I have a tornado story. It isn't a great one though. I once drove through one of the UK's rather pitifully weak tornados, but didn't even know it until I saw the footage on the news. I just thought it was part of the regular storm that was a bit more intense than normal and had a lot of twigs and stuff in it, which I thought meant the tree trimmers which had been working the street earlier that day had been slacking off on the clear up duty. America's tornadoes scare the heck out of me though. I'm glad Britain's rare tornadoes are so wimpy.
When this movie came out in 1996 this was like THE movie at the time. This was the movie everyone was talking about, everyone was going to see this or telling you to see this. I probably saw this four times in the theater. The reason it’s got that middle of the road rating now is because it’s considered just another 90s disaster flick which were coming out everywhere during that decade but I think it still holds up today, at least an 8 rating.
Agreed. So many copy cat disaster films in the 90s really hurt its reputation. But Twister is one that still holds up. Other films like Armagedon and Dante's Peak just don't hit the same like they originally did. But I make time to watch every few years. I still enjoy it.
In the 90s the economy was good, 9/11 hadn’t happened yet, we were kids and teens that were promised very fulfilling lives so disaster movies were a great thrill. I still love them because they make me nostalgic for that time when everything felt secure to us young folks.
When Bill Paxton died, storm chasers used their beacons to spell his initials as a tribute to him and his character. He was about the science and real storm chasers appreciated it.
It was actually very touching, because this is tradition only between storm chasers when one of them passes away (it was done for all 3 members of Twistex team as well) and hasn't been done for anyone who isn't one of them. But considering that Twister and Bill's character, plus his passion about science of tornadoes, inspired entire generation of Storm chasers (Reed Timmer being among them), they basically claimed him to be part of their community.
Fun fact: The "Dorothy" and "D.O.T. 3" equipment in the movie is based on an actual project called "Toto" that works exactly the same way as described in the film. Thanks to "Toto," we now know a lot more about the wind dynamics of tornadoes and how they develop and move than was previously known.
Speaking of "Dorothy" and "Toto" In the beginning, Jo's pet dog Toby looks to be the same type of dog that Dorothy had (Toto) in the Wizard of Oz. Loved the tornado easter eggs. Loved this movie.
@@TheCombatWombat0 Jan de Bont wanted the dog to be called Toto, but they couldn't do that bc of copyrights. They had to fight a lot to have Judy Garland's Dorothy image allowed on the device Dorothy
''They have the worst luck'' They survived a couple days intentionally driving into tornados and never get more then a scratch. They drove through a house and an exploding tanker truck, dodge falling power lines and flying cows and spinning 360s at speed on the road while in a tornado. I'd say that have the best luck. And we are here to hear what you say we've all seen the movie. Its your channel you do you.
The largest tornado on record struck El Reno, Oklahoma in 2013, the rain-wrapped multi-vortex tornado (smaller tornadoes inside the main tornado) reached a maximum width of 2.6 miles in diameter and produced wind speeds of 302 miles per hour
I spent the first 11 years of my life in a rural community northwest of Chicago, back in the 60's. When the Cuban Missile Crisis was over, my dad decided to build a fallout shelter adjacent to the house. It was a reinforced concrete cube whose top doubled as our patio, connected to our basement via an armored door, with air vents to the outside and a supply of army surplus water & food rations and cot space for a family of six. Thank God nobody ever nuked our cornfields, because what dad knew about nuclear radiation could have filled a thimble, the water rations were brackish, and the food was from WWII, but it made a damn fine storm shelter nonetheless, and we used it as such multiple times a year. You seldom get warning of a tornado touching down, but you learn to recognize the weather. The air is neither warm nor cool, the humidity is almost but not quite comfortable, and the wind is utterly absent. The sky is overcast, and there's an electric tension. No crickets. No birds. No frogs. No thunder. Absolute stillness. This is tornado watch weather. You turn on the radio and you wait for the tornado warning announcement, and you go around the house and open all the windows. If a tornado should wander by but decides not to eat your house, the pressure differential will still shatter all the glass unless you equalize the pressure indoors with the pressure outdoors. Then you get the whole family together and get down into the shelter. If you don't have a shelter as such, you all go down to the basement. (No basement? I suppose it's possible someone in the rural midwest doesn't have a basement, but I never heard of them. Get to the lowest point possible, and get comfortable. You're going to be there a while.) The radio reports will generally say what time the danger is likely to be past. You wait until then, then go upstairs and start closing windows. Or you wait for normal weather to break out. Tornadoes are prima donnas; they won't share the stage with lesser storms, so if there's thunder, lightning, and pouring rain, the tornado drama is typically done for the night.
