King Solomon's Mines (1985)

Fortune hunter Allan Quatermain teams up with a resourceful woman to help her find her missing father lost in the wilds of 1900s Africa while being pursued by hostile tribes and a rival German explorer.

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

H. Rider Haggard (novel), Gene Quintano (screenplay),

Stars:

Richard Chamberlain, Sharon Stone, Herbert Lom

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Richard Chamberlain	...	Allan Quatermain
Sharon Stone	...	Jesse Huston
Herbert Lom	...	Colonel Bockner
John Rhys-Davies	...	Dogati
Ken Gampu	...	Umbopo
June Buthelezi	...	Gagoola
Sam Williams	...	Scragga
Shaike Ophir	...	Kassam (as Shai K. Ophir)
Mick Lesley	...	Dorfman
Vincent Van der Byl	...	Shack (as Vincent Van Der Byl)
Bob Greer	...	Hamid
Oliver Tengende	...	Bushiri
Neville Thomas	...	German Pilot
Bishop McThuzen	...	Dari (as Bishop Mcthuzen)
Isiah Murert	...	Rug Carrier

Storyline

Allan Quatermain is a fortune hunter who is convinced by Jesse Huston to help her find her father, who's been lost somewhere in the African jungle during his last exploration.

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Plot Keywords:

tribe | german | africa | jungle | lion | 

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Taglines:

The Adventure of a Lifetime

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 November 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las minas del rey Salomón

Filming Locations:

Harare, Zimbabwe

Box Office

Budget:

$12,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$238,227 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cannon Group, Golan-Globus Productions, Cannon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (as Dolby Stereo)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Filmed concurrently with its sequel, "Allan Quatermain and the City of Gold".

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Goofs

Inside the mines, Jessie wears trousers that are much shorter than earlier in the movie, even right before entering the mines.

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Quotes

Jesse Huston: [Indicating the twin mountain peaks] if we'd crashed between them, we'd be at the mine!
Allan Quatermain: Fine! Next time we steal a plane, i'll let you crash it!

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Connections

Version of King Solomon's Mines (1950)

User Reviews

Rip-off or classic?

Well I read a lot of the reviews here and it seems to be pretty divided as to whether or not this is a good movie. So here's my 2 cents. In my opinion this was not trying to be Indiana Jones. I think the intension was to make a campy, cheesy spoof, and as that it succeeds fantastically. Keep in mind this was the early - mid 80's. Cheezeball B-movies were all the rage and popular. Look was came out in around that period. King Solomon's Mines, a year later a sequel, Lost City of Gold. But we had many other great cheese movies like Ice Pirates, Dungeonmaster, Dragonslayer, Spaceballs, just to name a few. Conan the Barbarian spawn a whole subgenre of barbarian movies as did Road Warrior for post-apocalyptic movies. I'm sure there where other movies of these subjects before, but these were the ones that really kicked it off for those subgenres. I think that many of those who are complaining that King Solomon's Mines is so bad are those who are too young to remember and appreciate these movies that came out in around that period or those who decided it's not "cool" to like cheesy movies.

Of course you can't compare the effects to that of Raiders of the lost Ark. Raiders had a near unlimited budget for the day, how do you compete with something like that? And do you honestly think that they blatantly ripped off scenes without getting permission first? I wouldn't be surprised if Lucas is making a small royalty of these movies, or at least did back when it came out. Yes, they rode the Raiders wave. Why is it that we criticize someone for riding a winning wave? If I had the chance, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I would argue that any of these movies have more heart than most of what comes out of Hollywood these days. These were made back when, for the most part, budgets were tight and people made movies for the love of making movies.

Having a weakness for violent gore movies and foreign, B-Movies and foreign probably comprise 60% of my DVD collection and 70-80% of my VHS collection. Almost 600 movies combined. But I have a rare gift to be able to sit down and watch a movie without comparison to another and judge it on it's own. That's why my collection contains everything from Little Mermaid and Aladdin to Cannibal Holocaust(Uncut) and Salo: 120 Days of Sodom(Uncut), from The English Patient to, yes, King Solomon's Mines. (I do, however, have Lost City of Gold on VHS) So sit back, try to watch movies without any preconception of what you are about to watch. Critics, friends, rumors are just that. You are your own person, make up your own mind. If you can't do this, you are probably looking at the wrong movie. All you will see is a bad Raiders rip-off and you should stick to what you know or "reality" *Ya Right* TV.

And that's my 2 cents.

ME