Maverick (TV Series) Holiday at Hollow Rock (1958) User Reviews

Just another 4th of July

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 2 September 2018]

This Maverick story has James Garner in the town of Hollow Rock known for its 4th of July quarter horse racing. It also is known for its crooked gambling which Bret Maverick catches on to. That costs him a beating and a robbery and a night in jail because Sheriff Tod Griffin is in on the crookedness.

Getting even with the sheriff also now means getting involved with the horse race and the favorite once again is a horse run by Maverick's old friend Emile Meyer. There's another horse that's looking good too and that would be the horse that young William Reynolds owns and he's also courting Meyer's daughter Saundra Edwards as is the sheriff.

This episode is Maverick at his finest. There are a lot of elements in this disparate con game. But as George Peppard used to say on the A Team I love it when a plan comes together.

And it really does.

Holiday At Hollow Rock

[jcolyer1229 · 8/10 · 18 February 2016]

There is a quarter horse race in Hollow Rock, and Bret is there to bet on a horse called Silver King. Maverick has its share of crooked sheriffs. Sandra Edwards is the story here. She was part Cherokee and a looker! She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for March, 1957. She married actor Tom Gilson and had a son by him. She left him after he became abusive. Edwards killed Gilson with a shotgun when he broke into her house. The shooting was ruled justifiable homicide, but it ended her career. Edwards plays the Colonel's daughter in this episode. She is 77 as I type and would have been only 20 when this episode aired in 1958.

Nothing Special

[dougdoepke · 23 August 2011]

A complex plot done in straight dramatic style with little trademark Maverick humor. Crooked sheriff of Hollow Rock (Griffin) blackjacks Bret out of poker winnings after Bret has exposed stacked poker set-up the sheriff was part of. Now Bret wants his money back, but how to do that when the thief is also the law. But then, Bret is nothing if not clever as the episode builds up to the big 4th of July horse race.

It's a convoluted plot involving many elements that work better as parts than as a rather murky whole. It's not classic Maverick. Still, Reynolds does well as the likable young guy, while old pro Meyer shines as the roughneck Colonel. But perhaps the most interesting feature is Saundra Edwards as the Colonel's daughter. She's almost breath-takingly gorgeous in her high fashion get-up, so it doesn't much matter that her acting talent is limited, to say the least. But check out her bio—it's surprising and, shows why you've probably never heard of her.

(In passing—that's former cowboy star Bob Steele in the cell next to Bret. He's got about 10-seconds of screen time and one line of dialog. I hope he got a good paycheck.)