Romancing The Stone turned out to be a very pleasant surprise for me. I got sent to review it for my student paper and went in with zero advance knowledge and low expectations. It turned out to be a remarkably entertaining movie, with great chemistry between leads Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.

This was also the first mainstream hit for director Robert Zemeckis, who went on to bigger (Back To The Future, Forrest Gump) although not necessarily better things (The Polar Express and a raft of other movies pushing the motion capture envelope ad nauseam). This, his calling card, is a lean, witty action adventure set in the jungles of South America. It owes an obvious huge debt to Raiders Of The Lost Ark, but manages to find its own groove.

I picked up a large number of stills from the press screening, of which I can only include a few here, along with the UK quad poster, which has a nice throwback feel to it.

The sequel The Jewel of the Nile I have much hazier memories of, other than it was a big let-down, lacking in the charm that was so crucial to the original’s success. This is perhaps not altogether surprising as Zemeckis did not direct second time around, and passed the reins to director Lewis Teague (perhaps best known for minor cult hit Alligator). It is now perhaps best remembered for Billy Ocean’s hit song “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” 

This French ‘grande’ poster is impressive, however, and has the same swashbuckling vibe as that of the original movie. It can be found for sale here.