"Maverick" (1957) TV series 1957-1962

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Creator:

Roy Huggins
(more)

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:

Gambler | Poker | Cult TV | Cult Favorite | Cult Western

Awards:

Won Primetime Emmy. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Jack Kelly	...	Bart Maverick / ... (71 episodes, 1957-1962)
James Garner	...	Bret Maverick / ... (59 episodes, 1957-1961)

(more)

Series Directed by
Leslie H. Martinson		(18 episodes, 1957-1961)
Douglas Heyes		(13 episodes, 1957-1959)
Richard L. Bare		(11 episodes, 1957-1959)
Arthur Lubin		(11 episodes, 1959-1960)
Leslie Goodwins		(7 episodes, 1959-1960)
Irving J. Moore		(7 episodes, 1960-1962)
John Ainsworth		(4 episodes, 1961)
Paul Landres		(4 episodes, 1961)
Budd Boetticher		(3 episodes, 1957)
James V. Kern		(3 episodes, 1958-1960)
Montgomery Pittman		(3 episodes, 1958-1959)
George Waggner		(3 episodes, 1959-1961)
Lee Sholem		(3 episodes, 1960-1962)
Michael O'Herlihy		(3 episodes, 1961-1962)
Franklin Adreon		(2 episodes, 1957-1958)
Abner Biberman		(2 episodes, 1957)
Lew Landers		(2 episodes, 1959-1960)
Paul Henreid		(2 episodes, 1959)
Robert Douglas		(2 episodes, 1960-1961)
Marc Lawrence		(2 episodes, 1961-1962)
Sidney Salkow		(2 episodes, 1962)

Series Writing credits
Douglas Heyes		(11 episodes, 1957-1959)
Howard Browne		(10 episodes, 1957-1961)
Marion Hargrove		(9 episodes, 1957-1959)
Coles Trapnell		(9 episodes, 1959-1961)
Roy Huggins		(8 episodes, 1957-1960)
Robert Vincent Wright		(7 episodes, 1959-1962)
Don Tait		(7 episodes, 1960-1961)
George F. Slavin		(6 episodes, 1957-1962)
Leo Townsend		(6 episodes, 1959-1960)
Gerald Drayson Adams		(5 episodes, 1957-1960)
Gene Levitt		(5 episodes, 1957-1959)
Montgomery Pittman		(5 episodes, 1958-1961)
Leonard Praskins		(5 episodes, 1959-1960)
William Bruckner		(5 episodes, 1961-1962)
Russell S. Hughes		(4 episodes, 1957-1958)
Wells Root		(4 episodes, 1959-1961)
Ron Bishop		(4 episodes, 1959-1960)
Herman Epstein		(4 episodes, 1959-1960)
Leo Gordon		(4 episodes, 1960-1961)
Paul Leslie Peil		(4 episodes, 1960-1961)
James O'Hanlon		(3 episodes, 1957-1962)
Jerry Davis		(3 episodes, 1957-1959)
Irene Winston		(3 episodes, 1961-1962)
David Lang		(3 episodes, 1961)
Robert Louis Stevenson		(2 episodes, 1957-1961)
R. Wright Campbell		(2 episodes, 1958-1960)
Palmer Thompson		(2 episodes, 1959-1961)
William Driskill		(2 episodes, 1959)
Arthur Paynter		(2 episodes, 1960)
Peter Germano		(2 episodes, 1961)

Series Produced by
William T. Orr	....	executive producer (53 episodes, 1957-1962)
Roy Huggins	....	producer / executive producer (45 episodes, 1957-1962)
Coles Trapnell	....	producer (17 episodes, 1959-1961)
William L. Stuart	....	producer (8 episodes, 1961-1962)
Arthur W. Silver	....	supervising producer / associate producer / ... (7 episodes, 1961-1962)

Series Cinematography by
Harold E. Stine		(15 episodes, 1957-1959)
Ralph Woolsey		(7 episodes, 1957-1959)
Carl Berger		(7 episodes, 1957-1958)
Edwin B. DuPar		(5 episodes, 1957-1958)
Wesley Anderson		(3 episodes, 1958-1960)
Perry Finnerman		(3 episodes, 1959-1960)
Jacques R. Marquette		(3 episodes, 1960-1962)
Floyd Crosby		(2 episodes, 1959)
Willard Van der Veer		(2 episodes, 1961)

Series Film Editing by
Robert Sparr		(8 episodes, 1957-1958)
Elbert K. Hollingsworth		(7 episodes, 1957-1959)
Robert Watts		(7 episodes, 1957-1958)
Carl Pingitore		(6 episodes, 1957-1960)
Harold Minter		(6 episodes, 1957-1958)
J. Frank O'Neill		(3 episodes, 1957-1958)
Tom Biggart		(2 episodes, 1958)
Clarence Kolster		(2 episodes, 1959-1961)

