Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Brand: Warner Manufacturing
Model: 24230910
Maverick: The Complete First SeasonJames Garner shows how the West was won -- in a card game! -- in the comic adventures of Maverick. Wisecracking ladies' man Bret Maverick (Garner) and his more serious brother Bart (Jack Kelly) -- two handsome bachelors on the loose in the Wild West -- have more success at the game of poker than the game of love. Yet they keep trying their luck in one frontier outpost after another. And though cardsharps Bret and Bart would just as soon slip out of town quietly as face a gunman, when it's time for a showdown, don't bet against a Maverick.]]> One of the most consistently entertaining shows from Television's Golden Age, this witty meta-Western has lost little of its oomph over the years, thanks to the easy, slightly amoral charm of James Garner, as a hero whose speed on the draw isn't half as important as what's going on underneath his hat. Created by Roy Huggins (The Fugitive), the series follows the adventures of Bret Maverick (Garner), a professional gambler who travels across the plains and prairies looking for the next big game. As the show's popularity increased, the saga expanded with the introduction of Bret's brother Bart (Jack Kelly), a slightly more conservative figure who nonetheless shares his sibling's knack for capitalizing on a double-deal. Admittedly, this introductory season does take a while to distinguish itself from the run-of-the-mill oater, with the first half-dozen episodes functioning as more-or-less traditional genre fare. (The combination of Garner and legendary director Budd Boetticher, however, makes viewing far from a chore.) Once it finds its groove, though, look out, as the show settles into an amiable blend of comedy and action that has rarely been equaled. Throughout these 27 episodes, the wandering nature of the premise allows Maverick to amble into an impressive variety of situations, including ghost stories, adventures at sea (the Bret and Bart combo episode "The Wrecker," based on a story by Robert Louis Stevenson), tense saloon standoffs ("Th...
