Coles Trapnell Movies
Writer and producer Coles Trapnell was born in New York City in 1910. Trapnell studied at the Virginia Military Institute and attended New York University before beginning a career as a journalist. He went into the film industry in 1936, becoming a script reader for RKO; before long, he took a position with 20th Century Fox, where he was a story editor and associate producer. In 1954, Trapnell moved into television, becoming story editor for the series Four Star Playhouse. Four years later, he was the writer and producer for the hit series Maverick, as well as writing for the series The Lawman and Yancy Derringer. Later in his career, Trapnell was a story editor for Universal and published a book on writing teleplays shortly before his retirement in 1975. He died of a heart attack in 1999. ~ All Movie Guide- 1961
A blinding snowstorm outside of Denver forces Beau Maverick (Roger Moore) and his friend Judge Scott (Alan Baxter) to seek shelter in seedy hotel. Here Beau is attracted to the beautiful Sally Flood (Marlene Willis), only to be informed by Sally's aunt Martha (Jeanne Cooper) that the poor girl is insane. Beau is inclined to believe this when Sally begins prattling about "strange voices" in the night. . .until he begins hearing those strange voices as well. The actual sinister presence in this little melodrama is Aunt Molly's very good friend Chet Whitehead (played by Australian actor-director Michael Pate). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Jack Kelly plays a dual role in this episode, as frontier gambler Bart Maverick and his exact lookalike, vicious outlaw Red Claxton. Mistaken for Claxton, who has been systematically stealing army payrolls, Bart is arrested and thrown in the stockade. Sentenced to hang, our hero must somehow break out of jail to prove his innocence. Appearing as ingenue Caprice Rambeau is a young Dawn Wells, three years before her starmaking turn as Mary Ann on Gilligan's Island. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Whenever the betwiching Roxane Berard guest-stars on Maverick, there's bound to be some elegant larceny, with at least one member of the Maverick clan ending up the victim. In this particular episode, Berard is cast as Danielle de Lisle, an apparent damsel in distress who asks Beau Maverick (Roger Moore) to safeguard a precious diamond. Sure enough, Beau is tricked into substituting a fake diamond for the genuine article--and ends up in jail for his troubles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
In the conclusion of a two-part story, Bart (Jack Kelly) and crooked peddler Cannonbaugh (John Dehner) have been captured by the same hostile tribe from whom Cannonbaugh had kidnapped the Indian girl Tawney (Sharon Hugueny). In order to secure his release, the peddler convinces the Indian chief to accept a "magic" necklace, which will render him impervious to gunshot wounds. Unfortunately, the chief now feels emboldened to attack a nearby Army fort--and unless Bart and Tawny act quickly, every man, woman and child in the fort will be massacred before the day is done. A young Chad Everett plays a minor role in this final episode of Maverick's fourth season. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1961
Season Four of Maverick concludes with the series' only two-part episode. In Part One, Bart (Jack Kelly) purchases a wagonload of merchandise sight unseen from silver-tongued peddler Luther Cannonbaugh (John Dehner). Bart's plan to sell the merchandise at a nearby Army post hits a snag when he peeks into the wagon and finds a large supply of illegal liquor--as well as a bound and gagged Indian girl named Tawney (Sharon Hugueny). In his efforts to keep himself out of prison and avoid an all-out Indian war, Bart ends up captured by Tawney's tribe. Also held captive is the redoubtable Mr. Cannonbaugh, who thinks he has devised a foolproof scheme to save himself and Bart from being killed...and he's just the fool to prove it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Beau (Roger Moore) finds himself in the middle of some deadly intrigue (not to mention a bitter family feud) when he wins half-ownership of the Golden Wheel Casino. Shortly after this windfall, Bart's new partner Rand Storm is shot and killed in self-defense by dance-hall gal Flo Baker (Kathleen Crowley). When Flo disappears, Rand's brother Luke (played by Bing Russell, the father of film star Kurt Russell) takes advantage of the situation by framing Bart for murder and claiming the Golden Wheel as his own. This episode was cowritten by actor Leo Gordon, whose wife Lynn Cartwright (best known as the "older" Geena Davis in the 1992 theatrical feature A League of Their Own) appears in a supporting role. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Championing the cause of widowed bank president Wilma White (Julie Adams), Bart (Jack Kelly) is determined to find out who has been writing threatening letters to the beleagured woman. At the same time, Bart wants to track down the person who stole the money that he'd had locked up in a hotel safe. As it turns out, the intended victim of the murderous poison-pen correspondent isn't Wilma--it's Bart. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1960
