Night of the Twisters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (November 2007) |
| Night of the Twisters | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Timothy Bond |
| Produced by | Michael Lambermont Stephen Roloff Sean Ryerson |
| Written by | Ivy Ruckman (novel) Sam Graham (teleplay) Chris Hubbell (teleplay) |
| Starring | Devon Sawa Amos Crawley John Schneider |
| Music by | Lawrence Shragge |
| Cinematography | Peter Benison |
| Editing by | Gary L. Smith |
| Release date(s) | February 14, 1996 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country |  Canada USA |
| IMDb profile | |
Night of the Twisters is a film directed by Timothy Bond about a family's struggle to survive a night with a bizarre and terrible storm passing over their town. The TV movie is based on the novel by Ivy Ruckman.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The prologue of the movie is set in a rural area in Nebraska. Bob Irisen, a storm chaser, is driving down the road, confused by an odd weather pattern floating in above him. Suddenly, he sees a tornado heading for a farm, where a little girl is being dropped off after school with a birthday card for her mother. Bob goes to warn the family, who manage to dive into their storm cellar just as the storm hits. Bob himself narrowly escapes the twister and is visibly shaken up afterwards. he then begins driving south.
Meanwhile, Dan Hatch lives in Blainsworth, Nebraska, along with his hard stepfather Jack, doting mom Laura, and baby half-brother Ryan. Dan is an artist, but is constantly pushed by Jack to be an athlete. His story opens during a bike marathon in which Dan has eneterd to please his father. He gets into a bike accident, and although he is unhurt, his bike is totaled. Therefore, he quits the race, which angers Jack, who is already upset after his banker denies him a bank loan to help his failing sports store. Jack was a college football coach until he was injured. Dan eventually wins a new bike in a raffle drawing. He and his wise-cracking best friend Arthur (who recently moved from California) decides to ride off and celebrate, but Jack orders Dan to be at his grandma's house in an hour to help her walk her dog.
Dan and Arthur end up at a park rigging a trap over a sign, sitting on a park bench and talking about the oncoming weather. Here we meet Arthur's sisters, Stacey and Ronnie. Stacey is a typical teenage girl trying to act mature for her age. She comes to tell Arthur that their parents have left town for a vacation. Dan offers to give Stacey a ride home on his bike. Here it is hinted that Dan has a crush on Stacey, at which Arthur cringed. The trap goes off over Stacey and Ronnie, and they storm home. Shortly after, while at Arthur's house, Dan remembers that he forgot to walk the dog.
Dan arrives just as Jack is helping Grandma Julie and her dog into his truck to take him to the vet. Jack scolds Dan and sends him home. Belle then moans about an ache in her bones, claiming that she hadn't felt that way in a long time, foreshadowing the oncoming storms.
Dan and Arthur are back at his barn just before Laura leaves for work (as a waitress in a diner) with her younger sister Jenny, a spinster with an independent attitude. Laura tells Dan not to forget Ryan in case of an emergency. Soon after she leaves, Jack comes home in the middle of a downpour. As he sits watching TV, his show is interrupted by a tornado announcement about a tornado sighting in a northern town called Dannebrough. No one takes this seriously, as Dannebrough is well to the north of Blainsworth.
At Laura's diner, the "Salty Dawg", Bob comes in for a cup of coffee and overhears a conversation between Laura and a customer who wants to out-drive the storms. Bob warns the man that most people killed by twisters are trying to out-drive them. Bob then tells Laura he has a feeling that Blainsworth might be hit harder than Dannebrough. Laura, frightened by this fact, calls Jack to make sure he is okay. Then Jack calls Belle, who has fallen asleep by the phone. Jack decides to go make sure she was okay. After a few minutes, Laura calls again, saying she couldn't contact Jenny to get a ride home. The phone line then goes dead. Jenny does come later, but because her car stalls in bad weather, both women take shelter in the diner as the tornado hits (Laura even gets hit with flying debris).
After some true alarms from the tornado sirens, Dan and Arthur goof around and argue about various subjects. Arthur is almost excited about the tornado warning, while Dan, having experienced this before, is more serious. Several times Dan goes to check on Ryan, and then leaves him, after the sirens turn off. The third time, the house begins shaking. After sending Arthur to the basement with a flashlight, Dan goes to get Ryan, and sees a huge twister outside of the window. He almost doesn't make it downstairs with the baby, but at the last minute he stumbles into the basement. The three boys take shelter in the basement bathroom, crawling into the bathtub. Arthur cries and begs to go home to his sisters to make sure they were alright, but Dan forbids him from moving as the twister rips the house to shreds. Dan mumbles a prayer for his family as the scene fades.
After surveying the demolished Hatch house, Dan, Arthur, and Ryan emerge from the wreckage and climb out into the open air unharmed. Arthur now is the shaken one, having seen the true terror, and Dan is now calmer. Dan's house is destroyed. A shot shows Dan's new bike hanging from the wreckage, destroyed. Arthur and Dan, holding Ryan, decide to walk downtown to see if there's a community shelter and communication system up. On the road, they meet Stacey and Ronnie, who are both near a panic. They also come upon the corpse of Jack's banker, who earlier denied him the loan for his store. The kids hijack his car with Dan at the wheel and drive down the road. They hit a roadblock on the way to Belle's house to see if Jack made it alright. When ordered out of the car, Arthur, Ronnie, and Ryan comply, but Stacey and Dan stay in the car and drive through the barricade.
