Maverick (1994)

Mel Gibson can some times irritate me. He's just in your face too much. In this movie however, he's laid back and charming. I'm a fan of westerns, usually those heavy handed types like "The Searchers"and "Little Big Man". I was surprised how much I liked this light-hearted romp through the American West. The movie brings to mind "Blazing Saddles" and "Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid". In fact the screen writer wrote the latter film, though this one fells a bit more like "The Sting" with all its cons and scams.

I also enjoyed the cinematography and locations. The movie goes from Lake Powell to Owens Valley to Yosemite and a beautiful river boat in Oregon. I may be a bit biased towards this film because I walked the set in Yosemite Valley, but I'm still giving it an 8 / 10.

Fmovies: A fun movie that doesn't try to be anything more than what it is -- an amiable comedy.

Mel Gibson can actually manage to be tolerable when he's playing charming, which he does here. James Garner is perfectly cast for quite obvious reasons. And it's nice to see Jodie Foster lighten up and play a feminine character for once -- up to that point, her resume had been quite serious.

For some strange reason, I distinctly remember Siskel and Ebert being infuriated that this film won an Academy Award nomination for Best Costume Design. Ah, to live such a charmed life that something like that constitutes a major gripe.....

Grade: B

Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner Ah, the old west. Personally, I'm not big into western movies, which would probably explain why I like this movie. It isn't a western. It just happens to take place in the old west. Maverick is the story of a poker player (Gibson) who is going against all odds to get into a championship poker tournament to find out once and for all just how good he really is.

The movie starts with Bret Maverick at the end of a noose, sitting on a horse, out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by the men who put the noose around his neck in the first place. Then the movie goes into a flashback that tells about the week leading up to this point. A very large chunk of the movie takes place in the flashback.

Bret hasn't had the best of luck over the last week. His horse was stolen and he had to replace it with a donkey, his friends double cross him when it comes to issues of money that they owe him, he nearly gets his butt kicked after a game of poker goes sour, his lucky shirt gets shrunk, and all sorts of other misfortunes. While playing poker he meets Mrs. Annabelle Bransford (Foster), a thief who is also trying to get into the poker tournament. They get stuck riding on the same stagecoach together, along with Marshal Zane Cooper (Garner). True to Bret's luck, the driver has a heart attack and the coach goes out of control. He plays the hero and stops it of course, since he is the hero of the movie, and they continue along on their way to the tournament.

They encounter a group of settlers that have been robbed by Indians, or at least who believe they have been robbed by Indians, and Bret agrees to help them get back their stuff for a cut of the money he'd be recovering for them. He finds the group of whites who were masquerading as Indians and gets the goods from them, and then when they return the goods, real Indians show up, ones that are actually friends with Bret. The encounter between the Indians and the settlers is one of the more hilarious parts of the movie.

After Bret goes along with the Indians and has some interesting encounters with them, we finally catch up to the present, where Bret is dangling from that noose again. He gets out of it and makes his way to the poker tournament.

I'm not going to say whether he wins or loses the tournament, but I'm sure you can guess. But if you haven't seen this movie before, there are probably quite a few things you won't be able to guess, as this movie has many different plot twists and turns along the way. It's absolutely hilarious and in my opinion, a classic.

Bottom Line: 4 out of 4 (own this movie)

Maverick fmovies. Maverick is just a good time movie with Mel Gibson doing a great job in the title role. James Garner as the elder,who used the name Zane cooper,was flawless, and Jodie Foster played a great part too. It's a great escape movie for 2 hours and filled with just as much comedy as it is with action. A great film to watch-Magictrain

Always thought this was great. Makes me laugh no end. When he lets himself go, Mel Gibson is funny, and this pastiche of an almost forgotten TV cowboy show - complete with its original star cast in the main supporting role - is comedy gold. Better yet, this is Jodie Foster's only real brush with the comedy genre and she proves so adept at it that you can't help feeling this route would have been better than Nell and Anna And The King. The ending piles twist upon twist, and it's one of those movies where everyone involved is clearly having such a great time that you do too.

I Recently saw this film for the second time and the film is really amusing.

Mel Gibson plays his roll terrific and the film has a great number of unexpected developments.

The film is really enjoyable and i think the nomination for the Oscar is justified.

I think that the majority of people agree with me on this and that this film has become a classic over the years.

The story is surprising and unexpected developments,the action and humor make it that this film has become such a great popularity.