I thought it would be rather easy to throw something together for James Garner. Not so !! Just the Maverick stuff itself seemed like a small industry – with TV Series, spin-offs, Movies, Mini Series … etc.
Let’s get started:
Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend with Randolph Scott / 1957
Garner’s first Western. Pretty well any Western with Randolph Scott is either very watchable or Classic.
Scott and Garner
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Maverick / TV Show
“Who is the tall dark stranger there … ??”
Why it’s Maverick of course ! Most likely Bret Maverick (James Garner)
After Garner left the show during the 3rd Season …
It just wasn’t the same.
Maverick – in Film and TV – went through a few permutations and convolutions over the years and will need to be covered in more depth later.
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Garner made a cameo appearance in the Bob Hope Western Comedy
Alias Jesse James.
Couldn’t find any pics of James so I’m inserting Gloria Talbott instead. Yeah.
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Duel at Diablo: Garner with Sydney Poitier / 1966
I don’t know much about this movie .. will have to catch up.
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One of My Favorites: Hour of the Gun / 1967
Garner is scary stern as Wyatt Earp
and Robards is brilliant as Doc Holliday.
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Support Your Local Sheriff / 1966
Garner’s comic talents were exploited often:
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Sledge / 1970
What happens when you mix spaghetti with beef?
You get Sledge.
Some decent people in here.
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More comedy …
Support Your Local Gunfighter / 1971
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Disney calls:
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Not everything worked:
Young Maverick – TV Show / 1979
Starred Charles Frank as Ben Maverick. Really.
Lasted 8 episodes.
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Then … suddenly:
Murphy’s Romance / 1985
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Was this a Western ? I believe I spot a car in there.
Garner as legendary lawman Wyatt Earp (again) and Bruce Willis as legendary Western actor Tom Mix,
but I’m not sure.
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Maverick – the movie / 1994
Garner, Gibson and Jodie Foster and James Coburn and Graham Greene
and others …
Garner appears as the much rumoured “Pappy” …
Gibson reprises Bret.
A fun movie – good cast
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Then …
Streets of Laredo – 3 part mini-series … also a Great Cast:
Garner, Sissy Spacek, Sam Shepard, Ned Beatty, Randy Quaid,
Wes Studi, Charles Martin Smith …
and Alexis Cruz does a good job as the villain.
______________________Shepard, Garner, Spacek_____________________
will cover this better – later.
Whew !!!
Upcoming:
Maverick: The TV Show
Hour of the Gun
Streets of Laredo
Related articles
- Murphy’s Romance (1985) … (myfavoritewesterns.com)
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I just read his autobiography. He’s got a huge body of work both TV and movies — I’m not surprised you couldn’t fit it in. If you haven’t read the book, I think you’ll enjoy it. He goes into every movie he ever made and most of the TV stuff too. It’s a good read and especially interesting for those of us who like his work.
Thank you. I’d like to that.
If you look at Syd’s bio on Wikipedia his list of Awards is staggering – including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
You know what Rick? I don’t recall ever seeing it. Another large gap in my Westerns education. I mean, anything with Sydney and James … you gotta see.- and you’d think it should be pretty good with those 2. So I’m going to have to find that.
One thing I find very annoying is this: on TV they show the same movies over and over and over. And others? they never show them. I don’t recall ever seeing Duel at Diablo being played on TV – unless TCM showed it at some point. ??
By this time in his career Sydney must have established some popularity for himself and become a bonafide Movie Star – rather than just an excellent actor.
Films that exploit Star Power are not always a good thing though – such as The Long Ships (1964) – with Portier and Richard Widmark (another great actor). Remember that? Scary bad. This was made just before Sydney made Lilies of the Field though – so he more than redeemed himself.
Duel at Diablo is one of my favorites.