Bret and Bart Maverick are well-dressed gamblers who migrate from town to town always looking for a good game.Bret and Bart Maverick are well-dressed gamblers who migrate from town to town always looking for a good game.Bret and Bart Maverick are well-dressed gamblers who migrate from town to town always looking for a good game.
- Won 1 Primetime Emmy
- 1 win & 10 nominations total
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Did you know
- TriviaOn April 21, 2006, a ten foot tall statue of James Garner as Bret Maverick was unveiled in Garner's hometown of Norman, Oklahoma. Garner was on hand for the festivities.
- GoofsFilming seemed to take place in a limited number of spots, so you see some very familiar scenery repeating both within and between episodes. Be prepared for a chase scene passing the same trees and rocks several times, as well as certain scenes cropping up in stories supposedly hundreds of miles apart. Standard stuff for its day.
- Quotes
Bret Maverick: As my old pappy used to say, work is fine for killin' time, but it's a shaky way to make a living.
- ConnectionsFeatured in 77 Sunset Strip: Tiger by the Tail (1961)
Featured review
James Garner and Jack Kelly had a sensational chemistry and Garner's performance is quite different than most think.
James Garner's acting on 1957's TV series "Maverick" is superbly inspired but usually underrated because he memorably told the press at the time that he "can't act. I'll learn if I have to, but so far I haven't had to." This modest refusal to champion himself publicly resulted in his performances being taken much more for granted, but viewed today, it's apparent that here was a world-class talent throwing himself into every scene, registering a virtual three-ring circus of facial expressions; there is always something going on to look at, in severe contrast to most of the other TV western leads of the era. Jack Kelly, normally a more pedestrian performer, lights up to incandescence in his scenes with Garner and their astonishing chemistry vaults the series' fantastic entertainment value phenomenally, although Kelly's solo outings aren't in the same league and his acting seemed to deteriorate along with the quality of some of the scripts in the wake of Garner's departure. Kelly was completely and utterly lacking Garner's genius for comedy, except when working directly with Garner.
I always thought of Garner's character's warmth as being his hallmark trait, perhaps as a result of years of seeing "The Rockford Files," but upon recently studying the "Maverick" tapes it became apparent that his character was basically cool and chilly, almost businesslike with an Indiana Jones-like seriousness in his routine comportment, but quite warm with friends. This surprised me. When people refer to Bret Maverick as "cool," they're actually much more correct than I ever would've assumed.
I always thought of Garner's character's warmth as being his hallmark trait, perhaps as a result of years of seeing "The Rockford Files," but upon recently studying the "Maverick" tapes it became apparent that his character was basically cool and chilly, almost businesslike with an Indiana Jones-like seriousness in his routine comportment, but quite warm with friends. This surprised me. When people refer to Bret Maverick as "cool," they're actually much more correct than I ever would've assumed.
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- Carson-15
- Jun 22, 1999
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Details
- Runtime1 hour
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 4:3
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