Romancing the Stone

Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it starsMichael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile.

The film earned over $86,572,238 worldwide in box-office receipts. It also helped launch Turner to stardom, reintroduced Douglas to the public as a capable leading man, and gave Zemeckis his first box-office success. Decades later, it retains critical acclaim, with an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.[5]



Contents
[hide]  *1 Plot  ==Plot[ edit] == Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is a lonely romance novelist in New York City. The film opens in one of her stories, which finds a woman in a cabin in the West, with a grimy villain demanding to know where the something is, and him making to ravage her, but she whips a knife into his heart. Then she goes outside, but there are more rogues, but a hero shows up on the crest of a ridge and saves her, and they ride off, knowing they'll be together forever. This is the latest romance novel by Wilder, and she is now revealed to be a single woman who celebrates by giving her orange tabby cat, Romeo, a can of tuna, and dipping into her assembly of tiny airline-sized alcohol. She gets drunk and stares at the poster art for one of her books, which features a large silhouette of a big masculine hero.
 * 2 Cast
 * 3 Production and release
 * 4 Reception
 * 4.1 Critical reaction
 * 4.2 Awards
 * 5 References
 * 6 External links

As Joan leaves her apartment, she's handed a letter sent to her by late brother-in-law. She goes to meet her editor, and they go out to a bar where the editor laments that Joan can't find a good man, since Joan is holding out for someone like the dashing hero in her books. Meanwhile, in Colombia, Joan's sister is walking to a red convertible when a little boy in the street hurls a bolas at her, knocking her unconscious. The boy then drives off with her car. Back in New York, a mysterious man breaks into Joan's apartment after killing the inquisitive building super. Joan returns to find her apartment ransacked. She gets a call from her widowed sister, Elaine (Mary Ellen Trainor), who has been kidnapped in Columbia by bumbling antiquities smugglers Ira (Zack Norman) and Ralph (Danny DeVito); Elaine informs Joan that the package contains a treasure map, and the map is to be the ransom to set her free.

Hastily flying to Colombia, Joan is detoured from the rendezvous with Ralph by Colonel Zolo (Manuel Ojeda), the man who killed Elaine's husband. He deceives her into boarding the wrong bus, bound for the interior of the country instead of the coastal city of Cartagena, where Elaine is being held. Joan becomes suspicious and attempts to ask the bus driver where they are headed, causing the bus to crash into a parked Jeep. As the rest of the passengers walk away, Joan is menaced by Zolo, but is saved by American exotic bird smuggler Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas). Jack's Jeep has been ruined, and he goes through his belongings, looking longingly at a picture of a sailboat that he dreams of getting. Joan then hires Jack to help her get back to civilization. For getting her out of the jungle and to a telephone, Joan promises to pay Jack $375 in traveller's checks. They narrowly escape Zolo and his posse by sliding through a muddy ravine and swinging on vines.

Jack and Joan elude Zolo, who wants the treasure for himself and who chases them with military police, which he commands as a "private army". After spending a night hiding in a marijuana smuggler's crashed C-47 airplane, they encounter a drug lord named Juan (Alfonso Arau), who is a big fan of Joan's novels and who helps them escape from Zolo.

After a night of dancing and passion, Jack suggests to Joan that they find the treasure before handing over the map. They follow the clues and find the treasure: an enormous emerald called El Corazon ("The Heart"). Unbeknownst to Jack and Joan, they had used Ralph's car for the last leg of their journey while Ralph was sleeping in the back. Ralph takes the emerald at gunpoint and taunts Joan that Jack would have done the same.

When Zolo appears, Jack chases Ralph and steals the jewel back, then both Jack and Joan are chased into a river and go over a waterfall. Jack and Joan end up on opposite sides of the raging river; Joan has the map, but Jack has the emerald. Jack directs Joan to Cartagena, promising that he will meet her there with the emerald, but she is skeptical, owing to Ralph's taunts.

