King Solomon's Mines (1985)

Cannon Film Group was a company in the 80's that made films that sounded vaguely familiar or in the same genre as another hit you think you've seen. Knock-offs. Riding coat tail on the success of Raiders of the Lost Ark, Cannon acquired the rights to shoot King Solomon's Mines, starring Richard Chamberlain and Sharon Stone.

Mines is not a good film... and it knows it. It knows it can't compete against Raiders... what can? So, Mines doesn't try to and never takes itself too seriously. And that's where I find its charm.

The story follows Chamberlain as adventurer Allan Quartermain who is hired by the cute and dim Jesse Huston (Stone) to find her father. Her father was on the trail to find the legendary King Solomon's Mines and was kidnapped by a Turkish brutal leader (Raiders alum John Rhys-Davies) and a pre-WWII German commander (Herbert Lom).

Quartermain and Huston stay one step ahead of the baddies, hustling on trains and planes and automobiles, through angry tribes and as the main course for a large cannibal contingent. Eventually they find the mines and try to acquire a massive diamond, jewel and gold cache before the world literally comes crumbling down around them.

The production value for a Cannon film is pretty impressive, considering it's a Cannon film. The cast, sans Stone, are all very solid in this light-hearted take on the material. Director J. Lee Thompson, known for The Guns of Navarone, helmed the project and the soundtrack, by Jerry Goldsmith, is far better than the film deserves. The massive amounts of extras and set pieces shows Cannon was putting all of their money into this flick trying to turn it into some sort of franchise.

While shooting Mines, they also shoot the sequel, Allan Quartermain and the Lost City of Gold.

Well, apparently, the franchise idea didn't turn out too well. And the money quickly dried up. Some of the effects in Mines are pretty cheesy. The effects in Gold are outright amateurish. Embarrasingly so.

Gold is an outright horrendous film with Chamberlain and Stone returning as well as James Earl Jones cashing a paycheck as some tribal guide. Gold is as bad compared to Mines as Mines is in comparison to Raiders.

But, I have a special affinity for Mines. Why? I don't really know. Shouldn't I know better? Yes. But Chamberlain really looks like he's having fun in what can only be called a modern day B-Movie.

It's silly and doesn't care.

Is it a great movie? Hec no. Is it a good movie? Depends on what mood you're in. But I liked it.

I'm weird that way.