Romancing the Stone

Romancing the Stone (1984) is about a writer of romantic adventure novels falling into a real adventure. Joan Wilder lives alone in New York; her books sell in quantity and nothing happens in her own life. One day a package arrives from Colombia: her brother in law has been murdered and her sister kidnapped. The ransom is the map inside. She goes to Colombia, gets on the wrong bus and is left in the middle of the jungle. There she meets an American named Jack Colton, a bird dealer, broke and unreliable. The humour comes from Joan falling into the genre she writes. Every cliché from her own books happens to her and she notices. Diane Thomas wrote the screenplay. She was waiting tables at the time and it was her first. The film's success opened her career; she died in a car accident shortly afterwards. Robert Zemeckis directed. His two previous films had failed commercially and this was regarded as his last chance. Its success gave him the opportunity to make Back to the Future. Michael Douglas both starred and produced. It was shot in Mexico and the production was difficult; rain, mud and tropical conditions wrecked the schedule. It exceeded expectations and produced a sequel. The rhythm between Kathleen Turner and Douglas carries the film. It runs 106 minutes. Good for: adventure comedy, the eighties, and romantic adventure. Less good for: the depiction of Latin America belongs to its period and is full of cliché.