History Film / DantesPeak

* CloserThanTheyAppear: Harry keeps an eye on the pyroclastic flow in his driver's side mirror while attempting to outrun it. However, there's no "objects in mirror are closer than they appear" label.
** Justified in that that particular year of Chevrolet truck didn't come with convex mirrors.

** [[spoiler:Harry's co-worker at the beginning of the film. Seriously, if she'd just left earlier, they'd have missed being in the path of the rock that killed her. Although, considering that lava bombs were unpredictable and falling everywhere, it may have been more shit luck than anything. But it still counts because she wanted to ''stay behind and record results while everything was going to hell''.]] Not wise.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Kind of. While the movie is obviously fictional and doesn't make any claims otherwise, several plot elements are clearly inspired by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. In particular, Ruth is a female version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_R._Truman Harry Randall Truman]] (not to be confused with [[UsefulNotes/HarryTruman the president]]). Also, the scene in the crater was actually filmed on Mount St. Helens. And just to hammer it in ''even further'', the volcano's post-eruption state looks ''exactly'' like that of Mount St. Helens post-eruption, too, all they need to do to make it identical to the real thing nowadays is add a smoking lava dome. Nevertheless, the movie mentions the 1980 eruption, indicating that Mount St. Helens exists as itself in the movie's universe.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ruth blames Rachel for Rachel's husband (Ruth's son) leaving her, stubbornly refuses to leave the mountain despite pleas for her to go, and is just a belligerent ass in general. But she treats the kids kindly, pulls off a HeroicSacrifice to save Rachel, Harry and the kids, and one of the things she says to them before she dies from her injuries is an apology to Rachel for how she acted to her.

** Sheriff Turner. While he initially scoffs at the idea of the volcano erupting, once it becomes clear that it will, he jumps into action to help save lives. He alerts the town to attend an emergency meeting. After the eruption, he stays to help the National Guard locate survives.

* LaserGuidedKarma: The greedy helicopter pilot -- shown earlier in the film demanding overtime for flying through lunch and extra pay for emergency services -- tries to air lift people out of town in exchange for an extortionate $15,000 fee when his engines become clogged by volcanic ash, killing him and his passengers in a fiery crash.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Dr. Paul Dreyfus, despite being a bit of a CommanderContrarian, is a reasonable boss who respects Harry. While he is the most vocal in shutting Harry's initial calls to evacuate Dante's Peak, he continues to monitor the mountain for a week after initially promising Harry two days, and the moment he sees irrefutable proof of an impending eruption, he immediately give the go-ahead for an evacuation and apologizes to Harry for doubting him. When the volcano does erupt, he runs out to try and stop the helicopter from taking off, and volunteers to stay while ordering the other scientists to leave.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Dr. Paul Dreyfus, despite being a bit of a CommanderContrarian, is a reasonable boss who respects Harry. While he is the most vocal in shutting Harry's initial calls to evacuate Dante's Peak, he continues to monitor the mountain for a week after initially promising Harry two days, and the moment he sees irrefutable proof of an impending eruption, he immediately give the go-ahead for an evacuation and apologizes to Harry for doubting him.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Dr. Paul Dreyfus, despite being a bit of a CommanderContrarian, is a reasonable boss who respects Harry. While he is the most vocal in shutting Harry's initial calls to evacuate Dante's Peak, the moment he sees irrefutable proof of an impending eruption, he immediately give the go-ahead for an evacuation and apologizes to Harry for doubting him.

* HollywoodScience: Although the film is known for being [[ShownTheirWork scientifically sound]], there is a major inaccuracy. Volcanic ash should have all the main characters either dead or dying because it's incredibly fine and will get into their lungs and kill them. But seeing as this is just a disaster movie, this is excusable.

* ChekhovsGun: The E.L.F. global tracking device, the mineshaft.

United States Geological Survey Vulcanologist [[IgnoredExpert Dr. Harry Dalton]] (Creator/PierceBrosnan) is sent to the area to check out the volcano; after a few incidents involving par-boiled skinny dippers and some flirtation with Mayor Rachel Wando (Creator/LindaHamilton), he tries to send the town on alert. Unfortunately, he is [[WeNeedToGetProof shut down by his superior]] [[CommanderContrarian Dr. Paul Dreyfus]] (Harry Callahan). The town [[TemptingFate happens]] to be second place in the 'most desirable small town to live in the US' list, and they don't want any "crazy" accusations scaring away the tourists, which the town's economy depends on. Besides, there's [[MillionToOneChance a million to one chance]] that it could go off. [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong What could happen?]]

