Movies - Maverick

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	Movies - Maverick

Maverick is a 1994 comedy Western movie, based on the 1950s television series Maverick, and created by Roy Huggins. It was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman.

Synopsis

The story is about a wisecracking gambler 'Bret Maverick' (Mel Gibson), who is attempting to raise $25,000, the entry money needed for a major poker contest. Besides wanting to win the poker championship for the money, he also wants to prove, once and for all, that he is 'the best'. However, complications keep getting in the way. The movie opens with him being held on a noose tied to a tree (slightly reminiscient of the opening for the Clint Eastwood movie Hang 'Em High
) and supported only by his horse, Ollie. The bad guy, Angel (played by Alfred Molina) tosses a sack with a snake in front of the horse, with the intention that the horse will get spooked and run away, causing Maverick to hang.

The movie then flashes back to a week before, where Maverick attempts to collect on old debts, including one from a banker friend who promises him 'his last dollar', before being robbed at gunpoint by Danny Glover (in an obvious reference to their Lethal Weapon
movies, the two stare at each other for a moment, then shake their heads. When Danny Glover's character successfully robs the bank, he runs out muttering the line "I'm getting too old for this shit", again in reference to his character of Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon movies).

In town for the night, he encounters Angel (at this point, not taking notice of him, except that he 'smells of refried beans') and Mrs. Annabelle Bransford (played by Jodie Foster) in a poker game. He enters the table by promising to lose for one hour, then proceeds to start winning hand after hand after the hour is up, having used the time he was losing to notice the other player's 'tells' (their unconscious reactions when they have a good or bad hand). When he wins money from one of the players, the player asks for his money back, arguing that his 'mind wasn't on the game'. Maverick asked what the players name was and it is revealed that the player is John Wesley Hardin. Maverick, unnerved, gets up from the table too quickly, causing Hardin to leap to his feet and reach for his gun. At this point, Maverick shows off his superior gun-drawing skills, but admits he is a coward and has no desire for anyone to get killed. Later in the game, Angel accuses Maverick of cheating and is about to fight him when a bunch of toughs come in, looking for a fight with Maverick. Maverick takes the fight outside and proceeds to beat the toughs, thus also proving his strength and ferociousness.

Impressed with him, Mrs. Anabelle Bransford comes up to Maverick's room and starts to seduce him (pointing out later that "There never has been a Mister Bransford, and there never will be"), then attempts to walk out - but not before Maverick notes that she tried lifting his wallet. The next day, Maverick catches a coach with Mrs. Bransford and Marshall Zane Cooper (James Garner, who played Maverick in the original tv series). Back in town, Angel finds out that the fight from the night before was fixed (Maverick paid off the four thugs $100), and this enfuriates him. He also gets a telegram from someone, informing him not to let Maverick enter the game.

Back at the coach, the coach driver dies, forcing Maverick, Cooper and Mrs. Bransford to walk on foot through Indian territory. They encounter a tribe, and Maverick agrees to act as interpreter with the chief. As it turns out, the chief, Joseph (played by Graham Greene), is a friend of Maverick's and also speaks English, but agrees to make it seem like Maverick has to accompany them (since they were walking 'on sacred burial grounds') as a sacrifice, so that Maverick can take his leave of the others. At the camp, Joseph reveals that he doesn't have the money he owes Maverick, but comes up with a plan to scam a Russian Archduke out of $2000 (of which Maverick gets half, the amount Joseph owed him).

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Movies - Maverick

Synopsis

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