Maverick (1957–1962)

Bret and Bart Maverick (and in later seasons, their English cousin, Beau) are well dressed gamblers who migrate from town to town always looking for a good game. Poker (5 card draw) is ... See full summary »

Creator:

Roy Huggins

Stars:

Jack Kelly, James Garner, Roger Moore

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 10 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Jack Kelly	...	Bart Maverick (81 episodes, 1957-1962)
James Garner	...	Bret Maverick (60 episodes, 1957-1962)

Storyline

Bret and Bart Maverick (and in later seasons, their English cousin, Beau) are well dressed gamblers who migrate from town to town always looking for a good game. Poker (5 card draw) is their favorite but they've been known to play such odd card games as Three-toed Sloth on occasion. The show would occasionally feature both or all three Mavericks, but usually would rotate the central character from week to week.

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Plot Keywords:

poker | gambler | cult tv | cult tv | one word title | 

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Genres:

Action | Western | Adventure | Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 September 1957 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Laramie Street, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min 50 min (124 episodes)

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

During two episodes of season four, Roger Moore whistled the show's theme song.

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Quotes

Bret Maverick: Never cry over spilt milk. It could've been whiskey.

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Connections

Followed by Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace: Part 1 (1981)

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Soundtracks

"Maverick"
Music by David Buttolph
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

User Reviews

Still just as funny today

UPDATE: Encore Westerns started showing Maverick from Episode 1 in early July 2008. As of the beginning of 2010, they have moved it to an early morning time slot in favor of showing The Virginian and Cheyenne on the late afternoon/early evening slot which Maverick occupied for 18 months. If you've never seen this show or missed some of them, be sure to set your DVR if you have one. *****************************************************************

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. Sadly, after a few years ALTV abandoned the excellent B&W series they had been showing, and began airing very inferior color series from later years. Yep, I'll take Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip over Time Tunnel and Lost in Space .... EVERY time.

However, when it aired on ALTV, 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!)