The Jewel of the Nile
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| The Jewel of the Nile | |
|---|---|
 Promotional movie poster for the film. |
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| Directed by | Lewis Teague |
| Produced by | Michael Douglas Jack Brodsky Joel Douglas |
| Written by | Mark Rosenthal Lawrence Konner |
| Starring | Michael Douglas Kathleen Turner Danny DeVito |
| Music by | Jack Nitzsche |
| Cinematography | Jan de Bont |
| Editing by | Peter Boita Michael Ellis |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | 1985 |
| Running time | 106 min |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Romancing the Stone |
| IMDb profile | |
The Jewel of the Nile is a sequel to the 1984 romantic adventure Romancing the Stone featuring Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, and Danny DeVito, the stars of the first film. Released in 1985, it sends their characters off on a new adventure in a fictional Middle Eastern desert, in an effort to find the precious "Jewel of the Nile."
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[edit] Plot summary
As the film begins Joan Wilder (Turner) is having trouble writing her next romantic novel while living on a boat with Jack Colton (Douglas) who refuses to discuss marriage. At a book signing engagement she meets a charming Arab ruler named Omar (Spiros Focas) that has managed to persuade the world that he is a firm, but fair, ruler of a fictional Middle Eastern nation. Omar offers Joan the opportunity to live like a queen at his palace, while she writes a fluff piece about him. However, as soon as Joan leaves with Omar, Jack's boat is blown up (on the orders of Omar) and he runs into Ralph (DeVito) who having gotten out of prison plans on killing Jack, but eventually agrees to team up with him in order to track down the lost jewel in Omar's kingdom.
In the fabled kingdom, Joan discovers that Omar is a brutal dictator, that imprisons her until she agrees to finish the fluff piece that will introduce him to the world as an enlightened ruler that will unite the Arab world. In the palace jail she meets a holy man, Al-Julhara, (Avner Eisenberg), who is in fact the Jewel of the Nile. The pair escape the palace, and with the help of Jack are able to flee Omar's army into the desert. Ralph, who provides much of the film's comic relief, is left to fend for himself in the desert and thus joins with a rebel tribe that has sworn to protect the jewel so he can fulfill his destiny.
After a battle with a mountain African tribe, Joan breaks the news to Jack, that the Jewel is in fact Al-Julhara who is the real leader of the Arab people. Omar plans on using a British rock & roll technician's smoke and mirrors special effects at an upcoming festival, planned by Omar, to convince the Arab world that he is in fact a prophet that will unite the Arab world under his rule. Jack, Joan and the Holy Man decide to crash the festival and unmask Omar as the fraud that he is. Once Omar is killed, the Holy Man rises as the real spiritual leader and the film ends with Jack and Joan finally getting married.
[edit] Response
While The Jewel of the Nile grossed nearly as much as its predecessor,[1] the film was much less successful critically and helped to effectively kill the franchise, although it was said at the time that both Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas only made the sequel because they were contractually obligated to do so.[2] (At one point during pre-production, Turner tried to back out of the project, and Twentieth Century Fox threatened her with a $25 million lawsuit.)[3] Turner, Douglas, and DeVito would later reunite in the (unrelated) film The War of the Roses (film).
Critics felt the film was loaded with numerous plot holes and that it lacked the first film's original charm. The New York Times opened its review by writing, "There's nothing in The Jewel of the Nile that wasn't funnier or more fanciful in Romancing the Stone."[4] Roger Ebert agreed that "it is not quite the equal of Romancing the Stone," but praised the interplay between Douglas and Turner. "It seems clear," he wrote, "that they like each other and are having fun during the parade of ludicrous situations in the movie, and their chemistry is sometimes more entertaining than the contrivances of the plot."[2]
[edit] Trivia
- As with the first film, the novelization of the sequel was credited to Joan Wilder.
- Omar's archetypal character was loosely based on Saddam Hussein, the image especially in the desert of the bereted leader with moustache and Aviator sunglasses, echoing many of the images of Hussein in American media.[citation needed]
- The Jewel of the Nile was the final film released on the SelectaVision video format.
[edit] References
- ^ Box Office Mojo: The Jewel of the Nile
- ^ a b The Jewel of the Nile. by Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times. (1985-12-11). Retrieved on February 9, 2007.
- ^ The Last Movie Star. Entertainment Weekly. (1991-08-02). Retrieved on February 9, 2007.
- ^ Film: 'Jewel of the Nile'. by Janet Maslin, The New York Times. (1985-12-11). Retrieved on February 9, 2007.
