The Jewel of the Nile

Infobox Film
name = The Jewel of the Nile


caption = Promotional movie poster for the film.
director = Lewis Teague
producer = Michael Douglas
Jack Brodsky
Joel Douglas
writer = Mark Rosenthal
Lawrence Konner
narrator =
starring = Michael Douglas
Kathleen Turner
Danny DeVito
music = Jack Nitzsche
cinematography = Jan de Bont
editing = Peter Boita
Michael Ellis
distributor = 20th Century Fox
released = December 11, 1985
runtime = 106 min
country = USA
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = "Romancing the Stone"
followed_by = Originally planned "Crimson Eagle" but scrapped now "Racing the Monsoon(pre-production stage)"
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0089370

"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."

Plot summary

Opening sequence

Like Romancing the Stone, the opening scene takes place in one of Joan's novels. But this time, instead of Joan's wild-west supercouple, Jesse and Angelina, Joan and Jack are the featured heroes. As the movie starts Jack and Joan are on an old sailing ship. They're getting married. Suddenly, pirates attack the ship. Jack leads a brief counterattack against the pirates, but eventually the pirates take the ship and the survivors must get to the lifeboats. By the time Jack and Joan reach the lifeboats, there's only room enough for one more. Joan gives the seat to Jack and he leaves without her. Now she's alone and surrounded by pirates. It seems she's doomed. And then...

We return to reality, where Joan is sitting on the deck of the Angelina, struggling to finish her novel. Frustrated, she gives up and tosses her typewriter overboard. As it sinks to the bottom, it descends past a diver, then observes him as he places an object against the hull of the Angelina...

Rest of film

Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) is having trouble writing her next romantic novel while living with Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) on his boat, the Angelina, and 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 runs into Ralph (Danny DeVito). Ralph, recently out of prison, plans on killing Jack, but is stopped by an Arab named Tarak (Paul David Magid), who tells Jack of Omar's true intentions. This includes the fact that he has their greatest treasure, the Jewel of the Nile, in his possession. Ralph, immediately interested at the prospect, agrees to help find the Jewel. Jack, however, is less than convinced. But seconds later, the Angelina explodes, having been sabotaged under Omar's orders. He then agrees to team up with Ralph and Tarak 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 the rebel Sufi tribe led by Tarak 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 spiritual leader of the Arab people (Alan Foulds). 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 Jack and Joan are finally married by Al-Julhara himself. Ralph laments sadly that once again, he has nothing to show for his efforts. But he is then acknowledged as being a true Sufi by Tarak, signified by being presented with a priceless jeweled dagger. Ralph is genuinely touched and happily accepts the gift. The film ends with Jack and Joan sailing down the Nile as Al-Julhara and his people, along with Ralph, Tarak, the Sufi and Joan's publisher, Gloria wave goodbye from the river's dock.

Response

While "The Jewel of the Nile" grossed nearly as much as its predecessor, [ [http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=jewelofthenile.htm Box Office Mojo: "The Jewel of the Nile"] ] the film was much less successful critically and helped to effectively kill the franchise (thus scrapping the proposed sequel, "Crimson Eagle", which never got past the development stage), 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.cite web | url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19851211/REVIEWS/512110301/1023 |date = 1985-12-11 | title = The Jewel of the Nile | publisher = by Roger Ebert, "The Chicago Sun-Times". | accessdate = 2007-02-09] (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.) [cite web | url = http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,314990_4,00.html |date = 1991-08-02 | title = The Last Movie Star | publisher = "Entertainment Weekly". | accessdate = 2007-02-09] Turner, Douglas, and DeVito would later reunite in the (unrelated) film "The War of the Roses".

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"." [cite web | url = http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?res=9B06E7D9173BF932A25751C1A963948260 |date = 1985-12-11 | title = Film: 'Jewel of the Nile' | publisher = by Janet Maslin, "The New York Times". | accessdate = 2007-02-09] 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."cite web | url = http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19851211/REVIEWS/512110301/1023 |date = 1985-12-11 | title = The Jewel of the Nile | publisher = by Roger Ebert, "The Chicago Sun-Times". | accessdate = 2007-02-09]

oundtrack

"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going", performed by Billy Ocean, plays during the film's end credits.

Trivia

* As with the first film, the novelization of the sequel was credited to Joan Wilder.
* "The Jewel of the Nile" was the final film released on the SelectaVision video format.
* Even though the movie was rated PG, on Fox Movie Channel it was rated TV-MA LSV.

References

External links

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