This release, on the other hand, is something of a cheat. The New Maverick is a 1978 TV movie, actually the pilot for Young Maverick, a new series starring Charles Frank, that ran an incredible eight episodes (at least one more was shot but never aired) before being cancelled. The TV movie is a handsomely produced but a lifeless misfire, despite the dominating presence of original series star James Garner. Warner's DVD looks great and no wonder; it's not as if the original negative was in constant demand, and the disc has no extras and English subtitles only so you know the bit-rate isn't being taxed. The lack of supplements - Couldn't they have stuck a few Maverick and New Mavericks on this thing?! - is really depressing. This is the kind of DVD you can bet will turn up in the $1.99 bin at your local drugstore real soon.

The sluggish 92-minute telefilm takes a long time to get moving. Basically the story, set in 1880, revolves around veteran flimflammer Bret Maverick (James Garner), his fast study nephew Ben (Charles Frank, playing the son of Roger Moore's character from the original series), hustler "Poker Alice" Ivers (Susan Sullivan), innocent-looking but scheming housemaid Nell (Susan Blanchard, who married Frank around this time), and corrupt Judge Crupper (Eugene Roche) all converging on a plot to steal and/or recover a trainload of army guns.

Third-billed Jack Kelly, as Bret's brother Bart (who alternated with Garner as co-lead of the original series, then became its main star after Garner left), is also involved in the scheme though for some reason writer Juanita Bartlett keeps Bart out of the picture until the last 14 minutes. Neither Roger Moore nor Robert Colbert, who played the best-left-forgotten Brent Maverick, appears.

Though it boasts fine production values along the lines of a lower-end A-Western, and obviously more expensive then the original backlot series that inspired it, The New Maverick is a real dud. It's not funny or involving or interesting; there's very little to recommend it. Part of the problem seems to be that while the original TV show was in its day innovative and mildly subversive, Garner's incredibly likeable, one-of-a-kind screen persona has long outgrown the character. After Maverick Garner played superior variations of the character in the popular films Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969) and Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) and in the 1971-72 TV season, just prior to The Rockford Files, headlined the Western series Nichols, an almost experimental expansion of Maverick's qualities. (That show really deserves a DVD release.) Add to that, Garner had also been appearing in straight Westerns, some good (Hour of the Gun), some not so good (A Man Called Sledge), while The Rockford Files at times was like Maverick in modern dress.

Indeed, The New Maverick was made by a lot of the same people associated with Rockford. Besides writer Bartlett, producer Meta Rosenberg, DP Andrew Jackson, and a few others (including Rockford regulars Luis Delgado and Jack Garner, James' brother) carried-over from the series; unfortunately, little in the way of that show's strengths did, nor does it retain much of the original Maverick's charm. Oddly, the TV movie makes the same mistake The Rockford Files did during its second season: Bret is outsmarted almost start-to-finish, forcing Garner to stand around with egg on his face for too much of the show.

Charles Frank is a decent enough actor, but not even Jack Kelly could match Garner's incredible finesse with this sort of material. None of Frank's featured scenes make any impression at all, while even most of Garner's are pretty tepid. The film really only comes alive during Bret's scenes with Poker Alice, with actress Sullivan believable as a card sharp the equal of Bret's grifter. Kelly's late appearance gives the show a boost but it's too little, too late. Another interesting idea was to make the main villain, Vinnie Smith (George Loros, who guested on Rockford and later appeared as Raymond Curto on The Sopranos), a kind of proto-Mafioso, an interesting concept one might have expected from David Chase, who worked with Bartlett on Rockford at the time.

Mostly though, this is the wrong show at the wrong time. When Maverick was first on the air, there were something like 40 other TV Western series. In 1978 though, the genre was pretty much hitting its nadir, both in terms of TV Westerns and movies.

Video & Audio

At least it looks great. The New Maverick is presented in its original full-frame format and could have been shot last week. Colors, contrast, and sharpness are all excellent; there's no film damage and no artifacting issues, nor should there be. The Dolby Digital mono audio is very clean with more fidelity than one might expect. Optional English subtitles are included. And that's it. There are no Extra Features.

Parting Thoughts

Even the title is a cheat. The New Maverick, of course, refers to Charles Frank's character, not Garner's (or Kelly's for that matter). Anyone expecting a "New Maverick" featuring Garner were in for a disappointment, at least until Rockford Files suddenly ended a few years later and, looking for work, Garner revived Bret one more time. That didn't last long, either. Rent It.

　 Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV's latest books, Japanese Cinema and The Toho Studios Story, are now available for pre-order.