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!

Glad Tidings - Vol IV

It's been close to two years since our last installment of Glad Tidings, our pictorial tributes to gladiator movies (which, to be honest, are a sort of fallback post when we've run out of time for something more involved or time-consuming!) Truth is, I've had several instances in a row in which I've watched a movie with the intention of profiling it here, but then have wound up so disinterested in the product that I opted out of it! This time, I happened to watch a movie with no intention of paying tribute to it, but then discovered that it had some imagery and attributes that I felt like mentioning/sharing here. The film is Antony and Cleopatra (1972), a labor of love of Charlton Heston's that fizzled at the box office and slipped into obscurity. However, with the passage of time, it has amassed a certain level of appreciation from Shakespearean aficionados and fans of costume epics. The movie, which was beset by financing and distribution issues, scarcely has an American poster out there to be found! Most of the ones in use are, like this one, Belgian. And now to some of the screencaps from this famous story of love and war, with comments whenever warranted. (You may view the movie in widescreen here if you wish!)

Having ridden ferociously through the city with a message from Rome for Marc Antony, the messenger is told to wait.

He's busy at the moment! Cleopatra (Hildegarde Neil) is adorning her lover Antony (Charlton Heston) with makeup and jewelry...!

Meanwhile, Neil's entourage is gathered in a nearby room, hearing the predictions of a soothsayer. We absolutely love her servant Alexas in the aqua-colored tunic.

Alexas was played by Juan Luis Galiardo, a gorgeous Spanish leading man from the 1960s through the early-2010s.

Neil's servant Charmian was played by Jane Lapotaire who would play Cleopatra herself about a decade later (and to a fair amount of derision) in a television version of this play.

Finally ready to meet with the bearer of news, Heston emerges in his barely buttoned robe.

The Roman Proculeius is played by Julian Glover. This part is the one that Heston once played on Broadway opposite the legendary Katherine Cornell.

Heston's robe is unbuttoned so far down that we can't help but wonder what, if anything, is underneath!

Just when we think we'll lose our mind if we don't figure out what he's got under that cloak...

...he tears it off and shows us.

Outdoing the skimpy loincloths of Ben-Hur (1959) and Planet of the Apes (1968), he's got on a teeny little set of briefs with a hilarious modesty panel in front.

"Curtain up!" Ha ha!

Heston actually wore something even more scanty than this, if you can believe it, at the start of Julius Caesar (1970), in which he also played Marc Antony.

Enter Octavius Caesar...

...as played by John Castle.

See? Even though I've stretched the point a little, this is a sort of gladiator movie.

You might recall Castle as one of Katharine Hepburn's sons in The Lion in Winter (1968) or as The Duke in Man of La Mancha (1972.)

Up the lazy Nile...

How can I get a hand-held fan like this?

And how can I get a job like this??

Party time on the battleship.

With only one chick (upside down in red), it looks like some of the guys might have to pair off!

Party time at Cleo's place.

Meet Eunuch and the Castros. Any requests?

You may have to stab your own dinner in the aquarium...

As a child in elementary school, aqua was my favorite color, but I outgrew it. Now I'm rethinking that decision...!

Neil (who has few fans of her work here as Queen of the Nile) reminded one imdb.com commenter of the principal in Rock 'n Roll High School (1979), played by Mary Woronov. For a chuckle, look it up...

You're showing us the wrong pouch, Alexas!

Handsome Mr. Galiardo worked this same year in Heston's Call of the Wild, but suffered a serious nervous breakdown amid that troubled production at a strenuous location. Part of his role had to be replaced by another actor & character. He made a full recovery, though, and went on to a lengthy career in Spain up until his 2012 demise from cancer at age seventy-two.

Heston is often derided for his granite-like visage, which works sometimes and sometimes not. Neil was capable of some very severe, nearly deranged expressions at inappropriate times. Here, she reminds me of something one of my catty friends once said about Elijah Wood... that he never blinks and must have eyelids that close from the bottom instead of the top like a lizard!

One doesn't always think of Cleopatra as being in armor (Lord knows Liz didn't don any!), but here she is in battle gear of a sort.

It's really just a helmet and shoulder pads, sorta like what one might wear to a construction site in order to avoid injury.

Heston, who also directed this film, used outtakes from Ben-Hur (1959) in order to fill out the sea battle sequence. Some scenes cribbed from The Robe (1953), too!

In close-up, we see things like this...

...which supposedly is happening at the same time as this!

I love Castle's eyes here. True, he doesn't exactly provide a gallery of facial expressions (another one of my friends is always accusing him of having a "who farted?" look on his face!), but I nearly always enjoy him in things and I love the cut of his jawline.

Neil wasn't trying to ape La Liz, necessarily, but even if she wanted to, she'd be closer to 1972 Liz than 1963...! Is this the hair you expect to see on Cleopatra?!

If you really look at these "soldiers" from the "Egyptian" army, there are some that are either startlingly thin or staggeringly out of shape. And these are the gents they put in front!

I did like the swan-like horn that the bugler tooted on.

This was a spectacular stunt that I truly hope didn't injure the horse. Both it and the rider went careening down a hill, somersaulting! Note the stuntman instantly drops his sword.

Surely the man had something on, like flesh-toned tights, but it looks for all the world like he's bare-assed during the scene! LOL

When Heston did his roll in the dirt, he still had his sword in hand, which was long gone in the stuntman shot.

The eunuch Canidius, whose look I love, was played by Sancho Gracia. He had a lengthy screen career of nearly fifty years until lung cancer claimed him in 2012 at age seventy-five. It was he who took over for Galiardo on Call of the Wild.

I'm sorry, you want me to WHAT?

This was another nifty stunt. Glover wants inside that pyramid. So as he's talking to Cleopatra...

...he calls for his guards to make a set of stairs out of their shields...

...and runs up them, entering through the open window!

I think we all know that this won't end well...

What an asp....

BONUS PICS!

Heston caught no small amount of heat for his casting of Ms. Neil. He'd initially wanted Diana Rigg and also sought Anne Bancroft, with Glenda Jackson and Susannah York also being considered, before winnowing the choice down to Neil and Irene Papas.

This languid opening scene was used for the poster art, though Neil was changed to having her ornate headdress on and Heston was depicted wearing earrings and a pearl necklace. (I'm not making this up. See for yourself above!) The pearl necklace made it into the film. He breaks it apart and the beads fall onto her, but the earrings are nowhere in sight.

However, tireless investigator that I am, I have located an on-set photograph which shows Heston in his bejeweled state, being beguiled by his queenly lover...! This segment was trimmed out of the movie for whatever reason.

I told you that two years prior, in Julius Caesar (1970), Heston wore even less than he does in this movie as Marc Antony! Here he is about to start a race at the beginning of the movie. His (ugly) wig is three times bigger than his jockstrap!

Heston, a former artist's model, was never too shy about stripping down for his art. His loinclothy parts in The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur, Apes and even The War Lord (1965) for a little bit can testify to that. He doesn't look as terrific here at nearly fifty as he did in his prime, but few do.

A simple day at the beach was cause for beefcake, palpably on display...! But did you know that it was this was at the very dawn of his career?

In 1950, for the low-budget Julius Caesar, the first time he played Marc Antony, he spends the first fifteen minutes or so in this abbreviated costume! He even shows the better part of his ass briefly as he departs the scene. I guess if it's The Bible or Shakespeare one can get away with nearly anything...!

So his twenty-plus years of trotting around in next to nothing began right off the bat in 1950.

The End!