MovieRob’s Birthday Bash of Potential Hidden Gems 2023 (#19 of 50) – King Solomon’s Mines (1985)

January is my birthday month, so I decided that I would try and do something quite unique and special for this milestone in my life. In the past, I’ve watched and reviewed some of my favorites movies, but this time, I will be doing something different. This year, I will be turning 49, so I decided to watch 50 new movies (49+1 for good luck) (one for each year) that I’ve never seen from the year before my birth (1973) until today in a random order over the course of this month. …

Hope you enjoy!

This is film #19 of the 50.

Let’s continue with…

“We must cross rivers, we must climb mountains. Must we listen to this, too?” – Dogati

Number of Times Seen – 1 (12 Jan 2023)

Brief Synopsis – A fortune hunter is helped by the daughter of a missing researcher in Africa as they attempt to find the lost Gold Mines of King Solomon hidden deep within the jungles of the Dark Continent.

My Take on it – There is no question in my mind that this film was solely made due to the popularity of the Indiana Jones series. Unfortunately for Richard Chamberlain and this production crew, this films story and characters are completely overshadowed by that successful franchise. The characters here come across as being quite silly and it’s quite hard to take any of what happens seriously. The action scenes are comical and the choice of Indy co-star John Rhys-Davies as the villain makes it even more laughable to watch because he doesn’t work well in this capacity. A somewhat unknown Sharon Stone is truly wasted here.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Producer Menahem Golan actually wanted Kathleen Turner, who was coming off the hit film Romancing the Stone (1984), to star in this film. He said, “I want that Stone woman,” and Sharon Stone was hired by mistake. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (2/10)