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 | Escort Service | Graduate Student | 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)

HALF MOON STREET (Bob Swaim, 1986) *1/2

From the title and what little I knew about its subject-matter, I was expecting a BELLE DE JOUR-meets-JACK THE RIPPER kind of thing but imagine my disappointment when, after an intriguing start, this is forsaken for boring political machinations which ineffectively breach thriller territory towards the end. Actually, it gets sillier by the minute: from having Sigourney Weaver (playing a researcher in Anglo-Arab relations moonlighting as a high-class escort) chatting up an Arab playboy's cinematic banter at a society party with "Am I supposed to say 'Your place or mine?'" to which he retorts, "No, these days you say "Betamax or VHS?'"; to seeing Michael Caine (as a celebrity British diplomat) standing in the rain holding out a bouquet of flowers for Weaver - whom he has fallen for in the course of her extra-curricular activities and with whom he has had a minor falling out! Still, the often-nude Weaver is nevertheless quite good in her role but the film is certainly no BELLE DE JOUR (1967) and it is easy to see why Bob Swaim's career went downhill very quickly after having made the excellent French policier LA BALANCE (1982).