War of the Silver Kings

In this inaurgural episode of Maverick, James Garner rides in dirty and dissheveled but heads to the best hotel in town and asks that a sealed envelope rather bulging with contents be deposited in the hotel safe. That makes the clerk give him a room. When he returns in the attire we know him best in Maverick for it's off to the poker game where cattle baron Edmund Lowe is king at the table.

Some movie fans and some Mark Twain fans will not fail to notice the story the Million Pound Note, written by Twain and made into a film starring Gregory Peck is closely parallel to this story.

Garner is not quite the conman we grew to love on Maverick. It seems like he was feeling for the character. The episode is directed by Budd Boetticher who did so many Randolph Scott features.

It was an interesting beginning.

Like a rider coming over the horizon, already we see signs of the classic Maverick to come. It's a battle of wits all the way as Bret takes on the town tyrant Phineas King (great name). After donning his trademark dude's outfit, Bret locks horns with the smooth-talking slickster in what else but a crooked poker game. After that the shenanigans fly thick and fast right up to the cleverly satisfying climax involving ownership of a silver lode.

It's a fine cast for this first episode—silent screen star Edmund Lowe as King, muscular roughneck Leo Gordon as Big Mike, and familiar face John Litel as the judge. Look fast too for cowboy star Bob Steele in a supporting role. And I especially like someone's judgment in casting a plain-faced Carla Merey as the girl, instead of the usual glamorous type. Also, cult director Buddy Boetticher is in charge of the action. Clearly, producer and Hollywood veteran Roy Huggins knew what he was doing in putting this together.

Garner plays it pretty straight except for a couple of brief moments when the classic character peeks out, like from under the bed covers as the girl leaves his room. However, this trademark humorous side would take a little time to develop. But it's not hard to see even from this first entry that something special is on the way.