Moonwalker
Directed by	Jerry Kramer, Jim Blashfield (episode "Leave Me Alone"), Colin Chilvers (episode "Smooth Criminal")
Produced by	Frank DiLeo, Michael Jackson
Written by	Michael Jackson (story) (segment "Smooth Criminal") David Newman(screenplay) (segment "Smooth Criminal")
Starring	Michael Jackson Joe Pesci Sean Lennon Kellie Parker Brandon Quintin Adams
Music by	Michael Jackson, Bruce Broughton
Release date(s)	1988
Running time	93 min
Country	USA
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Moonwalker, also known as Michael Jackson: Moonwalker, is a movie released in 1988 by singer Michael Jackson. Rather than featuring one continuous narrative, the film is a collection of short films about the entertainer, several of which are long form music videos from Jackson's Bad album. Image File history File links Moonwalker. ... Gerald Louis Kramer (b. ... Jim Blashfield (born Seattle, Washington Sept. ... Frank DiLeo began his music industry career as a sales representative and promotion executive for CBS Records in 1968. ... For other persons named Michael Jackson, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation). ... For other persons named Michael Jackson, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation). ... There have been a number of prominent figures named David Newman, including: David Newman, American composer David Newman, American Visual Artist David Newman, Canadian politician This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For other persons named Michael Jackson, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation). ... Joseph Eliot Pesci (born February 9, 1943), best known as Joe Pesci, is an American Academy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer who is often typecast as a violent mobster, grouchy funnyman, or both. ... Sean Taro Ono Lennon (aka Sean Ono Lennon, born October 9, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. ... Brandon Quintin Adams is an African-American actor best known for his playing Jesse Hall in the first two Mighty Ducks movies and Kenny DeNunez in The Sandlot. ... Bruce Broughton (born March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, California) is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including Homeward Bound and Silverado, as well as the video game Heart of Darkness (game). ... Look up moonwalk, moon, walk in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ercole de Roberti: Concert, c. ... For other persons named Michael Jackson, see Michael Jackson (disambiguation). ... A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music, most commonly a song. ... Bad is an album of recorded music by pop music icon Michael Jackson, released in 1987. ... An album is a collection of related audio tracks distributed to the public. ...

Moonwalker was originally released to coincide with Jackson's 1987 album, Bad. During the theatrical release of Moonwalker, Jackson was also embarking on a world tour. Moonwalker was not released until January 10 1989, on Home Video in the United States, and Canada, just as Michael Jackson's Bad World Tour finished. His tour was supposed to finish sooner, but postponed due to some vocal strain, so it went on until the first week of January. The film was released theatrically in Europe. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bad is an album of recorded music by pop music icon Michael Jackson, released in 1987. ... Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. ... The Bad World Tour was a music tour by Michael Jackson that started September 12, 1987 and ended January 27, 1989. ...

Plot

Man in the Mirror

The music video to Jackson's song "Man in the Mirror" acts as the opening segment to the film. This short film features a montage of clips of children from Africa, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and other historical figures. Man in the Mirror was a number-one hit for singer Michael Jackson when released as a single in the spring of 1988. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Gujarati: , Hindi: , IAST: mohandās karamcand gāndhī, IPA: ) (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948), was a major political and spiritual leader of India and the Indian independence movement. ... Martin Luther King, Jr. ...

Retrospective

A short biographical film about Jackson, covering the years from his birth until the Bad tour. This is an article on biographies. ... The Bad World Tour was a music tour by Michael Jackson that started September 12, 1987 and ended January 27, 1989. ...

Badder

A parody of the music video for Bad's title song, featuring children filling the roles of various people from the original clip. Bad was a 1987 hit recording by pop singer Michael Jackson. ...

Of note, this video features a young Nikki Cox, who would eventually star on Unhappily Ever After and Las Vegas. Nikki Cox (born Nicole Avery Cox on June 2, 1978 in Los Angeles, California) is an American actress known mostly for her roles on the television series Unhappily Ever After and Las Vegas. ... The Malloys, clockwise from top left: Ross, Ryan, Jack, Tiffany, and Mr. ... This article is about the city of Las Vegas in Nevada. ...

The video also features Jermaine Jackson, Jr.

Speed Demon

The "Badder" clip transitions into a second short film, referred to as 'Speed Demon', directed by Claymation innovator Will Vinton. This acts as the music video to the song "Speed Demon". In the film, Michael, in an attempt to avoid overzealous fans, disguises himself as a rabbit (named Spike), but ends up taunting the fans into chasing him. During the chase, he morphs into other celebrities, including Sylvester Stallone and Pee-Wee Herman. After finally losing the fans, he removes the costume, which comes to life and challenges him to a dance-off. In the end, a policeman tells him he is in a "No Moonwalking Zone", then sarcastically asks for his autograph (as opposed to "signature") on the ticket. Just as Michael is preparing to leave, the rocky craig in front of him morphs into Spike's head who then nods to him, leaving Michael one-upped by his own alter-ego. (But he seems happy enough as he leaves.) The term Claymation is a registered trademark created by Will Vinton Studios to describe their clay animated movies; the more generic term is clay animation, but the portmanteau claymation has entered the English language as a genericized trademark. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Sylvester Stallone (born July 6, 1946) is an American Academy Award-nominated actor, director, producer and screenwriter. ... Paul Reubens as Pee Wee Herman. ...

