This episode of Maverick finds James Garner in one of those Kansas cow towns
where the herds from Texas come up to meet the railroads in the 1870. It's a
plot situation for a gazillion westerns on the big and small screen.
Anyway the cowhands play a lousy game of poker which is where Garner cleans up. But here Marshal Will Thorson whacks one of them with a gun butt before he can do Maverick any harm. Only he whacks too hard the cowboy dies.
Which leads to the gunslinger who is on the trail drive as a ramrod gunning down Thorson. After that the situation deteriorates until the inevitable showdown. Veteran character actor Mort Mills is a man eager to show off his skill a gunhand. He's a mean sadistic sort, no kind of hero.
James Garner is grimly cynical about the whole affair. In the end he does the heroic thing. You'll have to watch the episode to se what happens.
This town sure could have used John Wayne for a marshal.
Anyway the cowhands play a lousy game of poker which is where Garner cleans up. But here Marshal Will Thorson whacks one of them with a gun butt before he can do Maverick any harm. Only he whacks too hard the cowboy dies.
Which leads to the gunslinger who is on the trail drive as a ramrod gunning down Thorson. After that the situation deteriorates until the inevitable showdown. Veteran character actor Mort Mills is a man eager to show off his skill a gunhand. He's a mean sadistic sort, no kind of hero.
James Garner is grimly cynical about the whole affair. In the end he does the heroic thing. You'll have to watch the episode to se what happens.
This town sure could have used John Wayne for a marshal.
