Jürgen Prochnow Movies

Filmmaker Bill Guttentag takes a closer look at the atrocities committed by the Japanese after Nanking fell to the Imperial Japanese Army in 1937 with this documentary that was inspired by Iris Chang's novel The Rape of Nanking. Compiled from over 700 hours of footage including news-reel footage, interviews with survivors and soldiers, and staged readings, Nanking was financed in large by millionaire Ted Leonsis, who had read Chang's obituary and subsequently been prompted to read the author's best-selling account of the massacre. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Helmer Michael Schorr's comedic follow-up to his arthouse hit Schultze Gets the Blues unfurls in a depressing, steel-skied Eastern Europe where strip mines and dilapidated buildings litter the Earth. In a little-known piece of land called the "Silesia" region, sandwiched snugly in between Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic, a pie-in-the-sky dreamer named Frank Schröder (Peter Schneider) hatches an outrageous plan to turn the area into a Caribbean-themed tropical resort. He has financial backing, from a wealthy U.S. industrialist of Russian extraction named John Gregory (Jürgen Prochnow of Das Boot) -- but not the practical day-to-day support, for Gregory only wants to hunt wolves in the region and refuses to commit any time or solid attention to the project. Meanwhile, Schröder has bigger problems afoot when he realizes that he has no idea how to actually execute his plan, and then butts heads with a number of demanding dignitaries from the surrounding nations, including his own dad. A plethora of local eccentrics -- everyone from a nationalist called Uncle Wigbert to a taciturn and defiantly unamused groundskeeper -- only serve to complicate the situation. Per Cat Ballou and other films, Schorr has the picture's composer, Bernd Begemann, turn up from time to time with a guitar to sing humorous ballads commenting on the events of the story. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Dan Brown's controversial best-selling novel about a powerful secret that's been kept under wraps for thousands of years comes to the screen in this suspense thriller from director Ron Howard. The stately silence of Paris' Louvre museum is broken when one of the gallery's leading curators is found dead on the grounds, with strange symbols carved into his body and left around the spot where he died. Hoping to learn the significance of the symbols, police bring in Sophie Neveu (Audrey Tautou), a gifted cryptographer who is also the victim's granddaughter. Needing help, Sophie calls on Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), a leading symbologist from the United States. As Sophie and Robert dig deeper into the case, they discover the victim's involvement in the Priory of Sion, a secret society whose members have been privy to forbidden knowledge dating back to the birth of Christianity. In their search, Sophie and Robert happen upon evidence that could lead to the final resting place of the Holy Grail, while members of the priory and an underground Catholic society known as Opus Dei give chase, determined to prevent them from sharing their greatest secrets with the world. Also starring Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, and Alfred Molina, The Da Vinci Code was shot on location in France and the United Kingdom; the Louvre allowed the producers to film at the famous museum, but scenes taking place at Westminster Abbey had to filmed elsewhere when church officials declined permission. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This made-for-cable biopic recounts the incredible career of Arnold Schwarzenegger, who after a hardscrabble childhood in Austria came to America in the pursuit of the three goals: to be a champion bodybuilder, a popular film actor, and a mover and shaker in the world of politics. It goes without saying that he succeeds in all three endeavors -- spectacularly so -- and, as a bonus, enjoys a happy and enduring marriage to Maria Shriver, one of the many well-publicized offshoots of the influential Kennedy family (who, ironically, are Schwarzenegger's political polar opposites). The film parallels Schwarzenegger's dizzying campaign for the governor's office in California with his strenuous efforts to be chosen as "Mr. Olympia" some three decades earlier. Jürgen Prochnow stars as the Arnold Schwarzenegger of 2003, Roland Kickinger is seen as the younger Schwarzenegger, and Mariel Hemingway is cast as Maria Shriver. While the film doesn't really take sides, it is entertaining and good-humored enough to please both fans and detractors of Schwarzenegger alike. Based on the book by Nigel Andrews, See Arnold Run ran on the A&E Network on January 30, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Adapted from the popular Sega arcade video game of the same name, director Uwe Boll's action horror effort finds a group of partying teens stranded on an island and doing battle with a new breed of unusually mobile zombies. Looking for a place to party away spring break, college students Cynthia (Sonya Salomaa), Greg (Will Sanderson), and Karma (Enuka Okuma) hear rumors of a rave on a remote island in the Seattle area. Rushing to catch the party boat, the teens pick up friends Simon (Tyron Leitso) and Alicia (Ona Grauer), but discover upon arrival at the dock that the boat has set sail without them. Offering a few dollars to a local captain to hitch a ride to the island, the teens reach their destination only to find it eerily silent with no party in sight. Things go from bad to worse when the group is attacked by a mysterious creature, and they are forced to seek refuge in an old dark house on the island shore. Subsequently running into a few familiar faces and learning to their horror that the rave had been overrun by a horde of terrifying zombies, the group must now make one final bid for survival over the course of a long, blood-soaked night. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Real-life supermodel Angie Everhart stars in this action-thriller about two cops hot on the trail of a white slavery kidnapping ring. Jurgen Prochnow and Gotz Otto also star. ~ Jessica Frost, Rovi

