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  • And You Thought It Would Fail: 20th Century Fox was so certain that it would fail, they fired Robert Zemeckis from directing Cocoon. This turned out to be a benefit: Zemeckis and his friend Bob Gale then had the freedom to pursue their pet project Back to the Future, and in the meantime this was the surprise box-office smash of the summer of '84. It also turned out well for his replacement on Cocoon, Ron Howard, as it launched his directorial career.
  • Awesome Music:
    • Billy Ocean's "When The Going Gets Tough" is the most memorable aspect of The Jewel of the Nile, peaking at #2 in Billboard US. Turner, Douglas and DeVito all performed in the video, too.
    • Love Theme from Jewel also stands out as Jack overcomes his Commitment Issues.
  • Critical Dissonance: While Stone was warmly receiced by critics (currently 86% and Certified Fresh by Rotten Tomatoes), Jewel was less so (46% on RT). Evenso, Jewel still made three times its budget domestically, and four times its budget worldwide.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: While holding Jack and Joan at gunpoint in a cave, Ralph quips that they should all leave "before Batman comes home." More like "before Batman Returns", eh, Penguin?
  • Hollywood Homely: They actually went to great lengths to try and make Kathleen Turner look less attractive before her adventure. The best work was done in the opening scene, where if it hadn't been for her very distinctive voice she'd be all but unrecognizable.
  • Nightmare Fuel:
    • The horrible scream by Zolo as his hand gets nipped off by a croc.
    • While discussing the death of Elaine's husband and asking if the authorities ever found the body, Joan says "Just the one... piece." Have fun guessing which piece they found. Possibly Fingore since they had to identify him somehow and DNA testing didn't exist yet. However, since Zolo mailed back his part, he probably told her who it was, making the piece possibly "personal". Even then, having a husband being hunted for a treasure map and going missing then getting a body part makes it obvious who it belonged to.
    • Zolo himself, period. An intelligent, brutal, cruel and sadistic psychopath with a private army at his beck and call, and one who will stop at nothing to get what he wants. No wonder Ira and Ralph, who are criminals themselves, are terrified of him.
  • Sequelitis: Maybe Diane Thomas would have been able to make a worthy sequel, but she was busy writing another project. Instead, we got a horrible mess that was obviously the result of mass studio interference. Rather than make a third film, the cast went and made The War of the Roses.

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