EDITOR’S NOTE: Murder On the Moon was on the CBS Late Movie on June 29, 1990.

Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and written by Carla Jean Wagner, this is also known as Murder By Moonlight.

After nearly launching a nuclear war, America and Russia decided to work together to colonize the moon. But when several NASA astronauts are found dead, Dennis Huff (Gerald McRaney!) sends Lieutenant Maggie Bartok (Brigitte Nielsen) while Russian drafts Major Sorokin Kirilenko (Julian Sands) to figure out who the killer is.

Can these mismatched space detectives solve the case, compare haircuts and fall in love?

Michael Lindsay-Hogg had a wild career and life. His wife hinted when he was old enough to understand that his father may have been Orson Welles. A DNA test was inconclusive, but Gloria Vanderbilt confirmed the fact for him. He was a director on the British music show Ready Steady Go!, which led to him making clips that later would be known as music videos for the Beatles (“Paperback Writer,” “Hey Jude,” “Revolution,” and “Rain”) and the Rolling Stones (“2000 Light Years from Home,” “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Child of the Moon). He also directed The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus and The Beatles’ Get Back, where the Apple rooftop performance comes from and the footage Peter Jackson used for his documentary.

In the 70s, he had great success with Brideshead Revisited and Nasty Habits. In the 80s, he made Simon and Garfunkel’s The Concert in Central Park, Neil Young’s Neil Young in Berlin and Graceland: The African Concert with Paul Simon. And as the 90s came, he made TV movies like Ivana Trump’s For Love Alone.

This has an interesting cast, including Brian Cox, David Yip (Wu Han from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) and Ricco Ross (Private Frost from Aliens). There’s also a completely out-of-left-field trans element that is just as wild in 2023 as it had to be back in 1989.

Sources

Michael Lindsay-Hogg – Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lindsay-Hogg