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''Joe Versus the Volcano'' is a 1990 American romantic comedy film written and directed by John Patrick Shanley and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Hanks plays a man who, after being told he is dying of a rare disease, accepts a financial offer to travel to a South Pacific island and throw himself into a volcano on behalf of the superstitious natives. Along the way, he meets and falls in love with the woman taking him there. Despite positive reviews from some critics, including Roger Ebert, who described the film as "new and fresh and not shy of taking chances", the film was a box office flop in the US. It has since become a cult film.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url=http://www.filmsite.org/cultfilms4.html )〕 ==Plot== Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) is a downtrodden everyman from Staten Island, working a clerical job in a dreary factory for an unpleasant, demanding boss, Frank Waturi (Dan Hedaya). Joyless, listless, and chronically sick, Banks regularly visits doctors who can find nothing wrong with him. Finally, Dr. Ellison (Robert Stack) diagnoses an incurable disease called a "brain cloud" which has no symptoms, but will kill Joe within five or six months. Ellison says that Joe's ailments were psychosomatic, caused by his horrific experiences in his previous job as a firefighter. Ellison advises him, "You have some life left...live it well." Joe tells his boss off, quits his job, and asks former coworker DeDe (Meg Ryan) out on a date, but when he tells her that he is dying, she becomes very upset and leaves. The next day, a wealthy industrialist named Samuel Graynamore (Lloyd Bridges) unexpectedly makes Joe a proposition. Graynamore needs "bubaru",〔Alternate spelling may be "boobaroo".〕 a mineral essential for the manufacturing of superconductors. There are deposits of it on the tiny Pacific island of Waponi Woo. The resident Waponis will let him mine it if he can solve a problem for them. They believe that the fire god of the volcano on their island must be appeased by a voluntary human sacrifice once every century, but none of the Waponis are willing to volunteer this time around. Graynamore offers Joe credit cards to pay for whatever he wants to enjoy his final days, as long as he is willing to jump into the volcano within 20 days. With nothing to lose, Joe accepts. Joe spends a day and a night out on the town in New York, where he solicits advice on everything from style to living life to the fullest from his wise chauffeur Marshall (Ossie Davis). Joe purchases four top-of-the-line, handcrafted, waterproof steamer trunks from a fanatically dedicated luggage salesman (Barry McGovern). At Marshall's suggestion, he stays overnight at The Pierre hotel. Joe then flies to Los Angeles, where he is met by one of Graynamore's daughters, Angelica (Ryan), a flighty socialite who labels herself a "flibbertigibbet". The next morning, Angelica takes Joe to a yacht, the ''Tweedledee'', 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 jumps in to rescue her, lightning strikes, sinking the yacht. Fortunately, Joe is able to construct a raft by lashing together his steamer trunks. Patricia does not regain consciousness for several days. Joe doles out the small supply of fresh 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 by Joe's self-sacrifice. 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 land near their trusty steamer trunks. At first ecstatic about their miraculous salvation, Joe tells 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 set up. He is not dying and they can live happily ever after, but they both affirm that they have to hang on to the multi-purpose steamer trunks. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Joe Versus the Volcano」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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