Wild West TV Week: Maverick

And Day 4 of Wild West TV Week is here and booming, folks.  As we look back at the fun of frontier life, fending off outlaws and trying to make order of a lawless land I thought we should look at a series that had nothing to do with that particular theme.  Instead, we focus on the underbelly of society.  Your conmen, card sharks, gamblers and hustlers looking for a easy pot of money to be had and suckers to be taken advantage of.  This is Maverick.

That "lady" had an Adam's apple and a vicious right hook.

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






Two well heeled gamblers Bret (James Garner of Cheyenne, Darby's Rangers, The Great Escape, Support Your Local Sheriff!, Rockford Files and Space Cowboys) and Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly of Forbidden Planet, She Devil, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Commandos, Young Billy Young and Get Christie Love!) happily out of the Union service are living life a day at a time, enjoying towns, women and the big score at a poker table.  Now lest you think these are not men of action; it could be concluded that both Bret and Bart saw too much death in the Civil War that neither of them wish to engage in mindless fisticuffs or gunfights.  Their action was 5 card stud and wooing crowds of looker-ons and rivaling in the profits.  But there are more then a handful of cheats, back shooters and gunslingers from town to town.  With conflicts waiting to happen, our swindlers do their level best to fast talk their way out of the impeding danger but when push comes to shove or a damsel is in distress our boys spring into action with more than their share of cowboy roundhouses and boots to the stomach.

Dapper and feeling dandy.

Roaming the frontier in search of that illusive "gold ring" or "big score" our fellas get into all sorts of mischief, aid the downtrodden and improve lives all the while swindling barbarous men at cards.  One would come to the conclusion the Maverick boys live in a certain sense of balance but I fail to see the cowardice that some viewers tend to mention.

Just a few points to be made about the show now.  With elaborate costumes and a constant altering background this was relatively inexpensive to make but only seem to have enough life for five seasons unlike shows like Bonanza lasting 14 seasons and Gunsmoke last 20 seasons.

We have two protagonists that traveled together or sometimes separately throughout the show giving plenty of alternative story arcs to work with.

GIN!  Oh dash it all, we're playing poker.