MAIN TITLE Arts and entertainment
Article Title Romancing the stone film review
Romancing the Stone is an American 1984 action-adventure film.Directed by Robert
Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. This film was
one of the best adventure/humor movies of the eighties. Not only did it boost the
star rating of Michael Douglas, it helped launch Kathleen Turner into stardom. It
also was Robert Zemeckis's first box office hit as a director.
The plot of the movie
revolves around romance writer Joan Wilder, played by Kathleen Turner, who travels
to Colombia to find her kidnapped sister. In time she falls in love with a soldier
of fortune [Michael Douglas] and the two become romantically involved as they search
for a precious stone which the kidnappers want.
The beginning of the film shows Joan
receiving a package from her dead brother-in-law. Soon after the package arrives
she gets a frantic call from her sister Elaine[Mary Ann Trainor] informing her that
she has been kidnapped and needs the map from the package as ransom. Joan flies down
to Columbia but she gets lost on the way to her destination. But eventually she runs
into Jack T. Colton [Douglas] and offers him some money if he would help her find
her way to Cartagena. He helps her to elude a few unsavory characters who seem to
be following her.Oneof these villains just happens to be the leader of the secret
police who is responsible for her brother-in-laws death. The other two zany characters
are Ralph [Danny DeVito] and Ira [Zack Norman].
Jack uncovers the map that Joan is
carrying and after some convincing she agrees to go after the treasure. They agree
that after finding the treasure they can then give the worthless map to the kidnappers.
After some unbelievable escapes, they eventually find the treasure which turns out
to be an enormous emerald called the malevolent. Zolo and Ralph steal it from them
but then the Colombian police show up. After getting the stone back from Ralph, Joan
and Jack get separated but agree to meet at Joan's hotel in Cartagena, but when Jack
doesn't show up, Joan starts to get worried.
She then meets her sister's captors[Ralph
and Ira] and turns over the map. They are interrupted by Zolo who knows that the
map is worthless. Zolo's men are holding Jack who refuses to disclose the location
of the emerald. Zolo uses Joan as bait and tells Jack that if he refuses to disclose
the emeralds location he will be forced to feed Joan to the crocodiles. Jack relents
and gives up the gem and tosses it towards the crocodiles.Zolo catches the stone
but his hand, along with the gem, ends up in one of the crocodiles stomach. A gunfight
ensues between Zolo's men and Ira's men. This allows Joan, Elaine and Jack to escape.
After a prolonged fight with Zolo's men, Ira and his men escape, but Ralph is left
behind.
Zolo catches Joan and Elaine. Joan tries to kill Zolo with his own switchblade,but
Zolo blocks the thrown knife with a piece of wood. After Elaine faints from the sight,
Joan pleads for Jack's help. He must decide whether to save her or hold onto the
croc which has ingested El Corazon. He decides to try to save Joan by scaling a rock
wall to reach her. However, he arrives moments after Zolo falls into a pit full of
crocodiles. Seeing that the women are safe, Jack leaves to pursue El Corazon once
more.
Joan then returners home to New York where she is confronted with lonely feeling
towards Jack. She writes a hit novel based on her recent adventures. But one day,
as she is returning home she is confronted by Jack,who is wearing crocodile skin
boots, waiting for her in a sailboat that is parked on the main street in front of
her apartment. It seems that Jack managed to catch the croc who had swallowed the
gem. The croc had suffered a fatal case of indigestion from swallowing the gem. The
ending is a not so typical love story showing Joan and Jack kissing on the deck of
the Angelina, which was named for Joan's fictional heroine, as the trailer that the
boat rests on drives off into the streets of N.Y. City.
About the Author
Andrew Conway is an author, a musician, and a classic movie buff. If you love watching
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