Paul Brinegar Movies
Character actor of films and television, Paul Brinegar specialized in playing feisty, grizzled cowboy sidekicks. Fans of the Western series Rawhide may remember Brinegar for playing Wishbone, the grumbly old cook. He was also known for playing Lamar Pettybone on the early-'80s television series Matt Houston. Born and raised in New Mexico, he headed to California as a young man and made his feature film debut in Larceny (1948). From there, he launched a steady film career that slowed down considerably in the late '50s, after he began appearing on television but did not end until 1994, when Brinegar made his final screen appearance, as a stagecoach driver, in the 1994 film version of Maverick. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
A gunslinging con man develops a tricky scheme to make a killing at a major poker tournament in this comic Western inspired by the popular television show. Mel Gibson assumes the role of Bret Maverick, the handsome rogue who hopes to cheat his way to success. In need of a large stake to enter a major card competition on a Louisiana steamboat, Maverick decides to take advantage of a few small-town poker players. These include the seemingly sweet Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster) and the intimidating Angel (Alfred Molina), neither of whom is too happy about their loss. Things become even more complicated for Maverick when the law gets involved, with Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner, who played the role of Maverick in the original television series) giving chase. A series of stagecoach chases, complicated cons, and gun battles ensues, with Annabelle and Maverick finding time for plenty of flirtation along the way. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, (more)
- 1991
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The fourth of Kenny Rogers' Gambler TV movies, 1991's The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw is regarded by many Western diehards as the best. This time, gambler Brady Hawkes is en route to a high-stakes poker game in San Francisco. His travelling companions are a trouble-prone frontier Romeo (Rick Rossovich) and a feisty ex-saloon gal (Reba McEntire). Never mind that: The real attraction of Luck of the Draw is its enormous guest-star lineup of famous TV cowboy heroes of yore: Gene "Bat Masterson" Barry, Hugh "Wyatt Earp" O'Brien, Brian "The Westerner" Keith, Chuck "The Rifleman" Connors, Jack "Maverick" Kelly, Clint "Cheyenne" Walker, David "Kung Fu" Carradine, and "Virginian" co-stars James Drury and Doug McClure. The first portion of this two-part movie concentrates on setting up the plot; Part two is the card game itself, preceded by a boxing match refereed by Bat Masterson (Gene Barry). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenny Rogers, Reba McEntire, (more)
- 1986
Mark Lindsay Chapman (no relation to the murderer of John Lennon) stars in the made-for-TV The Annihilator. If the title sounds faintly reminiscent of The Terminator, it might just be more than a coincidence. The plot involves an army of mindless automatons, programmed to kill, kill, kill. Chapman plays a reporter whose efforts to halt the robot army are flummoxed by the fact that he himself is a fugitive from the law. The Annihilator premiered on April 7, 1986. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
- PG
The owner of a professional football team must restore the titular train and run it from Tennessee to NYC in 24 hours if he is to inherit $1 million in this comedy. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide
- 1979
In order to collect the $180 necessary to repair the "General Lee", Bo (John Schneider) and Luke (Tom Wopat) hire themselves out to drive an eighteen-wheeler, which is ostensibly transporting shock absorbers but is actually an illegal "casino on wheels" run by the delectable Helen Hogan (Jo Ann Pflug). When one of Jesse's friends loses $1200 at the casino's rigged roulette wheel, the Dukes concoct a "string" to get the money back, with Jesse (Denver Pyle) and Daisy (Catherine Bach) posing as a couple of wealthy high rollers. But they'd better hurry before Boss Hogg (Sorrell Booke) puts the casino out of business--not because he is shocked, SHOCKED, to find that gambling is going on in Hazzard County, but because he wants to get his mitts on the gambling equipment for his own gain! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
In this action film, a former pro skier who has become a sheriff attempts to talk daring, but unprepared teens from climbing a treacherous mountain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1976
After John (Randolph Mantooth) and Roy (Kevin Tighe) rescue an old tramp (Paul Brinegar) from a burning building, Chet (Tim Donnelly) and Marco (Marco Lopez) discover that the tramp's mattress contains $80,000. As a result, the Squad receives a huge award--but the firemen have no idea in the world how best to spend the money. This week's emergency roster includes a plane crashing into a warehouse, a fainting bride, and a lost cat (played by "Simba"). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
Dick Van Patten and Ruth Buzzi guest star as Carter and Amy Merkl, who are extremely grateful after the Squad 51 paramedics save their lives. Before long, however, the Merkls' persistent expressions of gratitude become downright annoying and obnoxious--especially when the couple insists upon hanging around the station house, day and night. Other emergency cases include a CPR attempt gone bad, a child struck in the eye by a BB gun (no, his name isn't Ralphie), a boat fire, and a potentially fatal false alarm. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
