History Film / RomancingTheStone

* TheDragon: Rachid.

* SayMyName: Omar has a tendency to call out "Rachid!" whenever embarking on some task, even when Rachid is standing right next to him.

[[caption-width-right:350: [[TagLine She's a girl from the big city. He's a reckless soldier of fortune. For a fabulous treasure,]] [[TheyFightCrime they fight crime]] uh, make that, [[TagLine they share an adventure no one could imagine... or survive]].]]

[[HilarityEnsues Adventure ensues]].

* BadAss: Jack Colton and Zolo.

* CallBack: At the beginning of the film, the villain of the book Joan is writing tells the heroine, "You can die two ways: quick like the tongue of a snake, or slower than molasses in January." During the film's climax, Zolo poses a similar question: "How will you die, [[spoiler: Joan Wilder]]? Slow, like... a snail? Or fast, like a shooting star?

* ChekhovsGun: When Joan is getting ready to rush off to Colombia, her publisher Gloria mentions, amongst a list of terrible traits to be found amongst the locals, that there are a lot of "macho men" there [[InsultFriendlyFire who love her books]]. Later, [[spoiler:what looks like a tense gunpoint scene turns into a chance to procure a valuable ally, just because [[ContrivedCoincidence it turns out]] that Juan the drug-runner is [[ImYourBiggestFan Joan's biggest fan]], ''and'' reads her novels to his {{mook}}s, who are fans too]].
* CloudCuckoolander: Ira (Look at those snappers!) to a degree, but most definitely Juan, the drug-runner and [[spoiler: Joan's Biggest Fan]].

* FriendOrIdolDecision: Jack has to choose between rescuing Joan from Zolo, or getting the stone back from the crocodile that swallowed it. [[ThePowerOfLove He chooses love, of course]]...[[SubvertedTrope only to have his gun be out of bullets]], so that he has to [[CrowningMomentOfFunny climb the wall]]. [[DoubleSubversion And by the time he gets there]], [[ActionGirl she's already rescued herself]]. He's surprisingly not too upset about this.

* KarmicDeath: Averted. We're led to believe that it's gonna be the villain who always plays with his crocodiles [[spoiler: But it's actually Zolo that gets eaten by them]].

* [[OneBookAuthor One Film Screenwriter]]: Diane Thomas, [[AuthorExistenceFailure against her will]]

* StandardSnippet: The main theme to ''How the West Was Won'' is used, uncredited, during the FakeoutOpening, presumably as a stand-in for "epic exciting Western". The fact Joan is shown wearing headphones when she finishes writing the scene suggests this is actually a case of SorryILeftTheBGMOn.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Both played straight and subverted. Played straight in the FakeoutOpening when Angelina throws the knife strapped to her thigh to kill Grogan. Subverted [[spoiler: when Joan tries to pull the same trick on Zolo. He blocks it with the branch he's using to attack her with, and then tries to kill her with that instead.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: ''Joan''. She starts out the movie as a mousey, cringing DistressedDamsel, but by the end of it she's throwing switchblades, burning Zolo with his own cigar, bashing him with a broken board right in his handless stump, knocking him [[KillItWithFire onto a lantern]], and dodging so that [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill he falls into a pit of crocodiles]]. How far she's come is first hinted at during the start of hostilities at the fort: when the guns start going off, Elaine (whom Joan had initially thought was the stronger sister) faints, but Joan doesn't even bat an eye, simply helping her up and dragging her off to safety elsewhere.

An AffectionateParody of romantic adventures that also qualifies as an example of the genre. This film was made in 1984 and stars Kathleen Turner, Creator/MichaelDouglas, and Danny [=DeVito=].

* HollywoodHomely: They actually went to great lengths to try and make Kathleen Turner look less attractive before her adventure.

* {{Deconstruction}}: Of the LovableRogue (among other archetypes). Joan fantasizes about rugged, rough and tumble men of adventure, and then she actually meets a real one - Jack T. Colton - and finds that the real thing isn't all that easy to deal with.

