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Synopsis. Bart hunts down Paisley Briggs, a scoundrel who robbed our hero of $850. Maverick’s search leads him to the Waconda Mountains in Wyoming, where Briggs attempts to pull off a $5,000 fraud involving the whereabouts of escaped convict Philip Stanton.
Claude Akins stars as Paisley Briggs in this episode, which also introduces the Pappyism “Flattery is like perfume—smell it, but don’t swallow it.”
Synopsis. Bret’s effort to clear Mike McComb of a murder charge becomes complicated when he falls in love with saloon singer Jenny Hill.
The final episode produced by Roy Huggins, “The Strange of Jenny Hill” features singer/actress Peggy King (The George Gobel Show) and longtime character actor William Schallert (The Patty Duke Show, Get Smart, Dobie Gillis).
Synopsis. The first of Robert Colbert’s two appearances as Brent Maverick, Bret and Bart’s younger brother.
Little is known about young Brent Maverick, the “other brother” who came and went after only two appearances. Whatever background Brent may have, it can’t be anywhere nearly as interesting as that of the actor who played him. The path that led Robert Colbert to film and television—and, eventually, Warner Bros.—is a remarkable story in which a radio commercial, a poem, and actor Mickey Shaughnessy all play pivotal parts.
Synopsis. Professional illusionist The Great Malooley is also a professional killer whose performance at the Red Ox masks a plan to exhume the legendary Kirschfeld Diamonds, which he believes are buried underneath the saloon. To keep Maverick out of the way, Malooley frames him for the murder of a drunk who had threatened Bret the night before.
The third of three attempts to resurrect Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star.
Synopsis. Bart is among the passengers who are victimized by two men who hold up a stagecoach bound for Virginia City. Bart suspects a connection between the robbers and another passenger, Anne Sanders (she told them where Bart hid his money), so he trails Anne in the hopes that she will lead him to the holdup men (and the $1,500 they took from him). Bart’s suspicions are well-founded: after he captures the two men, Anne not only fails to identify them, but enables them to escape.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West, featuring more than 100 pages of new information about the show that made James Garner a star. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of the third edition will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. The revised third edition of Maverick: Legend of the West is available both in softcover and, very soon, as an eBook through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
Synopsis. Bart wins $800 from George Parker, the mayor and owner of the town of Parkerville—and a notoriously bad loser. After George has Maverick robbed and beaten, George’s younger brother, Bill, who has long held a grudge against his sibling, convinces Bart to help him even the score. After Bill and his mother set up Maverick as a cattle buyer, Bart takes out a $100,000 life insurance policy, then arranges to have himself “killed.” George, who owns the company, discovers Bart’s plan and refuses to pay the claim. But as Maverick points out, that move could cost the company millions in canceled policies, so George is forced to keep Bart alive. But the charade backfires when a greedy undertaker tempts Doc Holliday into killing Maverick for $50,000.
“Triple Indemnity” marks the first of Peter Breck’s five appearances as Doc Holliday, the legendary gunslinger whom Gerald Mohr had previously played in two first-season episodes.
Synopsis. Maverick meets Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians in an episode that sees Bret impersonate his friend Homer Eakins. Homer’s wealthy uncle has summoned his offspring to his ranch to determine which one is most worthy of inheriting a $2 million fortune. One by one, however, each potential heir is mysteriously murdered.
“Black Fire” features the following Pappyism: “A man who can’t find his own troubles doesn’t deserve to share somebody else’s.” Guest stars include Oscar winner Jane Darwell (The Grapes of Wrath) and Hans Conried (The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Make Room for Daddy).
Synopsis. Frankie French, a somewhat ditzy young woman from Tucson, is summoned to Ten Strike by a mysterious benefactor—the town banker. Unbeknownst to Frankie, the banker is really her father, an escaped killer named Frankovich who surfaced in Ten Strike eight years earlier and assumed the identity of a deceased man named Scott. Only one person in town knows Frankovich’s secret: saloon owner Mae Miller, who knew him from her days as a showgirl. When Frankovich learned he was dying, he set about taking care of his affairs, including establishing an inheritance for Frankie. Mae decides to kill Frankovich and pin the crime on Frankie.
Connie Stevens not only starred as lounge singer Cricket Blake on the Warner Bros. detective series Hawaiian Eye, but helped launch Warner Bros. Records with the release of “Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb” (a duet with 77 Sunset Strip star Edd Byrnes that became a Top Five record for the label) and “Sixteen Reasons,” which Stevens recorded as a solo artist and reached No. 3.
Synopsis. In Denver, Bret teams up with blackjack dealer Foursquare Farley in an effort to prevent notorious safecracker Big Ed Murphy from robbing the Denver Bank.
Guest stars include John Dehner, the noted character actor best known to Maverick fans as the mark in “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres.”
Synopsis. Rod Claxton, a onetime federal deputy marshal who found more profit in murder and robbery, is wanted by both the Army and Gus Tellson, a former gang member whom Claxton double-crossed. After the Army mistakenly arrests Bart—who bears an uncanny physical resemblance to Claxton—Tellson breaks Maverick out of prison as part of an effort to capture Claxton.
Jack Kelly has a dual role in “The Deadly Image,” an episode that also marked one of the very first network television appearances of actress Dawn Wells.