ROMANCING THE STONE (1984)

ROMANCING THE STONE (1984)

Tagline : She's a girl from the big city. He's a reckless soldier of fortune. For a fabulous treasure, they share an adventure no one could imagine... or survive

(Action, Adventure, Comedy) [PG] 

That was the end of Grogan... the man who killed my father, raped and murdered my sister, burned my ranch, shot my dog, and stole my Bible! But if there was one law of the west: Bastards had brothers, who seemed to ride forever.

In this one Joan Wilder (played by Kathleen Turner probably most famous for being the voice of Jessica Rabbit in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT, even though it was un-credited), who is a romance novelist, ends up getting a treasure map in the mail from her brother in law who has been murdered. Her sister is forced to call Joan, by a ridiculous pair of kidnappers who want the map and will exchange it for her sister. Pretty simple stuff so far. Anyway, Joan is on her way to Columbia when she finds herself basically being hunted down by a cop named Zolo (played by Manuel Ojeda), who wants the map also. Everyone seems to know who Joan is, because like I said, she’s a romance novelist, and she’s super popular.  On her journey Joan is essentially “selfishly”, rescued by Jack (played by Michael Douglas) who is now screwed because he can’t sell some expensive birds. The two end up on a perilous adventure being chased by Ralph (played by Danny DeVito), and Zolo. There are also quite a few alligator scenes if you like alligators. 

So back when INDIANA JONES AND THE RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK came out, pretty much every kid that was able to see that thing, and probably most of the adults just wanted to either see a sequel, or find another series that was just like it. ROMANCING THE STONE almost became that series, but the second movie flopped at the box office and the 3rd planned installment “The Crimson Eagle” was never made. However, what we ended up with wasn’t exactly INDIANA JONES, it was basically like if INDIANA JONES had been strictly directed at an audience that would normally read romance adventure novels. In a nutshell, even for me as a man, it was pretty fantastic. 

Let me first say, the acting in this movie is really solid. Given that Kathleen Turner wasn’t really down with all the camera angles director Robert Zemeckis wanted, she did an amazing job. For me this is still the main movie that I know Michael Douglas from. It was also his first action movie. Joan’s sister in the movie is Mary Ellen Trainor, best known for her role as the mom, in THE GOONIES. We also get a decent performance out of Danny DeVito. I thought the score was good, but not great. What I mean by that, is that there was nothing at all iconic about it. Contrast that with INDIANA JONES or even THE GOONIES for that matter (since I mentioned that movie). Cinematically everything about this flick was a bit more basic than I think Zemeckis wanted movie goers to think, but there is scene inside some old airplane wreckage, where the lighting and camera angles are near perfect. 

I am not sure there will be another romance action adventure flick quite like this. We’ve had several attempts and still no grande vanilla latte with two pumps of caramel. I give this movie a 5 out of 7. While for me there is a lot of nostalgia when watching this, I never ended up buying the movie and it’s not something I watch more than once or twice in a 10-year period. Having said that it was a wildly entertaining romp and when I do actually watch it, I find it very entertaining. 

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