* BittersweetEnding: The movie is quite happy to show that the Dante's Peak town, the namesake snowcapped mountain and everything around them is reduced to an uninhabitable hellscape by the eruption. The panover of the mountain at the end shows it completely blew out in a manner eerily similar to Mt. Saint Helens.

* AdvancingWallOfDoom: [[spoilerThe climactic eruption of Dante’s Peak sends a massive wave of pyroclastic flows into the town below. These avalanches are so powerful that the nearby forests are flattened, any buildings hit by it are demolished and vehicles are torn to pieces. By the end of the film, when the ash and smoke finally clear and we finally get a proper look at the devastation, the entire town and surrounding area has been razed to the ground.]]

!!This film contains the following tropes:

--> '''Graham and Lauren''': Is the boat sinking? Is the boat gonna sink?
--> '''Harry, Ruth and Rachel''': No, sweetie. The boat's not gonna sink.

* SuitWithVestedInterests: Elliot, the man who was going to invest in the town as a tourist attraction (and who was also interested in Rachel before Harry showed up). He bails on the town immediately upon realizing there's a significant chance of the mountain erupting, and is the one who paid the chopper pilot fifteen grand to fly him out.

* PercussiveMaintenance: How Harry "fixes" the survey robot.

%%* ChekhovsVolcano

* DeathByMaterialism: When the volcano is erupting, a helicopter pilot is bribed by the would-be investor (and would-be alternate suitor for Rachel) to get him out of the danger zone. Against his better judgment the pilot takes the money, but the volcanic ash in the air fills up his engines and every occupant dies in the crash.

United States Geological Survey Vulcanologist [[IgnoredExpert Dr. Harry Dalton]] (Creator/PierceBrosnan) is sent to the area to check out the volcano; after a few incidents involving par-boiled skinny dippers and some flirtation with Mayor Rachel Wando (Creator/LindaHamilton), he tries to send the town on alert. Unfortunately, he is [[WeNeedToGetProof shut down by his superior]]. The town [[TemptingFate happens]] to be second place in the 'most desirable small town to live in the US' list, and they don't want any "crazy" accusations scaring away the tourists, which the town's economy depends on. Besides, there's [[MillionToOneChance a million to one chance]] that it could go off. [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong What could happen?]]

* IgnoredExpert: Harry, although the movie does subvert how the trope is usually played -- Harry ''doesn't'' have enough conclusive evidence, and the economy of the town could be ruined if he was wrong. The second Harry finds proof that is more concrete, it's immediately taken seriously; the town was in the middle of a town meeting discussing the evacuation plan when the volcano started erupting.

* BittersweetEnding: The movie is quite happy to show that the Dante's Peak town, the namesake snowcapped mountain and everything around them is reduced to an uninhabitable hellscape by the eruption.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Kind of. While the movie is obviously fictional and doesn't make any claims otherwise, several plot elements are clearly inspired by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. In particular, Ruth is a female version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Randall_Truman Harry Randall Truman]] (not to be confused with [[UsefulNotes/HarryTruman the president]]). Also, the scene in the crater was actually filmed on Mount St. Helens. And just to hammer it in ''even further'', the volcano's post-eruption state looks ''exactly'' like that of Mount St. Helens post-eruption, too, all they need to do to make it identical to the real thing nowadays is add a smoking lava dome. Nevertheless, the movie mentions the 1980 eruption, indicating that Mount St. Helens exists as itself in the movie's universe.

United States Geological Survey Vulcanologist [[IgnoredExpert Dr. Harry Dalton]] (Creator/PierceBrosnan) is sent to the area to check out the volcano; after a few incidents involving par-boiled skinny dippers and some flirtation with Mayor Rachel Wando (Creator/LindaHamilton), he tries to send the town on alert. Unfortunately, he is [[WeNeedToGetProof shut down by his superior]]. The town [[TemptingFate happens]] to be second place in the 'most desirable small town to live in the US' list, and they don't want any "crazy" accusations scaring away the tourists, which the town's economy depends on. Besides, there's [[MillionToOneChance a million to one chance]] that it could go off. [[WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong What could happen]]?

