PRE-United: Cycle of the "Moon"

This is a bit of an oddball post (but which ones aren't, in the final analysis?!) I mean, the semi-obscure, romantic-thriller film China Moon is not exactly one that is resting on the tongue of most moviegoers. But it's an opportunity to point out a sort of fun connection between its stars and in the process point out a couple of other things that came to light while I was looking into it. China Moon was filmed in 1990 and 1991, but due to a bankruptcy quagmire with Orion Pictures, it didn't see theatrical release until 1994, following a reorganization.

Ed Harris plays a methodical and determined police detective who is beguiled by a mysterious beauty played by Madeleine Stowe. (Funny how these bright guys nevertheless seem to tumble into lunatic situations when it comes to a woman!)

Having connected their eyes inside a dimly-lit bar, she heads out onto a deck, on which he soon joins her. Notice how neatly curled and coiffed her hair is in this establishing shot.

Check it out in the very next frames, after some night breezes have had their way with it on location! LOL

The two enjoy some conversation together before she departs.

He looks her up again later. She is married to a very wealthy man and, thus, spends no small amount of her free time shopping.

Before long, they're having quiet dinners together at secluded restaurants...

Then one evening he takes her out to a lake for a ride in his canoe. This is where they glimpse the title orb in the sky.

Paddling along and growing ever closer to a seduction...

Stowe finally opts to go for a moonlight swim and strips down to nothing, while Harris admires the view.

He is coerced to join her. While we see everything Stowe's got, all we get of Mr. Harris is a very quick and dimly-lit flash of part of his behind as he dives into the water. Ahhh 1990s Hollywood.

But then the problems start. We knew this wasn't going to be a run of the mill boy meets girl story.

Do you recognize Harris' young partner? At this time, the actor was still building a screen career.

His moderate standing at the time means he is often shot in profile rather than head on, with Harris getting most of the good lighting.

But you've probably already ascertained that this is a young Benicio Del Toro. At this point, he had done a little TV (a gust role on Miami Vice, for example) and had supporting parts in projects as diverse as Big Top Pee-wee (1988) and License to Kill (1989.) Few could have guessed at this point that he would eventually become an Oscar-winner! He took home the prize for Traffic (2000) and was nominated again for 2003's 21 Grams (which went that time to Tim Robbins in Mystic River.)

On that score he outdid the stars of China Moon! Stowe was never nominated for an Academy Award and, while he was nominated four times, Harris has never won either. Harris' first nomination (for his wonderful work in Apollo 13, 1995) went to Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects. His subsequent noms for The Truman Show (1998), Pollack (2000) and The Hours (2002) went to, respectively, James Coburn in Affliction, Russell Crowe in Gladiator and Chris Cooper for Adaptation. Stowe did, however, have a considerable run of leading lady roles. She costarred in Revenge (1990), the enduring favorite Last of the Mohicans (1992), Short Cuts (1993) and Twelve Monkeys (1995), to name several. But before all this. Long before... the two had met and acted together.

"Barnaby Jones... a Quinn Martin production..."

"...with guest stars... Ed Harris..."

"...Madeleine Stowe."

In this 1979 episode of the venerable detective series, Stowe (then twenty-one) played a teenage drug addict at an expensive rehab facility. One of her favorite counselors is murdered when he discovers a drug ring in which some of the residents are being supplied with the very junk they're trying to rid themselves of. 

Ringleader of the drug chain is Harris, who runs the facility's automotive repair department. A supplier sends heroin into the place via special shock absorbers which come apart, allowing for a secure hiding spot.

Sneaky Harris tries to get Stowe in his good graces so that he can begin to use her as a procurer of more residents to take part in his drug pushing action.

Her boyfriend on the campus is already using again and, in fact, winds up dead before it's all said and done.

It's interesting to note that in this day and age of veneers, zoom-bleaching and the like, Ed Harris never had his teeth done over. And, you know what? It's actually rather rather to find still photos of him smiling broadly and showing them. In the 1970s, few cared as much about such things.

I can't say what, if anything, Stowe ever did to her teeth, but in time she certainly did have some things done to her face and features. (Lips for certain...) That's pretty much the lay of the land in La La Land.

Even then, though, photographers knew the benefits of hitting Harris' baby blues with a lot of light for maximum impact.

Once Stowe's boyfriend is gone, her wheels begin to come off and Harris is ready to swoop in and get her under his control.

He gets her tipsy on wine and then reintroduces her to heroin.

At this point in their careers, the two were still very up and coming. This was only the fifth TV guest role for Harris, but he'd won a small role in Coma (1978) and a little part in The Amazing Howard Hughes (starring Tommy Lee Jones.) He was soon cast as the lead in Knightriders (1981) and then costarred in The Right Stuff (1983), which put him on the fast track for a movie career. Apart from a TV-movie (oddly enough, The Deerslayer!), this was only Stowe's third appearance on the tube. But miniseries like Beulah Land and The Gangster Chronicles were soon to follow and Stakeout (1987) helped put her on the movie map.

Just like in China Moon, there was a future Oscar-winner in their midst when Harris and Stowe worked on Barnaby Jones. I don't think it will be hard for you to guess this person's identity...

This is Sean Penn's first credited screen role! (He'd previously appeared, without on-screen credit, on two episodes of Little House on the Prairie... who knew?!) Only Nostradamus would have been able to guess that this young man as a virtual featured extra would soon become a major star.

Within two years he'd appear in Taps (1981) and Fast Times at Ridegmont High (1982) with Bad Boys following in 1983. Many leading roles were to come. Penn was Oscar-nominated for Dead Man Walking (1995), Sweet and Lowdown (1998) and I Am Sam (2001) - losing to Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas, Kevin Spacey in American Beauty and Denzel Washington in Training Day - before winning not one but two Oscars! One for Mystic River (2003) and one for Milk (2008.) So you see? There are no small roles, just small actors. You never know what thing will lead to next.

We hope you liked this little diversion into the careers of Harris and Stowe. Harris has never stopped working, recently making appearances on the hit cable series Westworld. Stowe's career has been more intermittent since becoming a mother in 1996, with time split between acting and spending time with her husband Brian Benben on their Texas cattle ranch, but she appeared last year on all ten episodes of the Netflix series Soundtrack.

The End!