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 Germ... Read allFortune 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.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
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 2 nominations total
- Kassam
- (as Shai K. Ophir)
- Mapaki Chief
- (as Fidelis Chea)
- Shack
- (as Vincent Van Der Byl)
- Dari
- (as Bishop Mcthuzen)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
made many Allan Quatermane jokes about it before I finally saw it. I was expecting a terrible low budget novelty flick but what I got was breathtaking!!! King Solomon's Mines is one of the most relentlessly action packed campy films I've ever seen...and I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in all my life. From the opening sequence to the last frame I was rolling on the floor laughing like a madman at Allan Quatermane's crazy exploits!! Richard Chamberlain is great as a two-fisted treasure hunter\romantic icon with an adventurous twinkle in his eye. Sharon Stone is the next Kate Capshaw!!! J. Lee Thompson is a brilliant Director!!! Why may you ask? See this film, it never slows down...when I finished it I sat speechless for a moment of reflection and realized that the movie I just watched was in real-time!!! All that high energy fun took place over an hour and a half. This is a cinematic gem and it better have a 2-disc special edition DVD because I'll be first in line to buy it. So if you want the fastest, funniest, entertainingnest darn movie around King Solomon's Mines is the ticket!!!
At the next gathering, I came over with a VHS copy I rented from a store. We watched it, and had to stop the movie several times because we were laughing so hard! We all agreed that this was the best worst movie we had ever seen! About two days later, my front door bell rang, and it was the boys there to give me a gift! I had been "accepted" into their gang! Many nights of "Cheese Fests" followed, but none were as successful as the night we watched "King Solomon's Mines"! The gift, by the way, was the very VHS copy of "KSM" (which we pronounce; "Chaos, Mmm") I had rented! I still have it to this day, and have shown it to many friends who thank me every time while wiping away a tear.
I've heard many bad reviews on this film. They all say "Indiana Jones rip-off" or "Worst movie ever". But to me, this is actually entertaining, and it's silly fun indeed. The film is usually called a rip-off because they see some elements they also saw in the Indy flicks. Truth be told, this has more in kin with the Lucas/Spielberg classic than H. Rider Haggard's classic adventure novel. But seeing the film, it actually has a lot of fun with itself. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously, and I agreed to the bargain. Richard Chamberlain is not that heroic as Indy, but he throws in a lot of jokes to make viewers crack a smile. Sharon Stone shouts, complains, whines in the entire journey, but what would you expect on a big-screen debut. Herbert Lom, as I see it, is being more of funny than sinister intentionally. Same goes for John Rhys-Davies, but he looks more villainous. But it wasn't all parody and humor. "King Solomon's Mines" is also action-packed. Perhaps one of the real downer in the action department are the special effects (terrible process shots!) and stunts (the most obvious stunt doubles ever!!). Still, we have crocodiles, tribesmen, Nazis and exploding caves of lava.
Perhaps it's my love for old-fashioned adventure that made me like this silly, mostly campy adventure, but I couldn't deny the guilty pleasure I had with it. Overall, this is actually functions as an enjoyable tongue-in-cheek adventure flick, but make sure you leave any pretense of common sense at the door. It's stupid fun.
Rating: *** out of 5.
When I first saw this film (back in the '80s at my local Cannon flea-pit), I thought it was abominable, a shoddy Indiana Jones clone thrown together in a hurry to make a quick buck. I now realise my mistake: instead of being a cheap rip-off, it is in fact a sly send-up that mercilessly mocks the conventions of the genre, which explains the ridiculously hokey script, the incredibly far-fetched action scenes, the cruddy effects, and the camp performances from a cast who are obviously in on the joke. When viewed as such, one's enjoyment of the film is greatly enhanced.
Director J.Lee Thompson certainly keeps the bonkers action moving along at a decent lick, with a silly sequence aboard a speeding (NOT!) train, a ridiculous scene that has hero Quatermain hanging onto the wing of a biplane piloted by a petrified Jesse, a tribe that lives upside-down in the jungle, a hilarious moment involving a cannibal tribe's massive cooking pot, and a really unconvincing giant spider attack. The film also boasts a surprisingly decent score from Jerry Goldsmith, who effectively mimics John Williams' famous Raiders theme, and benefits throughout from the appealing sight of the pre-fame Stone in tight shorts (that get shorter and shorter as the movie progresses).
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaProducer Menahem Golan actually wanted Kathleen Turner, who was coming off the hit film Romancing the Stone (1984), to star in this film. He said, "I want that Stone woman," and Sharon Stone was hired by mistake.
- GoofsThe German troops are largely using the Lee-Enfield No.4 Mk.I rifle, a British weapon not developed until the late 1930's and never adopted by the German armed forces.
- Quotes
Colonel Bockner: [Fritz enters quicksand] My gramophone; save my gramophone.
Fritz (German enlisted): I'm sinking. I'm sinking!
Colonel Bockner: Stop sinking. That's an order!
Dogati: I'm happy. No more Wagner.
- Alternate versionsAll DVD/VHS releases and TV versions in Germany were cut for violence to secure a "Not under 12" rating. In 2004 the film was re-released on DVD by MGM for the first time in its uncut form.
- ConnectionsFeatured in WatchMojo: Top 10 Movie Treasure Hunters (2014)
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Quatermain - Auf der Suche nach dem Schatz der Könige
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $12,500,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $15,057,465
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $5,005,788
- Nov 24, 1985
- Gross worldwide
- $15,057,465
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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