One man's insatiable appetite for sex begins upending his life in this biting independent comedy. Jack (Nestor Carbonell) is a photographer known to his friends as "Jack the Dog," thanks to his compulsive womanizing; Jack seems incapable of staying with one partner for long before he finds himself attracted to someone else, and given his good looks and easy charm, Jack doesn't have much trouble convincing the women he meets to spend the night with him. Deep inside, Jack wants to change, and he tries to put himself on the straight and narrow by marrying Faith (Barbara Williams). Jack and Faith soon have a son, Sam (Andrew J. Ferchland), whom Jack dotes upon, but Faith turns out to be a poor advertisement for long-term monogamy; she's not especially warm or forgiving, and she's started to show her age, which only intensifies Jack's taste for younger women. Jack soon slides into chronic infidelity, and Faith leaves him, relocating to London and leaving Sam behind. This is good news as far as Jack's concerned, but as he tries to watch over his son, while also seducing an endless parade of beautiful women, Jack finds himself increasingly puzzled by the opposite sex, and he wonders if he might have a problem he hasn't learned to deal with. Jack the Dog received its world premiere at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In this claustrophobic thriller, Jason (Adam Beach) is a State Trooper who has found himself stranded in a cabin in the Colorado Rockies when a severe snowstorm hits the area. Waiting out the storm with Jason are his former girlfriend Nancy (Rose McGowan), the owner of the cabin, Fritz (Jurgen Prochnow), and a handful of travelers they've never met before. While the blizzard rages outside, Fritz makes a shocking discovery. Hidden in the cabin is a bloody corpse and a bag full of money. Jason figures that the murder must have been committed since they arrived at the cabin, so whoever the culprit is, they're patiently waiting with him for the storm to die down. But he's not sure how to figure out who the killer might be -- especially since they may very well be willing to kill again to hold onto the cash. The Last Stop was filmed on location in Vancouver, British Columbia. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Anthony Hickox directs Armand Assante in the espionage-laced action thriller Last Run. Assante plays Frank Banner, a man who spent much of his career helping Soviet spies make their way safely away from Mother Russia. This difficult task has left him hollow and bitter, as well as a widower. His next assignment, assisting a former leader of the KGB, will land him face-to-face with many of the people who have made his life the dead-end he feels it has become -- including the man who murdered his wife. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

In this made-for-TV suspense story, Dana Lazlo (Rosanna Arquette) is an actress who is struggling to put her life back together after a near fatal accident. Hoping to follow a new path, Dana and her partner Carl Kreiger (Jurgen Prochnow) decide to start a new business, and Dana sees this as an ideal opportunity to reacquaint herself with her daughter Traci (Mandy Schaffer), who has spent the past three years in a boarding school. Dana discovers that Traci has blossomed into a willful and sexually outgoing teenager, and while Dana is happy to have a closer relationship with Traci, she also finds her daughter to be more than a bit possessive. A number of Dana's close friends begin dying under circumstances that hardly seem coincidental, and Dana begins to suspect her daughter may have a gruesome plan to hold on to her mother's affection. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Location filming in Budapest adds to the realism of this tense thriller. An expatriate American author (Craig Sheffer) is held hostage by a disturbed woman carrying a razor and willing to use it (Helen de Fougerolles). The wordsmith must quickly decide if the woman is a violent psychotic or if her claims of being threatened by a Communist stooge turned free-enterprise advocate (Jurgen Prochnow) could possibly be the truth. This international co-production was shown as part of the 1999 Hungarian Film Week Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Music video and TV commercials director Antoine Fuqua made his feature directorial debut with this action thriller starring Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-Fat. Chinese immigrant John Lee (Yun-Fat) has a violent past as a professional killer. It brings him only remorse, but it makes him the ideal assassin. In exchange for his family's safety, Lee is forced to take a job with a powerful underworld figure, Asian crime kingpin Terence Wei (Kenneth Tsang), who wants Lee to settle a deadly vendetta against police detective Stan Zedlov (Michael Rooker) by killing Zedlov's seven-year-old son. At the last minute, with the boy in his sights, Lee chooses to face Wei's vengeance rather than go through with the killing. In addition to making Lee a target, the decision also endangers his mother and sister back in Shanghai. Planning a return to China, he visits document forger Meg Coburn (Mira Sorvino) to get a phony passport, but they are interrupted by Wei's army of killers, and a lengthy chase and gun battle is set in motion.

Director Fuqua stressed to his team that the aim was to design a "Taxi Driver for the 1990s," with production beginning February 10, 1997 in downtown Los Angeles, and the first shoot at the historic Mayan Theater, refurbished into the trendy nightclub for the film's stylish opening scene with hundreds of extras carousing while Lee guns down Romero (Carlos Leon) at close range. The eight-story, nearly condemned Giant Penny building in the heart of L.A. served as locations for a police station interior, a hotel room, and Meg Coburn's office, and a chaotic gunfight was filmed amid the spray, brushes, and hoses of Joe's Car Wash in LA. The art department transformed one area into a Chinatown-like streetscape of damp, narrow alleys, and blinking red neon lights, site of a night filming where Yun-Fat shot off 546 rounds with two guns, one in each hand, while the repetitive action left his hands blistered and shaking. More gunplay was at a video arcade replicated at the original Lawry's center just north of downtown L.A., and Lee's tranquil Buddhist temple was fashioned under this same roof. In addition to physical training, Mira Sorvino, who had never handled a gun prior to this film, took weapons training to prepare for her role. Sorvino majored in Asian studies at Harvard, speaks Mandarin, and lived for eight months (1988-89) in Beijing, where she studied Chinese, taught English, and saw Chinese films, including Hong Kong action films. She felt The Replacement Killers brought her a step closer to her goal of making a film in Mandarin and working with a Chinese director. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi