Author ● Journalist ● Radio Host ● Collaborative Writer
Synopsis. A band of desperados tricks Bret and Tom into protecting a gold shipment.
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Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star.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. Everest Sinclair, a utopianist who hopes to make Sweetwater the center of his “new society,” purchases all of the town’s mortgages and immediately forecloses on them. In order to win back their land, the townspeople rally behind Maverick, who hatches an elaborate “sting” aimed at Sinclair.
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Maverick in the late ’70s and early ’80s, Bret Maverick (NBC, 1981-1982) saw James Garner reprise the role that originally made him a star. The premise of “Faith, Hope and Clarity” drew inspiration from one of the most famous Maverick episodes of all, “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres.”
Synopsis. After his horse breaks down in the Arizona heat, Bart seeks shelter at Fort Distress, operated by his friend Major Reidinger. A greedy peddler named Luther Cannonbaugh suckers Bart into buying a wagon containing illegal whiskey—and the Indian squaw Tawny, whom Cannonbaugh kidnapped to sell into slavery. An angry Bob Tallhorse, the Apache warrior to whom Tawny is betrothed, threatens to attack the fort unless she is released. Maverick tries to return Tawny to her tribe, but Tallhorse captures him. Meanwhile, Cannonbaugh (whom the Apaches had also imprisoned) bargains his way out of trouble by offering Tallhorse “strong medicine”—a bear tooth necklace that supposedly makes its wearer impervious to bullets. The conniving Cannonbaugh demonstrates the neckpiece’s “power” by testing it himself (using blank cartridges). Bart warns Tallhorse of the fraud, but Cannonbaugh shoots him with a real bullet that grazes him in the temple.
Synopsis. Bart meets his cousin Jacqueline Sutton in Kansas City to collect the $10,000 that Pappy owes to a bruiser named Cannonball Clyde Bassett. But Jackie quickly loses the money when she purchases a phony money-making machine from con artist Big Ed Murphy. Bart and Jackie trail Murphy to Denver, where they decide to beat him at his own game.
The con man played by Andrew Duggan in this episode, “Big Ed Murphy,” shares the same name as the safecracker played by John Dehner in “Greenbacks, Unlimited.”
Synopsis. The townspeople of Bonita welcome Bret and Bart with open arms―they believe that the Mavericks are Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, and that they’ve arrived in town to take care of Jim Mundy and his gang of troublemakers. The sheriff of Bonita thinks that Mundy is planning to rob the payroll of a nearby mining company from the bank, and he knows that the town will lose the company’s business if Mundy is successful. The Mavericks try to stay out of the matter, but Bret becomes involved after Bart is shot by a henchman of Mundy’s who believed Bart had stumbled onto their plan.
Adele Mara, who was married to Maverick creator and producer Roy Huggins for nearly fifty years, stars in this episode as a professional dancer whose role in the scheme is to cause a diversion by dancing in the bar precisely when Mundy and his boys are drilling a hole through the floor of their hotel room, which is located directly above the bank vault. For the dance scene, Mara wore a diaphanous costume that prompted one irate viewer to write Roy Huggins with a complaint about putting a “half-naked woman” on network television. Huggins replied, “That was no half-naked woman… that was my wife.”
Synopsis. In Amber Flats, three men rob the American Mail Company of $7,000. The thieves die in a shootout, but the money disappears. Brent Maverick discovers the stolen funds at the Midway station and decides to return it to Amber Flats. Unbeknownst to Brent, the sheriff of Amber Flats confiscated the money after gunning down the robbers and hid it in Midway. When Maverick arrives in Amber Flats, he finds himself arrested for the theft.
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 through Black Pawn Press, Amazon.com, and wherever books are sold online.
Synopsis. Bart renews acquaintance with Pearly Gates and Marla, the crafty duo whom he last encountered in “Dade City Dodge.” Pearly and Marla lure Maverick into a poker game with some other players—one of whom is wanted outlaw Big Jim Watson.
Known around the world as Skipper Jonas Grumby on Gilligan’s Island, Alan Hale previously appeared in the fourth-season episode “Arizona Black Maria.”
Synopsis. When the sheriff of Spearhead, Kansas asks him to impersonate a slain gunman named Smiley Drake, Bart finds himself embroiled in the professional and personal animosities between rival gambling house owners Tom Blauvelt and Clete Spain.
“Substitute Gun” was originally filmed in 1957 as “Hired Gun,” one of nine episodes of Cheyenne written by Berne Giler. In 1959, Warner Bros. adapted Giler’s Western novel Westbound into a feature film directed by Budd Boetticher. Guest stars in “Substitute Gun” include Robert Rockwell, the actor who played Eve Arden’s love interest on both the radio and TV versions of Our Miss Brooks.
Synopsis. Cowardly bartender Archibald Walker arrives in Abilene under the guise of Wyatt Earp, whose trademark revolver he stole when Earp wasn’t looking. Bart, currently working as the town deputy to pay off a gambling debt, becomes Archie’s protector when gunslinger Billy Coe challenges Archie to a showdown. Archie’s problems multiply when the real Wyatt Earp shows up.
Guest star John Dehner previously played the mark in “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres,” one of the most famous Maverick episodes of all.