Shady Deal at Sunny Acres (23 Nov. 1958)

Bret is picked clean & stranded in Sunny Acres by the burg's arrogant banker, so he puts together an M Team of con artists to take down & embarrass the handle-barred buzzard in Denver, ... See full summary »

Director:

Leslie H. Martinson

Writers:

Douglas Heyes (story), Roy Huggins (teleplay)

Stars:

James Garner, Jack Kelly, Irving Bacon

Cast

Episode credited cast:
James Garner	...	Bret Maverick
Jack Kelly	...	Bart Maverick
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Irving Bacon	...	Employee
Val Benedict	...	Cowhand
Diane Brewster	...	Samantha Crawford
John Dehner	...	John Bates
Leo Gordon	...	Big Mike McComb
Earle Hodgins	...	Ernest Plunkett
Jonathan Hole	...	Brent Williams
Arlene Howell	...	Cindy Lou Brown
Richard Long	...	Gentleman Jack Darby
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Ambrose Callahan
Edwin Reimers	...	Announcer (voice)
Syd Saylor	...	1st Townsman
Karl Swenson	...	Sheriff Griffen

Storyline

Bret is picked clean & stranded in Sunny Acres by the burg's arrogant banker, so he puts together an M Team of con artists to take down & embarrass the handle-barred buzzard in Denver, while Bret sits whittling & rocking in a chair on a shady Sunny Acres porch, poor-mouthing all by-passers that he's "just working on" a plan. The small-town banker is way out of his league in silver-rich Denver with seductive Sam Crawford, intimidating Big Mike, slicksters Gentleman Jack & Dandy Jim etc. as Maverick's operatives in this classic episode.

---

Genres:

Action | Western | Adventure | Comedy

---

Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 November 1958 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 22, Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros. Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jack Kelly, Leo Gordon, J. Pat O'Malley and John Dehner all later appeared with James Garner on his later series "The Rockford Files".

---

Quotes

Bret Maverick: As my old pappy used to say, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, and those are very good odds."

---

Connections

Featured in Pioneers of Television: Westerns (2011)

User Reviews

"If You Can't Trust your Banker, Who Can You Trust?"

Despite the fact this was my first look in many, many years at the old Maverick television show, I always remembered that line and darned if it didn't pop up in this episode. The villain, played by John Dehner, used it here several times.

First of all, though, wow - what a shock to see such a young-looking James Garner, star of the show. I saw the 1994 film and Mel Gibson was a great substitute for Garner (who had a cameo in the film.) Gibson pretty much looked like the latter looked back in the late 1950s, the greatest period for TV westerns.

This episode has poor Brett Maverick getting swindled right off the bat by a crooked bank employee named "Bates," the guy played by Dehner.

The story is how Brett gets his $15,000 back. None of this episode has any gun-play or violence; it's all Maverick - with help from family and friends - getting justice. This is pure humor, not an episode featuring a lot of adventure. That was Maverick, a guy who used his brains and humor better than his fists or guns.