List of Maverick episodes

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This site serves as an adjunct, due to article space constraints, to Maverick, a page about the 1957 western television series created by Roy Huggins and featuring James Garner, Jack Kelly, and Roger Moore.

Contents

[edit] Series leads

Bret Maverick: James Garner (seasons 1-4; 55 episodes)

Bart Maverick: Jack Kelly (seasons 1-5; 75 episodes)

Beau Maverick: Roger Moore (season 4; 14 episodes*)

Brent Maverick: Robert Colbert (season 4; 2 episodes*)

  • * Moore appeared in a total of 15 episodes, but he played a different character in the second season Maverick episode "The Rivals", while Colbert appeared in a different role in the fourth season episode "Hadley's Hunters" before making two appearances as Brent Maverick.

[edit] Featured recurring characters

Dandy Jim Buckley: Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (seasons 1-2; 5 episodes)

Samantha Crawford: Diane Brewster (seasons 1-2; 4 episodes)

Gentleman Jack Darby: Richard Long (seasons 2-3; 4 episodes)

Big Mike McComb: Leo Gordon (seasons 1-2; 5 episodes)

Cindy Lou Brown: Arlene Howell (season 2; 3 episodes)**

  • ** Howell appeared in a total of 5 episodes, playing Brown three times and different characters in two other episodes.

Also:

Modesty Blaine: Mona Freeman and Kathleen Crowley

Melanie Blake: Kathleen Crowley

Doc Holliday: Gerald Mohr and Peter Breck

Big Ed Murphy: John Dehner and Andrew Duggan

(More information is available at Maverick (TV series).)

[edit] First season (1957-1958)

James Garner (as Bret Maverick) is the sole star for the first seven episodes. With episode eight, he's joined by Jack Kelly as brother Bart Maverick. From that point on, the two alternate leads from week to week, sometimes teaming up for the occasional episode; Garner and Kelly appeared together in sixteen fondly remembered episodes. Recurring characters include rival gamblers/operators Samantha Crawford, Dandy Jim Buckley and Big Mike McComb.

Episode Title Stars and Featured Recurring Characters
Bret Maverick Bart Maverick Dandy Jim Buckley Samantha Crawford Big Mike McComb
War of the Silver Kings Bret Big Mike
Point Blank Bret
> Note: Huggins had written this episode as the pilot but Warner Brothers insisted on first airing an episode based on a property they previously owned. This was done in order to deny Huggins the residuals for creating the series, a typical gambit for the studio at that time. Huggins wasn't given credit as series creator by the studio until the movie version with Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and Garner almost forty years later.
According to Hoyle Bret Samantha Big Mike
> Note: Debut of Samantha Crawford.
Ghost Rider Bret
> Note: With Stacy Keach's lookalike father Stacy Keach, Sr. as a sheriff.
The Long Hunt Bret
Stage West Bret
> Note: Based on a Louis Lamour story.
Relic of Fort Tejon Bret
> Note: Features Bret and a camel.
Hostage! Bret Bart
> Note: Bart's first episode. Huggins wisely has Bart tied up and viciously beaten by a thug as an initiation into the series, to gain viewer sympathy. For his first several episodes, Jack Kelly as Bart wore a grey suit similar in color to his hat for greater contrast with Garner's standard black suit, but eventually switched to mainly a black suit himself while keeping the lighter colored hat, which remained his main costume through most of the run of the series.
Stampede Bret Dandy Jim
> Note: Dandy Jim Buckley's first of five memorable appearances. One of many episodes that begin on a Mississippi riverboat, a very frequent setting. "Stampede" is often cited by critics as one of the most entertaining installments, especially noting Zimbalist's humorous performance.
The Jeweled Gun Bret Bart
> Note: Bret appears only briefly; the first of Kathleen Crowley's many roles in the series. Some of the plotline was later cannabilized for a Garner episode entitled "A Rage for Vengence." The early part of the episode occurs in a Spanish-influenced town.
The Wrecker Bret Bart
> Note: Based on a Robert Louis Stevenson ocean adventure. This is the only episode with substantial time accorded to both brothers in which Kelly's role is larger than Garner's, although Bret sets the operation up and appears noticeably more knowledgeable about the situation than Bart in their scenes together. The two-brother scripts designated the brothers as "Maverick 1" and "Maverick 2," with Garner choosing which role he wanted to play. All other scripts, except one, were originally written with Garner in mind and the character designated as "Bret," which would later be changed to "Bart" during filming if Kelly were cast instead.
The Quick and the Dead Bret
> Note: With Gerald Mohr in a powerful performance as Doc Holliday.
Naked Gallows Bart
The Comstock Conspiracy Bret
The Third Rider Bart
Rage for Vengeance Bret
> Note: The only episode in the series in which Bret openly falls in love and wants to actually get married, despite a glaring plot similarity to earlier episode "The Jewelled Gun." It's amusing to think of Bret and Bart comparing notes later and each saying, "Yeah, the same thing happened to me."
Rope of Cards Bret
> Note: According to legend, practically every deck of cards in the United States sold out the day after this episode's first broadcast.
Diamond in the Rough Bart
Day of Reckoning Bret
The Savage Hills Bart Samantha
> Note: Bart takes a turn with the glamorous Samantha Crawford on a riverboat adventure.
Trail West to Fury Bret Bart Dandy Jim
> Note: A flashback episode about the Maverick brothers returning from the Civil War, as told to Buckley while the three of them are trapped during a flood. The plotline involves the Maverick brothers having to avoid Texas after being falsely accused of murder there, with only a mysteriously disappeared "tall man" as a witness who could exonerate them if only they could locate him. Writer/producer Roy Huggins would eventually recycle this plot as the basis for his later television series The Fugitive, with Diane Brewster in a recurring cameo role as Richard Kimble's murdered wife.
The Burning Sky Bart
The 7th Hand Bret Samantha
Plunder of Paradise Bart Big Mike
Black Fire Bret
> Note: Oddly, a glaringly unnecessary narration by Bart is tacked onto this episode featuring only Bret, probably to compensate for the fact that Garner had introduced Kelly's early solo episodes. This was one of only two Garner episodes not included in Columbia House's 1990s library of series videotapes (the other was "Holiday at Hollow Rock").
Burial Ground of the Gods Bart
Seed of Deception Bret Bart
> Note: Bret and Bart are mistaken for Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Huggins' wife Adele Mara plays a saloon dancer. Bart is still wearing his grey suit.

