The Jewel of the Nile (1985)

When Joan Wilder is abducted while on a trip along the Nile, her boyfriend, Jack Colton, and pal Ralph rush to rescue her and retrieve a fabled jewel.

Director:

Lewis Teague

Writers:

Mark Rosenthal, Lawrence Konner

Stars:

Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Douglas	...	Jack
Kathleen Turner	...	Joan
Danny DeVito	...	Ralph
Spyros Fokas	...	Omar (as Spiros Focás)
Avner Eisenberg	...	Jewel
Paul David Magid	...	Tarak
Howard Jay Patterson	...	Barak
Randall Edwin Nelson	...	Karak
Samuel Ross Williams	...	Arak
Timothy Daniel Furst	...	Sarak
Hamid Fillali	...	Rachid
Holland Taylor	...	Gloria
Guy Cuevas	...	Le Vasseur
Peter DePalma	...	Missionary (as Peter De Palma)
Mark Daly Richards	...	Pirate

Storyline

This is the sequel to "Romancing the Stone" where Jack and Joan have their yacht and easy life, but are gradually getting bored with each other and this way of life. Joan accepts an invitation to go to some middle eastern country as a guest of the sheik, but there she is abducted and finds her- self involved with the "jewel". Jack decides to rescue her with his new partner Ralph. They all go from one adventure to another... What is the story of this "jewel"?

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Plot Keywords:

good versus evil | hero | heroine | evil man | zion national park | 

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Taglines:

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

11 December 1985 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Jewel of the Nile

Filming Locations:

Alpes-Maritimes, France

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,645,455, 15 December 1985

Gross USA:

$75,973,200

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$96,773,200

Company Credits

Production Co:

SLM Production Group, Stone Group Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the final release on RCA's CED VideoDisc format.

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Goofs

The jet's afterburner is not on in the third shot after Jack activates it.

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Quotes

Tarak: You are guests of Omar. Find for us the jewel. Accept your destiny!
Jack T. Colton: Destiny, my ass.

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Connections

Referenced in Gossip Girl: The Jewel of Denial (2011)

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Soundtracks

Freaks Come Out at Night
Performed by Whodini
Written by Larry K. Smith (as Larry Smith) and Jalil Hutchins
Produced by Larry K. Smith (as Larry Smith)

User Reviews

Not abysmal but not as good as the first one

"The Jewel of the Nile" is a follow-up to "Romancing the Stone". It lacks the greatness of the original but it keeps the same spirit. This one has lots of adventure and action (even more than the original, and is also far more violent).

Robert Zemeckis didn't return to direct this one, but 4 of the same actors reprise their roles: Michael Douglas (who also produced it), Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito and Holland Taylor. The rest of the cast is entirely different. There are plenty of new characters and new villains.

As the title says, this movie takes us not to Colombia again, but to the Egyptian deserts (in Africa, close to the Nile river). Exotic like the original's but a completely different scenario than the original's.

The main villain in this is Omar Khalifa (well portrayed by Spiros Focás). He is just as treacherous and dangerous as Zolo from the original film. Like Zolo, he fools Joan Wilder so that she falls in his entrapments. He pretends to be a good person, but he's a brutal dictator. But I do like Omar's Egyptian accent. He speaks with a charming accent. Funny that he plays an Egyptian when the actor is Greek, but then, Demis Roussos is a Greek who was born in Egypt.

Avner Eisenberg does a nice portrayal of The Jewel but the character has a mix of charm and silliness and isn't always lovable.

This film has some really funny and great sequences, but also has a large number of faults and does not possess the charm of the original. Therefore, it doesn't match the original's greatness.

Apparently Michael and Kathleen only made this movie because their contract forced them to. Kathleen even attempted to back it out but was threatened by 20th Century Fox to be sued with a $25 million lawsuit. Geez, that is just so wrong! They shouldn't have been forced to do something they didn't want. I sort of can see why they didn't want to do it and why Robert Zemeckis refused to make the sequel.

I used to like this movie almost as much as the original. But now it doesn't seem that great to me anymore. Looking at it now, many things about it don't make much sense. The original is a great blockbuster and a timeless classic.