Took me longer than an ‘Hour‘ though …
Tag: Hour of the Gun
James Garner Western Filmography …
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)
Gunfight at the OK Corral … Earps doing ‘the walk’ revisited
Earps doing the walk …
Updated graphics
Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, John Hudson, DeForest Kelley
Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957)
Directed by John Sturges
Frank Converse, Sam Melville, Jason Robards, James Garner
Hour of the Gun (1967)
Directed by John Sturges
Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Kirk Russel, Bill Paxton
Tombstone (1993)
Directed by George P. Cosmatos
Dennis Quaid, Michael Madsen, Kevin Costner, Linden Ashby
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Earp’s … doing ‘The Walk’
Epic! The famous ‘Walk’ to the climactic gunfight at OK Corral


‘The Wild Bunch’ … doing ‘the Walk’? You betcha!

Intentional – or not (and I surely believe it was)
Pekinpah’s Wild Bunch do ‘The Walk’
Lancaster as Earp – the ‘Grin’ and the Grim

In rebuilding my ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral‘ page I got to thinking about Lancaster’s portrayal of Wyatt Earp. In earlier films Lancaster had become famous for his trademark smile – which he is said to have referred to as “the grin” – most obvious in ‘Vera Cruz’ (one of My Favorite Westerns). Therefore his stoic and stern portrayal of Wyatt Earp in ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’ is a stark and deliberate contrast. Was Earp really like this? Because this same humorless image of Earp is carried on through most of the other popular Earp Films: ‘Hour of the Gun‘; ‘Tomestone’ and ‘Wyatt Earp’. Only Henry Fonda‘s portrait of Earp in ‘My Darling Clementine‘ (1946) seems to put a more human face on Earp. Director John Sturges (‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’) continued with this strict image of Earp in ‘Hour of the Gun’ (1968) which starred James Garner as Earp. Garner’s ruthless portrayal of Earp is even more striking because of Garner’s usual soft and often comedic persona from the ‘Maverick’ TV series. It is safe to say however, that Sturges wasn’t very concerned with a historical portrayal of Earp (Lancaster doesn’t even sport a mustache) or the gunfight at the OK Corral. But it seems ironic that the film that makes the greatest effort to paint a historical document of Earp (Lawrence Kasdan‘s ‘Wyatt Earp’ starring Kevin Costner as Earp) is probably the least popular of five films.