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Bret Maverick | |
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Genre | |
Developed by | Gordon Dawson |
Starring |
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Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 18 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Production location | California |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Production company | Warner Bros. Television |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | December 1, 1981 – May 4, 1982 |
Related | |
Bret Maverick is an American Western television series that starred James Garner in the title role, a professional poker player in the Old West. The series aired on NBC from December 1, 1981, to May 4, 1982. It is a sequel series to the 1957-1962 ABC series Maverick , as well the short-lived 1979 TV series Young Maverick , and that series' pilot, the 1978 TV movie The New Maverick , all of which starred Garner in the same role (though he appeared only briefly in Young Maverick). In the two previous series, Bret Maverick had been a solitary rounder who travels from riverboat to saloon looking for high-stakes games. In this series, Maverick has settled down in Sweetwater, Arizona Territory, where he owns a ranch (The Lazy Ace) and is co-owner of the town's saloon (The Red Ox). However, he is still always on the lookout for his next big score, and continues to gamble and practice various con games whenever the chance arises. The series was developed by Gordon Dawson, and produced by Garner's company Cherokee Productions (mistakenly dubbed "Comanche Productions" on the end credits) in association with Warner Bros. Television.
Almost two decades after the original Maverick series, and a few years after his appearance in the 1978 TV movie The New Maverick , Bret Maverick has put down roots in the frontier community of Sweetwater, Arizona Territory where he is now the silent partner of the Red Ox saloon that he won in a card game. Maverick's still a gambler, and is not above running various con games to help make the money he needs to keep his businesses afloat. Because of this, he is viewed with suspicion by many of the town's more prominent citizens, especially the town's newly appointed sheriff.
Bret's business partner is Tom Guthrie (Ed Bruce), the town's former sheriff and co-owner of the Red Ox Saloon. (Actor Ed Bruce, a noted country singer, also co-wrote and performed the show's theme song.) Bret's penchant for organizing cons and money-making schemes of questionable legality means that he and ex-sheriff Guthrie are often at odds with each other, although they still remain friends. Also seen as series regulars are Richard Hamilton as Cy Whitaker, the aging but feisty foreman of Maverick's ranch; Ramon Bieri as prosperous local banker Elijah Crow; Darleen Carr as Mary Lou "M.L." Springer, the fetching owner, editor, and photographer of the local newspaper; David Knell as Rodney Catlow, M.L.'s young assistant; and John Shearin as Mitchell Dowd, the town's arrogant and ineffectual sheriff.
Also seen frequently are three actors who were carryovers from Garner's previous series The Rockford Files : Stuart Margolin, who played Angel on The Rockford Files and appeared with Garner in the 1971–1972 series Nichols , appears in a recurring role as crooked Native American Philo Sandeen; Jack Garner, James's brother and a frequent Rockford Files bit player, plays the role of Jack, the Red Ox's bespectacled bartender; and Luis Delgado, Garner's longtime stand-in, and Officer Billings on Rockford, plays Red Ox employee Shifty Delgrado. Semi-regulars included Tommy Bush as the inept but friendly Deputy Sturgess, and Marj Dusay as Kate Hanrahan, the town's madam.
Season | Episodes | Start Date | End Date | Nielsen Rank | Nielsen Rating | Tied With |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1981–82 | 18 | December 1, 1981 | May 4, 1982 | 34 [1] | N/A | N/A |
Despite respectable ratings, the show was canceled by NBC at the end of the first season, airing only eighteen episodes. Writer/producer Roy Huggins, original creator of the title character but otherwise unconnected with this series despite Garner's request that he come aboard mid-season, speculated that one reason the new show didn't quite work was that Maverick, traditionally a drifter, had settled down in one place. Huggins and others also noted that this iteration of Bret Maverick was also more of an 'operator' than the 1950s version. While the earlier version of Maverick was certainly a gambler, his code of ethics was unshakable and as a consequence he played cards and other games absolutely fair and above-board—unless and until his opponent had unquestionably proven themselves to be a cheater, in which case Maverick would scheme to get his money back through his own methods of cheating and deceit. In the Bret Maverick series, however, Bret is somewhat more of a conman and hustler, and one who doesn't only target crooked gamblers. Also, several costumes and hairstyles, particularly of series regular Darleen Carr, reflected the style of the 1980s and not the old west in which the show was set.
