Volcano (movie) - Definition and Overview

Volcano is an action film of 1997. Tommy Lee Jones stars as Mike Roark, a Los Angeles emergency official who takes charge when a volcano grows out of the La Brea Tar Pits. A river of lava flows down Wilshire Boulevard, through the uncompleted Metro Red Line subway tunnel, and creates a fountain of lava next to the Beverly Center shopping mall in Beverly Hills.

In spite of placing himself and his teenage daughter in danger, Mike saves the city by diverting the river of lava into the concrete channel of Ballona Creek, which allows the lava to flow safely into the Pacific Ocean.

The premise for the movie is loosely based on the appearance of Paricutín, a volcano which emerged from a farmer's field in Mexico. The depiction of the behavior of volcanos and lava in the rest of the movie, however, is for entertainment rather than scientific accuracy.