Series Art Direction by
Howard Campbell		(24 episodes, 1957-1959)
Art Loel		(12 episodes, 1957-1958)
William L. Campbell		(4 episodes, 1960-1961)
John Ewing		(3 episodes, 1959-1960)
Perry Ferguson		(2 episodes, 1958-1959)

Series Set Decoration by
Jerry Welch		(14 episodes, 1957-1961)
William Wallace		(12 episodes, 1958)
Mowbray Berkeley		(4 episodes, 1957-1958)
Fay Babcock		(3 episodes, 1958-1960)
Ralph S. Hurst		(3 episodes, 1958)
Patrick Delany		(2 episodes, 1957)
Frank M. Miller		(2 episodes, 1957)
John P. Austin		(2 episodes, 1959-1961)
Hal Overell		(2 episodes, 1960-1961)

Series Makeup Department
Gordon Bau	....	makeup supervisor / makeup artist (46 episodes, 1957-1961)
Jean Burt Reilly	....	supervising hair stylist (5 episodes, 1960-1961)

Series Production Management
Oren Haglund	....	production manager (39 episodes, 1957-1960)

Series Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Robert Farfan	....	assistant director (12 episodes, 1957-1959)
Rusty Meek	....	assistant director (11 episodes, 1958-1959)
Don Alvarado	....	assistant director (5 episodes, 1958)
C. Carter Gibson	....	assistant director (4 episodes, 1957-1959)
Lee White	....	assistant director (4 episodes, 1957)
Eddie Prinz	....	assistant director (2 episodes, 1957-1958)
Claude Archer	....	assistant director (2 episodes, 1957)

Series Art Department
Lee W. Moore	....	props (2 episodes, 1957)
Roy Moore	....	props (2 episodes, 1957)

Series Sound Department
Samuel F. Goode	....	sound (17 episodes, 1957-1960)
Stanley Jones	....	sound (5 episodes, 1957-1959)
Robert B. Lee	....	sound (5 episodes, 1958-1961)
M.A. Merrick	....	sound (4 episodes, 1958)
Charles Althouse	....	sound (2 episodes, 1957-1960)
Francis J. Scheid	....	sound (2 episodes, 1957-1958)
B.F. Ryan	....	sound (2 episodes, 1958-1960)
Francis E. Stahl	....	sound (2 episodes, 1958)
Eugene F. Westfall	....	sound (2 episodes, 1958)

Series Stunts
Jack N. Young	....	utility stunts (3 episodes, 1957)

Series Camera and Electrical Department
Earl C. Williman	....	lamp operator (13 episodes, 1961-1962)

Series Editorial Department
James Moore	....	supervising film editor / supervising editor (42 episodes, 1957-1960)

Series Music Department
Max Steiner	....	composer: stock music (124 episodes, 1957-1962)
Paul Sawtell	....	music supervisor (6 episodes, 1959-1961)
Bert Shefter	....	music supervisor (6 episodes, 1959-1961)
David Buttolph	....	composer: theme music / composer: theme song (5 episodes, 1959)
Sam E. Levin	....	music editor (2 episodes, 1959-1961)
Ted Sebern	....	music editor (2 episodes, 1960-1962)

Production Companies

• Warner Bros. Television

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1957-1962) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Warner Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Warner Bros. Television

Also Known As:

Maverick (Argentina) [es]

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:

Producer Roy Huggins stated the writers' guiding principle for the Maverick series was his belief that, "In the traditional Western, the situation was always serious but never hopeless. In a 'Maverick' story, the situation is always hopeless but never serious."

Quotes:

Bret Maverick: As my old pappy used to say, you can be a gentleman and still not forget all you know about self-defense.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Darkplace Illuminatum (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Maverick

Launching a great career

I still remember as a lad when Maverick made its debut on the ABC network. It was on Sunday nights at 7:30 and with that early half an hour start, it knocked the stuffings out of Ed Sullivan and Steve Allen who had their shows begin at 8:00 in the Nielsen ratings.

Maverick was unlike any western that had been on television before. Previously you had heroes stand tall and tangle with villainy head on. Maverick was no coward, but he never went looking for trouble and he never would look for a face to face confrontation if a little back channel maneuvering would work as well.

The show started the precedent that Law and Order, Criminal Intent is using now to give star Vincent Donofrio some rest with having Chris Noth and another female partner solve crimes on alternate weekends. James Garner was the original Bret Maverick and later Jack Kelly was brought in as brother Bart. Later on we had cousin Beau and another brother Brent played by Roger Moore and Robert Colbert.

Those last two we never even see the episodes with them. James Garner wanted a feature film career and Maverick helped launch him in one. His best efforts have always been when he's played a variation on Maverick and that would include his later hit series, The Rockford Files.

Unfortunately Jack Kelly never got the same break as Garner. But Bart was also pretty good at thinking on his feet as well. Still he was good performer and the Bart episodes do hold their own. And the shows they did together, pure magic.