''Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold'' is a 1986 American

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by Gary Nelson and released in West Germany on December 18, 1986, and in the United States on January 30, 1987. It is loosely based on the 1887 novel ''

Allan Quatermain Allan Quatermain is the protagonist of H. Rider Haggard's 1885 novel ''King Solomon's Mines'', its one sequel '' Allan Quatermain'' (1887), twelve prequel novels and four prequel short stories, totalling eighteen works. An English professional ...

'' by H. Rider Haggard. It is the sequel to the 1985 film ''

King Solomon's Mines ''King Solomon's Mines'' (1885) is a popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of a search of an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain for the ...

''. The role of

is reprised by

Richard Chamberlain George Richard Chamberlain (born March 31, 1934) is an American actor and singer, who became a teen idol in the title role of the television show '' Dr. Kildare'' (1961–1966). He subsequently appeared in several TV mini-series, such as ''Shō ...

as is that of Jesse Huston by

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...

, who was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress for this role, for which she lost to Madonna for '' Who's That Girl''. The film also starred

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

as Umslopogaas,

Henry Silva Henry Silva (September 23, 1926 – September 14, 2022) was an American actor. A prolific character actor, Silva was a regular staple of international genre cinema, usually playing criminals or gangsters. His notable film appearances include ...

as Agon, Aileen Marson as Queen Nyleptha, Cassandra Peterson as Queen Sorais and Chamberlain's then real-life partner Martin Rabbett as Robeson Quatermain.

Plot

After surviving their expedition to King Solomon's Mines,

and Jesse have settled down in colonial Africa. They are engaged to be married and Jesse plans that they will travel to America for the wedding. But Allan is restless. A man chased by two strange masked men emerges from the jungle, and is recognised as one of Quatermain's friends. He is delirious and is cared for by Jesse and Allan, but at night, his pursuers return and kill him. Before he dies, he tells Allan that his brother, supposedly lost, is alive, and that they have found the legendary 'Lost City of Gold'. Quatermain immediately starts preparing for an expedition to find his lost brother. Jesse is furious and stalks off, but then realises how important this is to Allan. Allan and Jesse are assisted by Umslopogaas, a fearless warrior and old friend of Allan's, to put together an expedition. Swarma, a spiritual guru, and five

Askari An askari (from Somali, Swahili and Arabic , , meaning "soldier" or "military", which also means "police" in the Somali language) was a local soldier serving in the armies of the European colonial powers in Africa, particularly in the African G ...

warriors, accompany them. The group crosses a desert and reaches the Walls of Japora; two Askari are lost when Swarma trips a boobytrap that opens a pit under the road to the city. Another member of the party is lost when savage Eshowe warriors attack the group. Many spears are thrown at Quatermain and his friends, but Umslopogaas deflects most of them with his giant axe. The remaining askaris are lost in a subterranean river. Quatermain and his friends indeed discover the city. The inhabitants, both black and white, are friendly, and Allan meets his brother Robeson, seemingly in good health and at peace in the society. The city has two queens — the noble and beloved, Nyleptha and her power-hungry sister, Sorais. But the real leader is the evil High Priest, Agon, feared by all. Allan raises the population against Agon and Sorais, who musters an army to recover the city by force. Allan realizes that they can make all the weapons they need out of gold, which is mined by the population. The final battle ends when, atop the temple, during a lightning storm, Allan uses Umslopogaas' axe to channel the lightning and melt the gold, causing it to flow off the side of the structure and pour over the attacking horde, turning Agon and his army into gold statues.

Cast

as Allan Quatermain *

as Jesse Huston *

as Umslopogaas *

as Agon *

Robert Donner Robert Donner (April 27, 1931 – June 8, 2006) was an American television and film actor. Early life and career Donner was born in New York City and raised in New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. He spent four years in the United States Navy ...

as Swarma * Larbi Doghmi as Nasta * Aileen Marson as Queen Nyleptha * Cassandra Peterson as Queen Sorais * Martin Rabbett as Robeson Quatermain * Rory Kilalea as Dumont * George Chiota as George * Alex Heyns as Dutchman * Stuart Goakes as the trader * Themsi Times as the nurse * Philip Boucher as the bartender * Nic Lesley as the toothless Arab * Fidelis Cheza as the Eshowe chief * Andy Edwards as Stand-in for Richard Chamberlain

Production

The film was made simultaneously with its predecessor, ''

'', although it was released a couple of years later. Despite the tremendous liberties both films took with the source material, being more similar in tone to the '' Indiana Jones'' film series, ''Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold'' was loosely based, mostly, on the book sequel of Haggard's ''

'', entitled simply ''

''. In that book, which depicts Quatermain's last adventure (although it's just the second in the series of novels), the character and his associates go searching for a lost white tribe in Africa, and end up involved in a war between the rival queens of the kingdom. An opulent set was constructed for the film just outside

Victoria Falls Victoria Falls ( Lozi: ''Mosi-oa-Tunya'', "The Smoke That Thunders"; Tonga: ''Shungu Namutitima'', "Boiling Water") is a waterfall on the Zambezi River in southern Africa, which provides habitat for several unique species of plants and anim ...

Music

The film features just over half an hour of original music written by Michael Linn; for financial reasons, the producers reused material composed by

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer and conductor known for his work in film and television scoring. He composed scores for five films in the ''Star Trek'' franchise and three in the ''Rambo'' franch ...

for the first film (although Linn's score does use Goldsmith's main theme), supplemented with music composed for other productions from

Cannon Films The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested ...