In Cartagena, Joan contacts Ira, but cannot find Jack. She meets with Ira and Ralph at their base (an old fortress) and makes the exchange. As Joan and Elaine attempt to leave, they are stopped by Zolo and his men, who have captured Jack. Zolo demands the emerald and threatens Joan with the crocodiles that Ira keeps as pets. To save Joan, Jack surrenders the hidden emerald to Zolo, but a crocodile bites off Zolo's hand and swallows it along with the emerald.

As a furious gun battle takes place between Zolo's soldiers and Ira's gang, Joan and Elaine dash for safety, but they are pursued by the enraged Zolo, who eventually catches up to them, attacking Joan with the knife that she initially tossed at him. They engage in a desperate and fierce struggle with the knife. Jack tries to stop the crocodile from escaping but lets it go when he sees that Joan is in grave danger. After Zolo is knocked back into a lantern, causing his back to catch fiere, Zolo charges at Joan, who eventually dodges his wild knife slashes, knocking Zolo into the crocodile pit. Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left behind as the authorities arrive. After a kiss, Jack dives into the water after the crocodile, leaving Joan behind with her sister.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Some time later, Joan is back in New York City, delivering a new manuscript based on her adventure, and her publisher, Gloria (Holland Taylor), loves it. Returning home, she finds Jack waiting for her in a sailboat. He caught the crocodile (which he says died from a "fatal case of indigestion") and had it made into a pair of boots, sold the emerald, and bought the boat he had told Joan was his dream. They go off together, planning to sail around the world. ==Cast<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ==Production and release<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Filming locations included Veracruz, Mexico (Fort of San Juan de Ulúa); and Hidalgo, Mexico 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.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;font-size:11.1999998092651px;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]
 * Michael Douglas as Jack T. Colton
 * Kathleen Turner as Joan Wilder
 * Danny DeVito as Ralph
 * Zack Norman as Ira
 * Alfonso Arau as Juan
 * Manuel Ojeda as Colonel Zolo
 * Holland Taylor as Gloria
 * Mary Ellen Trainor as Elaine Wilder
 * Eve Smith as Mrs. Irwin
 * Joe Nesnow as Super
 * José Chávez as Santos
 * Evita Muñoz "Chachita" as Hefty Woman
 * Camillo García as Bus Driver
 * Rodrigo Puebla as Bad Hombre
 * Paco Morayta as Hotel Clerk
 * Kymberly Herrin as Angelina
 * Bill Burton as Jesse
 * Ted White as Grogan

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">This was the first Zemeckis film to feature an electronic-orchestral music score by composer Alan Silvestri; Silvestri has scored each subsequent film Zemeckis has directed.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;font-size:11.1999998092651px;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Although, upon its release, comparisons to Raiders of the Lost Ark were inevitable (Time magazine called the movie "a distaff Raiders rip-off"),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6]  the screenplay forRomancing had actually been written five years earlier. It was written 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">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!'"<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[8]  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.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">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),<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-horo_9-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  but the film became a surprise hit. It became 20th Century Fox's "only big hit" of 1984.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]  Zemeckis later stated that the success ofRomancing the Stone allowed him to make Back to the Future, which was an even larger success.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]  The film's success also led to an equally successful sequel, 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 unproduced 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 himself, Douglas and Turner in his 1989 film The War of the Roses. In 2005 and again in 2008, Michael Douglas was working on a second sequel entitled Racing the Monsoon, although there have been no further developments in recent years.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The novelization of this film 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.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Sylvester Stallone was originally considered for the role of Jack T. Colton.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height:1;font-size:11.1999998092651px;white-space:nowrap;">[citation needed] ==Reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Critical reaction<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The film was well received by critics and is considered by some as among the best films of 1984.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[13] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[14] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[15] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16]  It holds an 87% approval rating on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 43 reviews.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-rotten_5-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[5] ===Awards<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Award wins:<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Award nominations:
 * Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-goldenglobes_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[18]
 * Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Musical or Comedy – Kathleen Turner<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-goldenglobes_18-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[18]
 * 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


 * 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