Moon 44 (1990)

An unconventional corporate agent is given the task of shaping a group of violent criminals and technical wizards into a helicopter defense force assigned to protect a mining station on a remote moon.

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers:

Dean Heyde (screenplay), Oliver Eberle (screenplay)

Stars:

Michael Paré, Lisa Eichhorn, Dean Devlin

2 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michael Paré	...	Felix Stone
Lisa Eichhorn	...	Terry Morgan
Dean Devlin	...	Tyler
Brian Thompson	...	Jake O'Neal
Malcolm McDowell	...	Major Lee
Stephen Geoffreys	...	Cookie
Leon Rippy	...	Master Sergeant Sykes
Jochen Nickel	...	Scooter Bailey
Mehmet Yilmaz	...	Marc (as Mechmed Yilmaz)
John March	...	Moose Haggerty
Drew Lucas	...	Riffle
David Williamson	...	Lt. Gallagher
Calvin Burke	...	Capt. Stojanowic
Andy Howarth	...	Guard Checkpoint
William Begatie	...	Pilot Taxi-Crane (as William Begatte)

Storyline

In 2038, Earth's mineral resources are drained, there are space fights for the last deposits on other planets and satellites. This is the situation when one of the bigger mining corporations has lost many mineral moons except one and many of their fully automatic mining robots are disappearing on their flight home. Since nobody else wants the job, they send prisoners as a last resort to defend the mining station. Among them, internal affairs agent Felix Stone, assigned to clear the whereabouts of the expensive robots. In an atmosphere of corruption, fear and hatred, Stone gets between the fronts of rivaling groups and locates the person committing sabotage.

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Plot Keywords:

planet | moon | robot | corruption | undercover agent | 

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Taglines:

CBS/Fox Video presents... A galactic adventure from the excitement zone! (Australian CBS/Fox Video trailer)

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

West Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 February 1990 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Intruder

Filming Locations:

Ennis House - 2607 Glendower Avenue, Los Feliz, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

DEM 7,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Centropolis Film Productions,Overseas FilmGroup

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stephen Geoffreys and Brian Thompson were both involved with the Fright Night franchise; Geoffreys played Evil Ed in the original while Brian Thompson played Bozworth in the second one.

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Goofs

It is interesting that the defense force on Moon 44 chose helicopters as their primary vehicle. Most planetary moons have very little atmosphere - an environment in which helicopters (which rely upon air/gases for their lift) would be completely useless. In a possible defense of the filmmakers, Moon 44's atmosphere is portrayed as dense and mist-like, possibly similar to that of Saturn's large moon, Titan, which could theoretically support aerodynamic flight.

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Quotes

Scooter Bailey: Back in prison, we turn little boys like you into little girls.

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Connections

Referenced in HBO First Look: The Making of 'The Day After Tomorrow' (2004)

User Reviews

Undeservedly Slipped Through The Cracks!

During the eighties I used to purchase those fantastic Variety and Hollywood Reporter film market editions that were stuffed with movie poster ads advertising the latest film projects in various stages of development from dozens of companies. Unfortunately they stopped producing those great issues by the mid nineties. Anyway, I saw the poster ad for "Moon 44" and the imagery evoked Robert Heinlein. I couldn't wait for this film to come out and it never did. Or the film was in limited release. So finally, I secured a copy of this film on VHS cassette and checked it out. Here is my review.

"Moon 44" is actually a good sci-fi flick. I won't go into the story because you can get that elsewhere on this site. The movie struck me as a cross between "Outland" and "Brubaker". I think what also struck me is how impressive the production design was. I really felt I was watching a mining station on some far off celestial body. The acting was good and especially from Michael Pare and Brian Thompson. It's a good sci-fi film that is definitely worth a look!