[edit] Second season (1958-1959)

Garner and Kelly continue as alternating leads, with the odd 'team-up' episode. Semi-regulars Samatha Crawford and Dandy Jim Buckley exit partway through the season; new semi-regulars include Cindy Lou Brown and Gentleman Jack Darby. Big Mike McComb also returns from season 1.

Episode Title Stars and Featured Recurring Characters
Bret Maverick Bart Maverick Dandy Jim Buckley Samantha Crawford Big Mike McComb Cindy Lou Brown Gentleman Jack Darby
The Day They Hanged Bret Maverick Bret
Lonesome Reunion Bret
Alias Bart Maverick Bart Cindy Lou Jack
> Note: Debuts of Gentleman Jack Darby and Cindy Lou Brown.
The Belcastle Brand Bret
> Note: Garner's favorite episode.
High Card Hangs Bart Dandy Jim
> Note: With Martin Landau. Notice how different Dandy Jim Buckley's relationship with Bart is from his one with Bret.
Escape to Tampico Bret
> Note: Set in Mexico, this unique episode featured Gerald Mohr as a variation of Humphrey Bogart's Casablanca character, shot on the original Casablanca set.
The Judas Mask Bart
The Jail at Junction Flats Bret Dandy Jim
> Note: A memorable episode with Dandy Jim Buckley, a comical character created by Huggins as a version of Bret without the scruples. As noted earlier, Buckley's relationships with Bret and Bart are quite different.
The 39th Star Bart
Shady Deal At Sunny Acres Bret Bart Dandy Jim Samantha Big Mike Cindy Lou Jack
> Note: The only episode to feature all of the regular Maverick characters from the first three seasons, and the final episode for Samantha and Dandy Jim. This is arguably the single most talked-about episode of the series, and usually the one Garner mentions first in interviews.
Island in the Swamp Bret
> Note: With Edgar Buchanan and Arlene Howell. Note that Howell does not play Cindy Lou Brown here, despite having just played the character in the previous episode. Howell would return to the role of Cindy Lou Brown 12 episodes later, in "Passage To Fort Doom".
Prey of the Cat Bart
Holiday at Hollow Rock Bret
> Note: Bret rides into town to bet on the annual horse race, stopwatch in hand. This was one of two Garner episodes (the other being "Black Fire") not included in Columbia House's 1990s library of series videotapes.
The Spanish Dancer 'Bart Jack
> Note: Featuring Huggins' wife Adele Mara as a dancer in a gold rush mining camp.
Game of Chance Bret Bart
> Note: With Roxane Berard in an episode according more or less equal time to Bret and Bart.
Gun-Shy Bret
> Note: This is Maverick's famous Gunsmoke spoof.
Two Beggars on Horseback Bret Bart
> Note: Jack Kelly's favorite episode, featuring a desperate race between the brothers to cash a check. This is also the only time in the series in which Kelly's character wears a black hat; both brothers wear black hats in the opening sequences until Bart has to give his to a stable operator in order to secure a horse.
The Rivals Bret Bart
> Note: Features Roger Moore playing a non-Maverick character in a sophisticated drawing room comedy based on a play by Richard Brinsley Sheridan originally produced in 1775. Moore would later be a regular series lead as Beau Maverick in season 4. Bart appears only briefly in this episode. The physical resemblance between James Garner and Roger Moore in this episode is striking, and the characters switch identities as part of the storyline.
Duel At Sundown Bret Bart
> Note: Features villainous gunfighter Clint Eastwood in an epic fistfight with Bret. Bart appears only briefly at the end of this episode. Edgar Buchanan plays a close friend of Bret's while Abby Dalton portrays Buchanan's character's fetching daughter.
Yellow River Bart
The Saga of Waco Williams Bret
