Maverick (1994)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Richard Donner

Writers (WGA):

Roy Huggins (television series Maverick)
William Goldman (written by)

Release Date:

20 May 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Western

Tagline:

The greatest gambler in the West has finally met his match.

Plot:

Bret Maverick, needing money for a poker tournament, faces various comic mishaps and challenges, including a charming woman thief.

Plot Keywords:

Poker | Card | Riverboat | Russian | Gambling

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Mel Gibson	...	Bret Maverick
Jodie Foster	...	Annabelle Bransford
James Garner	...	Marshal Zane Cooper
Graham Greene	...	Joseph
Alfred Molina	...	Angel
James Coburn	...	Commodore Duvall
Dub Taylor	...	Room Clerk
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Matthew Wicker / Eugene, Banker
Paul L. Smith	...	The Archduke
Dan Hedaya	...	Twitchy, Riverboat Poker Player
Dennis Fimple	...	Stuttering
Denver Pyle	...	Old Gambler on Riverboat
Clint Black	...	Sweet-Faced Gambler
Max Perlich	...	Johnny Hardin
Art LaFleur	...	Poker Player (as Art La Fleur)

MPAA:

Rated PG for mild sensuality, language and some western action.

Runtime:

127 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Iceland:L | Australia:M | South Korea:12 | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Chile:TE | Finland:K-10 | Germany:12 | Peru:PT | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Beacon Rock, Columbia River Gorge, Washington, USA

Company:

Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions

Trivia:

Mel Gibson assumes the title character originated by co-star James Garner in "Maverick" (1957) and a slew of miscellaneous episodes from related TV series.

Goofs:

Continuity: As Maverick leaves his room in the saloon he locks the door behind him. When he returns, the opens the door with his hands full and keys in his mouth.

Quotes:

[after a gunfight during the final Poker Game]
Commodore: Cooper, your security isn't worth a damn. *Everybody's* got a gun.

Movie Connections:

References Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Soundtrack:

Amazing Grace

A tale of old west treachery, from the mind of the man who wrote The Princess Bride.

Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner Ah, the old west. Personally, I'm not big into western movies, which would probably explain why I like this movie. It isn't a western. It just happens to take place in the old west. Maverick is the story of a poker player (Gibson) who is going against all odds to get into a championship poker tournament to find out once and for all just how good he really is.

The movie starts with Bret Maverick at the end of a noose, sitting on a horse, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the men who put the noose around his neck in the first place. Then the movie goes into a flashback that tells about the week leading up to this point. A very large chunk of the movie takes place in the flashback.

Bret hasn't had the best of luck over the last week. His horse was stolen and he had to replace it with a donkey, his friends double cross him when it comes to issues of money that they owe him, he nearly gets his butt kicked after a game of poker goes sour, his lucky shirt gets shrunk, and all sorts of other misfortunes. While playing poker he meets Mrs. Annabelle Bransford (Foster), a thief who is also trying to get into the poker tournament. They get stuck riding on the same stagecoach together, along with Marshal Zane Cooper (Garner). True to Bret's luck, the driver has a heart attack and the coach goes out of control. He plays the hero and stops it of course, since he is the hero of the movie, and they continue along on their way to the tournament.

They encounter a group of settlers that have been robbed by Indians, or at least who believe they have been robbed by Indians, and Bret agrees to help them get back their stuff for a cut of the money he'd be recovering for them. He finds the group of whites who were masquerading as Indians and gets the goods from them, and then when they return the goods, real Indians show up, ones that are actually friends with Bret. The encounter between the Indians and the settlers is one of the more hilarious parts of the movie.

After Bret goes along with the Indians and has some interesting encounters with them, we finally catch up to the present, where Bret is dangling from that noose again. He gets out of it and makes his way to the poker tournament.

I'm not going to say whether he wins or loses the tournament, but I'm sure you can guess. But if you haven't seen this movie before, there are probably quite a few things you won't be able to guess, as this movie has many different plot twists and turns along the way. It's absolutely hilarious and in my opinion, a classic.

Bottom Line: 4 out of 4 (own this movie)