User Reviews

Hadley's Hunters is a feast of nostalgia today while it was an exciting fun-fest back in 1960. Bart is penniless in a town dominated by Sheriff Hadley and his gang. He embarks on a quest to capture an outlaw and it is in this action that he runs into Dan Troop and his deputy from "Lawman", Tom Brewster the "Sugarfoot" ("Tenderfoot" in Britain), Bronco Lane from his eponymous series, and barely misses Cheyenne Bodie. Each of these is from another Warner Bros. Western. A tearful moment is skilfully created when Bart finds the distinctive gear of the already cancelled "Colt .45". The outlaw is played by the actor who would very briefly play yet another Maverick relative in the dying weeks of the series. In the midst of all this, the story is also very good. Jack Kelly has always been considered a poor shadow of James Garner in this series but in watching a number of episodes lately I find myself enjoying his portrayal of Bart even more than I did when the series was first broadcast. Bart is different and has a different flavour but he is still very much a Maverick, as this episode proves.

Bart Maverick arrives in a town where garrulous Edgar Buchanan has quite a law and order racket going. Buchanan is playing a version of Judge Roy Bean from his former series and he and his gang of deputies commit some crimes and then frame some citizens and collect rewards. Buchanan hopes to become governor on his 'law and order' record. Not a whole lot different from some law and order candidates of more recent vintage.

The latest victim is Robert Colbert and Jack Kelly has to find him or be arrested for a robbery himself.

This episode is distinguished by cameo appearances of several other Warner Brothers western stars as Bart Maverick asks each one has anybody here seen Colbert. Even Edd Byrnes at 77 Cherokee Strip stable. Familiar character actors Robert J. Wilkie, George Kennedy, Herb Vigran, and HowardMcNear are all here.

Best of all is Edgar Buchanan garrulous old conman slick as they come. Just that Bart Maverick is slicker.

Hadley's Hunters aired in Maverick's fourth season. The series was beginning to wear thin as Roger Moore had replaced James Garner. Moore confided that he never felt comfortable. Anyway, Warner Brothers used this episode to promote their other shows. John Russell and Peter Brown from Lawman show up as does Clint Walker from Cheyenne. Even Edd "Kookie" Byrnes is here. Rather than combing his hair, Kookie is seen combing a horse's mane. There was no end to the Maverick series' capacity to make fun of itself. Hadley's deputies commit crimes and blame them on the innocent. Bart is dubbed "Mangler Maverick." Many actors who went on to become famous got their start on Maverick.

Notable entry since it may be first in TV history to plug a number of the studio's other series into the story-line. It's done humorously, of course, again showing the possibilities opened up by the fresh tongue-in-cheek style. Cameos are from John Russell & Peter Brown (Lawman), Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), Ty Hardin (Bronco), Clint Walker (Cheyenne), and straying from his non-Western preserve at 77 Sunset Strip, Edd (Kookie) Byrnes aping his hit single "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb". None of the first four came close to equaling Maverick's great success, and all five were produced by Warner Bros. In passing, note that both Russell and Byrnes keep a rather awkward silence during their cameos. I expect that was because their contract requirements demanded a much larger fee for speaking in addition to simply appearing.

Good episode, as reviewer Skoyles states, with exceptionally fine supporting cast. Note also in passing, how adroitly the thuggish Robert Wilke slips a Kelly punch thrown at his chin in a well-choreographed fight scene near the end. I hope there's a place in Hollywood heaven for unsung athletes like Wilke. One other point that sort of surfaces here. There was a danger, once the series took up humor and satire, that the results could cross the line into plain silliness. I don't think it happens here, but at times it comes close. Anyway, the entry may not be classic (no con-woman or elaborate con-job), but it's still a fun look at Warner's TV stable, circa 1960.