Yup. I grew up in Rockford in the 60's and we didn't have a storm shelter but we did spend a few summer afternoons hunkered in the basement with the transistor radio, listening to the local weather guys give the play-by-play on whatever storm was passing by us.
Have friends in Oklahoma who entered the mini storm shelter they had built under their garage during a tornado…came out after it passed and their entire house was gone.
We were told to go to our bathrooms since there's no windows and the pipes go deeper into the ground. We lived about an hour outside of Chicago - no basements at any of the homes in our neighborhood.
YES! LOVE this movie! And look at how bonkers amazing the cast is! For what is basically a disaster movie. Amazing. R.I.P. Bill Paxton and Philip Seymour Hoffman
That 'sniffing the dirt" stuff is right. I live in the sub-tropics in Australia and we get cyclones and really bad storms. I get what are called atmospheric pressure headaches - on a day where my headache builds I know we are in for a horrible storm with hail etc. that afternoon. I used to tell people in the operating theatres where I worked and they would go and move their cars under shelter in their break on my say so. Sure enough the dark clouds would get that green tinge and BOOM hail, wind and rain.
Had two tornado scares through out my life. Once when I was nine the house I grew up in had a large basement, tornado touched down in downtown not far from where we lived, both neighbors on either side of us didn't have a shelter so they ran over, grandma kept them and their dogs in the basement with us until it was safe to come back up. The shared fear with several people huddled up in a basement crawl space under the stairs was my first tornado experience and I'll never forget it. I've had an interest and respect-fear for tornadoes ever since. Second one, several years later and in a different house alone while fam was out, kept the tv on for updates during a particularly nasty tornado watch then sirens hit. Auto pilot kicked in, grabbed the cat, grabbed my bug out bag and hid down in the basement for ages until the sirens stopped. Turned out again one dropped not too far from where I was. Bit of an aside, first house we had this huge entertainment system with large speakers hooked up to the tv in a large room with amazing acoustics and mum would play this movie with everything maxed. It sounded like the tornado was actually in the room and the sound would shake the floor and windows.
i mean yeah the script is pretty cheesy and a lot of the acting is frankly laughable (sorry bill paxton RIP and all but godDAMN) but holy hell this movie was amazing to experience in the theater. i think i saw it at least twice that summer. fantastic.
I live in Canada and as a kid lived in an area that got some tornadoes. Once a tornado touched down a few miles from our house. I never saw it but we could feel it’s affects. It was so crazy windy that one of our hired hands had started to go home but had to turn back and stay the night because he couldn’t keep his car on the road. One of our windows almost blew in, and all my father’s swathed grain was blown into the trees. A few days later we drove by where it had touched down. Half the farmer’s house was gone and the grain bins (big metal structures) were crumpled like pieces of paper. I’ve never forgotten it. It was the first time I ever remember being scared of a storm. To this day if a storm gets really windy I start to freak out.
One of my guilty pleasures lol Love Dusty, RIP Philip Seymore Hoffman Fun fact: this movie catapulted the sales of Dodge Ram trucks (the red truck) after the movie came out. Everyone wanted one since all the shit it go put thru and was still going 😁
What an incredible movie. The effects still hold up after 26 years and (being born in 1997) really fostered my love for meteorology and environmental science that I went to school for. I owe so much to this movie and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Yes. The actor who played as “Rabbit”, Alan Ruck, is the same one as that passenger on Speed. Twister is also directed by the same director of Speed, Jan De Bont, and is produced by the producer of Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg.
There are a lot of Speed actors in Twister -- the guy who plays Jo's dad was a cop in Speed. The guy in Speed who pressed the elevator button even though it was already lit up is on Jonas' crew in Twister.
