"Maverick" (1957) TV series 1957-1962

Creator:

Roy Huggins

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Release Date:

22 September 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Western | Adventure | Comedy

Plot:

Brett and Bart Maverick (and in later seasons, their English cousin, Beau) are well dressed gamblers...

Plot Keywords:

Poker | Gambler | Cult Favorite | Cult Western | One Word Title

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Jack Kelly	...	Bart Maverick / ... (79 episodes, 1957-1962)
James Garner	...	Bret Maverick / ... (59 episodes, 1957-1961)

Also Known As:

Maverick (Argentina) [es]
Maverick (Finland) [fi]

Runtime:

60 min (124 episodes) | Argentina:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park - 10700 W. Escondido Canyon Rd., Agua Dulce, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Television

Trivia:

In addition to making regular appearances as Big Mike McComb, Leo Gordon, also wrote several episodes of the series.

Quotes:

Bret: Waco, I've never seen a man do so many things wrong. Have you ever been in a gulf hurricane?
Waco Williams: Nope.
Bret: Well, it's the big pine trees and the thick oak trees that get uprooted first. The palm trees are smart - they give with the wind.
Waco Williams: That sounds like pretty good advice for trees.
Bret: They live a long time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Ricky Nelson: Original Teen Idol (1999) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Maverick

Still just as funny today

UPDATE: Encore Westerns started showing Maverick from Episode 1 in early July 2008. Hopefully they have the entire five year run under contract for a turn or two. Six PM Eastern time daily. Enjoy!!

2ND UPDATE: Re my last comment below on the Bart and Beau episodes. Encore Westerns is in the process of going thru the entire run for the 2nd time. The first time around they showed every episode in the order originally aired. Its been a wonderful experience to go thru this series again show by show. **************************************

This is the role that made James Garner, and as much as I like his later work, for me he would never be this much fun to watch again (exception: Support Your Local Sheriff, but that was unquestionably written to capitalize on his Maverick role).

I remembered liking Maverick when I was a kid, but after 40 odd years I didn't remember a single episode or plot line. I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to find this series resurrected on Good Life (Now American Life) TV. Discovering each episode's charm brought my wife and I months of entertainment, and expectation for the next week.

Among some classic episodes to look for are:

* "War of the Silver Kings", this is the first episode and unquestionably one of the best

* "Gun Shy", an absolutely hilarious take off on Gun Smoke

* "A Fellow's Brother", an entertaining story throughout that made me fall out of my chair laughing when presented with the twist that resolved the crises

* "Shady Day at Sunny Acres", in which Bret Maverick spends the majority of the episode in a rocking chair on the town's boardwalk, whittling and uttering the line, "I'm workin' on it"

* "Pappy", wherein you meet the originator of all of Bret's "My old Pappy used to say ..." lines. Garner of course plays dual roles in the episode and does a great job. (So the movie is only the 2nd time he got to play Bret's father!)