Maverick (1994)

Elevator Pitch: Bret Maverick, a gambler and con man, is trying to raise the entry stake for a big time poker match on a river boat and is calling in some debts and is gambling in a dusty riverside town. He takes up with a female poker player and the marshall who is to oversee the tournament and with some difficulty they get to the tournament, their progress impeded by bandits and Indians. Once there they must participate in the event. Will Bret succeed against the odds?

Content: The male and female poker players bicker, and at one point seem to have sex, but are hidden from view. There is a lot of smoking and drinking. There are a number of gunfights and a number of robberies, and at times it is difficult to tell who has got the money. Some set pieces including a spectacular runaway stage coach, some atmospheric scenes on the riverside and then the river boat and the final poker games, which you can follow even if you can’t play poker.

A View: This outing was well liked by the critics and even more by the general public, who back in 1994 probably still remembered the TV series, and the running  joke that James Garner, now playing  Marshall Cooper, was the original Maverick. Watch for the guy who makes it to the front pair of the six horses pulling the runaway stage at full gallop. Actually I never stopped smiling it was so much fun, in part because I remember the TV series, so if you like light hearted westerns definitely worth the cost of a download.

Additional Info: I have identified one or two of the very well known people who appeared uncredited in this film, but there were a lot more, particularly old TV stars and country and western singers.