Right?? I felt bad for Melissa up until she was like “well yknow what’s funny?? I’m not even that upset! What does that mean? Okay byeeee!!” and then I was like meh okay toodles, girlie
The 1990s was the decade of disaster movies. Two of which that came out in 1997 was, and still is, a debate whether which one was a better volcanic disaster film. The movies in question were Dante’s Peak, starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton, and Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche. My personal pick would be Dante’s Peak due to it’s close accuracy to real life volcanic disasters.
Love *Dante's Peak,* *Volcano* not so much. It's a more intelligent movie than just an action, effects extravaganza, similar to the comparison of *Contact* (one of my favorite movies) and *Armageddon.*
I remember Dante's Peak and I loved it as a kid. Movies especially disaster ones were so well made in the 90s including Titanic. You really cared if people survived...modern films feel very superficial these days in my opinion.
I saw the end of Dante's Peak once (while I was in Thailand, no less...one channel had American films playing, though any information they gave on it was in Thai, which I couldn't read.) I thought I was watching a highly dramatized movie eruption of Mt. St. Helens!
I liked Volcano. Neither one was very realistic, but Dante’s Peak tried more for sure. Dante’s Peak just took itself a little too seriously for my taste. Not that Volcano wasn’t ham fisted in the messaging, but they exploded the tar pits, and something about Tommy Lee Jones barking at people is oddly comforting to me. But both had the most important element of any disaster movie… a dog that has no business surviving the situation that they very dramatically survive.
Okay. You asked for tornado stories. I have one for you. We had seen Twister the week before, and we were back the following week to the theater to see another movie. Twister was still playing at the multiplex, and was in the theater next to the one we were in, and we could actually hear the roar of the tornadoes through the wall, over our movie's volume. We laughed. Then...the power went out and no movie. After a few minutes, guy came down front with a flashlight and said power was out for awhile, and we'd all get raincheck tickets to come back another night. Okay. Cool. So my buddy and I headed out to the parking lot, and discovered the entire local power grid was out... Turns out it was not the movie Twister we'd heard. A for REAL tornado had roared right by the theater and knocked out the power. 😳 THAT'S what we had heard though the theater walls! So there ya go. A tornado with the movie Twister in it. 😂 Also, we weren't in mid-America Tornado Alley. We were in the upstate of South Carolina. Occasionally a few tornadoes slither past the tornado alley zone and get to us. Keeps ya on your toes! Fantastic reaction! I really enjoyed it!
The town I live in Indiana we never get tornadoes but all the towns around me get them. Even though 1 time I did see an F1 hover over our hospital but never touched down. The character who played Jonas is all Robin Hood from Robin Hood men in tights
I've lived in the Midwest in Missouri my whole life, and yeah, tornadoes were one of my biggest fears growing up. I'm less scared now that I'm older. I've had a few close calls over the years, but I've never actually been in one. The scariest tornado experience I had was when I was probably around 8 or 9. My mom had taken me and my dog away for a little summer trip to some property my grandparents owned and had a trailer on down near Truman Lake. We'd go there to just play some games, watch movies, swim in the property pool, etc. Anyway, one night it was storming really bad, but my mom wasn't sure what county we were in, so my mom couldn't figure out whether any of the warnings on the TV applied to us. My grandparents had a golf cart at the time to use for traveling around the trailer park community, and it was outside charging; worried that it could short out in the rain and cause a fire, my mom went out to unplug it and had me out there trying to hold a flashlight for her to see by. And then someone who was driving by like a maniac stopped and hollered out his window that a tornado was coming and we needed to head for the chapel on site, which was the only place with a basement. So my mom tosses me and my dog into the car and we head out....only for my mom to realize that she can't remember where the chapel is located. So I've got a death-grip on my dog in my lap while she flies around like crazy on all these hilly gravel roads with lightning flashing everywhere and the trees blowing like crazy....one of the most traumatic moments of my youth, lol. Thankfully, we found the chapel and got inside and stayed there until we got an updated weather report that the tornado had shifted to the north, and we finally headed back to my grandparents' trailer. The funny part of the story: while we were there, someone let me use a sleeping bag or something to sleep for a while on the floor near their kids, and when I woke up later, someone's pot-bellied pig was walking along beside me. :p
@@CinHotlanta I have the same thing! It's not as common as when I was a kid, but I still have tornado dreams. Usually it's tons of tornadoes descending from the sky, with me sometimes trying to take cover in a building and other times me out driving and trying to figure out what to do. When I was younger, my mom would be driving but then vanish, leaving me alone in the car with all the tornadoes.