Leave Me Alone

The fifth segment of the film is the short film for the song "Leave Me Alone", and features an animated music video focusing on media interest in Jackson's personal life."Leave me Alone" the actual video in this film, which is the video for the song, won a grammy in 1989 for Breakthrough, animated video, the only Grammy Award received for the album, Bad. Leave Me Alone was the eighth single to be released from Michael Jacksons Bad album (1987). ...

Smooth Criminal

Further information: Smooth Criminal

The main segment of the film. Jackson plays a benevolent gangster who uses his power as a crime figure to protect the children of an unnamed big city. The film opens with a framing sequence depicting a scene linked to events occurring near the end of the film, in which a group of children (including Sean Lennon) watch as Jackson exits a club and is attacked by mobsters with machine guns. The film then backtracks to Jackson playing in a field with the children and their dog. The dog runs away, and in their search for it, Jackson and the children uncover the lair of Mr. Big, Frankie Lideo (Joe Pesci), a drug dealing mobster with an army of henchmen who wants to get the entire populace of planet earth addicted to drugs, starting with the children. Mr. Big discovers Jackson and the children, but they escape; Jackson tells the children to meet him at Club 30's, which turns out to be a haunted nightclub abandoned since the 1930s. The story goes back to the mobsters attack on Jackson, and here it is revealed that Jackson is actually a magical gangster, who draws his power from shooting stars. As one passes by the club, Jackson transforms into a sportscar and mows down several of Mr. Big's henchmen. The story picks up on the children at Club 30's, and at first the children are afraid, but when Jackson appears the scary atmosphere of the club transforms and the children find themselves back in the 1930s. The club is now filled with zoot suiters and swing dancers. Jackson participates in a dance-off with the other club members, which serves as the music video for "Smooth Criminal". At the climax of the song, Mr. Big lays siege to the club and kidnaps one of the children, Katie. Jackson follows them back to Big's lair and ends up surrounded by his henchmen. Mr. Big appears and mentally tortures Jackson by threatening to inject Katie with highly addictive narcotics. While Katie manages to wriggle free from being injected, Mr. Big decides he's had enough and orders his men to kill Katie before finishing off Jackson, but not before a shooting star flies by. Jackson transforms into a giant robot and kills all of Mr. Big's soldiers. After Jackson turns into a giant spaceship, Mr. Big gets into a large hillside mounted energy cannon, firing on spaceship into a nearby ravine. The children are his next target, but the spaceship returns from the ravine just in time to fire a beam in the cannon with Mr. Big inside and saving the children from destruction. Smooth Criminal is a song on Michael Jacksons Bad album (1987). ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Sean Taro Ono Lennon (aka Sean Ono Lennon, born October 9, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. ... Joseph Eliot Pesci (born February 9, 1943), best known as Joe Pesci, is an American Academy Award-winning actor, comedian and singer who is often typecast as a violent mobster, grouchy funnyman, or both. ... For the song of the same name, see Zoot Suit (song). ... Smooth Criminal is a song on Michael Jacksons Bad album (1987). ...

The version of the song used in this segment is different from the album version — there are several new lyrics and the song is much longer overall, including symphonic material by Bruce Broughton. The extra lyrics are to make the story of the song clearer. The more commonly seen music video form is a four-minute collage of various clips from the movie. Bruce Broughton (born March 8, 1945 in Los Angeles, California) is a film, video game, and television soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including Homeward Bound and Silverado, as well as the video game Heart of Darkness (game). ...

Come Together

The film closes with Jackson performing a cover of The Beatles' song "Come Together". One of the child actors in this movie is Sean, son of the late Beatle John Lennon. Released as the B-Side to Black Or White in November, 1991 and a slightly different version appeared on the 1995 release of the HIStory album., on disc 2, track 8. This song was originally supposed to be on the "Days of Thunder" soundtrack. The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool whose members were John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. ... Come Together is a song by the rock band The Beatles written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. ... Sean Taro Ono Lennon (aka Sean Ono Lennon, born October 9, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ... Black or White was a 1991 hit single for singer Michael Jackson. ... History studies the past in human terms. ...

