CK Whittle Just when you think you have seen it all and you’re on YouTube looking at 80s music videos, something in the background of a Billy Ocean classic song caught our eye here at Celebrity WotNot.
19 seconds into the hit single “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” two backing singers can be seen with their backs to the camera dancing in unison and both wearing matching white suits.
On 46 seconds the same two backup singers have now picked up the pace with their dance moves stepping to the right and left. Then at 1 minute and 3 seconds a third female backup singer is now revealed also in the same smart suit.
The three backup singers are now featured more frequently and at 1 minute and 11 seconds into the video they can be revealed as Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito, and Michael Douglas!
Official Music Video: Billy Ocean – “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going”
Now, if you’re of a certain age you will remember these three from the hit 1984 movie Romancing the Stone, which sees Michael Douglas star as the rugged hunter Jack T. Colton. Jack saves Joan Wilder, an American writer played by Kathleen Turner. in the Columbian rain forest. Danny DeVito plays Ralph, an antiquities smuggler from Queens who takes Joan’s sister hostage in a hope to trade her for a treasure map.
But it was the 1985 sequel titled The Jewel of the Nile where this music video was born as the song was written for its use in the soundtrack.
The Jewel Of The Nile | Theatrical Trailer | 1985
While not the film’s main theme tune, it was featured during the film and over the end credits and Billy Ocean said it was his all-time “favourite” video in his career. We agree.
The saxophone solo by DeVito and the determination Michael Douglas shows by throwing his fists in the air back and forth is visual gold.
The song became a huge hit reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks in February 1986 and number two on the US Billboard Hit 100 singles chart. However, the music video was banned in the UK!
Version 2: Billy Ocean – When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
Why “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” Music Video Was Banned!
Back in 1985 there was a Musician’s Union in the UK and you had to be a member of the union to appear in a music video. Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito were not in the union and broke the rules, so the video was banned for tv, including on the popular Top of the Pops show!
There was supposed to be a THIRD film in the series. According to Wikipedia, it was titled The Crimson Eagle, and had Jack Colton and Joan Wilder taking their two teenage kids to Thailand where they are blackmailed into stealing a priceless statue.
Another rumor was that Michael Douglas gave up that idea in 1997 but in 2008 was working on the second sequel titled Racing the Monsoon.
We haven’t seen anything definite yet, but at least we can just keep watching “When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going” music video again and again for some guaranteed laughter.
Michael Douglas Trivia: Michael Douglas was given the rights to the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by his famous father Kirk Douglas. Michael went on to produce the film, starring Jack Nicholson, and picked up an Oscar himself for Best Picture having been the producer on the movie.
**The front cover photo uses images courtesy of CelebrityWotNot.photos / Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com via Wikipedia and Ronzoni via Wikipedia. Images licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license and licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license respectively.