* DisasterPorn: [[spoiler: The final eruption of the volcano, which sends a ''massive'' eruption column into the sky, and then sends a pyroclastic flow that levels the town like a giant volcanic bulldozer.]]
* DisposableWoman: Harry's fiancee, Marianne, a really gung-ho geologist, refuses to leave until dragged bodily by Harry. She suffers death by volcanic projectile only moments into the film.
* DoomedContrarian: To be fair, [[spoiler:Paul was only trying to prevent Harry from [[MyGreatestFailure repeating his mistake with Mammoth Mountain]]]] and had some good points. Also [[spoiler: Ruth]], who was just an irresponsible, cantankerous pain in the ass.

* IgnoredExpert: Harry, although the movie does subvert how the trope is usually played - Harry ''doesn't'' have enough conclusive evidence, and the economy of the town could be ruined if he was wrong. The second Harry finds proof that is more concrete, it's immediately taken seriously; the town was in the middle of a town meeting discussing the evacuation plan when the volcano started erupting.

* ImprobableInfantSurvival: Oh like you ''really'' believed the kids or the dog would die... even though Harry's team advised him against going after them.

* {{Jerkass}}: The helicopter pilot. He complains about working over lunch, refuses to embark on a search and rescue mission without hiking his rates, and extorts desperate townspeople trying to evacuate on his helicopter for all their money. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard In the end all he gets is himself and his passengers killed.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Ruth blames Rachel for Rachel's husband (Ruth's son) leaving her, stubbornly refuses to leave the mountain despite pleas for her to go, and is just a belligerent ass in general. But she treats the kids kindly, pulls off a HeroicSacrifice to save Rachel, Harry and the kids and one of the things she says to them before she dies from her injuries is an apology to Rachel for how she acted to her.

* LoveTriangle: Elliot -- Rachel -- Harry. Elliot loses, and is a poor sport about it.
* MustHaveCaffeine: "Coffee! Coffee coffee coffee coffee coffee! Cappu-'''cci'''-no!"
* NeverMessWithGranny: Ruth saves everyone by [[spoiler: jumping into a lake of sulphuric acid and pushing along a boat ''with four people in it'']] so they can get to the docks. God''damn''. It actually makes up for the fact that she was the reason they were there in the first place.

* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Harry's fiance Marianne gets hit in the head by a Lava Bomb early in the film that was able to punch through the roof of the truck she was in like it was nothing, and yet only has a little blood on her head to show for it. In reality, such an impact would've [[YourHeadAsplode turned her head inside out]], with the rock coming to a stop somewhere in her stomach if it didn't go all the way through her and continued through the rest of the truck.
* PropheticName: ''Dante'''s Peak. As in, the author of [[Literature/TheDivineComedy the Inferno]]. Doubles as IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace and overlaps with TemptingFate.

** [[spoiler:Paul. Though he had sound reasoning, his guess was wrong and it cost lives. Once he realized an eruption was imminent he volunteered himself to stay behind. He brings up the rear in the USGS evacuation and is their only lost member.]]

** [[spoiler:You'd think a trained pilot would know better than to attempt to take off in the middle of an ash storm. There's a good reason civil aviation grinds to a halt when there's a major volcanic eruption. Now he's the richest man in the cemetery.]]

** [[spoiler:Grandmother Ruth refuses to listen to the warnings of a member of the ''[=USGS=]'' and stays on her mountainside home, and is still there long after it's started to erupt, to the point of actively denying that it's even erupting when it's raining ash all around her home. Subverted because Harry and Rachel then come to save Rachel's kids who came to convince stubborn Ruth to leave. Then double subverted when Ruth sacrifices her life to save Harry, Rachel, and the kids, which wouldn't have been necessary if she had left in the first place. It's even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by her in her last moments.]]
** [[spoiler: Harry's coworker at the beginning of the film. Seriously, if she'd just left earlier, they'd have missed being in the path of the rock that killed her. Although, considering that lava bombs were unpredictable and falling everywhere, it may have been more shit luck than anything. But it still counts due to the fact that she wanted to ''stay behind and record results while everything was going to hell''.]] Not wise.

* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: Kind of. While the movie is obviously fictional and doesn't make any claims otherwise, several plot elements are clearly inspired by the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. In particular, Ruth is a female version of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Randall_Truman Harry Randall Truman]] (not to be confused with [[UsefulNotes/HarryTruman the president]]). Also, the scene in the crater was actually filmed on Mount St. Helens. And just to hammer it in ''even further'', the volcano's post eruption state looks ''exactly'' like that of Mt St Helens post eruption too, all they need to do to make it identical to the real thing nowadays is add a smoking lava dome. Nevertheless, the movie mentions the 1980 eruption, indicating that Mount St. Helens exists as itself in the movie's universe.