Closing Credits

During the closing credits, two more segments are shown. The first has Ladysmith Black Mambazo performing "The Moon is Walking" in Club 30's amidst behind-the-scenes clips. The second is the four-minute version of the "Smooth Criminal" music video. Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a chorus from South Africa that is noted for singing a cappella isicathamiya and mbube music. ... Smooth Criminal is a song on Michael Jacksons Bad album (1987). ...

Current availability

Throughout the 1990s, MTV often featured Moonwalker in their Michael Jackson marathons. For the band, see 1990s (band). ... MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network headquartered in New York City. ...

The movie is available on VHS from Sony. In April 2005, Moonwalker was released on DVD by Warner Home Video (UK only). The DVD was also released in 2006 in South Korea. It has also been released on DVD in Australia. The film has also been released on VCD and Laserdisc. April 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - → Hamas and Islamic Jihad have declared, in principle, their intention to join the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

Although bootleg transfers can be found on eBay, there has yet to be an official region 1 release. Today moonwalker has sold 30 million copies. eBay headquarters in San Jose eBay North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPal) eBay Inc. ...

Video game

Screenshot of Michael Jackson's Moonwalker arcade game

Main article: Michael Jackson's Moonwalker

Moonwalker was developed into an arcade video game by Sega with the help of Jackson. Home versions of the game were released for Sega's Genesis/Mega Drive and Master System home video game systems, though the gameplay was completely different on the Commodore 64, which was a more puzzle based video game, with the view looking down on Michael. The console versions of the game were actually based on an evolved version of the side-scrolling Sega Mega Drive (with gameplay somewhat similar to the Shinobi series), while the arcade version was a three-quarters view shooter/fighter type game. The games involved the player controlling the pop star in a quest to save children (called "Katies", since they were all young blonde females) that had been kidnapped by an evil gangster, though in the arcade version Katie was one of several children who could be rescued. In the three player simultaneous arcade game, contact with Bubbles, Michael's chimp, transformed him into a robot warrior, replacing Michael's "star magic" and melee dance attacks with missiles and laser beams. In the one or two player (taking turns) console versions on certain levels rescuing a certain child first, would trigger a comet to fall from the sky that could be grabbed transforming Michael into the robot (which could fly with a rocket pack as well as use lasers and a missile special attack). Michael automatically changes into a robot for the final showdown with Mr. Big's henchmen and finally into a space ship for the last battle, in a sort of flight-sim shooter in the Genesis/Mega Drive version. All incarnations of the game featured the ability of Michael to use some form of "Dance Magic" which would force his enemies to dance to the music of various tunes from "Bad" or "Thriller" until they could be destroyed en masse. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 363 KB) Summary Micheal Jacksons moonwalker Taken by me with the MAME emulator Licensing This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the company that... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 363 KB) Summary Micheal Jacksons moonwalker Taken by me with the MAME emulator Licensing This is a screenshot of a copyrighted computer game or video game, and the copyright for it is most likely held by the company that... [[Image:Vgce_moonwalker_ad. ... Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ... Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a cultural phenomenon. ... Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... The Sega Mega Drive was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. ... Sega Master System The Sega Master System (SMS for short) (Japanese: マスターシステム), was an 8-bit cartridge-based gaming console manufactured by Sega. ... The Sega Mega Drive was a 16-bit video game console released by Sega in Japan (1988), Europe (1990) and most of the rest of the world. ...

Trivia

• The sports car featured in the film (as a morphed Michael Jackson) is the 1970 prototype Lancia Stratos 0. The automobile now resides in the private show room of the Bertone stile center at Caprie (in Susa Valley). [1]
• A young Sean Lennon (son of John Lennon) is a member of the cast.

1963 Jaguar E-Type, a classic sports car A sports car is an automobile designed for performance driving. ... 1974 Lancia Stratos HF Group 4 Lancia Stratos 1974 The Lancia Stratos was an automobile made by Italian car manufacturer Lancia. ... Gruppo Bertone is an Italian car styling and coachbuilding house, which also manufactures cars. ... Country Italy Region Piedmont Province Province of Turin (TO) Mayor  ? Elevation m Area 16. ... Susa Valley The Susa Valley valley ( ), (French Val de Suse) lies in the region of Piedmont in upper Italy, between the Graian Alps in the north and the Cottian Alps in the south. ... Sean Taro Ono Lennon (aka Sean Ono Lennon, born October 9, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor. ... John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (October 9, 1940 – December 8, 1980), (born John Winston Lennon, known as John Ono Lennon) was an iconic English 20th century rock and roll songwriter and singer, best known as the founding member of The Beatles. ...

External links

• Moonwalker at the Internet Movie Database
• Moonwalker at the Killer List of Videogames
• Search for 'Moonwalker' on Games-db.com.
• Search for 'Moonwalker' on MobyGames videogame database.
• the agony booth : MOONWALKER Review
• Moonwalker information and screenshots