Likable reminder of the days of the true movie star

Were there many people clamoring for a movie based on the old TV show Maverick? Did anyone who bought a ticket for this even watch the old show or know it existed when this came out? I didn’t. Nope. Instead this is one of those movies that seems built on star power and the lead is just flashing a megawatt mischievous smile and infectious energy the entire time. It’s not hard to believe Mel Gibson was ever this likable, at least for me. It feels like a million years ago but I feel fortunate enough to have witnessed the last couple decades of the true movie star.


He plays a character by the name of Brett Maverick, a cocky card shark trying to earn enough money for entry fee into a big riverboat tournament. First appearing in town riding on a Jackass, he’s a man who trouble seems to follow, though he is more of a wise-ass talker than he is a fighter, the latter of which he’ll only do if all his other wits fail him.


It’s in one particular town where he meets the beguiling Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster), a woman also trying to get to the tournament. There is much about (Miss, Mrs., or Ms?) Bransford which is more than meets the eye, which Maverick learns the hard way. From there, the two seem always on guard around each other. We never know if they’re going to fall in love, stab each other in the back, or do some combination of the two. What is known is that they each test each other’s competitive streak.


Also on the way to the tournament is Zane Cooper (played by Original Maverick James Garner). He’s a lawman working security- a folksy, honorable, sanctimonious type who believes Maverick a cad while not being able to see beneath Bransford’s lovely gentleness. That he seems to hold back when danger is brewing also sets off alarm bells about him.


Along the way the three are commissioned to help some women get back their stolen money, tangle with a dangerous gambler (Alfred Molina) trying to keep Maverick from the game, and meet up with Maverick’s Indian friend (Graham Greene), who spends his time marketing western folklore to Russian oligarchs. Then there’s the Commodore (James Coburn), who runs the Riverboat tournament, throwing any and all overboard who disobey his rules while always having an ace up his own sleeve.


For a movie about a poker player, you don’t really get much of the game and when you do, it seems more based in fantasy than any sort of reality. Instead “Maverick” is like “Butch Cassidy” meets “The Sting”. Here’s an old west that owes less to gunfights and brawls as to one-upsmanship. In a place where liars, cheats, and bandits are all trying to make it, it’s important to have an ace in the hole and the movie as a whole becomes almost a Russian nesting doll of deceptions, schemes, and double crosses. It’s usually as much fun to try and figure out where the next surprise is going to come from as it is seeing these characters pull another one over on their unsuspecting prey, having a hell of a time as they do it.


Gibson chief among them. Playing a bit of a goof, a charismatic schemer and cheeky scoundrel, he’s never less than a good-humored, dashing hero and director Richard Donner knows how to use him, whether in scenes where he just talks, or in superbly over the top action moments like a runaway stagecoach scene where Gibson is dragged behind, pulling his way to the top and ahead to try and slow down the horses.


And Foster makes for a perfect foil for him. She’s frisky as well as underhandedly funny and it’s fun to watch the two bicker and spat. Garner in the more mannered role also gets some good shots in here too. The film is a little long at over two hours and the last couple of double crosses seem there pretty much just to do them, but “Maverick” is as likable and winning a comedy as you’re likely to find. It’s a testament to how bright Gibson’s star quality really was.