Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy film directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Diane Thomas. The film stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito, and was followed by a 1985 sequel titled The Jewel of the Nile.
Romancing the Stone earned over $86 million worldwide in box office receipts. It also helped launch Turner to stardom, reintroduced Douglas to the public as a capable leading man, started Zemeckis' frequent collaboration with Alan Silvestri, and gave Zemeckis his first box-office success.
Video Romancing the Stone
Plot
Joan Wilder, a successful but lonely romance novelist in New York City, longs to meet a romantic hero like the ones she writes about. As Joan leaves her apartment to meet her editor, Gloria, she is handed a letter containing a map, sent to her by her murdered brother-in-law, Eduardo, before his death. Meanwhile, Elaine, Eduardo's wife and Joan's sister, is kidnapped in Colombia, South America, by antiquities smugglers, cousins Ira and Ralph. While having drinks with Gloria, a mysterious man is seen trying to get into Joan's apartment before being caught; the mysterious man then stabs the witness to death. Returning to her apartment, Joan finds it ransacked. She then receives a frantic phone call from Elaine (held at knife-point by Ira), who instructs Joan to go to Colombia with the map she received; it is Elaine's ransom.
After flying to Colombia, Joan, who doesn't speak much Spanish, is detoured from the rendezvous point by Colonel Zolo, the mysterious man from before, and the man who killed Elaine's husband Eduardo. He tricks her into boarding the wrong bus, heading deep into the jungle interior of the country instead of to the coastal city of Cartagena, where Elaine is being held. Ralph, sent to keep an eye on her and make sure everything went as planned, realizes she is on the wrong bus and informs Ira before following Joan in his car. When Joan distracts the bus driver by asking where they are going, the bus crashes into a Jeep, wrecking both vehicles. As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo before being saved by the Jeep's owner, American exotic bird smuggler Jack T. Colton. For getting her out of the jungle and to a telephone, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveler's cheques. Meanwhile, Zolo winds up in Ralph's car, who is then forced to do the general's bidding until he can escape himself.
Jack and Joan travel the jungle while eluding the military police and Zolo, who wants the treasure map. After spending a night hiding in a marijuana smuggler's crashed C-47 aircraft, they enter a local drug lord's town owned by a man named Juan. At first threatened by Juan, he invites them into his home when he realizes who Joan is, as he is a big fan of her novels, reading them to the town on a regular basis. Zolo has followed them, however, and Juan uses his 4x4 truck to help them escape. While escaping, Joan and Jack both realize they have found a landmark associated with the treasure on the map.
After a night of dancing and passion in a nearby town, Jack suggests to Joan that they find the treasure themselves before handing over the map. They have to escape the town in order to follow the clues and unknowingly steal Ralph's car with a sleeping Ralph in the back. After following the map, they locate an enormous emerald called El Corazón ("The Heart"). After getting back to the car, Ralph takes the emerald from them at gunpoint. When Zolo appears, Ralph flees as Jack steals the jewel back, but Jack and Joan are chased into a river and go over a waterfall in Ralph's car. They end up on opposite sides of a raging river, each with a piece of the treasure; Joan has the map, but Jack has the emerald. Jack directs Joan to Cartagena, promising that he will meet her there.
In Cartagena, Joan gets instructions on where to meet with Ira and Elaine. Ira lets Elaine go after Joan gives him the map, but the reunion is quickly interrupted by Zolo and his men, who have captured Jack and Ralph. Zolo burns the map, much to Ira's dismay, and begins questioning Jack on the location of the emerald. After first, Jack tries to use delaying tactics, but Zolo cuts Joan's hand and lets it bleed into the nearby water, where several crocodiles reside. Jack, who had been hiding the emerald in his underwear, kicks the emerald to Zolo, who catches it. Zolo, at first victorious, screams as a crocodile bites off Zolo's hand and swallows it along with the emerald. As a gun battle takes place between Zolo's soldiers and Ira's gang, Joan and Elaine dash for safety, pursued by Zolo. Jack tries to stop the crocodile from escaping but lets it go when he sees that Joan is in danger and tries to climb a wall to help her. Joan tries to kill Zolo with a thrown knife, but Zolo blocks it with a piece of wood. Zolo gets set on fire by nearby oil torch, so he charges at Joan, who dodges his wild knife slashes as he falls into the crocodile pit. Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind as the authorities arrive. Jack finally gets to the top of the wall and realizes that Joan is safe. After a kiss, Jack dives into the water after the crocodile, leaving Joan behind with her sister.
