Jan Rubes Movies

Two young friends find themselves immersed in a supernatural mystery after a notorious neighborhood ghost reveals itself to them. ~ All Movie Guide

Dr. Wells (Jan Rubes) is joined by his fiancee three years after the death of his wife in a scheme to murder an old man for his inheritance money. She soon changes her mind when she discovers that brain transplants take place in the basement laboratory in the family mansion. None of the characters evokes much sympathy from the viewer as they are all criminally involved and devoid of any likeable qualities in this R-rated fright feature. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide

A 19th century Prussian boy still reeling from the untimely death of his mother finds his life thrown into chaos when his father is wrongfully imprisoned in a classical adventure tale written by Marlene Matthews and directed by Allan King. Lukas' (Zachary Bennett) mother has just died in childbirth, and as his embittered grandfather departs for Canada hoisting the brunt of the blame on Lukas' innocent father, Karl (Christian Kohlund), it appears as if his family will be torn apart forever. Things only get worse, however, when, after witnessing a murder by malevolent nobleman Count Otto von Lebrecht, Lukas learns that his father has been accused of Count Otto's bloody transgression. After being forced into indentured servitude for Baron von Knabig (Günther Maria Halmer), Lukas makes the acquaintance of Baroness Ursula (Gema Zamprogna), her kindly mother, and Nathan the Peddler (Jan Rubes), a generous man who aids the young boy in orchestrating a daring escape for himself and his father. When the escape goes awry and Lukas and his father aren't able to flee together, the young boy and Ursula begin a harrowing voyage to the New World as the vengeful Otto tracks their every move. As the young boy's father makes a desperate journey north to Canada in hopes of reuniting with his child, Lukas and Ursula struggle to survive a deadly smallpox outbreak, elude a pair of nefarious kidnappers, and find their way out of the vast Canadian wilderness. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A pair of lawyers must balance their professional principles (such as they are) against family loyalties in this courtroom drama. Jedediah Ward (Gene Hackman) is a leftist lawyer who has based his career on helping people avoid being taken for a ride by the rich and powerful; he's pursued principle at the expense of profit, though he has a bad habit of not following up on his clients after their cases are settled. Jed's daughter, Maggie (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio), has had a bad relationship with her father ever since she discovered that he was cheating on her mother, and while she also has made a career in law, she has taken a very different professional route by working for a high-powered corporate law firm and has adopted a conservative political agenda. Jed is hired to help field a lawsuit against a major auto manufacturer whose station wagons have a dangerous propensity to explode on impact, but while his research indicates he has an all but airtight case against them, the case becomes more complicated for him when he discovers that Maggie is representing the firm he's suing. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this sequel to the kid-friendly sports comedy The Mighty Ducks, Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) takes one more shot at a career as a professional hockey player, but a severe knee injury sidelines him for good. However, his success coaching a rag-tag pee-wee hockey team in Minneapolis (as chronicled in the first film) has attracted the attention of a major sportswear firm, which hires him to coach the United States team for the Junior Goodwill Games. Gordon reassembles most of the Mighty Ducks along with several new players, including a huge bully who is great on defense (if low on social skills), a figure skater who knows how to move on the ice, and a hotshot goalie who happens to be a girl. However, the excitement of a trip to Los Angeles and a large dose of overconfidence puts the team at a severe disadvantage when they're pitted against the top-ranked Icelandic team. D2: The Mighty Ducks features cameo appearances from hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, champion figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, whose athletic career has never involved ice skating. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A six-hour adaptation of Danielle Steel's best-selling novel, the ABC miniseries Crossings began on board a transatlantic ocean liner in 1938. In the course of a truly eventful sea voyage, a torrid romance developed between powerful American steel magnate Nick Burnham (Lee Horsley) and Liane DeVilliers (Cheryl Ladd), the wife of French ambassador Armand DeVilliers (Christopher Plummer). This indiscretion would ultimately embroil both characters in the political intrigues leading up to WWII, with a rousing denouement in Nazi-occupied France just after America's entry into the war. To give the project a semblance of verisimilitude, several prominent historical figures flitted in and out of the action, notably Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt and France's Marshal Petain. Even so, most of the audience's interest was focused on the antics of Nick Burnham's hot-to-trot wife Hilary, played by Jane Seymour. Billed near the bottom of the huge cast was future Cheers and Frasier star Kelsey Grammer as "Craig Lawson." Partially filmed on the old British liner Queen Mary (then dry-docked as a tourist attraction), Crossings originally aired from February 23 to 25, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Goldie Hawn delivers a surprisingly understated performance (allowing the audience to shift their laughter from the usually comic Hawn to the unbelievable storyline) in the unsuccessful thriller Deceived. Hawn plays Adrienne Saunders, a successful art restorer who is married to Jack (John Heard), a devoted husband who is also an expert in the antiques business. Married for six years and parents of a charming 5-year-old daughter Mary (Ashley Peldon), the Saunders appear to have everything going for them. But after a series of odd occurrences that even an idiot would notice, Adrienne finally comes the conclusion that her husband is not the man she thought he was when she married him. After Jack tells Mary that he was in Boston but Adrienne's friend tells her she saw him in New York, the mysterious clues begin piling up and are too numerous to ignore: there's a call from a department store concerning some sexy lingerie that Jack purchased; a friend is found murdered after checking on the authenticity of an Egyptian necklace; and there are indications that Jack was involved with a scheme to steal artifacts from a museum. Adrienne is finally convinced that something is fishy about her husband when he mysteriously dies is an auto wreck, and she discovers that Jack has been using the name of a man who had died 16 years earlier. Adrienne proceeds to polish her magnifying glass and conducts some detective work on her own to find out who her husband really was. This is when the danger really begins. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