@@ShadowsintheEyesSame - they take on almost a sentience- you catch glimpses of them between houses, stalking down one street or another while you search frantically for the best cover. They are probably overlays of "what you fear most" in a pretty typical dream structure. Maybe for some people they are t-rexes or something like that, but for our dreams they manifest as tornadoes.
I'm from Oklahoma where this movie is based in and I can confirm that tornadoes aint no joke. The amount of times I've had to hide in an underground storm shelter (which were prone to flooding), a closet, or under a mattress in a bathtub is insane. While some ppl watch It's A Wonderful Life, or Passion of Christ, every year... My parents had me and my siblings watch this a month before Tornado Season every year - I guess to mentally prepare us. As far as tornado stories go, a few years back Oklahoma City got hit by one... Well me and my grandparents were driving back on the opposite side on a back road to avoid traffic and all you could see was black clouds and a bright green sky silhouetting the twister in the distance. A year or two before that a twister ripped through a shopping center just 2 miles away from my apartment, there was so much rain that parents were wading through knee deep water trying to carry their kids inside.
I've loved this movie since it was released, I took my mom to see it in the theater, she was very impressed by the effects. It has likeable characters, humor and some very intense scenes that kept escalating. I have it on DVD now. Some good actors in this too including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cary Elwes as the bad guy (Westley in "The Princess Bride"), Alan Ruck ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off"), Patrick Fischler (the guy with the eyebrows, he was in "Mulholland Dr." which you should react to).
One thing that never made sense to me in this film (the kind of thing we're not supposed to question in an action film) was how Jo's Dad died at the beginning when the family were in the storm cellar and he got sucked out. All he had to do was LET GO OF THE DOOR instead of letting the tornado take him with it! Let it take the door and they'll still be sheltered in the cellar. Jo clearly survived without the door. Presumably the Mom and dog did too. Lois Smith, who played aunt Meg won a Tony award this year at the age of 90, becoming the oldest person to win a Tony.
@@sylver8494 I should also note that I was very young when I saw this movie so not the best age to have watched it because of how often they swear but I still love this movie and I want more people to react to it.
My great grandfather, a country man in nowhere Missouri, got pulled up into a twister (I think it was the 70s). He was later found about a mile away, dropped next to a huge pond that was reduced to a mud pool of debris, broken equipment and dead animals. He lost a thumb. (He was also taken to the hospital and treated against blood poisoning/infection from hundreds of cuts and bruises, but ultimately, the only lasting effect was a missing thumb.) Check out the childhood of Buster Keaton for a fun lifted-by-a-tornado-and-dropped-randomly-elsewhere story, from a tornado in/around Piqua, Kansas. Also, you should react to some of Keaton's silent comedy films (an intro video would be Sherlock, Jr, which is only around 40 minutes). Most of Keaton's early work is public domain, though musical scores would be copyrighted. The General is on 100 greatest films of all time lists and has one of the most expensive stunts in film history, Steamboat Bill has one of the most dangerous stunts of all time, Our Hospitality and The Navigator are fun, but that's true of all of his work, really). Several are available as Blu-Ray conversions and look amazing, a few are available on the Criterion channel on Prime (I think you can do a free trial). If Keaton reactions are ever a possibility, I will probably be the only vote but I will certainly participate in polls if that's an option. Also, anyone else who may read this comment, if you aren't already familiar with Buster Keaton, check his stuff out.
Holy crap. The story about your great grandfather is insane! I’m sure it was a nightmare! And thank you for comment! I’ll be sure to check out Keaton’s stuff!
I was in the town of Wakita when they were filming but I didn't get to see anything interesting other than roads being blocked off because I was just passing through with my parents on a road trip. I remember my dad complaining about the roads but saying that was the coolest thing after the movie came out lol
This is certainly an entertaining little popcorn flick. I've enjoyed the movie and your reaction to it as well. Many thanks and keep doing you. It's hard to believe that the husky blonde slacker would become one of Hollywood's brightest stars in a few years. R.I.P Mr Hoffman.
