Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
GAME OF CHANCESynopsis. In Denver, Bret and Bart try to outwit a wily French grifter and his charming niece.
“Game of Chance” introduced viewers to the following Pappyism: “Never cry over spilled milk… it could’ve been whiskey.” Guest stars include Roxane Berard.
Synopsis. In New Mexico, Bart wins ownership of the Lucky Lady cantina, only to learn that the property may have been built by a wealthy family of Portuguese descent that is laying claim to the land.
“The Marquesa” is the third of three episodes featuring Adele Mara (the wife of Maverick creator Roy Huggins), the second of two shows featuring character actor Morris Ankrum (Perry Mason), and the first of two shows featuring Edward Ashley as Nobby Ned Wyngate.
4./5. DEAD MAN’S HAND (Two-parter) Original Airdates: December 26, 1979 and January 2, 1980
Synopsis. Trouble ensues for Ben Maverick when he inherits a pat hand from a gambler who died during a high-stakes poker game.
Young Maverick (CBS, 1979-1980) was an ill-fated attempt to update the Maverick formula of the late 1950s to TV audiences of the late 1970s. Starring Charles Frank as Ben Maverick, the Harvard-educated son of Cousin Beauregard Maverick, the series faced an uphill fight during its brief network run and was canceled after just six broadcasts. The two-part episode “Dead Man’s Hand” featured Howard Duff, future Emmy Award winner James Woods, and future Knots Landing star Donna Mills.
A STATE OF SIEGEAdapted from the Story “Pavillion on the Links” by Robert Louis Stevenson
Synopsis. In New Mexico, Bart Maverick finds himself in the middle of a bitter family feud that is linked to a plot to overthrow the U.S. government.
An adaptation of the Robert Louis Stevenson short story “Pavillion on the Links,” “A State of Siege” was directed by Robert Sinclair, an old friend of producer Coles Trapnell who had also directed series star Jack Kelly on the New York stage when Kelly was a child star. Guest stars include Ray Danton (The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond, The Alaskans) and Lisa Gaye.
Synopsis. Jerome Horne and John Bordeen run the largest railroad company in Virginia City. Bordeen owes Bret $10,000, but he’d rather shoot him than pay him. Maverick kills Bordeen in self-defense—but after reporting the shooting to the sheriff, he discovers that the body (and all other evidence) has been removed. Maverick becomes further confounded the next day, when Horne pays him the money—and insists that Bordeen is alive and well.
This episode features an exchange that epitomizes what Roy Huggins had in mind when he created Maverick. In this sequence, Ellen Bordeen (played by Ruta Lee) asks Bret for help:
ELLEN
If my father’s posing as John Bordeen,
he’s doing it against his will, Mr. Maverick.
MAVERICK
Possibly.
ELLEN
Probably. But what can I do about it?
MAVERICK
Go to the sheriff, I guess.
ELLEN
Jerome Horne put the sheriff in office.
Can you help me?
MAVERICK
No, ma’am.
ELLEN
Because you have your $10,000?
MAVERICK
Yes, ma’am.
ELLEN
You aren’t very noble.
MAVERICK
No, ma’am.
Maverick decides to help Ellen, anyway—but only after she convinces him that she knows how to handle a gun. We’ll see Ruta Lee again in “Plunder of Paradise” and “Betrayal.”
Synopsis. Bret spends the Fourth of July in Hollow Rock, where he hopes to make some easy money by betting on Silver King, the prize quarter-horse owned by his friend Colonel Arnold Taylor, in the town’s annual horse race. When crooked Sheriff Jesse Carson robs and beats Bret out of more than $4,200, Maverick uses the race to even the score.
William Reynolds previously appeared in “Rope of Cards” and “Diamond in the Rough.” George O’Hanlon, best known as the voice of George Jetson, starred in the Joe McDoakes comedy shorts that Richard Bare, who directed “Holiday at Hollow Rock,” wrote and directed for Warner Bros.
4./5. DEAD MAN’S HAND (Two-parter) Original Airdates: December 26, 1979 and January 2, 1980
Synopsis. Trouble ensues for Ben Maverick when he inherits a pat hand from a gambler who died during a high-stakes poker game.
Young Maverick (CBS, 1979-1980) was an ill-fated attempt to update the Maverick formula of the late 1950s to TV audiences of the late 1970s. Starring Charles Frank as Ben Maverick, the Harvard-educated son of Cousin Beauregard Maverick, the series faced an uphill fight during its brief network run and was canceled after just six broadcasts. The two-part episode “Dead Man’s Hand” featured Howard Duff, future Emmy Award winner James Woods, and future Knots Landing star Donna Mills.
Synopsis. Wells Fargo authorities, long frustrated by the antics of train robber Incredible Clay Corey, dispatch undercover agents throughout the Kansas City railway to find the notorious bandit, whose description is unknown. The $2,000 reward for Corey’s capture entices Bart, who finds himself flat broke (and extremely hungry) in the small town of Crenshaw, Kansas. Bart meets Marybelle McCall, an apparently reformed faro dealer who is traveling with her minister uncle—along with $50,000 in church donations—to Devil’s Flat, Colorado, where they plan to build another mission. Maverick becomes suspicious when the sheriff of Crenshaw (who is really Clay Corey) takes a personal interest in the money’s whereabouts.
Synopsis. Maverick wins a Chinese girl in a poker game, but when he decides to free her, the girl doesn’t want to leave.
“The Girl in the Bay City City Boys Club” marked the directorial debut of James Garner. The episode asked a great deal of the actor (particularly when it came to staging the complicated foot chase near the end of the episode), and he acquitted himself well. Nevertheless, Garner chose not to direct again.
LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES 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. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details