Maverick

Warner | minutes | | | Standard DVD reviewed by: Matt Brighton

Richard Donner and Mel Gibson are almost synonymous with the words "Box Office". Together they have teamed up for the "Lethal Weapon" series, "Maverick" and "Conspiracy Theory" to name a few. It's a great combination of efforts and it's good when an actor and a director know they work well toghether and give the public what it wants. That's the story with Maverick. Maverick, as everyone knows, is a remake of the old television show by the same name. With James Garner in the lead (in the TV show), Mel Gibson takes the hat in the theatrical version, but Garner plays a supporting role and makes it all the more fun to watch. And that's the key word...fun! It's evident that the entire cast had a good time shooting (no pun intended) this movie, and in several scenes you can just tell that they have been laughing and joking up a storm. It's great to see such seasoned and good actors as Jodie Foster, Mel Gibson and James Garner yucking it up and having a good time, all the while keeping us entertained, maing us laugh and still manage to earn $100 million in the process!

Maverick begins with a scene that occurs later on in the movie, and it's Maverick (Mel Gibson) who tells us how he got in the predictament that he did. The plot line is simple enough...Maverick wants to enter the Three Rivers poker championship to see if he truly is the best poker player around. The purse is $500,000 and that's enough to draw a lot of talent, but it's more than the money, he wants to see how good he really is. One problem, though, he's about three thousand dollars short and is trying to collect old debts so he can have the entry fee. Along the way, he meets a nice young woman named Annable Bransford, a con artist claiming she's from Mobile, Alabama. The two end up on a wagon together and head off, along with Marshall Zane Cooper (James Garner), to enter the poker championship.

Now there was that issue of the first scene, see, Maverick is on a horse with a noose around his neck and a few cowboys are trying to make sure that he doesn't see the light of day, let alone the poker championship. Well, we can't have our hero die can we? Of course not! A certain Spaniard (Alfred Molina) is paid to make sure that he doesn't make it to the poker tournament, but of course fails. All in all, Maverick is a very entertaining movie to watch, and though it wasn't that critically acclaimed, I find myself popping it into the DVD player on quite a few occasions. Look for cameos by Danny Glover (of course), Corey Feldman and Graham Green is hilarious as the Indian chief. Overall, Maverick is fun to watch, over and over again.

As with most of their releases, Warner has included a full frame version and an anamophic transfer that looks very, very good. The image is shown at it's 2.35:1 ratio and it looks spendid. You wouldn't think that there would be a lot of scenery in a Western, but Maverick is suprisingly scenic. Sunsets, mountain tops and desert plains are only some of the wonderful shots that you'll come to see in this film. A very nice transfer, I was duly impressed.

Although Maverick was not remixed for Dolby Digital 5.1 sound (and I feel it could have been, very easily) it still sounds pretty good. Most of the movie is dialogue driven, but there are few shootouts that sound very nice and even a few surround effects (those horses galloping sound great) that will suprise you. Overall, a nice mix that suprised even me. It's too easy to be spoiled by 5.1 sound!

As with most Warner titles, there are Production Notes and Cast Bios with a trailer and something that I classified as a "featurette" which is mainly bits and pieces of the story in different parts. Still, it's nice to see a little something included on a disc that could have easily sold itself.