> Note: This revered episode drew the largest viewership during the series' original run. Louise Fletcher, who won an Oscar as evil Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest eighteen years later, plays the glamorous young leading lady. Wayde Preston, later of Colt .45, played Waco Williams, a character that writer-producer Stephen J. Cannell later proudly purloined as the prototype for "Lance White," Tom Selleck's recurring role on The Rockford Files. Both actors were immediately catapulted by these episodes into their own series, Colt .45 for Preston and Magnum, P.I. for Selleck.
The Brasada Spur Bart
Passage to Fort Doom Bart Cindy Lou
> Note: Cindy Lou Brown's final appearance, although actress Arlene Howell would return to the series to play a different role in the fifth season "Bonanza" spoof.
Two Tickets to Ten Strike Bret
> Note: Features Connie Stevens and Adam West.
Betrayal Bart
The Strange Journey of Jenny Hill Bret Big Mike
> Note: Big Mike McComb's final appearance. Singer Jenny Hill can't figure out why Bret keeps following her from town to town.

[edit] Third season (1959-1960)

Writer/creator Roy Huggins leaves the show, arguably resulting in a general decline in script quality. Garner and Kelly are still the leads, usually appearing separately but sometimes appearing in team-up episodes. Of the recurring characters, only Gentleman Jack Darby returns for season 3, and only for one episode.

Episode Title Stars and Featured Recurring Characters
Bret Maverick Bart Maverick Gentleman Jack Darby
Pappy Bret Bart
> Note: Features dual roles for series stars Garner and Kelly, as 'Pappy' Beaurgard Maverick, and Uncle Bentley Maverick, respectively (the previous generation of Maverick brothers, "Beau and Bent").
Royal Four-Flush Bart
The Sheriff of Duck 'n' Shoot Bret Bart
You Can't Beat the Percentage Bart
The Cats of Paradise Bret
> Note: Bret faces Buddy Ebsen as a trigger-happy gunslinger.
A Tale of 3 Cities Bart
Full House Bret
> Note: With young Joel Grey as Billy the Kid, and Garner performing a bravura pistol-twirling exhibition as part of the plot.
The Lass With the Poisonous Air Bart
The Ghost Soldiers Bret
Easy Mark Bart
A Fellow's Brother Bret Bart
> Note: Bart appears only briefly in this episode.
Trooper Maverick Bart
Maverick Springs Bret Bart
> Note: With Kathleen Crowley as Mae West-like Melanie Blake and Tol Avery as the dulcet-toned villain.
The Goose-Drownder Bart Jack
> Note: Final appearance of Richard Long as Gentleman Jack Darby.
A Cure for Johnny Rain Bret
> Note: Johnny and whiskey don't mix.
The Marquessa Bart
The Cruise of the Cynthia B Bret Bart
> Note: Bart appears only briefly in this riverboat episode.
Maverick and Juliet Bret Bart
> Note: Bret and Bart run afoul of feuding hillbillies.
The White Widow Bart
Guatemala City Bret
> Note: Bret searches for an ex-girlfriend in Guatemala and befriends a young female street urchin.
The People's Friend Bart
> Note: Features Bart as a local politician, a role Jack Kelly would play for real later in life.
A Flock of Trouble Bret
> Note: Bret wins a herd of sheep in a poker game, thinking they're cattle.
The Iron Hand Bart
> Note: Features Robert Redford in a supporting role. A spirited cattle drive adventure.
The Resurrection of Joe November Bret
> Note: A riverboat adventure set primarily in New Orleans during Mardi Gras, with Roxane Berard.
The Misfortune Teller Bret
> Note: Another spoof of Gunsmoke's Marshal Matt Dillon, this time also featuring Kathleen Crowley in her Mae West-like role of Melanie Blake, last seen in "Maverick Springs," which she mentions.
Greenbacks, Unlimited Bret
> Note: With John Dehner in a wondrous comic turn as gang leader Big Ed Murphy, a role that Andrew Duggan would play in a subsequent season.

