A volcano creates problems.
Cool explosive special effects, a knockout Lalo Schifrin score, William Holden being pleasing as always and a well played sense of doom in the opening sections of the film. There are reasons to watch!
Paul Newman/James Franciscus go down in that craft to the very centre of the volcano. This scene alone makes the whole film worthwhile: very well done and full of suspense! All the scenes with William Holden and uncomfortable Franciscus together are well played.
In a nutshell: the movie is not perfect but something I return to with repeat viewings all the time.
Deleted footage: About 25 minutes of footage was cut out of the final release and I have seen the missing footage. The Burgess Meredith character gets a lot more screen time, there are moments of actors looking at the volcano and cars driving around a damaged Hawaii. There is also a long sequence right near the end involving the survivors talking away in a cave that was cut out. Basically, they did the right thing by cutting out this footage.