received a PG-13 rating for "intense depiction of very bad weather".
Twister is notable for being the first movie to be released on the DVD format[1] and the last to be released on HD-DVD[2]. Twister has since been released in high definition on Blu-ray disc.
Main Characters
Jo Harding (Helen Hunt): The leader of her storm-chasing research team.
Bill Harding (Bill Paxton): Jo's soon-to-be-ex-husband and former fellow storm-chaser.
Melissa Reeves (Jami Gertz): Bill's new fiancee.
Jonas Miller (Cary Elwes): The leader of a rival storm-chasing team.
Eddie (Zach Grenier): Jonas' reluctant assistant.
Aunt Meg (Lois Smith): Jo's aunt.
Dustin 'Dusty' Davis (Philip Seymour Hoffman): An extroverted, wise-cracking member of Jo's chase team.
Robert 'Rabbit' Nurick (Alan Ruck): The navigator for Jo's chase team.
Alan Sanders (Sean Whalen); Tim 'Beltzer' Lewis (Todd Field):; Haynes (Wendle Josepher):; Jason 'Preacher' Rowe: (Scott Thompson); Laurence: (Jeremy Davies); Joey: (Joey Slotnick): other members of Jo's chase team.
Plot
The film begins with a prologue set in 1969 on in a rural Oklahoma farm, as a severe thunderstorm hits. A family (including five-year old Jo) seeks shelter in a storm cellar as a tornado strikes; Jo's father is caught up in the storm and killed, as young Jo struggles to catch a glimpse of the powerful storm.
The main story begins with the reunion between Dr. Jo Harding, now an adult, and her estranged husband Bill Harding. Bill is a former weather researcher and storm chaser who has taken a job as a weather reporter. He is planning to marry his new girlfriend, Dr. Melissa Reeves and has arrived seeking Jo’s signature for the final divorce papers.
When they meet, Bill discovers that Jo has built DOROTHY, a research device that Bill designed to release hundreds of sensors into the center of a tornado to study its structure. He also meets up with Dr. Jonas Miller, a smug and unscrupulous (but well-funded) fellow meteorologist and storm chaser. When Bill discovers that Jonas has "invented" a device almost identical to DOROTHY, he vows to help Jo deploy DOROTHY before Miller can claim credit for his idea. Bill and Melissa join Jo and her eccentric team of storm chasers.
Tensions rise between Jo and Bill when they have several close calls with dangerous tornadoes as they try to implement the new device. Melissa,frightened by the dangers of storm chasing and recognizing the unresolved feelings between Jo and Bill, leaves the team.
The team then attacks their goal with even more fervor, chasing increasingly-intense storms in an attempt to deploy DOROTHY. The rival team's hubris and lack of instinct proves fatal as their lead truck is caught up in a tornado due to overzealous chasing, despite Bill's warnings.
Eventually Jo and Bill set out on their own and, in a risky maneuver, are able to successfully deploy DOROTHY, surviving a direct contact with a huge tornado and re-sealing their personal bond in the process.
Wizard of Oz references
References to The Wizard of Oz form a subtext of the film. The DOROTHY device is named after Dorothy Gale, the protagonist of the Oz books and films. The prologue scene features a small dog named Toby, reminiscent of Oz's Toto.
The twister in the first destruction scene was designed based on the one in the Wizard of Oz. On the widescreen DVD release of the film one can see her house being pulled up into the sky by the tornado.
Production
The film was a joint production between Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures. (This fact is reflected in the movies comprising a double-bill advertised on the marquee of the drive-in theater featured in the film: The Shining, a Warner Bros. release, and Psycho a Universal owned production).
Several actual television meteorologists from Oklahoma are featured throughout the movie, including Former KFOR-4 Oklahoma City (and later KJRH-2 Tulsa) meteorologist Jeff Lazalier, Rick Mitchell, Chief Meteorologist at KOCO-5 Oklahoma City, and Mike Morgan, also of KFOR. Gary England of KWTV-9 Oklahoma City can be seen on a small television in actual footage from the early 1970s. England also served as a technical advisor on the film.
Although the movie takes place in Oklahoma, nearly half of the movie was filmed in Iowa.
Effects
The DOROTHY instrument in the film is loosely based on a real-life experiment that NOAA attempted in the 1980s with an instrument called the TOtable Tornado Observatory, or TOTO.
The sound of the tornado was produced by recording a camel's moan and slowing it down.[3]
A tanker truck involved in the final tornado bears the words "Benthic Petroleum". The company is the fictitious oil corporation from James Cameron's film The Abyss.
Music
Twister featured both a traditional orchestral film score (by Mark Mancina) and several rock music songs, including an instrumental theme song composed and performed for the film by Van Halen. Both the rock soundtrack and the orchestral score were released on compact disc; the orchestral score is considered a collector's item and is very difficult to find.citation needed
Marketing
Working titles for the film were Catch The Wind and Wind Devils.citation needed The original tagline for the movie was "It Sucks", but the producers ultimately decided to go in a different direction, thinking that this tagline would provide critics with ammunition if they didn't like the movie. The tagline that was eventually agreed upon was "The Dark Side of Nature".citation needed
Sega Pinball released a pinball machine based on the movie.[4]
Weather impact
On May 21st, 1996, a tornado destroyed a drive-in theater in St. Catharine's, Ontario which was scheduled to show the movie Twister, in a real-life parallel to a scene in the film in which a tornado destroys a drive-in during a showing of the film The Shining. [5] The facts of this incident were exaggerated into an urban legend that the theater was actually playing Twister during the tornado. Comedian Bob Saget claims he was on his way to see the movie at this St. Catharines drive-in when the real thing hit.[6]
During the summer run of Twister, an F4 tornado touched down in Bullitt County, Kentucky, causing major damage to some areas outside of Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The resulting disaster and local news coverage managed to boost interest in the film and its box office intake.citation needed
Theme park attraction
The film was used as the basis for the attraction Twister . . . Ride It Out at Universal Studios Florida, which features filmed introductions by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton.
Cast
References
External links
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