a the 70 come to an end and the disaster movie limp it last with the like of the cheesily enjoyable meteor and the not so enjoyable city on fire ( no and not that one ) and the truly wtf . airport 79 before 1980 when time run out aka the day the world end aka earth final fury finally sound the death knell for both the genre and irwin allen career . the master of disaster volcano movie be no dante peak . it not even a devil at 4 oclock . instead and it everything you would possibly expect of a film whose credit boast ernest borgnine a tom conti ( no and not that one ) and jam franciscus a bob spangler . somehow presumably very large cheque and a promise not to direct allen be able to tempt tower inferno star paul newman and william holden back to play more or less the same role and which be handy because the film be more or less a rehash and even shamelessly recycle a couple of setpieces to infinitely diminished effect . and not just the plot the character be for the most part exactly the same too . franciscus get the richard chamberlain role and veronica hamel the susan blakely neglect wife part and jacqueline bisset the faye dunaway girlfriend duty and and red button the fred astaire role a embezzler francis fendly ( great character name abound here ) and though instead of a romance with jennifer jones he get saddle with borgnine new york cop . still and consider the original character include high wire act burgess meredith and a horrendously cloy valentine cortese ( my darling and you have live through the collapse of burlesque and vaudeville twice . now you can not be confuse by a little volcano with belly ache . ) and sheila ( a in mr ) allen play the local madam and pat morita a her husband whose cockfight with alex karras get postpone due to flood and you can not entirely blame slum screenwriter carl foreman and stirling silliphant for go with the tried and trust route . unfortunately they never make any of them remotely interest . the plot . ok and but stop me if you have hear this before . while moneyman william holden plan a big ad campaign for his hawaiian hotel ( i really like your slogan represent come watch mananui toss in his sleep . very effective . subtle and right . ) and his dodgy partner james franciscus try to play down the threat of the local volcano blow up while paul newman wildcat oilman insist this thing a goddamned powder keg with what little enthusiasm he can muster between romance jacqueline bisset advertising designer with tale of how he earn the money to start drilling ( and not just for oil and be inform ) by teach woman needlepoint . once mananui get bore with the half hearted soap operatics and blow it top and it woman and child and top bill star first ( this be the kind of film where the character die in reverse order of billing and and if your character doesn not even have a name and youre toast ) and with a small and economically viable group of hotel guest face tidal wave and fireball and narrow ledge and rickety bridge and a script so riddled with clichés that the only surprise be that no one sacrifice a maiden to appease the volcano god or that elvis doesn not turn up to sing the volcano a hula . all of which sound like a lot more fun that it actually be and but unfortunately it distinctly low on spectacle or special effect and a if once the cast and hotel accommodation be pay for nothing be leave for the film itself . the climax be one of the long scene of people cross a bridge ever film ( nigh on two whole reel of it ) before one brief badly mat in explosion . even the film best ( the term be strictly relative here ) scene inside the crater itself suffers from terrible back projection . still and it do offer one truly wonderful piece of droopingly phallic imagery a a rather unfortunately design volcano monitoring center fall into the crater that almost worth the price of admission on it own . like the swarm and beyond the poseidon adventure and this go through heavy pre release trim the u tv version run 141 minute but you can not help think that be an act of mercy . james goldstone and who have turn out some pretty decent effort in the past and directs like it be a 70 tv movie while fred koenekamp cinematography doesn not hide the fact that the grand finale be shoot on a soundstage . indeed and the whole thing just feel like it be make by people pay off their mortgage or alimony . if this film be a cheese and it would be process and definitely well past it sell by date .