User Reviews

One thing that the Mavericks were guilty of is that they occasionally let the male member get them in trouble. More damsels in distress like Joanna Barnes in this episode led a Maverick astray than anything else. Sometimes a sense of gallantry is misplaced.

Such like Barnes who gave James Garner the come on where John Russell in prison stripes exchanges that for Maverick gambling attire. James Garner is quite the sight going around town in those stripes.

There's $120,000.00 in stolen loot at stake and also in the running is knife throwing Richard Reeves and farmer John Qualen who's farm it's buried on, but he doesn't know where. Can't believe he couldn't find it either.

Best in the episode is brassy Claire Carlton who is saloonkeeper and acting deputy sheriff. She takes Garner in custody and for once Maverick's gift of gab fails him.

Watch this one for Carlton, wouldn't want to mess with this lady.

Lonesome is the name of the town. During a losing streak, Bret encounters a lady with a hat box and then gets knocked in the head. Being knocked in the head must have been common in the 1870s. Returning the hat, Bret stumbles onto robber Maxwell, who steals his clothes. Bret is a curious sight walking down Main Street in prison stripes. He washes dishes to earn enough to get into a poker game, then goes after the convict who stole his clothes. A funny scene is Bret under the bed in which Maxwell is napping. Buried money, $120,000! Bret and Maxwell have their reunion at the Mills place. Old man Mills thinks the money is his because it was buried on his property.

At this point in its progression, the series is beginning to hit stride. Bret has developed into a tongue-in-cheek character whose humorous foibles allow the writers to create many more entertaining situations than if he were the usual infallible good-guy. In short, it's okay to make him the butt of the humor. His dignity depends on quick wits and charm, not on a fast-draw. For example, note how the kid in the chair beats Bret at his own negotiating game, or how Bret gets flattened by the sagging bed springs, or how he crawls around the floor to retrieve a hat box. He even eyes a woman's dress to escape the hotel but decides it's too small!

Now these sorts of embarrassments were never seen in other Westerns of the day. Much too undignified for the macho heroes. Yet they are precisely the sort of humorous snags that distinguish this series and make Bret so engaging. Note also, the failure with the jailhouse keys-- another cliché debunked. On the other hand, the episode's plot does little to advance the light-hearted spirit, while the melodramatic climax suggests the writers have still not figured out how to avoid the usual shoot-out cliché. That , I think, would come in time.