Jack Kelly, who had alternated the lead with Garner and later Roger Moore in the original 1957–62 Maverick series, had been slated to return as Bret's brother Bart Maverick in the second season, and briefly appeared at the very end of the only season. A number of scripts for the following season had been written and presented to Kelly, according to subsequent interviews; Bart was going to look after the saloon in Arizona while Bret ranged across the West, thereby making this series closer in conception and tone to the original Maverick. The series' final episode also included a number of other changes to the series set-up: notably, Tom Guthrie was re-elected as sheriff, and sold his interest in the Red Ox to Kate Hanrahan, who immediately reinvented the establishment as an upscale brothel. As well, Mitchell Dowd was appointed to a government position as an inspector of bars and hotels throughout the Arizona territory, where he promised to remain a thorn in Maverick's side.
The 2-hour first episode was eventually trimmed and repackaged as a TV movie for rerunning on local stations under the title Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace . Additionally the series' only two-part episode was similarly repackaged as Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope and Clarity . NBC took the unusual step of rerunning the episodes two additional times - in the summer of 1988 to help provide 'new' programming during a writers strike, and in the summer of 1994 to play off publicity surrounding the Mel Gibson movie remake of the original Maverick series also featuring Garner. [2]
As a tribute to the character featured on this television series and on Maverick, on April 21, 2006, a ten-foot bronze statue of James Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma, with Garner present at the ceremony.
No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
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1 | "The Lazy Ace" | Stuart Margolin | Gordon T. Dawson | December 1, 1981 |
2 | ||||
3 | "Welcome to Sweetwater" | Rod Holcomb | Gordon T. Dawson | December 8, 1981 |
4 | "Anything for a Friend" | Ivan Dixon | Lee David Zlotoff | December 15, 1981 |
5 | "The Yellow Rose" | William Wiard | Lee David Zlotoff | December 22, 1981 |
6 | "Horse of Yet Another Color" | Ivan Dixon | S : Geoffrey Fischer; S/T : Lee David Zlotoff | January 5, 1982 |
7 | "Dateline: Sweetwater" | William Wiard | Ira Steven Behr | January 12, 1982 |
8 | "The Mayflower Women's Historical Society" | Ivan Dixon | Lee David Zlotoff | February 2, 1982 |
9 | "Hallie" | John Patterson | Marion Hargrove | February 9, 1982 |
10 | "The Ballad of Bret Maverick" | Jeff Bleckner | Gordon T. Dawson | February 16, 1982 |
11 | "A Night at the Red Ox" | William Wiard | Lee David Zlotoff | February 23, 1982 |
12 | "The Not So Magnificent Six" | Leo Penn | S : Shel Willens; T : Geoffrey Fischer | March 2, 1982 |
13 | "The Vulture Also Rises" | Michael O'Herlihy | T : Gordon T. Dawson; S/T : Rogers Turrentine | March 16, 1982 |
14 | "The Eight Swords of Dyrus and Other Illusions of Grandeur" | John Patterson | S : Larry Mollin; S/T : Gordon T. Dawson | March 23, 1982 |
15 | "Faith, Hope and Clarity: Part 1" | Leo Penn | S : Paul L. Ehrmann; S/T : Lee David Zlotoff | April 13, 1982 |
16 | "Faith, Hope and Clarity: Part 2" | Leo Penn | S : Paul L. Ehrmann; S/T : Lee David Zlotoff | April 20, 1982 |
17 | "The Rattlesnake Brigade" | Fernando Lamas | T : Barton Dean; S/T : Geoffrey Fischer | April 27, 1982 |
18 | "The Hidalgo Thing" | Thomas Carter | Gordon T. Dawson | May 4, 1982 |
On April 22, 2014, Warner Bros. released Bret Maverick: The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time, via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a manufacture-on-demand release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the United States. [3]
The series has rerun on Encore Westerns since fall 2008. On December 30, 2018, American TV network getTV started rerunning the series. [4]
Currently, it airs on getTV on the weekends.
James Scott Garner was an American actor. He played leading roles in more than 50 theatrical films, which included The Great Escape (1963) with Steve McQueen; Paddy Chayefsky's The Americanization of Emily (1964) with Julie Andrews; Cash McCall (1960) with Natalie Wood; The Wheeler Dealers (1963) with Lee Remick; Darby's Rangers (1958) with Stuart Whitman; Roald Dahl's 36 Hours (1965) with Eva Marie Saint; as a Formula 1 racing star in Grand Prix (1966); Raymond Chandler's Marlowe (1969) with Bruce Lee; Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) with Walter Brennan; Blake Edwards's Victor/Victoria (1982) with Julie Andrews; and Murphy's Romance (1985) with Sally Field, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He also starred in several television series, including popular roles such as Bret Maverick in the ABC 1950s Western series Maverick and as Jim Rockford in the NBC 1970s private detective show, The Rockford Files.
