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Actors: Tom Hanks, John Candy, Rita Wilson, Gedde Watanabe, George Plimpton
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Volunteers |
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In 1962, irresponsible Lawrence Bourne (Hanks) just out of Yale is in debt for gambling and his father (Plimpton) refuses to pay the debt off for him. He manages to escape having his legs broken or worse by the people he owes money to by taking off to join the Peace Corp. Tom Tuttle (Candy) is a chubby naïve guy from Tacoma, Washington who Bourne is paired with for his stay in Loong Ta. Life there is difficult with few if any modern conveniences. The native people are friendly and helpful but unenthusiastic about the new bridge being built for them. A young native man (Watanabe) befriends the Americans and helps them understand the local customs. Beth Wexler (Wilson) is another youthful optimist out to change the world one small act at a time. She and Bourne fight like cats and dogs but eventually they begin to fall for one another as adversity and deprivation bring them closer.
Things get a little scary when the volunteers get caught in a squeeze between local political forces and the CIA. Tuttle is the victim of mental coercion and torture by the Chinese. Other bad people are introduced as having a stake in the bridges completion. It is decided the best thing for the people the Peace Corp. wish to help is to take out the bridge before it can be put to misuse by the powers that are each vying for control of the region.
--David Fletcher, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of Volunteers |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Comedy, primarily
Yes
Time/era of movie:
- 1960's-1970's
Kind of comedy
- vacation or seeing foreign culture
How much humor v. drama
- Mostly humor, but some serious drama
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Age:
- 20's-30's
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- deluded
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Unclothed?
- Chest
Events of movie makes character more...
- caring
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn wavey
Body type
- (woman) ample bosom & buttocks
How much in movie?
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Setting
Asia/Pacific/Middle East
Yes
Asian country:
- Southeast Asia
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- encouraged
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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