ROMANCING THE STONE (1984) C widescreen 105m dir: Robert Zemeckis

w/Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, Zack Norman, Alfonso Arau, Manuel Ojeda, Holland Taylor, Mary Ellen Trainor, Eve Smith, John Nesnow

From The Movie Guide: "A rousing, old-fashioned romantic adventure about Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner), an author of lusty, best-selling bodice-rippers whose own life is a colorless bore. The picture opens as a tearful Joan is completing her latest literary fantasy. She's snapped out of her reverie by the arrival of a strange package that contains some sort of treasure map pointing the way to a fabulous gemstone. Then follows a frantic phone call from her sister, who is being held captive by an evil art dealer, Ira (Zack Norman), and his snarling cousin, Ralph (Danny DeVito). Her sister's husband has disappeared in Columbia, and it was he who sent Joan the map. Ira and Ralph threaten to kill Joan's sister unless the treasure map is turned over to Ralph in Columbia. So timid Joan takes off for the jungles of South America only to discover that Zolo (Manuel Ojeda), a corrupt military official, is also after the map. Luckily, she is rescued by a handsome, American soldier-of-fortune, Jack Colton (Michael Douglas), and together they go after the treasure. ROMANCING THE STONE moves like lightning through its 105-minute running time, barely giving viewers a chance to catch their breath. Although comparisons with Steven Spielberg's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK are inevitable, it is the interplay between Turner and Douglas that gives the film its real charm. Norman and DeVito score strongly in roles that would have been played by Sydney Greenstreet and Peter Lorre 30 years ago, and the whole film has the feel of an old Warner Bros. thriller with broadly comic overtones. An inferior sequel, THE JEWEL OF THE NILE, was released the following year."

ROMANCING THE STONE was nominated for an Oscar for Best Editing (Donn Cambern, Frank Morriss).