. The score was initially released by Silva Screen in 1988 on a CD with cues from '' Manifesto'' (scored by Nicola Piovani), '' Making the Grade'' (

Basil Poledouris Basil Konstantine Poledouris (; August 21, 1945 – November 8, 2006) was an American composer, conductor, and orchestrator of film and television scores, best known for his long-running collaborations with directors John Milius and Paul Verho ...

), '' Doin' Time on Planet Earth'' (Dana Kaproff) and ''The Seven Magnificent Gladiators'' ( Dov Seltzer); in 2009 it was issued on its own album by La-La Land Records. Cues in italics contain material composed by Jerry Goldsmith. # Train Delivery/''Don’t Fool With Quatermain'' (1:48) # Quatermain Shows Off (1:53) # Quatermain Meets Swarmi/Dumont Dies (3:20) # The Ruse (2:53) # Jessie Fingered (2:07) # Umslopogaas (3:27) # Earthquake (2:57) # Quatermain Leaves Akawi (1:40) # Worms (1:12) # Love Scene (3:02) # Agon Wants Revenge (5:04) # Dumont's Gold City/''Coda'' (3:11)

Release

The film debuted at number seven at the box office during its first week, earning $2 million. It was a box office disappointment, one of several that led to

reporting a loss in early 1987. The other box office disappointments for the company included '' Assassination'', '' The Hanoi Hilton'', ''

Over the Top Over the top may refer to: Music * "Over the Top", a 2017 song by Hey! Say! JUMP * ''Over the Top'' (Cozy Powell album), 1979 album by British drummer Cozy Powell * ''Over the Top'' (Infinite album), 2011 album by South Korean band Infinite * ...

'' and '' Street Smart''. "I know it went through town pretty fast", said

. "I know my family didn't like it much. My father was too ill to see it, but my mother said, 'Richard, the advertising was all wrong. They should have told people it was funny.' But I don't think it hurt my chances for other movies. I know a lot of people who do a lot of movies, and some of them are good and some of them aren't.

Michael Caine Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor. Known for his distinctive Cockney accent, he has appeared in more than 160 films in a career spanning seven decades, and is considered a British film ico ...

's one example. He's wonderful in some movies and forgettable in others. I think as long as you're doing generally good work that you enjoy, things will be okay."

Reception

According to

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has received two positive and one negative review. ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' film critic wrote " there's nothing new under the broiling afternoon sun. It's the same: washed-out scenery, stale dialogue and lackluster performances... Except for the presence of James Earl Jones doing a depressing turn as a native chieftain, "Allan Quatermain" is just for folks who don't mind mining for fool's gold." ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said the film was "of minor academic interest. Those who take the Spielberg special effects for granted are sure to learn a lot by watching these same tricks done badly... Fortunately, Richard Chamberlain is professional and then some, since the film would otherwise be virtually unwatchable." The ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'' said the "movie seems largely aimed at fans who can't wait for the next installment of " Raiders of the Lost Ark." Unfortunately, most of the battle scenes were... ineptly staged... Chamberlain has none of the breezy, irreverence that made Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones such a delightful hero. In his

Banana Republic In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring c ...

khaki duds and a bullet-proof undershirt, he exudes the dashing spirit of a game-show host. The rest of the cast is good largely for unintentional laughs."

Criticism of racism

Based on a 19th-century novel that, though progressive for its time, reflected some racist attitudes, the film itself has been criticized for conveying some of these same racist themes. The book ''Africans and the Politics of Popular Culture'' provides a harsh critique saying it reached "levels of racism unachieved since the 1930s." Though the film has been portrayed as a comedy and a satire not all critics have been satisfied that the racist themes are excused under this pretense.

Abandoned sequels

The Cannon Group The Cannon Group, Inc. was an American group of companies, including Cannon Films, which produced films from 1967 to 1994. The extensive group also owned, amongst others, a large international cinema chain and a video film company that invested ...

originally planned a trilogy of films, the third film to be an adaptation of ''

She and Allan ''She and Allan'' is a novel by H. Rider Haggard, first published in 1921. It brought together his two most popular characters, Ayesha from ''She'' (to which it serves as a prequel), and Allan Quatermain from ''King Solomon's Mines''. Umslopoga ...

'' but this was ultimately abandoned after the extreme negative reception of ''Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold'', coupled with the financial difficulties of the company at that time. In 2011, a new sequel was proposed by Menahem Golan called ''Allan Quatermain and the Jewel of the East''. The script was written by Golan and Richard Albiston and was to be directed by Golan himself. The plot concerned Quatermain attempting to rescue his daughter from Chinese treasure hunters in the Congo. According to the 2015 documentary ''Golan: A Farewell to Mr Cinema'',

had agreed to return as the title character but Golan died before the film began shooting.

Home releases

MGM released the film on DVD on February 10, 2004. A Blu-ray edition followed in March 2015.

References

External links

* * * * *
Zone Troopers: Website about the different Allan Quatermain and King Solomon's Mine films
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allan Quatermain And The Lost City Of Gold 1986 films 1980s action adventure films 1980s adventure comedy films American action adventure films 1986 fantasy films American sequel films 1980s English-language films Films based on British novels Films based on works by H. Rider Haggard Films directed by Gary Nelson Films set in the 1910s Films set in deserts Films set in Africa Films shot in Zimbabwe Golan-Globus films Treasure hunt films Films with screenplays by Gene Quintano Films produced by Menahem Golan Films produced by Yoram Globus 1980s American films