MAVERICK (FILM)

'''Maverick''' is a 1994 comedy Western movie, based on the 1950s television series ''Maverick'', and created by Roy Huggins. It was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner.

Contents

Synopsis

Primary cast of characters

Trivia

External links

Synopsis

The story, set in the American Old West, is a first-person account by a wisecracking gambler 'Bret Maverick' (Mel Gibson), of his misadventures on the way to a major five-card draw poker tournament. Besides wanting to win the poker championship for the money, he also wants to prove, once and for all, that he is 'the best'. However, complications keep getting in the way.
Maverick rides into the fictional town of Crystal River intending to collect money owed to him, as he is $3000 short of the poker tournament entry fee of $25000. His efforts to make up this $3000 provide some plot motivation, as well as diversions caused by, and in the company of, three people he encounters at Crystal River--an antagonist named Angel (Alfred Molina), a young con-artist calling herself Mrs Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), and legendary lawman Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner). The first two are also rival poker players.
Maverick, Bransford and Cooper share a stagecoach (the driver of which dies at the reins at full gallop), agree to help a wagon train of migrant evangelist settlers who have been waylaid by ruffians (for a fee which Maverick in the end is too big-hearted to accept) and are headed-off by a troop of Indians led by "Joseph" (Graham Greene). Unknown to his companions, Joseph and Maverick are good friends, and Maverick allows himself to be "captured." Joseph is another one of his unreliable debtors, and in and around his tribal grounds ensues another diversionary sequence related to Maverick's monetary needs.
During this time, Angel has received a mysterious telegram ordering him to not allow Maverick to reach the poker game, and has also learned that Maverick had conned him in Crystal River. These scenes are some of the very few which do not involve Maverick directly. Angel catches up with Maverick after he has left Joseph's tribe, attempting to hang him (tied to both a tree and to his horse), but Maverick escapes this and reaches the poker game--on a paddle steamer--safely. Bransford and Angel have also reached the game, and Cooper who is engaged to ensure the security of the game.
After preliminary rounds, the four finalists are Maverick, Bransford, Angel, and the Commodore of the boat (James Coburn). Maverick almost fails to reach the final table by the 5:00am deadline, having had his stateroom door chained (by an unknown person) after a short tryst with Bransford. The game proceeds, with Bransford the first eliminated, and shortly thereafter a "fixed" hand is dealt to the three remaining players. The Commodore is given four 8s and Angel is given a low straight flush, whilst Maverick has the 10, Jack, Queen and King of Spades. The Commodore and Angel each bet "all-in" (inferring that Maverick is the chip leader at this stage). Maverick observes the dealer bottom-dealing to the others, protests the conduct of the hand, and eventually accepts one card dealt by Angel and calls the bets without checking the card. It is, melodramatically, the Ace of Spades (Note that a 9 of Spades would also have won the hand for Maverick). An enraged Angel draws his gun but he, and his stooges in the audience, are shot in rapid succession by Cooper and Maverick (drawing one of Cooper's guns).
Three plot twists follow Maverick's win: Firstly, Cooper steals the $500000 prizemoney instead of presenting it to Maverick. Secondly, it is revealed that the Commodore and Cooper were secretly in cahoots on the theft with Angel running interference on Maverick on the Commodore's orders. Maverick happens upon the two, around a campfire, and takes back the money leaving them one gun to settle their affairs. Finally, Maverick is relaxing in a bath-house when Cooper finds him, and drops the facade to reveal (to the audience) that he is in fact Maverick's father and that the real conspiracy was between these two. The movie ends only after Bransford enters the bath-house to rob Cooper and Maverick (whose relationship she had surmised), although she only gets half of the money she expects (as Maverick had hidden $250000 of it in his boot).

Primary cast of characters

★ Mel Gibson .... Bret Maverick, Jr.

★ Jodie Foster .... Mrs. Annabelle Bransford

★ James Garner .... Marshal Zane Cooper/Bret Maverick, Sr.

★ Graham Greene .... Joseph

★ Alfred Molina .... Angel

★ James Coburn .... Commodore Duvall

★ Paul L. Smith ... The Archduke

Trivia

★ There are appearances through the film as many familiar faces from Westerns of the past and Country Western music, particularly in the final riverboat poker tournament scenes. These include (in no particular order):

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★ Dub Taylor as a room clerk

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★ Leo Gordon as a gambler at Maverick's first game. Gordon actually appeared in five episodes of the original series as Big Mike McComb.

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★ Geoffrey Lewis as Matthew Wicker, a.k.a. Eugene, the banker

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★ Hal Ketchum as one of four bank robbers

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★ Paul Brinegar of ''Rawhide'' as the stagecoach driver

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★ Carlene Carter as a waitress on the Commodore's ship

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★ Waylon Jennings and Kathy Mattea as a couple found with a gun

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★ Denver Pyle and Clint Black, who are thrown off the boat for cheating at poker

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★ Vince Gill and then-wife Janis Gill as spectators during the game

★ Players at the final tournament include James Drury and Doug McClure of ''The Virginian'', William Smith of ''Laredo'', Henry Darrow of ''The High Chaparral'', Bert Remsen of ''Buffalo Bill and the Indians'', Robert Fuller of ''Wagon Train'' and ''Laramie'', and Mel Gibson's brother, Donal Gibson. This would be Doug McClure's final film appearance.

★ The porter who tries to take the suitcase from Coop as he holds the riverboat at gunpoint is played by James Garner's brother, Jack Garner.

★ There are several ''Lethal Weapon'' references in the film. Danny Glover makes a cameo appearance as another of the four bank robbers. As he and Maverick lock eyes, music from ''Lethal Weapon'' plays. As Glover's character makes his getaway, he mumbles, "I'm too old for this shit", a well-known line from the ''Lethal Weapon'' series. Also, one of the dealers in the poker tournament is played by Richard Donner's cousin, Steve Kahan, who also plays Captain Ed Murphy in the ''Lethal Weapon'' series.

★ Corey Feldman plays another of the bank robbers. Feldman had previosly co-starred in Richard Donner's film ''The Goonies''.

★ Margot Kidder has a small role as a woman that lost her wedding dress and asks Maverick and friends to recover it. Kidder worked with director Richard Donner in the 1978 film ''Superman'' where she played her most famous role, Lois Lane.

★ The character of Annabelle Bransford may have been based on the very similar character of Samantha Crawford in the original TV series. Her first name is presumably a nod to the series' theme-song lyrics: "Fare thee well, Annabelle / Luck is the lady that he loves the best."

★ The steamboat "Lauren Belle" is named for Richard Donner's wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. At the end of the film, when Maverick and Coop are soaking in their bathtubs, a woman checks on them. They both say, "Thanks, Mrs. D." Mrs. D is played by Mrs. Donner - Lauren Shuler Donner.

★ Famous cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond appears in the film as real-life painter Albert Bierstadt. He is seen painting a landscape on the Archduke's porch.

External links

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