Romancing the Stone

Romancing the Stone

Ah, one of the classics of my youth. I hadn't seen this in at least 10 years, if not longer. I was definitely afraid that it wasn't going to hold up very well. Thankfully it does - for the most part.

Often unfairly dismissed as an Indiana Jones knockoff, Romancing the Stone was one of the big hits of 1984, helping launch the career of director Robert Zemeckis (who went on to direct Back to the Future next) and cement the status of Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner as major stars.

Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is a lonely writer of romance novels who receives a mysterious map in the mail. This is followed immediately by a phone call by smugglers Ira (Zack Norman) and Ralph (Danny DeVito) who have kidnapped Joan's sister in Columbia. They will exchange her sister for the map. Next thing she knows, Joan is on a plane to South America, where she runs into bird smuggler and tough guy Jack T. Colton (Michael Douglas). Together, they bicker, argue, run away from bad guys, and try to solve the secrets of the map.

The big difference between Romancing the Stone and the Indiana Jones franchise is that this is a romantic adventure. There are love interests in the Indiana Jones movies, but ultimately the movie is just about him. The one time they do decide to have personal relationship develop throughout a movie, it is between Indy and his father, not a romantic interest. Romancing the Stone, on the other hand, is just as much about these two falling for each other as it is about maps and jewels and danger. It's ancestry is older than Indiana Jones; it probably has more in common with The African Queen.

But please don't misconstrue and think I'm saying Romancing the Stone is better than Indiana Jones. NO WAY. Indiana Jones is timeless. Anyone who thinks Romancing the Stone is timeless is smoking something. The biggest offender is the music score. I normally like Alan Silvestri (who went on to score all of Zemeckis' other movies, including Forrest Gump), but this is some synthesized garbage that was probably already out-of-fashion when the movie came out in 1984. Even the dramatic scenes cannot be taken seriously because of this terrible music - a good lesson that music really can make a huge difference.

But the film is entertaining enough and moves along at a good pace. That the movie works as well as it does is a testament to its two leads - Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner are terrific and have great chemistry. The two made three movies together, but they should have made more. They make quite a pair, whether they are fighting or flirting. It doesn't hurt that Turner looks stunning!

So anyways, is Romancing the Stone a classic? No, but it is a lighthearted and tight little piece of entertainment, bolstered by some great performances and hindered greatly by its 1980-ness.


MVP: Do I go for Michael Douglas' badass Jack T. Colton or for Kathleen Turner's beautiful novelist-in-danger. There's no contest. It's gotta be Kathleen Turner. She carries the whole movie on her shoulders, after all, and puts in better work than you would expect for a little adventure movie. She takes a character who is dependent and whiny, but somehow makes her still likable. I'm not ruining anything to say that her character arc is to eventually have her evolve into strong and independent woman by the end of the film, but Turner plots the course believably. We've all seen this same character arc in dozens of movies, and very few have pulled it off as well as Turner does here. She was awarded with a Golden Globe for her work, and I think it was well-deserved.

TRIVIA: I am willing to admit that maybe Romancing the Stone was greenlit by a studio because of Indiana Jones. But further proof that it is not a knockoff is that the script was written five years before Raiders of the Lost Ark. So there you go...

BEST LINE: Easy. I've been quoting this line my whole life!

Joan Wilder: What's your name?
Jack T. Colton: Jack T. Colton.
Joan Wilder: What's the "T" stand for?
Jack T. Colton: Trustworthy.

OSCAR NOMINATION: Best Editing