The Rockford Files is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974, to January 10, 1980. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investigator Jim Rockford, with Noah Beery Jr. in the supporting role of his father, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, a retired truck driver. The show was created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell. Huggins had created the American western TV show Maverick (1957–1962), which Garner also starred, and he wanted to create a similar show in a modern-day detective setting. In 2002, The Rockford Files was ranked No. 39 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
Maverick is an American Western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins and originally starring James Garner as an adroitly articulate poker player plying his trade on riverboats and in saloons while traveling incessantly through the 19th-century American frontier. The show ran for five seasons from September 22, 1957, to July 8, 1962 on ABC.
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Ramon Arens Bieri was an American film and television actor.
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John Augustus Kelly Jr. was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of Bart Maverick in the television series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962.
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The New Maverick is a 1978 American Western television film based on the 1957–1962 series Maverick starring James Garner as Bret Maverick. The New Maverick also stars Charles Frank as newcomer cousin Ben Maverick, Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, and Susan Sullivan as Poker Alice Ivers.
Ray Elgin Teal was an American actor. His most famous role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee on the television series Bonanza (1959–1972), which was only one of dozens of sheriffs on television and in movies that he played during his long and prolific career stretching from 1937 to 1970. He appeared in pictures such as Western Jamboree (1938) with Gene Autry, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) with Fredric March and Myrna Loy, The Black Arrow (1948), Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) with Spencer Tracy and Burt Lancaster.
The Alaskans is a 1959–1960 ABC/Warner Bros. Western television series set during the late 1890s in the port of Skagway, Alaska. The show features Roger Moore as "Silky Harris" and Jeff York as "Reno McKee", a pair of adventurers intent on swindling travelers bound for the Yukon Territories during the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. Their plans are inevitably complicated by the presence of singer "Rocky Shaw", "an entertainer with a taste for the finer things in life".
Nichols is an American Western television series starring James Garner. It was first broadcast in the United States on NBC during the 1971–72 season. Set in the fictional town of Nichols, Arizona, Nichols differed from traditional Western series. The time period was 1914, at the beginning of the motorized era and well after the decline of the "Old West". The main character, a sheriff also named Nichols, rode on a motorcycle and in an automobile rather than on the traditional horse. Nichols did not carry a firearm and was generally opposed to the use of violence to solve problems, preferring other means. Margot Kidder played his love interest, a barmaid named Ruth.
Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace is a 1981 American Western television film released as the 2-hour pilot episode of the series Bret Maverick, trimmed to a quicker pace and repackaged as a TV-movie for rerunning on local television stations. The 1981 show was based on the 1957 series Maverick, catching up with professional poker-player Bret Maverick. The film, written by Gordon T. Dawson and directed by Stuart Margolin, occasionally appears under the simpler title Bret Maverick.
"Shady Deal at Sunny Acres", starring James Garner and Jack Kelly, remains one of the most famous and widely discussed episodes of the Western comedy television series Maverick. Written by series creator Roy Huggins (teleplay) and Douglas Heyes (story) and directed by Leslie H. Martinson, this 1958 second-season episode depicts gambler Bret Maverick being swindled by a crooked banker after depositing the proceeds from a late-night poker game. He then surreptitiously recruits his brother Bart Maverick and a host of other acquaintances to mount an elaborate sting operation to recover the money.
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Bret Maverick: Faith, Hope, and Clarity starring James Garner is a two-part episode of the 1981-82 Western television series Bret Maverick edited together and released to local television stations as a TV movie. The show involves a religious cult that swindles the townspeople out of a tract of land. Maverick winds up straightening everything out. The episodes were directed by Leo Penn and the film is sometimes entitled simply Bret Maverick. The same thing was done with the two-hour series premiere, slightly condensed and marketed to television stations as Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace. The Bret Maverick television series was a sequel to the 1957 series Maverick, created by Roy Huggins, in which Garner had played the same character two decades earlier.
American actor and producer James Garner (1928–2014) rose to prominence as a contract player for Warner Bros. in the 1957 television show Maverick as the series initial lead character Bret Maverick. He would continue to be associated with the Maverick brand several times in his career, as his original character Bret Maverick in the 1978 television film The New Maverick, briefly in the series Young Maverick (1979), and the series Bret Maverick (1981–1982). He also appeared in the role of Marshal Zane Cooper in the 1994 western film Maverick, with Mel Gibson portraying the role of Maverick.