Maverick

Maverick (Mel Gibson) is a charming gambler who needs $25k to enter a poker tournament with at least half million at stake. It's happening in a few days on a steamboat run by Commodore Duvall (James Coburn). Maverick is a quick draw and one of the best card player. He encounters other characters like the macho Angel (Alfred Molina), the sexy con Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), and Marshal Zane Cooper (James Garner). The tournament is not just about the money but a challenge to his abilities. It's one misadventure after another as he tries to gather the money together.

It's a good fun western that has a nice comfortable charm. To emphasize that, director Richard Donner got 'Lethal Weapon' cohort Danny Glover to play a cameo as a bank robber. By no means is this a gut busting comedy. The best thing is the great chemistry between the film's trio.

Maverick is one most favourite Mel Gibson idol, and is truly an American icon. In the western/comedy genre movies of all time cinema history, Maverick comes anyhow in the top-5 list. After the several failures of Red Kit(Lucky Luke)'s cinema adaptation between 1991-1993; Roy Huggins's "Maverick TV-series" of 1950s' had been enriched with the Hanna&Barbera vision of Lucky Luke(1984 TV-cartoon series) to integrate the whole concept of writing a new modern day Maverick by the writer William Goldman. There are a bunch of similarities between these two Western legends, but still Maverick's story was unique and impressive. Here in my review I would much rather talk about this movie itself, instead of its production values. Anyway, if you would like to share your opinions with me and everybody else, visit my message board topic with the title "40 factors that Lucky Luke and Maverick have in common".

Director Donner has preferred a left-in-the-middle Adventure type opening right away in the first scene, as if it's a continuation to Maverick's adventures. His antagonist, performed by British actor Alfred Molina, has left him in a trapped dilemma; that appears to our eyes as Maverick is just about to die. As the widely known old saying says: "A person recalls his life just before he dies" , Maverick starts to tell his story to sum up the reason how he ended up being in that deadly dilemma. Under his narration, we're welcomed to a heart-warmingly told weirdo story. He's been collecting money to enroll in a Poker tournament and travelling the country through several adventures.

What makes Maverick memorable and unique in style is first of all, the mood. There is a political film-noir view that we get every time we meet a new character. Every single character, even the cameos in this movie is so selfish, rebel and against the law. Robbery, racketeering, murder, gambling, bribery, deception is a must-have character profile for all. The sheriff of a town is in debt with fugitives. A credible police chief steals a $500,000 poker tournament prize from his son. A son of a police chief is a bandit. Well, his father known as the most credible police chief in Western America; and he even steals money from his own single child son. Even the most likable Jodie Foster's Annabelle character tries to steal money from everywhere, she fools every man to steal their wallet; even from a dead old poor wagon rider It's very absurd and reasonable at the same time that this is the greatest dreamy Western adventureland ever that the audience is witnessed.

After this great accomplishment, who cares if there are gaps in the plot? Indians might be so friendly(especially after Dances With Wolves, all the American Indians in Western movies somehow has become very friendly). All the bandits might be sappy. Set Designs might be cheap and distracting. Audio and sound effects might be the lowest quality. But still with craggy zigzagged narrated style of editing works perfect, and thus the film always rises unexpected incidents and surprises. The zigzags of the storytelling keeps the viewers' attention on trying to find the reasons why each character chooses to do what they do. Cinematography and directing of photography are also admirable. The sceneries are taken in rivers of Arizona, uplands of Oregon, canyons of Utah, prairies of Washington, Yosemite National Park of California. It feels like a falsely guided visit to Western states; Maverick says that he's going to the poker tournament in New York, while in the actual Earth geography he's in Yosemite. This film was nominated only in Costume Design category at the Academy Awards, but instead Hugo Weaving & Guy Pearce's Australian desert comedy won it.

Maverick can be seen entirely by everyone. Mostly with humour and film-noir comedy of Old West, it's also worth your time for Poker/Road Trip Sceneries/Adventure/Cowboy Gunfights/Living with the Indians segments.

A fun movie that doesn't try to be anything more than what it is -- an amiable comedy.

Mel Gibson can actually manage to be tolerable when he's playing charming, which he does here. James Garner is perfectly cast for quite obvious reasons. And it's nice to see Jodie Foster lighten up and play a feminine character for once -- up to that point, her resume had been quite serious.

For some strange reason, I distinctly remember Siskel and Ebert being infuriated that this film won an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design. Ah, to live such a charmed life that something like that constitutes a major gripe.....

Grade: B

This is among Mel's best. It has absolutely everything you could want for a hit. Bert...I mean Bret...is a multi-dimensional character that changes from humorous to serious seamlessly. Jodie Foster is an excellent faux-Southern belle. And James Garner plays the veteran lawman to the T.

This movie has humor, but not gross-out humor. The tongue-in-cheek, James Bond/Lethal Weapon kind of humor. Like Miss Bransford looking in both of their tubs to "compare" the two, without ever saying anything. It has decent action and suspense, and the last 15 minutes has more plot turns that most mysteries.

This is one of my personal favorites, one I can watch over and over again. I believe this gets none of the credit it deserves. It seems to have a stigma because most movies based on TV shows (i.e. Beverly Hillbillies) well, suck.

This is one of those rare movies you can watch over and over again without getting tired of it. Forget what some people have said about Jodie Foster, she is absolutely perfect as the apparently-dumb-but-smarter-than-she-looks blonde, and the chemistry between her and Mel Gibson is superb. Also perfect are James Garner as the marshal, Graham Greene as the harassed native chief, and Alfred Molina (the Englishman who is so good as an Iranian in Not Without My Daughter and a Cuban in The Perez family) as the "Spaniard". The writing is simply brilliant, one of William Goldman's best - how anyone could describe it as "virtually plotless" just staggers the imagination. The direction and cinematography are superb. A special treat is the Lethal Weapon reprise with Danny Glover.