User Reviews

This particular Maverick episode just may be Jack Kelly's finest hour in his Maverick stories. There are elements of a pair of Glenn Ford big screen westerns woven into the plot of this story, Jubal and The Violent Men.

Bart wanders into a one horse hole in the wall town where the leading citizen is rancher Wayne Morris, a bluff, hale and hearty guy who is popular with all except his wife Patricia Barry. She puts up a respectable front however and the only one who doesn't like her id former girlfriend of Morris, Yvette Duguay.

Jack Kelly's horse is frightened by a mountain lion and he's thrown and breaks a leg and he's confined to Morris's ranch. If you know the plots of those two cited Glenn Ford westerns than you can figure out what happens.

This episode is deadly serious, no Maverick style con games are going to get Jack Kelly out of the jackpot he's in and none are tried. There's not a laugh to be had in this episode.

Just some of the best acting in the series.

It's melodrama the whole way, so don't look for the usual Maverick trademarks. No tongue-in-cheek, battle of wits, or poker contests. Seems Bart's drawn into a spider woman's (Barry) web when he's laid up in a ranch house with a broken leg. The ranch owner (Morris) is the most popular guy in the area, with a big, bluff personality. So when his calculating wife sets her trap for the handsome Bart, Maverick's in big trouble, especially when he's under suspicion for murder.

The first half is marred by Barry's over-the-top turn as an unstable character. In fact, this first part plays more like the noirish Double Indemnity (1944) than Maverick jest. The second part with the lynch mob, however, is darn near scary in concept and staging. Looks like Bart may end up wearing a hemp-woven tie. Anyway, I would think this hour departs about as far from usual Maverick style as any of the series.

Can't help but note presence of actor Wayne Morris as the ranch owner. A much decorated WWII combat aviator, he was tragically only a year away from a fatal heart attack. Such a loss. He's perfect here as the personable ranch owner. Rest in peace, Mr. Morris.