[edit] Fourth season (1960-1961)

Garner leaves the show in a contract dispute; his one episode this season, also featuring Kelly, is actually a holdover filmed in season 3 (Bret and Bart had appeared in sixteen episodes together over the course of the series by the time Garner departs). Jack Kelly stays on as Bart Maverick, and is joined as alternate lead by Roger Moore as Cousin Beau Maverick. Kelly and Moore are also featured in occasional two-cousin episodes.

Unhappy with the scripts, Moore leaves the show before season's end, remarking that if his stories had been as good as Garner's in the first two seasons, he would have stayed. He had filmed fourteen episodes as Beau. Around the same time, the producers cast Garner lookalike Robert Colbert as brother Brent Maverick; he gets one team-up episode with Bart and one solo adventure before season 4 comes to a close. Brent was dressed identically to Bret, and the studio had originally intended for Bart, Beau, and Brent to all be on the series simultaneously, but Roger Moore had quit by the time Colbert's episodes aired. Publicity photos survive picturing the three of them together, however.

Episode Title Starring
Bart Maverick Beau Maverick Bret Maverick Brent Maverick
The Bundle From Britain Bart Beau
> Note: Roger Moore's first appearance as Cousin Beau.
Hadley's Hunters Bart
> Note: This memorable episode features several ten-second cameos from western leads in other Warner Brothers series, including Lawman, Bronco, Cheyenne, and Sugarfoot. Garner lookalike Robert Colbert also appeared as a key character, wearing a hat similar to Bret's, then was cast later in the season as a new Maverick brother named Brent.
The Town That Wasn't There Beau
Arizona Black Maria Bart
> Note: With a pre-Gilligan Alan Hale, Jr.
Last Wire From Stop Gap Bart Beau
Mano Nera Bart
A Bullet For the Teacher Beau
The Witch of Hound Dog Bart
Thunder From the North Beau
The Maverick Line Bart Bret
> Note: Bret's last appearance, in a memorable two-brother episode filmed the previous season with Buddy Ebsen as a comical highwayman. This was originally slated to be the first episode of the season until Garner was granted his freedom from Warner Bros. by the courts and the studio realized that he wouldn't return to the series, whereupon "The Bundle From Britain" with Roger Moore became the season's first offering instead.
Bolt From the Blue Beau
> Note: Written & directed by Robert Altman, with Sugarfoot's Will Hutchins playing a young lawyer, obviously Sugarfoot but never named.
Kiz Bart Beau
Dodge City or Bust Bart
The Bold Fenian Men Beau
Destination Devil's Flat Bart
A State of Siege Bart
Family Pride Beau
The Cactus Switch Bart Beau
> Note: With Edgar Buchanan (later "Uncle Joe" on Petticoat Junction) as a ruthless villain.
Dutchman's Gold Beau
The Ice Man Bart
Diamond Flush Beau
Last Stop: Oblivion Bart
> Note: With a vicious Don 'Red' Barry and a murderous Buddy Ebsen.
Flood's Folly Beau
Maverick At Law Bart
Red Dog Beau
> Note: Beau's final episode. With John Carradine and Lee Van Cleef.
The Deadly Image Bart
> Note: This is the inevitable episode---a staple in almost every TV series---in which the lead character has an evil exact double played by the same actor, with the same voice.
Triple Indemnity Bart
The Forbidden City Bart Brent
> Note: Garner lookalike Robert Colbert's debut as Brent Maverick. Bart only appears rather briefly at the beginning and end of the episode. When the studio told contract player Colbert that he'd have to play a role patterned so precisely after Garner's, he said, "Put me in a dress and call me Brenda, but don't do this to me."
Substitute Gun Bart
Benefit of the Doubt Brent
> Note: The second and last appearance of Brent Maverick, and his only solo episode.
The Devil's Necklace (Parts I & II) Bart
> Note: The only two-part episode in the series, involving a fort in which everyone but Bart had been killed by Native Americans.

