User Reviews

Roger Moore made his last appearance as Beau Maverick in this story and it's a good one where Moore has to think fast on his feet. A good guest cast was gathered for this story.

Beau Maverick stops at a cave for shelter and pretty soon all kinds of folks start showing up as it was a place for an outlaw rendezvous. Among others showing up are Lee Van Cleef, Mike Road, Evan McCord with a new bride in tow Sherry Jackson. Soon enough the host of this rendezvous John Carradine shows up. All got a letter of some kind from an outlaw named Jake to meet for a job.

When outlaws get together especially this bunch they've got to get busy or soon enough they'll quarrel. Especially Van Cleef who is a real anti-social fellow. The presence of Sherry Jackson raises everyone's hormones as well.

In the end we learn what it was all about as Roger Moore gradually pieces it all together.

Beau Maverick did think fast on his feet. A true Maverick.

At a cave site, Beau is suddenly surrounded by shady characters. The cast is the thing. Mike Road is Buckskin. Lee Van Cleef rides in as Wolf. Van Cleef shot to fame in the spaghetti westerns of the late '60s. He had a naturally mean look. John Carradine is the judge. Ed Robertson, in his book "Maverick: Legend of the West," called Carradine one of the greatest actors ever known in the film industry. Sexy Sherry Jackson, who starred as Danny Thomas' daughter, is "The Kid's" woman. The Kid gets jealous of Beau and slaps her around. Beau lets them think he is the outlaw known as Red Dog. The judge has a bank robbery planned for the group. Pappyism: Some men are afraid of the dark, and some are afraid to leave it.

"Red Dog" would probably be an unexceptional episode were it not for the marvelous cast assembled to support Roger Moore's Beau Maverick, on hand for a clandestine meeting of wanted outlaws with a price on their heads. Expert gunman Buckskin Charlie King (Mike Road) seems a decent enough fellow, impatient loner Wolf McManus (Lee Van Cleef) much less so, while Kid Curran (Evan McCord) simply has his hands full trying to keep an eye on his young hot to trot bride (Sherry Jackson). The mastermind is Judge Reese (John Carradine), his plans for a bank robbery approved by everyone except for Beau Maverick, whose identity as 'Red Dog' only gets him so far with the suspicious Judge. Legendary scene stealer Carradine is in fine form, though several lines are curiously dubbed by a voice not his own, providing a neat plot twist near the end where everything makes sense. His Judge does reference the NBC series LAWMAN in mentioning John Russell's Marshal Dan Troop (Carradine appearing in the episode "The Actor"), and scrumptious Sherry Jackson continued to prove herself a memorable actress for TV censors, particularly in STAR TREK's "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" It's still jarring to find the very British Roger Moore in the Old West, but with this his final appearance on MAVERICK he didn't have long to wait before THE SAINT.

Okay, on the scale of 1 to 10, this entry is likely a 3, but there are several reasons to catch up with this otherwise turgid mess. First, there's one of movieland's most compelling character actors, the great John Carradine in a patented feature part. Here he's a crooked judge and criminal mastermind, so he gets to intone all that flowery literary dialogue in a basso-profundo voice like no other. He cuts quite a commanding figure; plus, he looks like he's having a good time. Then there's evil-eyed Lee Van Cleef, sort of standing around waiting to become the headliner he would one day be. Frankly, he acts bored, probably with good reason since the direction has all the snap and verve of a soggy doughnut. But most of all, for the guys, there's the nubile young Sherry Jackson in the perkiest Maidenform this side of Twin Peaks. I especially like the shot that frames Beau ogling in the background as one of those snazzy little wonders juts out in the foreground. Family TV was seldom this obvious. Too bad the episode itself is so static and full of palaver. It's like the producers only had 50 bucks to spend and spent 49 on the cast. Sherry Jackson or no, I expect this 60 minutes did the ratings no good at all. (In passing—note the fleeting reference to Marshal Dan Troop {John Russell} and deputy {Peter Brown} of Laramie, Wyoming —likely a shameless plug for another network {ABC} series, The Lawman. And, what's more, they do it with a straight face!).