In this made-for-cable-TV crime drama, New York detective Devlin must prove that he is innocent of killing his brother-in-law, a mayoral candidate. It is not easy for the unhappily married, alcoholic gumshoe because he suspects that the man trying to frame him is his arch nemesis, his corrupt father-in-law, a powerful local politician. Now while trying to save his neck and solve the murder, Devlin finds himself pursued by both his fellow cops and the mob. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Still on suspension from the ER, Carol Hathaway (Julianna Margulies) stops off at a local convenience store, and ends up smack dab in the middle of a robbery. Shots rings out, the store's owner and one of the robbers are wounded, and the incident turns into a dangerous hostage situation. Hoping to save the lives of the other people in the store, Carol simultaneously tries to defuse the situation and tend to the wounded. Neatly sidestepping the usual TV cliché, the hostage crisis is resolved some 20 minutes before the end of the episode -- but Carol's troubles are far from over. "The Long Way Around" earned an Emmy award for Best Editing. Ewan McGregor guest starred as one of the robbers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This Canadian espionager stars Jan Rubes as a communist spy. Rubes heads to Montreal, hoping to pass on government secrets to his cohorts. The restful background scenery is not altogether conducive to nail-biting tension, but the excitement level picks up towards the climax. Keep an eye out for veteran character actor John Colicos in a bit part as a student. Forbidden Journey was distributed both north and south of the Canadian border by United Artists. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This historical drama is based on the true story of controversial medical pioneer Franz Anton Mesmer. In 18th century Vienna, Mesmer (Alan Rickman) believes that many of the favored medical treatments of the day -- most notoriously the inducement of bleeding to remove harmful "humors" from the body -- are both dangerous and ineffective to the patients they are intended to treat. Mesmer believes that gentler methods could have a more positive impact on his patients. Believing in what he calls "animal magnetism," Mesmer uses magnetic currents and the power of suggestion to treat patients; the medical establishment of the time regards him as a lunatic, so he performs most of his treatments on the poor, who cannot afford to pay a doctor, forcing Mesmer's well-to-do wife (Gillian Barge) to support the family. Mesmer receives a great deal of publicity when well-known pianist Maria Theresa Paradies (Amanda Ooms) suffers a severe seizure during a recital; while several physicians in attendance want to submit Paradies to an immediate bleeding, Mesmer applies his magnetism techniques, which prove to be effective in calming the young woman. Paradies was tremendously grateful to Mesmer and began seeing him regularly as a patient; she soon developed an emotional attachment to the doctor that became something of a public scandal. In time, the public's anger over Mesmer's unorthodox techniques and his perceived affair with Paradies forced him to leave Vienna for Paris, where he became the toast of the city's wealthy and privileged -- until the French medical community demanded that Mesmer prove the effectiveness of his techniques. Noted playwright Dennis Potter wrote the screenplay. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Murder: By Reason of Insanity was inspired by a disastrous series of events occurring in New York State in 1979. Candice Bergen portrays a Polish immigrant housewife whose husband Jurgen Prochnow has subjected her to years of physical abuse. At first, she tells herself that he is acting out of frustration over his business failures, but the attacks become increasingly life-threatening. Adjudged mentally unbalanced, Prochnow cannot be sent to prison, but instead is checked into a hospital. Thanks to bureaucratic oversights and sheer laxity, Prochnow walks out of the hospital, fully intending to carry out his death threat against his wife. Despite her frenzied phone calls to the authorities, and the many empty restraining orders issued by the courts, Ms. Bergen's ultimate fate is inexorable. Made for television, Murder: By Reason of Insanity has been released to videocassette under the irresponsibly antiseptic title My Sweet Victim. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide