User Reviews

Dandy Jim Buckley comes up with a scheme to buy and sell horses after gold is supposedly found. Of course, there is no gold. Nor are there cars or planes in Maverick, but there sure are lots of horses. Bret says, "I love money, but I hate jail!" Both Bret and Buckley spend time in the jail at Junction Flats. Nearly episode centers around money. Crooks swindle the Mavericks, and they try to recoup their losses. Twists and turns are endless, and the writing is brilliant. Buckley is played by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. He was great at tongue-in-cheek comedy and was sorely missed when he left the show. The Buckley character was Maverick without a conscience.

The town of Junction Flats was the scene of a legendary jailbreak by an outlaw who was not even in custody for a day. That's what made sheriff Pat McVey so security minded that he's got a jail now that's like a fort with security such as they have for a president.

But McVey reckons without the combined skills of Bret Maverick and Dandy Jim Buckley. Efrem Zimbalist is pulling one of his many cons and James Garner gets caught up in it as usual. Both spend some time in McVey's jail.

There are a couple of jailbreaks, one involving some physical work and another involving one of Dandy Jim's many talents.

This is one of the funnier and droll Maverick episodes, not to be missed by fans of the series.

Prime-grade Maverick of the calibre that made the series a cult favorite. It's tongue-in-cheek the whole way, with no clichéd shoot-out at the end. Instead it's a battle of wits, with one charming rogue against another as the quips fly fast and furious. The only real difference between Bret and Dandy Jim Buckley is that Bret has at least one scruple whereas Dandy was hiding somewhere when the "Thou Shalt Not's" were passed out.

The contest surrounds a crooked horse deal that lands Dandy in jail, with Bret needing to break him out. It doesn't help that the jail resembles Fort Knox or that there are not two but four locked doors separating the prisoner from the street. But Bret is nothing if not resourceful and, of course, drolly amusing, at the same time. But this is really Dandy Jim's episode, showing what an excellent comedic actor Zimbalist Jr. was. Too bad Warner Bros. broke up the duo by casting Zimbalist in the glossy detective series 77 Sunset Strip, where he had to play things straight. Note in the first minute that the beloved Dan Blocker gets a brief walk-on as Hog Nose Hughes, a dead-eye shot even though he doesn't bother to aim. Right away, we know this entry is special, and may be the first one to spoof all the way through, along with a delightfully appropriate very last frame.