The Jewel of the Nile
Encyclopedia
The Jewel of the Nile is a 1985 romantic
Romance film
Romance films are love stories that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate involvement of the main characters and the journey that their love takes through courtship or marriage. Romance films make the love story or the search for love the main plot focus...

 adventure film
Adventure film
Adventure films are a genre of film.Unlike pure, low-budget action films they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way....

, and a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

 to the 1984 film Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....

, with Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

, Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

, and Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...

 reprising their roles. Directed by Lewis Teague, the film sends its characters off on a new adventure in a fictional African desert, in an effort to find the precious "Jewel of the Nile."

Plot

Six months after the events in Romancing the Stone, Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

) is having trouble writing her next romantic novel while living with Jack Colton (Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

) on his boat, the Angelina which is currently docked in a South of France port, and she refuses to discuss marriage. Later that afternoon at a book signing engagement held by her publisher, Gloria (Holland Taylor
Holland Taylor
Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

), Joan meets a charming Arab ruler named Omar (Spiros Focás) who has managed to persuade the world that he is the firm, but fair, ruler of Kadir, a fictional 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
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...

). Ralph, a comical swindler from Jack's past, recently out of prison, plans on killing Jack for abandoning him in Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

 to the authorities, 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.

During her stay at his palace, Joan discovers that Omar is a brutal dictator, who 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
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 world. In the palace jail she meets a holy man, Al-Julhara (Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...

 for 'The Jewel'), (Avner Eisenberg
Avner the Eccentric
Avner the Eccentric is an American vaudeville performer, clown, mime, juggler, and sleight of hand magician. He played the title role in the 1985 film The Jewel of the Nile...

), who is in fact the Jewel of the Nile. Realizing that he is the only one who can stop Omar, Joan offers to take Al-Julhara to Kadir herself. The pair escape the palace, and with the help of Jack (who hijacks an F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-16 Fighting Falcon
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a multirole jet fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force . Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful all-weather multirole aircraft. Over 4,400 aircraft have been built since...

 fighter jet), 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
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...

 tribe led by Tarak that has sworn to protect the Jewel so he can fulfill his destiny.

After Jack's battle, for Joan's hand, with the son of a Nubia
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

n mountain Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n tribe chief, Joan breaks the news to Jack, that the Jewel is in fact Al-Julhara who is the true spiritual leader of the Arab people. Omar plans on using a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 rock & roll technician's (Daniel Peacock
Daniel Peacock
Daniel Peacock is an English actor, writer and director best known for his work with the team of The Comic Strip Presents.... He is also known as Danny Peacock.-Acting:...

) 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 Al-Julhara decide to crash the festival in Kadir and unmask Omar as the fraud that he is. However, they are all captured and Omar sets up an elaborate and fiendish trap from The Savage Secret, Joan's most popular novel. Jack and Joan are suspended over a deep pit, with the ropes holding Jack up are soaked with goat's blood and being rapidly chewed away by rats, while Joan's are slowly being dissolved by drops of acid. Al-Julhara, however is simply locked up in stocks. As Omar leaves them to their fate, they are found later and inadvertently saved by Ralph, who along with Tarak and his Sufi followers have come to rescue Al-Julhara.

As Omar takes center stage to address the Arab people, Jack and Joan disrupt the ceremony while Tarak and the Sufi battle Omar's guards below. A fire breaks out when part of Omar's platform apparatus crashes into the stage, engulfing it in flames. Jack and Joan are separated in the chaos and Omar corners her at the top of the burning scaffolding surrounding the stage. With help from Ralph, Jack rides a crane to the top of the scaffolding and knocks Omar over the side and down into the flames below just as he is about to kill Joan. Once Omar is killed, Al-Julhara rises as the real spiritual leader and Jack and Joan are finally married by Al-Julhara himself the following day. While he is genuinely happy for Jack and Joan, 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 Gloria wave goodbye from the river's dock.

