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“Well, wait a minute, now. Going for the stone was my idea.”
Adventure Month continues with a LIGHTER film than Fitzcarraldo and Lawreence of Arabia. It’s the classic 80s Adventure Rom Com Romancing the Stone.
Forrest Miller, Conan Neutron, J. Andrew World, and Kristina Oakes dig into this crazy locus of 80s movie activity.
Sometimes you just need a big silly 80s Rom Com starring two of Hollywood’s Biggest Stars (in this case Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner) stuck in the Colombian Jungle that grabs up tropes from everything from Maltese Falcon to Peter Pan.
This right here is a watchable enjoyable adventure style chase picture. You have 1980’s Kathleen Turner fresh off of Body Heat (!), and she is in fine form. Showing that she has range and presence with that same 80s trope of mousiness that is (rightly) mercilessly lampooned to this day. Here? It works. Probably because the great chemistry between the leads.
Michael Douglas stars as Kurt Russell… er… Jack T. Colton. An adventurer and rogue.
Danny Devito shines as Ralph chasing them. It’d a sharp and funny script that borrows from a lot of stuff, but is executed well. Doubly hilarious that the recent film The Lost City “borrows” so much from this.
Crazy that this setup Michael Douglas for Wall Street and everything after and that Kathleen Turner and Zemeckis would work together again later for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Shame that the Jewel of the Nile wasn’t so great as it could have been a good franchise with a little more effort, time and better conviction.
Madcap antics, car chases, gunfights and action that manages to be romantic and exciting and make a more than convincing adventure romp. Not just an Indiana Jones rip off (script was written way before that), but it IS a sweaty and low key sexy time.
Sometimes that’s exactly what you need, especially when it is between two of the most jarring and serious epics in Adventure-dom.
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