Although she insists upon calling him Bart, Bret (James Garner) is rather sweet on Ellen Johnson (Suzanne Storrs). When the girl disappears along with a cache of stolen diamonds, Bret heads to South America to retrieve them both. Upon arrival in Guatemala City, he is bedevilled by wide-eyed street urchin Angelita (Linda Dangcil), who refuses to leave his side. And oh yes, there's a murderer loose in the vicinity...to say nothing of a dead man who isn't quite dead yet. This episode is also known as "Tropical City". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1959
Bret (James Garner) finds himself in the middle of a "convention" held by some of the west's most notorious outlaws, including Jesse James (William Shaw), Belle Starr (Jean Willes), Cole Younger (Gregory Walcott) and Black Bart (George Barrows). To keep himself from being perforated with bullets, Bret allows the desperadoes to mistake him for famous lawbreaker Foxy Smith, who has sent word ahead that he is planning the greatest hold-up in history. Covering himself, Bret claims that he plans to rob the Denver Mint, secure in the belief that the outlaws will merely laugh in his face--but they don't. Featured in the cast is a very young Joel Grey as a petulant, whiny Billy the Kid; and a pre-Beverly Hillbillies Nancy Kulp as a sentimental waitress. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Created by Roy Huggins and debuting September 22, 1957 on ABC, the weekly, hour-long Maverick started out as a relatively straightforward western series with a slight twist: The main characters were professional gamblers rather than lawmen or gunslingers. James Garner and Jack Kelly starred respectively as Bret and Bart, the Maverick brothers, who traveled throughout the west in search of poker games and other such lucrative pursuits. Though both of the Mavericks were fairly adept at fisticuffs, they tended to avoid violence and confrontation (a good thing too, since neither brother could by any stretch of the imagination be described as a "fast gun"), preferring to use their wits and the words to wriggle out of jams--and, conversely, to win over the pretty girls they met along the way. Originally, the episodes were evenly divided between the two brothers, with Bret or Bart alternately handling the plotlines, sometimes teaming up when the going got rough. By the end of the first season, however, James Garner had emerged as the more popular of the two stars--and as a bonus, Garner was possessed of a deft comic touch that such scriptwriters as Marion Hargrove and such directors as Douglas Heyes were quick to capitalize upon. As a result, the stories became more humorous and satirical in nature, with star, writers and directors unafraid to emphasize the more cowardly and larcenous aspects of Bret Maverick's character. One of the series' most endearing motifs was Bret's habit of relying upon the pearls of wisdom passed down to him by his grey-haired "Pappy"--who, when he finally appeared on camera, was portrayed by a heavily made up James Garner. By season three, the pattern of Maverick was fairly well set, with Jack Kelly handling the more serious and action-oriented episodes (which became fewer and farther between) and Garner doing the funny stuff. In keeping with the tongue-in-cheek nature of the series, the writers had a field day spoofing such rival western shows as Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and even such non-westerns as Dragnet. In addition, there were the occasional westernized adaptations of "the classics", notably Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The Rivals. After James Garner left the series over a contract dispute in 1960, Maverick's home studio Warner Bros. tried out a brace of potential replacements. During season four, future "James Bond" Roger Moore was introduced as Bret and Bart's British cousin Beau Maverick; and later that same season, Robert Colbert showed up as the hitherto unrevealed third Maverick brother, Brent. But by the time the series entered its fifth and final season, the only Maverick on screen was old reliable Bart, who starred in the handful of episodes that were filmed to fill out what had essentially become a portfolio of reruns from the James Garner days. The final episode of Maverick was telecast on July 8, 1962; however, the property would be revived on TV in 1979 as Young Maverick, with Charles Frank playing cousin Ben Maverick, and in 1981 as Bret Maverick, with James Garner reviving his original role. And in 1994, Garner shared billing with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in a delightful theatrical-feature version of Maverick, which nostalgically showcased a number of familiar western actors in cameo roles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1945
In this prison drama, a stern hanging judge is assigned to take over a chaotic prison. There he imposes an almost inhumanly strict regimen of discipline on the inmates. He is similarly rigid and harsh with his own two children. Later his compassionate daughter befriends a wrongfully convicted model prisoner who works as the warden's chauffeur. His son becomes a hardened criminal and ends up incarcerated in his father's prison. There he and several other inmates conspire to bust out. Later he sees inmates threatening his father and sacrifices his life to save him. The enraged judge then shoots the convict who killed his son. In the end, the experience changes the judge who becomes a more humane warden in favor of prison reform. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Thomas Mitchell, Mary Anderson, (more)
