Half Moon Street (1986)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Bob Swaim

Writers:

Edward Behr (writer)
Bob Swaim (writer)

Release Date:

26 September 1986 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Drama

Tagline:

Dr. Lauren Slaughter, professor, emissary, hooker, target.

Plot:

Dr. Lauren Slaughter, a research fellow at the Arab-Anglo Institute in London is utterly frustrated by her job...

Plot Keywords:

Escort | Arab | London | Escort Service | Female Nudity

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Sigourney Weaver	...	Dr. Lauren Slaughter
Michael Caine	...	Lord Sam Bulbeck
Patrick Kavanagh	...	General Sir George Newhouse
Faith Kent	...	Lady Newhouse
Ram John Holder	...	Lindsay Walker
Keith Buckley	...	Hugo Van Arkady
Ann Hanson	...	Mrs. Van Arkady
Patrick Newman	...	Julian Shuttle
Niall O'Brien	...	Captain Twilley
Nadim Sawalha	...	Karim Hatami
Vincent Lindon	...	Sonny
Muriel Villiers	...	Madame Cybele
Michael Elwyn	...	Tom Haldane
Ninka Scott	...	Mrs. Haldane
Jasper Jacob	...	Rex Lanham

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | Canada:R (Ontario) | UK:18

Filming Locations:

High Canons, Buckettsland Lane, Well End, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

RKO Pictures

Trivia:

When Dr Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver) walks to the answering machine, there is a photo next to the phone, which shows Weaver and her real-life father Pat Weaver.

Quotes:

Dr. Lauren Slaughter: Am I supposed to say "Your place or mine?"
Karim Hatami: No. These days, you say "Betamax or VHS?"

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Superior Firepower: The Making of 'Aliens' (2003) (V)

A literary who-dunnit ... but I feel dirty and used

There was something about this film that intrigued me deeply. The day after watching it I paid a visit to my local Waterstones to try and solve the mystery once and for all. I wanted to know if Paul Theroux had written all that awful, stilted, clichéd dialogue (I actually laughed involuntarily at a couple of exchanges) or was it some sort of set up? Was the screenplay for Half Moon Street a literary mugging of the acclaimed authors' work (he has his enemies you know), or was the original story (Dr Slaughter) just as unbelievable, unsubtle and irritating as the film?

I was puzzled by something else too. I knew the dialogue was bad but why did Sigourney Weaver's part seem so much more wooden than Michael Caine's? Were her lines being tampered with while she was having her hair done? Was Sir Michael somehow involved in the whole intrigue, or is he such a fine screen actor that he is able to rise above bad writing and deliver a reasonably believable performance in the most adverse of circumstances? I felt a pang of sympathy for Sigourney. She certainly had had a tough job on her hands not only having to spout forth such hackneyed drivel but also having to give depth to a thoroughly unappealing and one-dimensional character. I started to formulate a theory that perhaps Jackie Collins was somehow involved in rewriting the part of this supposed independent and intelligent women, so ham-fisted was it; but who had hired her? Who had it in for Sigourney so badly? As I neared the counter to pay for my copy of Dr Slaughter I began to realise that I was falling prey to the kind of half-baked conspiracy theories that often pass for the plots of films like Half Moon Street. What's more, it started to dawn on me that perhaps I had been lured into watching it by the prospect of seeing the beautiful Sigourney in various (often gratuitous) states of undress; these included a shower scene and a scene where she pulls on a tight white cotton singlet; were the producers cynically cashing in on the whole Alien/Ripley thing?. I was starting to feel exploited and vaguely sullied (pretty much like Sigourney Weaver must have felt). The DVD had been free, but upon discovering that the book was not, I made my excuses and left.

I can't advise anyone whether or not to watch this film; I suppose it really depends on how valuable your time is. It's not an erotic film though, if that's what you're expecting - psychological depth is conspicuous by its absence. If you're a Sigourney fan then I think you'll be so disappointed by her wooden performance that her charisma and sheer physical allure won't compensate. The film is dated (if nothing else was amiss with Half Moon Street then the soundtrack would kill it single-handedly), the plot is confused and boring, and the characters lack depth.