Half Moon Street (1986)

Professor by day. Prostitute by night. Two-time Golden Globe® winner* Sigourney Weaver "shows her best stuff [in this] provocative" (Los Angeles Times) and stunning sexual thriller. Co-starring two-time Oscar® winner** Michael Caine Half Moon Street is a smoldering suspenseful tale of passion politics and murder that's elegant erotic and electrifying!When the brilliant and beautiful Dr. Lauren Slaughter (Weaver) discovers she's unable to live on her meager academic salary she decides to moonlight as a high-priced London call girl. But when she unexpectedly falls for one of her clients a top-ranking politician (Caine) Lauren soon finds herself enmeshed in a dark world of deviance danger and deadly intrigue where sex will make her rich and love could get her killed.*1988: Actress (Drama) Gorillas in the Mist; 1988: Supporting Actress Working Girl**1999: Supporting Actor: The Cider House Rules; 1986: Hannah and Her SistersSystem Requirements:Running Time: 89 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: MYSTERY/SUSPENSE Rating: R UPC: 027616886590 Manufacturer No: 1004618 Product Description

A Daring Intellectual Caught up in International Intrigue

Half Moon Street in London contains posh flats, many of which belong to prominent Arabs, and is situated near Piccadilly. It is close to Victoria Station, Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus.

Sigourney Weaver arrives in London to work for an Arab-Anglo institute. A brilliant intellectual with a doctorate at Harvard in the field of Chinese economics, having spent a good deal of time in China researching her subject, she is multi-lingual and has a sharp mind for movie details. She is able to readily recite dialogue from scores of films.

The think tank where Weaver works pays so little that she decides to do something daring to enhance her income. She goes to work for an escort service, but on independent terms. Sigourney explains that she will agree to a date at a restaurant, after which it is up to her if she will pursue matters further.

With her excellent pedigree Weaver is a natural to entertain the male economic elite from around the world in this most cosmopolitan of international cities. Her independence is revealed when she coolly tells one Japanese businessman that, despite his confident expectations, she has no desire to augment the evening's activities after dinner.

Weaver learns that the institute where she works is run by an international consortium containing, as one local investment banker tells her, the 5,000 people in international society that "really count."

On one of her eclectic evening excursions Weaver visits the flat of Michael Caine for dinner and prospective good times. A member of the House of Lords, Caine is also an international diplomat who is seeking to broker an international peace agreement between the Israeli and Arab political worlds.

The story ultimately assumes a duality of how Caine can keep the negotiations on track with Weaver caught in the midst of the intrigue. That flat on Half Moon Street that she was able to move into when the wealthy Arab who owned it said he did not need it that point perhaps will come at a stiff price after all. Time will tell.

As the intrigue continues Weaver becomes frustrated when Caine is compelled to break dates with her. When he is unable to keep an appointment in Geneva she is ready to leave him. In the process while in Geneva she has allowed another man to romance her.

In her anxiety to free herself from Caine, has Weaver somehow put herself in harm's way? How will it play out? Will she get back with Caine? Will Caine be able to broker the peace agreement despite possibly serious obstacles?

These are the points that play themselves out in the film. February 8, 2007

Gratuitous Female Nudity=Mediocre Film?

Michael Caine plays the part of an English nobleman who hopes to bring about an agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians. Since when did the Palestinians ever want to live in peace with their Jewish neighbors? Never for a moment does the film deal with the unrelenting Jew hatred of the Arabs. And for some reason a number of people desire to murder the Caine character for his efforts. Who and why is left unclear. At best, I guess it has to do with those who presumably manipulate the world's oil prices. Sigourney Weaver has earned a Ph.D. and also sells her sexual favors. One of her clients is the British lord. She is nude countless time throughout the story. Her role makes no sense whatsoever. Weaver plays the part of a libertine who doesn't hesitate to let her own professional colleagues know that she is whoring on the side for extra money. Isn't that a great way to advance one's career? The dialogue is boring. When will this mess be over? I've come to a cynical realization: if a major actress is nude for more than one scene, there is a strongly likelihood that the director is desperate to save the project. Do you like to see Ms. Weaver's bare breasts? If so, Half Moon Street might be worth your time. Other than that, don't waste a moment of your short life span.

