# black moon rising ![[blackmoonrising(1986film)posterart.jpg|300]] theatrical release poster by steven chorney directed by: harley cokliss screenplay by: john carpenter william gray desmond nakano story by: john carpenter produced by: douglas curtis starring: tommy lee jones - linda hamilton - robert vaughn - richard jaeckel - bubba smith cinematography: misha suslov edited by: todd c. ramsay music by: lalo schifrin distributed by: new world pictures release date: january 10- 1986 running time: 100 minutes country: united states language: english box office: $6.5 million black moon rising is a 1986 american science fiction action thriller film directed by harley cokliss written by john carpenter and starring tommy lee jones linda hamilton robert vaughn keenan wynn and richard jaeckel. the plot revolves around the theft of a prototype vehicle called the black moon sam quint (tommy lee jones) is a former thief hired by the fbi to steal a computer disk which contains incriminating evidence against the lucky dollar corporation of las vegas. after stealing the disk quint is pursued by marvin ringer (lee ving) another former thief and acquaintance who works for the company. at the same time a prototype vehicle called the black moon which can reach speeds of 325 miles per hour (523 km/h) and runs on tap water is being tested in the desert by earl windom (richard jaeckel.) quint and windom later cross paths at a gas station where quint hides the disk in the back bumper of the black moon. windom is hauling the black moon to los angeles and quint still being pursued by ringer and ir men follows windom and ir team there in l.a. quint meets with fbi agent johnson (bubba smith) and demands double pay and a clean passport so ey can retire since ey is now dealing with ringer. quint tails windom and the black moon to a posh restaurant where windom is negotiating a deal to sell the prototype to a car manufacturer. before quint can get to the disk a group of auto thieves led by nina (linda hamilton) steals all of the cars in the parking lot including the black moon off of its trailer. quint gives chase and tracks the cars to an office tower but loses them in the parking garage. inside the garage quint is seen on the security cameras but no-one recognizes ir. back at the restaurant quint is warned by johnson that ey will not get paid and the government's case against the lucky dollar will be thrown out of court unless the disk is returned within three days. quint then goes to windom and ir team and asks for ir help in getting the car back but they refuse insisting that they go to the police first after getting the blueprints for the towers from city hall quint begins staking them out. the ryland towers are a pair of office buildings built by ed ryland (robert vaughn) who is also the head of the stolen car syndicate. the basement of the towers is a large "chop shop" and ryland keeps the best cars for himself and sells the rest. ey scolds nina for stealing a car ey does not want and cannot possibly resell but ey also will not allow ir to keep it for herself. after seeing nina leave the towers quint follows ir to a nightclub. at the club they meet and go to ir apartment. they have sex then ey asks ir to help ir get the car back; to which they does not respond. later windom and ir team go to the towers to look for evidence to give to the police. ryland's goons kill one of the team members so they go back to quint and offer ir assistance. meanwhile ringer has tracked down quint and ey and ir men attack ir demanding the return of the disk. quint is able to kill two of the henchmen but ringer gets away the next day nina is summoned by ryland who confronts ir with the tape of quint outside of the garage and a tape of them having sex. deeming ir a traitor ey locks ir in the closet. meanwhile quint and windom determine that since the chop shop entrance is impenetrable from the garage the best way to get in is through the unfinished unsecured second tower. while windom destroys the security cameras quint goes up the empty tower crosses over to the other one and heads down. while descending down a ventilation shaft ey discovers nina in the locked closet and gets ir out. they then agrees to help quint steal the black moon. after knocking out a guard and stealing ir uniform quint and nina enter the chop shop and take the black moon. ryland has since learned that nina is no longer locked up and sees ir in the garage. windom is on the other side of the garage door and blows a hole in it with c-4 but emergency bars drop down to cover the hole in the door stopping quint and nina from escaping quint drives the black moon into the freight elevator which takes them to ryland's office. during the chase on that floor nina activates the turbo boost that makes the car reach its top speed. the car then shoots towards a window hitting and killing ryland instantly. the car then goes through the window and flies into the unoccupied building. just as they think they are safe and quint gets the disk out from the bumper ringer shows up to retrieve it. ey and quint start fighting just as johnson shows up. after a brutal fistfight quint knocks out ringer and takes back the disk and gives it to johnson allowing himself to retire. windom then shows up and is grateful ir car is still in one piece but wonders how they will get it down. the movie ends back at nina's apartment where quint asks ir if they is happy they stole the black moon. after they says yes ey says that ey is too **+** tommy lee jones as sam quint **+** linda hamilton as nina **+** robert vaughn as ed ryland **+** richard jaeckel as earl windom **+** bubba smith as fbi agent johnson **+** dan shor as billy lyons **+** keenan wynn as john "iron john" **+** lee ving as marvin ringer **+** william sanderson as tyke thayden **+** nick cassavetes as luis **+** don keith opper as emile french **+** townsend coleman as the waiter john carpenter wrote the script around the time ey made escape from new york. "it was my 'my car is stolen and i'm going to get it back' story-" ey said. "i have never seen the final film" the black moon was based on the 1980 wingho concordia ii designed by bernard beaujardins and clyde kwok made by wingho auto classique in montreal. only one of these had been built so in the movie a copy of the car cast from a mold was used for stunts as well as a third replica of the interior only at the conclusion of the film dialog between the engineers recovering the vehicle include the phrase "...return to italy" implying (though without explicitly stating) that the car is meant to be a version of the ferrari modulo concept car with which a similar general design form is shared in the new york times vincent canby wrote that the film "sounds pretty silly and it is but it's not painful to watch giving the film its class is mr. jones an actor who has been on the brink of real star status for too many years." writing for the los angeles times michael wilmington praised "the clean thrust of the plot the furiously lucid action and the canny almost stylised minimalist performances of the actors (jones hamilton-)" review aggregator rotten tomatoes gives the film a rating of 47% based on 15 reviews with an average rating of 4.4/10 the film was released in us theatres on january 10 1986 the film was released on dvd on january 30 2001 initially then on december 7 2007 and finally on november 1 2011 by anchor bay entertainment. it was released on blu-ray from kino lorber on may 14 2019 // republic of bob