Some time later, Joan is back in New York City, delivering a new manuscript based on her adventure to Gloria, who is moved to tears by the story and tells Joan she has another best-seller on her hands. Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat named the Angelina, after the heroine of Joan's novels, and wearing boots made from the crocodile's skin. He explains the crocodile died from ingesting the emerald and he had sold it, using the money to buy the boat of his dreams. They go off together, planning to sail around the world.
Maps Romancing the Stone
Cast
Production and release
Filming locations for Romancing the Stone included Veracruz, Mexico (Fort of San Juan de Ulúa); and Huasca de Ocampo, Mexico. Parts of the film were also shot in Snow Canyon, Utah. The scene where Turner and Douglas get separated on opposite banks on a whitewater river, about two-thirds into the movie, was filmed on the Rio Antigua near the town of Jalcomulco, Veracruz.
Upon the release of Romancing the Stone, comparisons to Raiders of the Lost Ark were inevitable; Time magazine called the film "a distaff Raiders rip-off". The screenplay for Romancing had actually been written five years earlier by a Malibu waitress named Diane Thomas in what would end up being her only screenplay. She died in a car crash shortly after the film's release.
Turner later said of the film's production, "I remember terrible arguments [with Robert Zemeckis] doing Romancing. He's a film-school grad, fascinated by cameras and effects. I never felt that he knew what I was having to do to adjust my acting to some of his damn cameras - sometimes he puts you in ridiculous postures. I'd say, 'This is not helping me! This is not the way I like to work, thank you!'" Despite their difficulties on the film, Zemeckis would go on to work with Turner again, casting her as the voice of Jessica Rabbit in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
Studio insiders expected Romancing the Stone to flop (to the point that, after viewing a rough cut of the film, the producers of the then under development Cocoon fired Zemeckis as director of that film), but the film became a surprise hit. It became 20th Century Fox's "only big hit" of 1984. Zemeckis later stated that the success of Romancing the Stone allowed him to make Back to the Future, which was an even larger success.
The novelization of Romancing the Stone was credited to Joan Wilder though it (and a novelization of the sequel movie, The Jewel of the Nile) was actually written by Catherine Lanigan.
Sylvester Stallone was originally considered for the role of Jack T. Colton.
Reception
Critical reaction
Romancing the Stone was well received by critics and is considered by some as among the best films of 1984. It holds an 88% approval rating with a 7.3/10 average on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 reviews.
Awards
Award wins:
- Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy
- Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy - Kathleen Turner
- Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress - Kathleen Turner
- Golden Reel Award for Best Sound Editing - ADR
- Stuntman Award for Most Spectacular Stunt - Vince Deadrick Jr., Terry Leonard
Award nominations:
- Academy Award for Best Film Editing - Donn Cambern, Frank Morriss
- American Cinema Editors Award for Best Edited Feature Film - Donn Cambern, Frank Morriss
- Writers Guild of America Award for Best Original Screenplay - Diane Thomas
Sequels
The success of Romancing the Stone also led to a sequel that was equally successful commercially, 1985's The Jewel of the Nile, without Zemeckis at the helm but with Douglas, Turner and DeVito all returning. Another sequel, called The Crimson Eagle, never made it past the development stage. This planned yet un-produced sequel would have seen Jack Colton and his partner Joan Wilder take their two teenage children to Thailand where they would find themselves blackmailed into stealing a priceless statue. DeVito reunited Douglas, Turner, and himself in his 1989 film The War of the Roses.
In 2005 and again in 2008, Michael Douglas was working on a second sequel to Romancing the Stone entitled Racing the Monsoon, although there have been no further developments in recent years.
Since 2007, 20th Century Fox considered a remake of Romancing the Stone with the possibility of a "reboot" of a series. The roles of Jack Colton and Joan Wilder would be filled by Taylor Kitsch (or Gerard Butler) and Katherine Heigl. By 2011, the remake was re-worked as a television series.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
External links
- Romancing the Stone on IMDb
- Romancing the Stone at Rotten Tomatoes
- Romancing the Stone at Box Office Mojo
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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