Romancing The Stone SE

Filed Under: Film, Reviews | Article Tags : DVD review

By: The Dweeb

DVD Features

Video: 2.35:1 Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0, French: Dolby Digital Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono

Rekindling The Romance: A Look Back Featurette
A Hidden Treasure: The Screenwriter” Featurette
Actors Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner And Danny DeVito Choose Their Favorite Scenes
Michael Douglas Remembers: Featurette
Deleted Scenes

Theatrical release: 3/30/1984
DVD released on 8/29/2006 by 20th Century Fox
Running time of 105 minutes

Starring: Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Plot: Romance novelist Joan Wilder lives for – and in – a fantasy world. But when her sister is kidnapped in Colombia and the only chance to save her is to bring a treasure map to her captors, reality quickly becomes stranger then fiction. Thrown into a jungle full of gunfire, mud slides and poisonous snakes, Joan’s only hope lies with Jack Colton, a rugged wanderer straight out of her novels. Together, they’ll have to outwit the bandits and survive the jungle if they’re to save her sister and find the secret of “El Corazon!”

Just in time to promote another DVD current release starring Michael Douglas, Fox is trotting out in a special edition of one of his greatest movies ever. Romancing The Stone, which was a huge hit and created several stars, was a unique film. Combining the genres of action, comedy and romance, it was never really done before, and somehow all the pieces just fell right into place. It was, and still is an entertaining romp to watch, and I can’t recall a film that even comes close to recreating this experience. It has since become a classic that has become synonymous with the 1980’s.
Take Indiana Jones, gussy it up with some more romance, a little more comedy, and the result will be popcorn munching goodness. One of the first directing jobs for Robert Zemeckis, he cranks up the volume which does not let up throughout the whole thing. You want to root for our two heroes, Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) and author Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) to make it and eventually get together. Predictably they do, but the process of getting to this part is what makes the movie fun. The non stop action, the witty banter, and comic relief provided by Ira (Danny DeVito) creates a fun film to watch, many times over I might add.
I think the secret lies in the tumultuous relationship between Joan and Jack throughout most of the film. Joan starts off as a shy hopeless romantic, living in a world that is too big for her. Circumstances lead to her run in with bad boy Jack Colton who thinks his solitary life is just the ticket. “Goddamn it, I knew I should’ve listened to my mother. I could’ve been a cosmetic surgeon..” Through their misadventures, he eventually helps to coax her out of her shell, and in the mean time decides that he could hook up with someone again. Because their on screen chemistry was so electrifying, they subsequently went on to make several successful films together. But it all comes back to this film, nothing can come close in my opinion.
There was a previous version of the film out a few years ago. Fox has updated the package and put on some extra features like deleted scenes and several interview retrospectives. The picture transfer is fairly decent, looks like it was filmed not that long ago. The sound isn’t bad either, considering its only Dolby 2.0 . The extras provide some good insight into the making of the film, and how it came to be. Overall, a decent release for a classic.