Janice Rule Movies

Based on a play by Fay Kanin, this comedy drama follows a successful congresswoman's emotional journey back to her alma mater. When Agatha Reed (Joan Crawford) is offered an honorary degree at her former college, she is forced to remember the reason she was expelled to begin with. Nearly twenty years prior, Agatha (Crawford) had an affair with Dr. James Merrill (Robert Young), one of her professors. After her departure, Dr. Merrill (Young) slowly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming the president of the school. Despite having left under less than desirable circumstances, Agatha is excited to see him and hopes to rekindle their relationship. Meanwhile, newspaper reporter Matt Cole (Frank Lovejoy), not only follow's Agatha to her former university, but unsucessfully proposes marriage. Unfortunately for him, the alumna's eyes are set firmly towards her old flame. However, once Matt (Lovejoy) and Agatha team up in a passionate attempt to update the school's outdated curriculum, she realizes who she truly loves. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

This minor MGM feature stars Gig Young, Janice Rule, Keenan Wynn and Richard Anderson as diverse individuals caught up in New Orleans' Mardi Gras celebration. Young is cast in the leading role as a doctor, whose plans for the celebration are altered when punch drunk prizefighter Wynn commits murder. The killing completely changes the course of Young's life, and effects the lives of those closest to him. Though it didn't cost much, Holiday for Sinners suffered the fate of many second features produced during the early TV years and failed to make back its budget. Gig Young would have to wait several years for full stardom--and then usually as comedy relief for bigger stars. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Battle Shock and War Shock were the titles bestowed by British distributors upon the Paul Henreid-directed psychological drama A Woman's Devotion. Ralph Meeker stars as Trevor Stevenson, an emotionally scarred World War II veteran who has channelled his fears and phobias into his painting. At present, he is in Acapulco on his honeymoon with bride, Stella (Janice Rule). Shortly after Trevor's arrival, two women are murdered. The audience is presented with a "lady or the tiger" situation, with clues pointing to Trevor's guilt or innocence depending upon one's point-of-view. Henreid cagily avoids telling us the whole story -- continuing to withhold information right up to the grim finale. Trevor's behavior in the climactic scenes is an interesting precursor to the "crazed Vietnam vet" school of drama. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The premiere episode of Have Gun, Will Travel finds cultured gunslinger Paladin (Richard Boone) already headquartered at a fancy hotel in San Francisco, casually thumbing through a pile of newspapers in search of an assignment. Heading to New Mexico, he offers his services to wealthy rancher Jesse Reade (Harry Shannon), accepting his usual thousand-dollar fee to head South of the Border to rescue Reade's daughter Nancy (Janice Rule) from the clutches of bandit Dave Enderby (a pre-Hawaii Five-O Jack Lord). Risking his life to infiltrate the outlaw-controlled town of Perdido, Paladin finds that Nancy is in no mood to be rescued; she is in love with Enderby, and in fact is now the bandit's wife. Now Paladin must figure a way to disillusion Nancy and prove Enderby to be a thorough rat--and to escape safely from Perdido in the process. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

John Van Druten's stage comedy Bell Book and Candle starred Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer on Broadway. The 1958 filmed version stars James Stewart and Kim Novak, fresh from their successful teaming in Hitchcock's Vertigo. Novak plays Gillian Holroyd, a genuine, bonafide witch. Falling in love with publisher Sheperd Henderson (Stewart), Gillian casts a spell on him, obliging him to dump his fiancee and rush to her side. All of this goes against the grain of Gillian's mentor Mrs. De Pass (Hermione Gingold), who does her best to counterract the love spell. Meanwhile, Gillian's wacky warlock brother Nicky (Jack Lemmon) courts disaster by coauthoring a book on black magic with pompous, bibulous novelist Sidney Redlitch (Ernie Kovacs). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While visiting the apartment house where she grew up, schoolteacher Helen Foley (Janice Rule) makes the acquaintance of a strange little girl named Markie (Terry Burnham). It gradually develops that Markie holds a clue as to the identity of the person who murdered Helen's mother many years earlier. Without saying any more, we can note that the supporting cast includes Sheppard Strudwick and Michael Fox; also appearing is a cute child actress named Suzanne Cupito, who enjoyed a substantial adult career under the name Morgan Brittany. Scripted by Rod Serling and graced with a subtly sinister musical score by Jerry Goldsmith, "Nightmare as a Child" was the April 29, 1960, installment of Twilight Zone. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

All hell breaks loose in a Texas town when an escaped convict heads home in Arthur Penn's Southern gothic melodrama. Appointed by local kingpin Val Rogers (E. G. Marshall), benevolent Sheriff Calder (Marlon Brando) manages to keep the peace in Tarl, but the situation starts to fester one Saturday when news filters in that wild child Bubber Reeves (Robert Redford) has jumped prison. Bubber's impending arrival arouses hostility among Tarl's citizens, such as Edwin Stewart (Robert Duvall), who believes that Bubber will come after him to settle an old score, and Damon Puller (Richard Bradford), who, between grope sessions with Edwin's wife Emily (Janice Rule), uses Bubber as an excuse to terrorize black residents. As the atmosphere heats up, Calder wants to keep Bubber alive, and he convinces Bubber's wife Anna (Jane Fonda) and her lover, Val's son Jake (James Fox), to find Bubber and coax him into surrender. Val's fear that Bubber will kill his son, however, sparks a long confrontation that leaves rational law and order pummeled into the ground by the town's ignorant cruelty. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

