Maverick is an Academy Award-nominated 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.
Cameo appearances
There are appearances through the film as many familiar faces from Westerns of the past and Country Western music, particularly in the final riverboat poker tournament scenes. These include (in no particular order):
- Dub Taylor as a room clerk
- Leo Gordon as a gambler at Maverick’s first game. Gordon actually appeared in five episodes of the original series as Big Mike McComb
- Robert Fuller as the last gambler at Jodie Foster’s first game.
- Geoffrey Lewis as Matthew Wicker, a.k.a. Eugene, the banker
- Hal Ketchum and Corey Feldman as two of four bank robbers
- Paul Brinegar of Rawhide as the stagecoach driver
- Carlene Carter as a waitress on the Commodore’s ship
- Waylon Jennings and Kathy Mattea as a couple found with a gun
- Denver Pyle and Clint Black, who are thrown off the boat for cheating at poker
- Vince Gill and then-wife Janis Gill as spectators during the game
- Johnny Cash as a gambler whose total screen time is less than five seconds.
In addition to these stars, actor Danny Glover (Gibson’s co-star in the Lethal Weapon franchise of films) appears as the lead bank robber. He and Maverick (Gibson) share a scene where they look as if they knew each other, but then shake it off. As Glover makes his escape with the money, he mutters “I’m too old for this shit.”, his character’s catch phrase in all four Lethal Weapon films. In addition, a strain of the main theme from Lethal Weapon plays in the score when Glover is revealed.
Also, another cameo was by actress Margot Kidder, who played one of the villagers robbed of their mission money. Kidder starred as Lois Lane in Superman, also directed by Donner.
Cast
- Mel Gibson — Bret Maverick
- Jodie Foster — Mrs. Annabelle Bransford
- James Garner — Marshal Zane Cooper/”Pappy” Maverick
- Graham Greene — Joseph
- Alfred Molina — Angel
- James Coburn — Commodore Duvall
- Paul L. Smith — The Archduke