[edit] Fifth season (1961-1962)

Jack Kelly is now the sole star of new Maverick episodes. This season's episodes alternated with reruns of some of Garner's earlier shows (both solo and Garner/Kelly team-ups), but during Kelly's new installments, neither Bret, Beau, nor Brent are ever mentioned by the now-solo Bart Maverick. However, Garner's name once again appears in the opening credits of all the newly produced shows, albeit now with second billing under Kelly.

Episode Title Starring Notes
Bart Maverick
Dade City Dodge Bart
The Art Lovers Bart Bart is sentenced to being a butler after being cheated by an acquaintance.
The Golden Fleecing Bart
Three Queens Full Bart Bonanza spoof with Jim Backus and Arlene Howell, featuring the characters "Moose" and "Small Paul" Wheelwright. Amusingly, Backus plays the patriarch patterned after Lorne Greene's Bonanza role.
A Technical Error Bart
Poker Face Bart
Mr. Muldoon's Partner Bart An Irish-themed leprechaun comedy with Mickey Rooney's lookalike son. The only episode in which Kelly wears his hat on the back of his head for long stretches the way Garner used to.
Epitaph for a Gambler Bart
The Maverick Report Bart
Marshall Maverick Bart
The Troubled Heir Bart
The Money Machine Bart With Andrew Duggan as Big Ed Murphy, a role played in Greenbacks, Unlimited during the third season by John Dehner.
One of Our Trains Is Missing Bart With Kathleen Crowley as Modesty Blaine, a role played in earlier episodes by Mona Freeman.

[edit] Other Maverick sightings
  • Maverick supporting character Samantha Crawford (played by Diane Brewster) first appeared in a 1956 episode of Cheyenne entitled "The Dark Rider". Her name was writer/producer Roy Huggins' mother's maiden name.
  • Alongside many other western stars, James Garner made a quick gag appearance as Bret Maverick in the 1959 Bob Hope western/comedy Alias Jesse James. Due to legal complications and rights-clearance issues, many current prints of this film do not contain Garner's appearance, but it was in the original theatrical cut.
  • James Garner and Jack Kelly appeared as Bret and Bart in the 1978 TV movie The New Maverick, which centered around the adventures of cousin Ben Maverick, played by Charles Frank. Garner has at least as much screen time as Frank, but Kelly only appears for a few memorable minutes near the end.
  • Garner appeared briefly as Bret in the first episode of Young Maverick, a short-lived 1979 TV series continuing the adventures of Ben Maverick (again played by Frank).
  • Garner starred in a sequel TV series from 1981-1982 called Bret Maverick, concerning the further adventures of Bret. Jack Kelly turned up as Bart Maverick in the series' final episode. Garner subsequently admitted that the writing wasn't up to the level of the original series, which was what sunk the show (although ratings were fairly good at the time of cancellation). Huggins, conspicuously uninvolved in this series, said that he thought the problem was that Maverick, always a traveler in the original show, was stuck in a single town for this one. In the never-filmed second season, for which a number of episodes had been actually written and presented to Kelly prior to the cancellation, Bret was going to travel more while Bart managed the bar back in Arizona.
  • Along with many other stars of 50s and 60s TV westerns, Jack Kelly made a brief cameo appearance as Bart Maverick in the 1991 TV movie The Gambler Returns: Luck of the Draw. Kelly died the following year.
  • Garner had a significant supporting role in the 1994 film version of Maverick, which starred Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick and Jodie Foster as a character modeled after Samantha Crawford.
  • "Maverick" brand playing cards have been available in America for decades, and the Dallas Mavericks sports team was named after Garner, one of the original owners.

[edit] See also: Maverick
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