David Thomson
Flares into Darkness July 2, 2006

Not much of interest here

Dr. Lauren Slaughter (Sigourney Weaver), an underpaid political analyst, turns to high-end prostitution in order to make ends meet, thereby encountering an influential British politician, Lord Bulbeck (Michael Caine), who is trying to broker a Middle East peace deal. Before long, she is imperiled by an attempt to assassinate Bulbeck and derail the negotiations.

This implausible film doesn't know what it wants to be. Its best moments are the scenes between Weaver and Caine, but unfortunately there's a lot of nonsense to clutter up the plot. Weaver's character is supposed to be intelligent and worldly, yet she hooks under her own name and appears to be surprised later when her unique choice of sideline costs her some credibility in intellectual circles. In addition, it seems unnecessary for the director/writer Bob Swaim and his co-writer Edward Behr to have made her a prostitute at all. Novelist Paul Theroux may have justified it thematically in the original novel, but on the screen it just plays out as a particularly implausible pretext for her to meet Lord Bulbeck. After spending most of the running time developing this relationship, the film concludes with a cliched 15 minutes or so of uninteresting violence, leaving the affair between the two main characters unresolved. August 22, 2005

What was the point?

Not having read the slim Theroux book first (or any of his stuff), but on a Sigourney Weaver high (Aliens came out the same year) I gave this movie a try. Weaver is the ominously named Dr. Slaughter, a brilliant and beautiful is somewhat depraved expert on the study of petroleum exporting countries in the mideast. Eking out a miserable existence in a London flat cursed with perpetually frozen plumbing, Slaughter leanrs to make ends meet when she becomes a high-priced escort. Her two lives - analyst and call-girl - slowly but surely collide by the end.

Theroux fans would appreciate the difficulty of adapting his work - his deceptively simple prose are underappreciated. The flick radiated ominously when its marketing tone seemed to change while the flick was out - a sure sign that the producers remained unsure of what kind of movie it was. HMS is partly a romance - between Slaughter and one of her clients, a british diplomat who mediates issues between countries Slaughter studies on her day job, and is played by Michael Caine; both of Slaughter's personas are below Caine's character. There is also a thriller subplot - was it any coincidence that Slaughter was first drawn to the company that provides escorts for visiting foreigners?

In either case, the flick is a botch, but it took me years until I finally brought myself to read the book to understand why. Though I love Weaver's work, she is miscast here - she's intelligent and ambitious, but lacks the book-Slaughter's inner gamine, a sort of anything-to-get-by spirit that gives her a subconcious sense of overall superiority that drives the story. The movie Slaughter knows she's smart and attractive - unlike her prose incarnation who knows she's more beautiful than her fellow prostitutes, much smarter and more athletic (the compulsive superiority is a necessary emotional shield Slaughter needs to maintain in order to block out the sexual depravities she's forced to rely on when lacking any other way to afford what she needs.) Depriving Slaughter of that fierce if amoral spirit, the flick plods on, only reaching the book's climax by dinty of running time. A Hollywood ending is the finishing touch on this misfire of an adaption, utterly losing the frenzied twilight-zone finish that made the original's end so poignant. If anything, this flick did kick off my minor but enjoyable flirtation with the novels of Theroux. October 31, 2004

For Sigourney Weaver & Michael Caine Fans

This movie got soundly trashed when it was released in 1986 but I really liked it for a couple reasons.

The first, I loved the Paul Theroux book on which it's based. In the book, there are actually two stories. The movie takes its story from "Dr. Slaughter." (The other story, "Doctor DeMarr", is about a twin who foolishly resumes his brother's medical practice after finding him dead from a drug overdose).

The second, I had been really wanting to see Sigourney Weaver in a sexy role after battling the ALIEN and evil spirits in GHOSTBUSTERS. (THE YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, an excellent film from a few years before with Mel Gibson, was romantic(...)). HALF MOON STREET definitely turned more to the erotic and even scratched the surface of sordid.
That's my only disappointment with the film: the corrosive effects of her double-life are played more situational than emotional. She was smart (...) but the film jumps into suspense and intrigue at the point where she would really have to suffer the inner consequences of her lifestyle. Or lifestyles, as it they were.
Theroux's original story manages to capture it in the final line (not an easy thing to do!).

I'd read an interview with Ms. Weaver and she said she'd wished the script had given her character more of a sense of humor. That would've been a great approach! I can see why they'd nix her idea (keep her character SMART!), but she would've come across less smug about being an escort.

If you like intrigue with hints of eroticism--and Michael Caine, who's always great--then this movie is worth watching. May 17, 2004

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