I always hated how they ended on a happy note with everyone smiling and laughing. Meanwhile that poor family's farm is flattened and probably a year's worth of income is blown away.
"I can't hold it! I can't hold it!" Then don't try, Farmer Joe. Let go of the cellar door and go hold onto your family instead. You weigh around 165 pounds. The atmosphere weighs about five and a half quadrillion tons. You're trying to arm-wrestle the atmosphere. You're not going to win this match.
As a person from Oklahoma, where this was filmed, this is what us Oklahomans do, go out and find them and hunt them down, so we relate a lot to the cast and why were sometimes called crazy for doing it
I was lucky enough to get to see this when it came out at the drive-in 😀 watching the scene with the tornado hitting the drive-in while watching it at a drive-in was craziness 😆
I remember going to see this movie in a movie drive-in in east Alabama and I remember the part when the tornado hits the movie drive in. Everyone went silent during that part!! 💯
2 other really good movies with Bill Paxton that are so worth a watch are Near Dark( made right after aliens) and Frailty( which he also wrote and directed)
The ones in this movie were more realistic but I've still never seen one as scary as the one in the Wizard of OZ, the way the bottom of it whipped back and forth
The tornado on Wizard of Oz seemed to morph between a Stovepipe and a rope, the Rope stage does tend to whip back and forth like that because at that point the tornado is highly unstable and erratic and could either strengthen or die off at a moment's notice, though i could be wrong on that
I just have to comment one my beloved meta movie gags - "You know what's my favorite Helen Hunt movie? Twister!!" - Fat Bastard (Austin Powers in Goldmember 2003)
4:26 Yes it is. He was also in Ferris Beuller's Day Off. Worth watching. Jonas was played by Cary Elwes who played Westley in The Princess Bride. The screenplay was written by Michael Crichton, who wrote Westword, The Great Train Robbery, and Jurassic Park. If you're ever bored, you should seek out a Discovery Channel show from the 2010s called Storm Chasers about a couple groups of tornado chasers, including one guy with a specially reinforced vehicle to help him film from inside a tornado.
I was 11 yo when this came out. I saw it in the theater and was TERRIFIED. I’ve only had one brush with a tornado and that was one too many times. I grew up on the coast where flooding + hurricanes were a seasonal things. That I can deal with but tornadoes, no thank you, no way, NOPE.
I took a Scottish friend who was visiting me to see this. As we were driving home she was very quiet, and eventually asked "...do you get those around here?" Yes, luv. Yes, we do.
Same - we were hosting people from all over Europe for the '96 Olympics and we all went to see this movie one night - definitely as close as any of them ever wanted to get to a tornado.
I had some family friends who vacationed in Mexico in the summer of '96. When they returned home, they said the locals kept asking them about tornadoes and if they really existed.
4 tornado, 1 microburst. All CAMPING. The microburst the spot we choose got sold out from us and they gave us another spot, it hits and the lady that got are spot had a tree fall on her simple pop up rv and crushed her. Everyone tried to get her out are family friend Lester blow his truck up trying. Everyone with car jack trying to lift it but could. My aunt was the last person to talk to her trying to calm her while everything was chaos. Rip easy Mary.
Greetings from New Jersey. Great reaction. Funny you said, it felt like the movie “Speed”. Twister was from the same director of Speed. Keep up the great work on your channel.
RIP Bill Paxton,Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Van Halen. I like to think Bill and Phillip are still chasing twisters in Heaven with Van Halen making some sick licks to chase to. I had a few tornado experiences in Chicago. I couldnt see them but I heard the sirens going off,heard the wind blowing and felt it. 2008 and last year. Twister experiences. You should also listen to the Twister soundtrack.
This was made in the 90's so,not alot was known about tornadoes even then compared to know and it being a movie is why some things seem weird or wonky(such as surviving the last tornado or running away from it)
Universal Studios has a "ride" called Twister based on this movie. On the "ride" you are put into the drive-in scene and a tornado forms indoors in front of your eyes. The wind, the noise, parts of the scene being distroyedand debris flying around including a "Dorthy Unit" it really makes you feel like this tornado is real and going to take everyone out in the building. Great reaction keep up the good work.