Cast

  • Michael Douglas
    Michael Douglas
    Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

     as Jack Colton
  • Kathleen Turner
    Kathleen Turner
    Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

     as Joan Wilder
  • Danny DeVito
    Danny DeVito
    Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...

     as Ralph The Comical Swindler
  • Spiros Focás as Omar
  • Avner Eisenberg
    Avner the Eccentric
    Avner the Eccentric is an American vaudeville performer, clown, mime, juggler, and sleight of hand magician. He played the title role in the 1985 film The Jewel of the Nile...

     as Jewel
  • Paul David Magid as Tarak
  • Howard Jay Patterson as Barak
  • Randall Edwin Nelson as Karak
  • Samuel Ross Williams as Arak
  • Timothy Daniel Furst as Sarak
  • Hamid Fillali as Rachid
  • Daniel Peacock
    Daniel Peacock
    Daniel Peacock is an English actor, writer and director best known for his work with the team of The Comic Strip Presents.... He is also known as Danny Peacock.-Acting:...

     as Rock Promoter
  • Holland Taylor
    Holland Taylor
    Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

     as Gloria
  • Guy Cuevas
    Guy Cuevas
    Guy Cuevas is a Cuban-born writer, musician, and legendary Paris disc jockey. Born Guillermo Cuevas Carrión, he worked the turntables and the crowds at Club Sept, and Le Palace before becoming the artistic director, first of Les Bains Douches, then the Barrio Latino.As a DJ he was known for a...

     as Le Vasseur
  • Peter DePalma as Missionary (as Peter De Palma)
  • Mark Daly Richards as Pirate

Response

While The Jewel of the Nile grossed nearly as much as its predecessor, 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
Kathleen Turner
Mary Kathleen Turner is an American actress. She came to fame during the 1980s, after roles in the Hollywood films Body Heat, Peggy Sue Got Married, Romancing the Stone, The War of the Roses, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Prizzi's Honor...

 and Michael Douglas
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...

 only made the sequel because they were contractually obligated to do so. 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. Turner, Douglas, and DeVito would later reunite in the unrelated film The War of the Roses
The War of the Roses (film)
The War of the Roses is a 1989 American comedy film based upon the 1981 novel The War of the Roses by Warren Adler. It is a black comedy about a wealthy couple with a seemingly perfect marriage. When their marriage begins to fall apart, material possessions become the center of an outrageous and...

.

Critics felt the film was loaded with numerous plot holes and that it lacked the first film's original charm. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

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
Romancing the Stone
Romancing the Stone is a 1984 American action-adventure romantic comedy. Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it stars Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito. The film was followed by a 1985 sequel, The Jewel of the Nile....

." Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...

 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."

Soundtrack

"When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going
"When the going gets tough, the tough get going" is a popular English language proverb. A song of the same name was recorded by Billy Ocean in 1985 at Battery Studios North London.-Phrase:...

", performed by Billy Ocean
Billy Ocean
Billy Ocean is a Trinidad-born English Grammy Award winning popular music performer who had a string of rhythm and blues international pop hits in the 1970s and 1980s. He was the most popular British-based R&B singer / songwriter of the early to mid-1980s...

, plays during the film's end credits. Douglas, Turner and DeVito also co-starred with Ocean in the MTV music video of the same name. The soundtrack features 1980s rap group Whodini
Whodini
Whodini is a hip hop group that was formed in 1981. The Brooklyn, New York-based trio consisted of vocalist and main lyricist Jalil Hutchins; co-vocalist John Fletcher, aka Ecstasy ; and turntable artist DJ Drew Carter, aka Grandmaster Dee.-Early years:Whodini was among the first hip-hop groups to...

 and their single "The Freaks Come Out at Night" as Michael Douglas and company make their way through the desert on camel back as well as "Party (No Sheep Is Safe Tonight)" by The Willesden Dodgers
The Willesden Dodgers
The Willesden Dodgers was a British breakdance group during the 1980s with Pete Q. Harris, Nigel Green and Richard Jon Smith as the main members. They released numerous singles and provided soundtracks for films such as The Jewel of the Nile during 1985...

 during the campfire party scene.

Production notes

As with the first film, the novelization
Novelization
A novelization is a novel that is written based on some other media story form rather than as an original work.Novelizations of films usually add background material not found in the original work to flesh out the story, because novels are generally longer than screenplays...

 of the sequel was credited to Joan Wilder, the character played by Kathleen Turner.

Approximately two weeks before principal photography began, a plane carrying Richard Dawking (production designer) and Brian Coates (production manager) crashed during location scouting
Location scouting
Location scouting is a vital process in the pre-production stage of filmmaking and commercial photography. Once scriptwriters, producers or directors have decided what general kind of scenery they require for the various parts of their work that is shot outside of the studio, the search for a...

 over the countryside of Morocco, killing all on board.

The Jewel of the Nile was the final film released on the RCA SelectaVision CED video format.
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