While on a hunting trip, Laura (Melissa Sue Anderson) accidentally shoots and wounds her father, Charles (Michael Landon). The only other person within miles of the accident is Sam (Burl Ives), a blind recluse who is reluctant to offer assistance, feeling that he is totally worthless. It is up Laura, and Laura alone, to restore Sam's self-confidence to the extent that the old hermit will help her find someone who can tend for her injured father. This 90-minute episode is one of several Little House on the Prairie installments filmed on-location in California's Gold Rush Country (though the action is set in Minnesota!). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Landon, Karen Grassle, (more)
- 1974
Everyone at the station house joins forces to get even with Chet (Tim Donnelly) for his never-ending practical jokes. Elsewhere, the victim of a motorcycle accident is forced to rely on extremely limited communications skills, and a worker trapped under a boat proves surprisingly uncooperative with his rescuer. Olympic swimming star Mark Spitz and his wife Suzy Spitz make their TV dramatic debuts as a young husband and his pregnant wife, who has been wounded by a malufunctioning gun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
"Who are you?" the dwarf Mordecai (Billy Curtis) asks Clint Eastwood's Stranger at the end of Eastwood's 1973 western High Plains Drifter. "You know," he replies, before vanishing into the desert heat waves near California's Mono Lake. Adapting the amorally enigmatic and violent Man With No Name persona from his films with Sergio Leone, Eastwood's second film as director begins as his drifter emerges from that heat haze and rides into the odd lakefront settlement of Lago. Lago's residents are not particularly friendly, but once the Stranger shows his skills as a gunfighter, they beg him to defend them against a group of outlaws (led by Eastwood regular Geoffrey Lewis) who have a score to settle with the town. He agrees to train them in self-defense, but Mordecai and innkeeper's wife Sarah Belding (Verna Bloom) soon suspect that the Stranger has another, more personal agenda. By the time the Stranger makes the corrupt community paint their town red and re-name it "Hell," it is clear that he is not just another gunslinger. With its fragmented flashbacks and bizarre, austere locations, High Plains Drifter's stylistic eccentricity lends an air of unsettling eeriness to its revenge story, adding an uncanny slant to Eastwood's antiheroic westerner. Seminal western hero John Wayne was so offended by Eastwood's harshly revisionist view of a frontier town that he wrote to Eastwood, objecting that this was not what the spirit of the West was all about. Eastwood's audience, however, was not so put off, and an exhibitors' poll named Eastwood a top box-office draw for 1973. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, (more)
This western saga finds Jess Wade (Elvis Presley) as a reformed gunfighter who is stalked and captured by his former band of outlaws. Vince (Victor French) is the heavy who orders Jess' cheek to be branded with a hot iron. The gang terrorizes a small town by threatening to use a gold-plated and jewel-encrusted Mexican cannon on the innocent population. Presley sings only one song (the title track) in the last dramatic role of his career. The feature has the look and feel of the popular spaghetti westerns of the time. This routine western would be followed by the truly gaugeable The Trouble With Girls and Change Of Habit. Presley revived his live performing career soon after the forgettable last two films and continued touring until his death on August 16th, 1977. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elvis Presley, Ina Balin, (more)
- 1967
The rest of the Ponderosa men are astonished when Hoss Cartwright shows up reeking of cologne and dressed to the nines. It is all part of Hoss' scheme to prove that mercenary saloon gal Dolly Bantree (Lola Albright) only loves grungy miner Buford Buckelew (Jack Elam) for his money. Paul Brineger, fresh from his lengthy stint on Rawhide, appears as Rev. Written by Robert V. Barron, "A Bride for Buford" first aired January 15, 1967. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lorne Greene, Michael Landon, (more)
- 1966
In this tuneful country-western comedy, a talent scout discovers a potential star when he overhears a gas pump jockey singing in a rural filling station. The young attendant is eager to go to Nashville, but unfortunately, he is petrified on stage. Later an agent signs him on and decides to help him out by dressing him up as Abe Lincoln and getting him to sing rock & roll. The audience is totally offended and the US President personally requests a meeting with the boy's father to try and persuade the lad to give up his sacrilegious act.The father does just that right in front of a New York audience during the taping of a television show. Chastened, the son sings a pro-America song and receives rave reviews. After that he returns to the gas station to resume his country living. Songs include: "Country Boy," "Cry, Cry Lily," "A Little Hunk of America," "Somewhere," "First Kiss," "She Passed My Way," "Draggin' the River," "Baby, They're Playing Our Song," "Fifteen Cents' Worth of Pinto Beans," and ""Cindy."" ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1966
This episode is a virtual dry-run for the 1970s series Dallas, except that the question posed is not "Who Shot J.R.?" but instead "Who Killed J.K.?" There is no shortage of suspects when nasty oil tycoon Jerome Klee (Wendell Corey) is murdered, but the police finally settle upon Klee's foreman Allen Winford (James Best), who had been trying to prevent Klee from cheating an impoverished farmer named Jason Rohan (Paul Brinegar). Of course, Winford is innocent--else why would Perry Mason (Raymond Burr agree to take his case? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1958
