Product ReviewsVolunteers (DVD, 1985)

Volunteers is real!

I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the West African country Benin. (next country over from Nigeria) I first saw the movie in theaters when it came out. It's absurd but surprisingly real. Most Peace Corps volunteers are green, snot nosed kids right out of college and I think you have to be idealistic and wanting to save the world to qualify. Arriving in a country where you do not know the language, traditions, culture is very difficult. It takes at least a year to figure things out. In the mean time, there's lots of frustration and doubt about yourself. I knew a number of volunteers who spent their entire time hanging out in bars, playing cards and smoking dope. But the great majority push forward and do good work. In the end, it's really about the relationships you make with the locals that means the most. My daughter, in a few weeks, will be going into the Peace Corps to Madagascar. I bought the DVD to show her before she leaves. I wanted to give her a funny perspective on how things will be. Every other former Peace Corps volunteer I know loves this movie. Read full review...

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Volunteers (DVD, 1999)

Early Tom Hanks movie about a spoiled rich kid, Lawrence Bourne Jr., who gets into trouble with bookies over gambling debts in the early 1960's. When his father refuses to bail him out of debt, and desperate to get away, he trades his corvette and sexy girlfriend to a friend for his spot on a Peace Corps mission to Thailand. Very far from being an altruist, he soon sees a profit and, with totally self-centered purposes, he vastly starts improving the conditions around him.

A natural at being able to organize and motivate others, he is assigned to build a bridge for the local villagers with Washington State University graduate Tom Tuttle (John Candy) and the beautiful, down-to earth Beth Wexler (Rita Wilson). What they do not realize is that the bridge is coveted by the United States Army, a local Communist force, and the powerful drug lord Chung Mee (Ernest Harada).

Soon figuring out that these people would be so much better off without this bridge, they all wind up in the middle between a real nutcase CIA agent, and the local warlord who is also an opium runner. They manage to blow up the bridge and return the village to normal, and in the process, learn a little about life and being self-sufficient.Read full review...

Tom Hanks is an overlooked role.

Classic Hanks, back when he was funny. John Candy is a little over the top, but oh well, still a good movie.

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Very entertaining

A lot of the movie I did not remember. It's like watching it the first time.

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Great dry humor!

This is for a certain sense of humor - and it's mine exactly!! Loved this movie ever since it came out.

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Great and hilarious movie

Great and hilarious movie

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Lightweight, very ordinary.

very much same character s as each actor portrayes as usual.

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Chandler

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Fun to watch

Great comedy

Nice

Good value and perfect condition

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