Il mistero della giungla proibita

I love this movie. Roger (Tom Conti) and Jean (Terri Garr) are a newly-divorced couple who meet again by accident (literally!) and wind up on a truly incredible journey. Christopher Lloyd has a supporting role as a mad pilot.

My favourite parts are the witchdoctor, the plane landing sequence and the jailbreak and its consequences. The only false note is Tom Conti's American accent, but it's easy to overlook as the rest of the movie hangs together so well.

9 out of 10 from me!

Miracles tells the story of two exes who find themselves entangled on a drawn out drug smuggling scheme that resulted into them being stranded in South America with no one believing their stories.

Its fine.

It is practically like Romancing the Stone. They practically stuck the hated exes in the film. I just I cannot believe for the love of god believe they made a lawyer a nagging wife role. It such a whiplash of a characterization. Like, she literally does work AND you make her almost unable to do anything sensible.

Very uninspired stuff. I really wished that they actually did not fall in those shameful pratfalls of romcom.

Although this movie has not done well on the polls of Amazon, whenever I've seen it I've always found it enjoyable. (So much so that I felt obliged to write this brief review on it !!) O.k, its a bit daft in places and some of the humour is a bit dated perhaps, but the story trundles along with plenty of twists, its not predictable and the relationship between the two main two characters slowly builds up and develops throughout the film.

Both Tom Conti and Terri Garr give good performances and are believable in their roles. (And I've always had a shot spot for Terri Gar, and I find her particularly appealing in this film !)

The bungling villains are also well played (though a bit cheesy) and Christopher Lloyd seems to enjoy playing his part.

Overall, this film is never going to be considered a masterpiece as its just a light hearted family comedy adventure story - designed to be watched by kids, but engaging and entertaining enough to be watched by their parents as well.

My review was written in April 1987 after watching the film on HBO/Cannon video cassette "Miracles" is another casualty of the video revolution. A top-of-the-line production shot in Mexico in 1o984 by Orio (with a reported $10,000,000 budget), pic received a negligible regional release in July 1986 ahead of its current home video availability. Without the simple (and remunerative) video cassette option, Orion might have given this one a little push theatrically.

Pic in fact is fitfully entertaining, but hampered severely by writer-director Jim Kouf's antiquated premise, which unwittingly recalls the Cecil B. De Mille approach of the late silent era. As implied by its title, all events in the film are connected, ever so tenuously and always unconvincingly by divine intervention At first it's cute, with lightning bolts and falling rocks setting into motion slapstick occurrences which literally mean life or death for the hapless protagonists. Eventually, the conceit becomes annoying.

Screwball farce is set into motion when an Indian witch doctor in some unidentified Latin American country prays to the heavens for assistance in saving his chief's daughter who is dying. North of the border, the first few of many lightning bolts cause disruptions which bring together inept bank robbers Paul Rodriguez and Christopher Lloyd with just-divorced surgeon Tom Conti and his lawyer wife Teri Garr. Rodriguez kidnaps the duo and Lloyd files the four of them to that Latin country to escape the police.

Predictably Contin ends up at the Latin village afte4r numerous misadventures and saves the little girl, who had an appendicitis attack. By film's end the bickering couple is back together, remarried in a Spanish ceremony.

Way overreaching (his early credits include the script for the horrendously static 1982 comedy "Pink Motel"), filmmaker Kouf evidently was aiming for the 1930s romantic farce, replete with stars Conti and Garr dressed in formal evening clothes throughout, plus the expansive "Romancing the Stone" adventure grafted on. Alas, they ar4e hardly William Powell and Carole Lomard, and though it is fun to watch Garr's patented, fast-talking explosions, Conti is seriously miscast. Attempting a neutral, American accent, he is not believable; in any event, the pic calls for a superstar personality, not a talented character actor. Conti's other 1984 starring assignment, "Saving Grace", similarly was given only a token release via Columbia.

"Miracles" has outstanding technical credits, including the late John Alcott's crystal-sharp lensing. Terrence Marsh's large-sale and wide-ranging production design, as well as impressive stunt work and special effects. A series of fun set pieces do not a movie make.

Watched this 80's movie on TV and it came with the latter-day warning about the dangers of flash photography, when in truth, it should have come with a warning for the ears, as it's filled almost from start to finish with shouts, screams, bangs and crashes. From that particular era when Hollywood was churning out slapstick marital rom-coms seemingly by the score ("Ruthless People", "First Wives Club" et. al.) "Miracles" seeks to emulate "Romancing The Stone" (sort of) but adds the twist of employing a UK actor in the lead role - Tom Conti, but inexplicably lumbering him with an American accent.

Unfortunately, Tom's accent, like the couple's ill-fated plane journey, bales out about half-way to its intended destination, while alongside him, Teri Garr, as his newly-divorced lawyer ex-wife gets all wet and emotional in a pink ball-gown she's required to wear from start to finish. Along the way, taking in the "miraculous" coincidences which presumably inform the film's title and see lots of little good things happen, usually to the indigenous Latin American population of the country they cross into, springing okay, miraculously, from their haphazard adventures, they arrive, you'll not be surprised to learn, at a happy ever after conclusion, reuniting them and seeing them re-marry over the closing sequence.

Christopher Lloyd gets to reprise his "Taxi" / "Back To The Future" kookiness but the law of diminishing returns was already applying by this time. For an episodic chase film like this to work, it helps if you've got likable characters, smart one-liners and exciting stunts. Unfortunately, this film has none of the above and thus seems far longer than it actually is so that you'll probably be glad, like me, when it reaches its nondescript ending.