Jack is pinned under his car on the side of the house, but Dan misses him. He does find Belle, in shock and slightly injured. Stacey helps Dan get Belle into the car. While driving, looking for Jack, Belle tells her grandson a story about when she was young. She was in a storm, and she claimed to have seen an angel, who told her that she would survive the tornado and that " a spring heifer would bring you up to heaven." Dan then sees Jack and sends Stacey off with Belle as he and some firemen get Jack free. He has a dislocated shoulder. Then Jack asks a policeman to drive them to Laura's diner to see if she is alive. The wrecked building is marked with an X, meaning the survivors were already picked up. The policeman then suggest that Jack check a morgue. Jack and Dan are frightened by this, but Jack encourages Dan to stay strong.
Laura and Jenny are not dead and are dropped off at a shelter. Since Laura has not found Jack, Ryan, or Dan; Jenny, along with Bob (who is doing news coverage of the tornadoes) try to comfort her. Bob then offers to drive Laura to her house to check for Dan, Jack, and Ryan. Jenny smiled at Bob, who smiles back, hinting at a romance. Then, another twister hits the shelter, and everyone ducks for cover.
Meanwhile, Jack and Dan separate with Arthur, Stacey, Ronnie, and Ryan at a fire station set up as a smaller shelter. Jack's shoulder is fixed, and he begins asking around about Laura. No one knows anything. Arthur, Ronnie, and Ryan are put to sleep as Dan plays his harmonica. Stacey and Dan then have a heart-to-heart talk, in which Dan reveals that Jack isn't his birth father and that his real father died in a small airplane crash when Dan was six. Stacey is awed by this fact.
Dan then overhears Jack getting a car to find Laura and Jenny. Dan picks up Ryan and sneaks into the car. Jack realizes too late that his sons are in the car with him. He gives in and lets them come along as he drives back up to the house. Jenny, Bob, and Laura have driven up before, and the family is reunited. Just as soon as everyone reunites, three tornadoes touch down near them. Bob, realizing no adequate shelter is available, advises everyone to make a run for it. Bob and Jenny hop into Bob's vehicle and begin driving away, and the Hatch family follows. The chase leads them down the roads of town, littered with debris. Behind them are the Hatches's neighbors, who get sucked up into the tornado. Jack, at the wheel, is knocked out by the windshield breaking, and Dan takes the wheel. However, the back window is shattered, and Dan is sucked toward the twister. Meanwhile, Bob and Jenny make it to an overpass, hop out of the car, and hide under a firetruck. Dan is nearly killed, but luckily the tornado dissipates just in time. Jack praises Danny for not quitting. Bob and Jenny kiss. The Hatch family walks into the open air just as the sun rises on a clear day, and the storm has passed.
In the epilogue, narrated by Dan, Jack's store is said to have been destroyed by the storm, but Jack begins coaching the high school football team, leading them to a championship. He also has taken up guitar, but is not very good. Laura and Jack are planning a trip to France. Ryan, a 5 year old, is growing, and is showing athletic interest in football himself. Arthur has been elected as schoolwide president, but still doesn't have a girlfriend. Stacey and Dan are dating and are seen at the junior prom together. Bob and Jenny have gotten married, and Jenny is pregnant with twins, the couple having settled down in Blainesworth. Grandma Belle dies the following spring, Dan saying her "spring heifer arrived, taking us all by surprise."
[edit] Cast
Devon Sawa......................Dan Hatch
John Schneider..................Jack Hatch
Amos Crawley....................Arthur Darlington
Lori Hallier....................Laura Hatch
Laura Bertram...................Stacey darlington David Ferry.....................Bob Irisen
Jhene Erwin.....................Jenny
Megan Kitchen...................Ronnie Vae darlington
Helen Hughes....................Belle smiley
Alex & Thomas Lastewka..........Ryan Hatch
[edit] Reaction
This small-time TV movie was generally panned by critics, mainly for its poor special effects and unrealistic events surrounding the tornadoes (i.e. the tornado chase towards the end, the tornado being literally right behind the car and the car not being damaged beyond broken windows), and the cliched writing (i.e. romantic pairings and few important deaths). Some critics did praise it for being a good family film. But more criticize it for being frightening for younger audiences.
[edit] Trivia
- 99% of the siren sound effects in movies are Carters sirens from the UK, recorded during World War II. The one in Night of the Twisters is a Carter, as well.
this is movies was actually based on true events. a series of 7 tornadoes hit grand island nebraska in one night.
[edit] Quotes
Arthur Jones: [the words "TORNADO WARNING" are flashing on the TV screen] What does that thing mean?
Dan Hatch: It basically means we're in deep trouble.
Dan Hatch: Um, Stacey? I can ride you double if you want.
Stacey Jones: Uh, no thanks, I don't ride double. But i would ride double with you Dan...if you ever got a Harley. I love Harleys! Vah-ROOM!
Arthur Jones: One thing I would like to know in advance is when I'm gonna see my first naked girl.
Dan Hatch: Why? So you can prepare yourself to faint?
Jack Hatch: Boys, have you ever seen what a meat mallot does to a porterhouse steak?
Arthur Jones: No, what?
Jack Hatch: About the same thing a hailstone the size of a baseball does to a kid's bike...especially a nice, shiny NEW one!