* BrokenHeel: Joan has trouble negotiating the jungle in high heels. Jack solves the problem by chopping the heels off.
-->'''Joan:''' These were Italian!
-->'''Jack:''' Now they're practical.

* DescendedCreator: Michael Douglas was originally only going to produce.

A sequel called ''Jewel Of The Nile'' was also released. Zemeckis was not involved, as he was busy at the time with a little film called ''Film/BackToTheFuture'', nor was Thomas, although she was still living when it went into production. Turner, Douglas, and [=DeVito=] all returned, however.

The first commercially successful film in the RobertZemeckis canon. Diane Thomas, the movie's screenwriter, was famously discovered by Michael Douglas working as a waitress. After ''Stone'' she seemed on the verge of a great career, before [[AuthorExistenceFailure dying tragically in a car accident just a year later]]. Thus this became [[OneBookAuthor the only film she ever wrote]]. There's now a screenwriting award named in her honor.

An AffectionateParody of romantic adventures that also qualifies as an example of the genre. This film was made in 1984 and stars Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas, and Danny [=DeVito=].

!!Contains examples for the following tropes:

* HeyItsThatGuy: [[Film/ThreeAmigos El Guapo]] is Juan the "Bellmaker".
** Although you won't recognize his face, [[FridayThe13thTheFinalChapter Jason Voorhees]] plays Grogan in the opening Western scene.

* BrokenHeel: (Joan's having trouble negotiating the jungle in high heels, Jack solves the problem by chopping the heels off).
-->'''Joan:''' These were Italian.

* CallBack: Grogan- "You can die two ways: quick like the tongue of a snake, or slower than the molasses in January." (Later on). Zolo -"How will you die, [[spoiler: Joan Wilder]]? Slow, like... a snail? Or fast, like a shooting star?
* CatchPhrase - "Look at those snappers!"

* CloudCuckoolander - Ira (Look at those snappers!) to a degree, but most definitely Juan, the drug-runner and [[spoiler: Joan's Biggest Fan]].

* DescendedCreator - Michael Douglas was originally only going to produce
* DeterminedHomesteadersWife - Angelina looks like one of these

* FourthDateMarriage -- Averted. They don't get married until the sequel.

* FunWithForeignLanguages: At one point, two of the villains of the movie meet up again (Zolo and Ralph). Zolo asks Ralph if they've met, Ralph says 'no comprendo'. Zolo asks if he's an American (since when he met Ralph earlier, he was speaking in an American accent). Ralph hastily says in badly broken Spanish, and that he isn't an American, he hates them.

* GroinAttack - Ouch, poor Jack.

* HorsebackHeroism - Jesse, in the opening scene

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold - Michael Douglas as Jack
* KarmicDeath - Averted. We're led to believe that it's gonna be the villain who always plays with his crocodiles [[spoiler: But it's actually Zolo that gets eaten by them]].

* MacGuffin - The titular stone. Also, the map.

* [[OneBookAuthor One Film Screenwriter]] - Diane Thomas, [[AuthorExistenceFailure against her will]]
* {{Qurac}} - Kadir in ''Jewel of the Nile''

* SheCleansUpNicely - Joan. [[spoiler: Jack too.]]
* ShesGotLegs - Jack takes a few chances to ogle Joan's legs in the jungle.

* SuggestiveCollision - Jack and Joan tumble down a muddy incline together, landing in a shallow pool... with his head between her legs.
* TitleDrop - Almost. Ralph says, "At least I'm honest - I'm ''stealing'' this stone. I ain't tryin' to romance it out from under her!"

* BrokenHeel: (Joan breaks the heel of her shoe, Jack solves the problem by chopping off the other heel).

* MixedMetaphor: Joan's turns Grogan's metaphors into this. He says he's gonna either kill her 'quick like the tongue of a snake, or slower than the molasses in January.' 'But it was October', she protests.

A sequel called ''Jewel Of The Nile'' was also released. Zemeckis was not involved, as he was busy at the time with a little film called ''BackToTheFuture'', nor was Thomas, although she was still living when it went into production. Turner, Douglas, and [=DeVito=] all returned, however.