Producer Roy Huggins apparently intended this to be the viewer's first introduction to Bret Maverick. Warner Brothers decided to put on the lighter and weaker episode of "War of the Silver Kings" before broadcasting this one. I would say that Huggins understood the character and series needs more than the execs at Warner Brothers.
The opening shots of the lone rider Maverick being chased by a posse of fifty men shows the usual great sense of humor that the series always had, but here the humor is quickly balanced by more suspense and sharp and surprising plot twists.
It is also enhanced with a wonderful acting performance by Karen Steele as Molly Gleason, a woman who can't decide between Maverick and banker-criminal(and future Mannix actor) Mike Connors. It is rare that a woman character gets to be as indecisive as here. Both Maverick and the audience isn't sure if she's ruthlessly evil or just helplessly caught in a bad scheme by her lover Connors to rob a bank. It could go either way right up the very end.
Usually James Garner is better looking than the women he meets in the series and they're not really a match for him acting wise. However, here Steele looks more than a little like Marilyn Monroe and acts with Marilyn's kind of heart-on-the-sleeve vulnerability that was popular at the time. She actually out-acts Garner in a couple of scenes. Catch the wonderful bit at the end where Maverick says that he has come to say goodbye and she just reacts by immediately and coldly saying "Goodbye." Her contempt for Maverick is expressed clearly and strongly in that one word.
Steele is strikingly out of place in the small western town, as Maverick repeatedly tells her.
Besides Steele's outstanding performance, watch for Peter Brown's quick appearances as a deputy. He went on to star in a great Western series "Lawman" the following year, where he also played a deputy. He starred in a second excellent Western series called "Laredo" in the 1960's, which was probably the closest series to "Maverick" in spirit.
Again, I see this as the great pilot episode that introduces us to the best Western series and character ever on television.
The opening shots of the lone rider Maverick being chased by a posse of fifty men shows the usual great sense of humor that the series always had, but here the humor is quickly balanced by more suspense and sharp and surprising plot twists.
It is also enhanced with a wonderful acting performance by Karen Steele as Molly Gleason, a woman who can't decide between Maverick and banker-criminal(and future Mannix actor) Mike Connors. It is rare that a woman character gets to be as indecisive as here. Both Maverick and the audience isn't sure if she's ruthlessly evil or just helplessly caught in a bad scheme by her lover Connors to rob a bank. It could go either way right up the very end.
Usually James Garner is better looking than the women he meets in the series and they're not really a match for him acting wise. However, here Steele looks more than a little like Marilyn Monroe and acts with Marilyn's kind of heart-on-the-sleeve vulnerability that was popular at the time. She actually out-acts Garner in a couple of scenes. Catch the wonderful bit at the end where Maverick says that he has come to say goodbye and she just reacts by immediately and coldly saying "Goodbye." Her contempt for Maverick is expressed clearly and strongly in that one word.
Steele is strikingly out of place in the small western town, as Maverick repeatedly tells her.
Besides Steele's outstanding performance, watch for Peter Brown's quick appearances as a deputy. He went on to star in a great Western series "Lawman" the following year, where he also played a deputy. He starred in a second excellent Western series called "Laredo" in the 1960's, which was probably the closest series to "Maverick" in spirit.
Again, I see this as the great pilot episode that introduces us to the best Western series and character ever on television.