I was born in Oklahoma and lived there until I was 12 when my family moved to Las Vegas. When I was in kindergarten, a tornado blew the roof off the gym at our school, no one was injured fortunately. However it was still terrifying for a 5-6 year old.?
Another great reaction. Love revisiting some of these great movies with a new set of eyes and enjoy your reactions. Yes, even the commentary or wrap up after the movie from your prospective. Keep it up! 👍👍👍👍. On another note just caught a few of your Tom Hanks collection and remembered a few older ones that you may enjoy. Big & Splash both are comedies in case your interested. Thanks
Years ago, when I was in *Elementary School* growing up in *Tornado Alley* shortly after I had seen *The Wizard of Oz* for the first time, we had an *F4 tornado* touch down *2 miles* from our house and left behind nothing but piles of *kindling.* Don't know that I want to get any closer than that to the power of nature.
I live in Missouri and we get tornadoes all the time. This movie scared the shit out me as a child. I'm glad that you reacted to it. They're absolutely devastating and some British twitch streamers that I follow have said that they want to be in one just to experience one. I'll always tell them no you don't.
I think the plot of the script in that darn epic movie goes like this : F5 in the beginning , and then escalates from F1 to F5 again , like a mother fuckin' boss circle ... All Fujita scale ! History repeats itself ! Aunt Meg and her doggy Moss are my favourite duet in that film , like Dusty and Rabbit ! I think Bill and Joe are a cross - stars couple , never noone Melissa gets on to their path ! Their made of each other ! Jan de Bont , made a very professional direction back in 1996 !
I live in MN. Not tornado alley, but we definitely get hit. Growing up, going to the basement happened from time to time. One time Mom caught me on the landing of our stairs trying to carry all my stuffed animals and crying LOL. She said I had to pick one and I picked Cookie Monster ❤ Unfortunately I have frequent tornado nightmares and I hate it. I read somewhere depending on where the tornado is when you dream, near or far, it represents levels of stress :-/ Edit to add: we live in a double wide in the middle of nowhere and growing up, my stepkids asked where we would go for a tornado and my hubby said we would probably die LOL Actually the real answer is to go outside and lay in a ditch. I might pick dying over that haha
28:00 In reality that building would've offered them no protection, Bill and Jo would be dead, or at the very least seriously injured, because with an F-5 Tornado you looking at wind speeds of up to 250 mph or more the debris from the tornado would've killed them for sure. Also the Dorothy instrument pack is based on a real invention called, "TOTO," which stands for TOtable Tornado Observatory and was developed by NOAA during Project Vortex. Also in this movie you have actor Bill Paxton who did Bill and he is descending from a Confederate general, Gen. Frank Paxton, and Bill Paxton would later go on to do Titanic, and actress Lois Smith who did that nice lady Meg would later go on to do Adele Stackhouse, Sookie's Gran on the show True Blood.
The fact that you said that it would be funny if Jo's dad came out of that tornado reminds me of a Ron White joke. "It's not THAT the wind is blowing, it's WHAT the wind is blowing. If you get hit with a VOLVO, it doesn't matter how many sit ups you did that morning." Basically, what I'm saying is, there was stuff in that tornado spinning around with Jo's dad and he was likely killed by that stuff. Either that or he got thrown a mile away without a parachute. You don't survive crap like that.
I’ve been through two tornadoes. Never hit my home, but very close. Like under a quarter mile away. Used to terrify me as a child, now I practically run outside and say “take me!” Lol jk ... think about it though lmao
1996👍 ... Good movie year: - Scream - Fargo - Trainspotting - Independance Day And also: The Rock, The Frighteners, The Fan, Mission Impossible, Dragonheart, Portrait of a Lady, Romeo + Juliet, Jerry Maguire, Mars Attack, From Dusk till Dawn, The Cable Guy... All good stuff, different genres... (Scream and The Frighteners for Halloween 😁) Anyway, great react, as usual, keep going!!! PS: wait for Twister 2, where Bill Paxton gets left foot on red 🤯
