Romance the Stone (1984)

Directed by: Robert Zemeckis | 106 minutes | action, adventure | Actors: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Zack Norman, Alfonso Arau, Manuel Ojeda, Holland Taylor, Mary Ellen Trainor, Eve Smith, Joe Nesnow, José Chávez, Evita Muñoz ‘Chachita’), Kymberly Herrin, William H. Burton Jr., Ted White

With her hoarse, low voice and challenging roles, Kathleen Turner was one of the sex symbols of the eighties. With her debut film, the erotic neo-noir ‘Body Heat’ (1981), she immediately made an overwhelming impression and although she was not as slender and elegantly built as, for example, Kim Basinger and Michelle Pfeiffer, she easily wrapped the movie audience around her finger. . With films such as ‘Prizzi’s Honor’ (1985), ‘Peggy Sue Got Married’ (1986), ‘The Accidental Tourist’ (1988) and ‘The War of the Roses’ (1989), she built her status as one of the most popular actresses of the eighties. In the 1990s, her success stopped abruptly. Turner was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 1992 and was suffering from excruciating pain, which she tried to suppress with alcohol. The actress, who was already known as difficult, became a real troublemaker, especially for the people in her vicinity. The drugs she received changed her appearance, which also did not benefit her career. That she no longer got leading roles, she herself knows from her age. She was barely seen on both the big and the small screen for about eight years, but as she got better medication in the early 21st century, she started appearing more and more in TV series like “Friends”, “Californication” and as a voice actress. However, the status she had in the 1980s is miles behind her.

In her heyday, Turner starred in three films with Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito: the adventure films ‘Romancing the Stone’ (1984), its sequel ‘The Jewel of the Nile’ (1985) and the aforementioned black comedy ‘The War of the roses’. With ‘Romancing the Stone’, director Robert Zemeckis tapped into the success of ‘Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981). The film reaffirmed Turner’s status as the premier female movie star of the time and brought Douglas’s star back to the Hollywood firmament. Turner plays Joan Wilder, the successful but lonely writer of flutro males who herself hopes one day to be rescued by a prince on a white horse. At least that’s what her publisher (Holland Taylor) thinks. One day, Joan receives a secret treasure map in the mail, not long after she receives a call from her sister Elaine (Mary Ellen Trainor), who hysterically tells her that she has been kidnapped by antique smugglers Ira (Zack Norman) and Ralph (Danny DeVito). . Joan must come to Colombia with the treasure map as a ‘ransom’ to free her. What she doesn’t realize is that during her journey she is being chased by Colonel Zolo (Manuel Ojeda), the murderer of Elaine’s husband Eduardo. He makes sure she gets on the wrong bus in Colombia and drives into the deep jungle instead of Cartagena. When the bus crashes, Joan seems to fall prey to Zolo, only to be rescued just in the nick of time by American adventurer John T. Colton (Michael Douglas). After a difficult acquaintance, they decide to search for the treasure together before handing the treasure map to the kidnappers. But of course that doesn’t turn out the way they expect, because there are quite a few privateers on the coast…

Zemeckis is a specialist in stringing together adventure, drama, suspense, humor and a touch of romance. After ‘Romancing the Stone’ he would definitely establish his name with the ‘Back to the Future’ trilogy and ‘Forrest Gump’ (1994), but here he already shows a taste of his abilities. Although the story (screenplay by Diane Thomas) is not really original – actually quite standard for an adventure film – and the plot is wafer thin, Zemeckis manages to pull us into his world with ease. We immediately fall in love, as the film begins in the middle of the plot of Joan’s latest novel. Turner and Douglas (who is also involved as a producer on the film) have a great chemistry together and Douglas in particular treats us to some hilarious one-liners. The film is a tad dated, but has barely lost any of its power of persuasion. DeVito comes off a bit thin in an uninteresting role and the other supporting roles are also very poorly developed. It’s all about Turner and Douglas here and we’ll know that too. The stunts and action scenes are not bad and the music of Alan Silvestri is very eighties. However, ‘Romancing the Stone’ is moving along nicely and, despite the rumors that Turner regularly clashed with Zemeckis about the interpretation of her role and the way she was portrayed, it looks like the actors are having a lot of fun. had when shooting this film (in which Mexico, incidentally, ‘serves’ as Colombia).

‘Romancing the Stone’ is a light-hearted adventure film like those made in the eighties, with a simple story, one-dimensional villains and a blossoming romance between two opposites. It is mainly the protagonists Turner and Douglas who make this sometimes somewhat dated-looking movie worthwhile; the star power splashes off the screen.