Like many American International films of its era, How to Make a Monster was sold to distributors on the basis of its title alone: only after theatrical play dates had been established did anyone get around to writing a script! Robert H. Harris plays Pete Drummond, who according to the script has been chief makeup man at American-International for 25 years, or approximately 20 years before the studio was actually established. When the studio is sold, Pete is brusquely informed that neither he nor his monster creations -- notably the Teenage Werewolf and Teenage Frankenstein -- will be required any longer, inasmuch as American International is going to concentrate on musicals from now on. Angered and humiliated, Pete takes revenge on the callous studio heads by hypnotizing a couple of actors (Gary Clarke and Gary Conway) into believing that they're genuine monsters. Under Pete's control, the two thespians begin committing murders left and right, wreaking havoc throughout the American International lot. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert H. Harris, Gary Conway, (more)
- 1958
A brave cowboy/ex-con hits the dusty trail as the leader of a major cattle drive in this western. He is offered the job by the very townspeople his gang terrorized a few years before. They are also the same people who put him in the slammer, and even though he accepts the task, he secretly plots his revenge. He gets it by proving himself courageous and honest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joel McCrea, Gloria Talbott, (more)
- 1958
Perry (Raymond Burr) receives a phone call from Arlene Dowling (Susan Morrow), who claims that she was robbed of all her belongings (including her clothes!) while sunbathing. Among the missing items is Arlene's trailer, in which was hidden a diary. Shortly thereafter, Perry finds himself defending Arlene on a charge of murdering George Ballard--and on a more disturbing note, he is nearly brought up on perjury charges by DA Burger (William Talman). This episode is based on a 1955 novel by Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1957
Halloran (Harold Stone), an obnoxious newspaper reporter known for his elaborate practical jokes, chooses an old barfly named Johnny (Russell Collins) as his next victim. To this end, Halloran prints up a dummy newspaper bearing the headline "World to End Tonight at 11:45 p.m." Thoroughly convinced of his imminent doom, the pathetic Johnny decides to spend his last moments fulfilling several long-suppressed desires -- with disastrous and ultimately fatal consequences. One of the street urchins appearing in the climactic department-store sequence is a young Harry Shearer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Small-town doctor Paul Beecher (John Beal) is given some strange pills by a dying elderly researcher. Later, when Paul gets a severe headache, his young daughter accidentally gives him the mystery pills. He's later puzzled by a series of strange deaths in which all the blood was drained from the bodies of the victims and then discovers the old researcher was working on a project involving vampire bats. The horrified Paul gradually begins to suspect that he himself is the killer. ~ Bill Warren, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Beal, Coleen Gray, (more)
- 1957
Journalist Helmut Dantine, having spent eight years as a convict on Devil's Island, devotes his energies to exposing the horrible conditions at the notorious penal colony. The governor of French Guinea is sympathetic but helpless, since the Devil's Island overseer (William Talman) has technically committed no crime. Investigating the situation, Dantine learns that Talman is the mastermind of a gold-smuggling operation run by the owners of a nearby plantation. The reporter catches Talman in the act, breaks up the operation, and claims the governor's daughter (Donna Martell) for the fadeout clinch. Hell on Devil's Island is one of a group of inexpensive second features produced by 20th Century-Fox's Regal Films division in the late 1950s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helmut Dantine, William Talman, (more)
- 1957
Copper Sky was directed by Charles Marquis Warren, one of the prime movers of TV's Gunsmoke. The scene is a small western town that has been decimated by an Apache raid. The only survivor is drifter Jeff Morrow, who was locked up in jail at the time of the massacre. Before long, Boston schoolmarm Coleen Gray arrives in town, only to discover that there's no one left alive for her to teach. Releasing Morrow, Gray joins him in an arduous journey to the nearest white settlement--clear across the desert. Given the fact that Morrow is a heavy drinker with a bad attitude andGray is straight-laced and remonstrative, it doesn't take a film historian to figure out that Copper Sky is yet another variation on The African Queen. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeff Morrow, Coleen Gray, (more)
A misfire for all concerned, The Spirit of St. Louis can be chalked up as a courageous failure. At age 48, James Stewart was far too old to be convincing as 27-year-old "Lone Eagle" Charles Lindbergh. Director Billy Wilder, a past master of cynical pessimism, was clearly the wrong choice to helm this paean to ingenuous optimism. And the CinemaScope process was totally inappropriate for the claustrophobic nature of the film's storyline. Even so, this retelling of Lindbergh's historic flight across the Atlantic has its moments, especially during the main character's flashbacks to the events leading up to his history-making achievement. Reportedly, James Stewart was uncharacteristically sullen and uncomfotable throughout the filming, which as it turned out was wholly appropriate for his portrayal of the equally taciturn Charles Lindbergh. An excellent musical score by Franz Waxman helps smooth over the lumpier portions of the narrative. Though Spirit of St. Louis was a box-office failure, both James Stewart and Billy Wilder rapidly recovered with, respectively, Night Passage and Love in the Afternoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, (more)
