Submitted by LoneWolfInCyberia t3_z8nk2r in movies
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This was one of my favorite movies of the 80s, still remains a great watch, a more tongue in cheek take off on the Indiana Jones series.
The fun starts right in the opening scene, where we are apparently watching a Western , of a lady stripping to kill the bad guy, and then it zooms to the face of Joan Wilder( Kathleen Turner) typing away furiously in her apartment. One great setup truly.
Joan a successful writer, keeps dreaming of a guy whom she creates in her novels, who would carry her away from her rather unremarkable life. However she has to deal with her sister Elaine, held to ransom in Colombia by a group of crooks, Ira(Zack Norman) and Ralph( Danny De Vito) . Elaine's husband had earlier been kidnapped and murdered. In order to save her sister, Joan has to hand over a treasure map that shows the location to a precious emerald.
The real villian of the piece though is Zolo(Manuel Ojeda), a rogue cop with his own private army, more vicious than the bumbling duo of Ira and Ralph. Zolo deliberately diverts Joan into another bus from the one she was supposed to take to Cartagena, which goes somewhere into the wild interiors of Colombia. However a mixup and an accident sees Joan encounter Jack Colton( Michael Douglas) a free wheeling adventurer who smuggles out rare birds for money, starting out one crazy ride through the Colombian jungles and highlands.
Romancing the Stone is one great entertainer, and it was written by Diane Thomas, a Malibu waitress, which impressed Douglas a lot,that he choose to produce and act in it. The script to date is one of the most read and analyzed.
One great scene, is when Jack and John, meet a drug smuggler Juan, who turns out to be a big fan of Joan's novels, superbly shot. Or the scene where Jack, Joan and Juan are escaping Zolo's men, and Juan keeps pointing out all his childhood memories.
It's a movie that has it all, great comedy, some good action, and a lovely romance thrown in. It helps that both Douglas and Turner are great actors, and have a superb chemistry between them. Douglas is perfect as Jack, the smooth talking, rogue, and his abiity to pull off those one liners, and Turner has just the right amount of sex appeal and charm to sweep you off the feet.
De Vito and Norman are brilliant as the bumbling crooks, and Alfonso Arau is equally great as Juan, while Ojeda makes a suitably menacing Zolo.
Just the kind of entertainer, to chill out with on a weekend or date, reccomended highly.
nkleszcz t1_iycco3n wrote
Don’t forget that this was Robert Zemekis’ golden ticket, giving him the opportunity to make Back to the Future.