In Baker City, Ohio, newspaper reporter Barbara Webb (Janice Rule) publishes the photo of a murder suspect (Bill Raisch) whom fugitive Richard Kimble (David Janssen) recognizes as Fred Johnson, the One-Armed Man who killed his wife. As a result, Kimble rushes to Baker City in hopes of collaring the man who has so long eluded. . .while at the same time, Lt. Gerard heads to the same city for the essentially same purpose. The plot takes an unexpected twist when, during a jailbreak, Johnson is seriously injured, and Kimble struggles to keep alive long enough to make a confession--with Barbara as the witness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Long before he scored with the epic Ragtime, novelist E.L. Doctorow wrote a minor novel upon which this stark 1967 film is based. It was adapted for the screen by veteran western director Burt Kennedy. In a forlorn town called Hard Times in the Old West, a cowardly mayor, Will Blue (Henry Fonda), does little to protect the citizens from the rampages of a ruthless criminal known as The Man from Bodie (Aldo Ray). The cold-blooded killer gets away with murder -- and then he burns down the town as he leaves. The citizens rebuild, and a newcomer named Zar (Keenan Wynn) injects some life into the desolate place by opening a saloon that attracts a bevy of interesting women, including Molly Riordan (Janice Rule) and Adah (Janice Paige). However, things again look bleak when The Man from Bodie returns to town. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

John Cheever's "misery in suburbia" short stories, brief and to the point, have always proven excellent TV fodder. Director Frank Perry's The Swimmer, adapted for the screen by Perry's wife Eleanor, is a rare, and for the most part successful, attempt at offering a Cheever story in feature-length form. Dressed only in swimming trunks throughout the film, Burt Lancaster plays a wealthy, middle-aged advertising man, embarked on a long and revelatory journey through suburban Connecticut. Lancaster slowly makes his way to his split-level home by travelling from house to house, and from swimming pool to swimming pool. At each stop, Lancaster comes face to face with an incident in his past. Informing Kim Hunter that he once harbored a secret love for her, Lancaster is mildly upset by Hunter's indifference. Elderly Cornelia Otis Skinner is incensed at Lancaster's intrusion in her backyard and orders him to leave. At the next home, Lancaster tries to seduce the nubile Janet Landgard, who'd once baby-sat for his daughters, but she runs away in horror. And so it goes: as each subsequent suburbanite peels off his self-protective veneer, Lancaster grows more and more disillusioned with what he thought was his ideal lifestyle. The more intensely painful episode is the confrontation between Lancaster and ex-mistress Janice Rule (this scene was directed, without credit, by Sydney Pollack). Thoroughly defeated, the all-but-naked Lancaster laboriously makes his way through the Connecticut woods in a blinding rainstorm, desperately seeking out his own home where he fully expects his "loving" wife and daughters to greet him. Not this time. Dismissed as too self-consciously "arty" at the time of its release, The Swimmer's reputation increased over the decades following its release thanks to constant late-night TV exposure. The film represents the first movie work of 22-year-old composer Marvin Hamlisch. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Made for television, Trial Run is a slick, cynical tale of blind ambition. James Franciscus plays a young attorney who'll do anything to reach the top. To this end, Franciscus uses not only his employer Leslie Nielsen, but his faithful secretary Diane Baker, who has long sacrificed her own happiness for Franciscus advancement. Our "hero" finally comes acropper as a result of his torrid affair with Nielsen's wife Janice Rule. The ending of this one is a beaut, which is why we're not divulging any more details. Trial Run first aired January 18, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Among a cliquish set of country club doctors and surgeons, it seems that sleeping around is the norm. Early in the film, however, one husband murders his promiscuous wife (Dyan Cannon) while she is in bed with a rather unlikely adulterer. The various alliances and rivalries in this close-knit community are further stressed as the murderous husband uses his knowledge of the community for a wide-ranging blackmail scheme. While the police investigate, the doctors who do open-heart surgery on their patients experience heart-rending situations themselves. The film has a large and distinguished cast of actors, including Richard Crenna, Dyan Cannon, Caroll O'Conner, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Hackman, John Colicos, Diana Sands and Janice Rule. The story is based on Doctors' Wives by Frank G. Slaughter. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The notion of combining the western and horror genres was nothing new when The Devil and Miss Sarah was first telecast in 1971, nor does the film bring anything new to either genre. Gene Barry plays a demonic outlaw named Rankin, who after being captured is escorted to trial by a sheriff (James Drury) and his wife (Janice Rule). Rankin hopes to take over the weak-willed woman's soul in order to effect his escape. But the husband possesses acute extrasensory powers and tumbles to Rankin's power play. Devil and Miss Sarah was filmed on location--not in Hell, but in Southern Utah. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide