home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
DP Tool Club 15
/
CD_ASCQ_15_070894.iso
/
vrac
/
sun9406.zip
/
MOV2
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-06-02
|
4KB
|
73 lines
Lights Out Movie Reviews
Copyright (c) 1994, Bruce Diamond
All rights reserved
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ MAVERICK: Richard Donner, director. William Goldman, │
│ screenplay. Starring Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James │
│ Garner, Graham Greene, James Coburn, and Alfred Molina. │
│ Warner Bros. Rated PG. │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Mix THE STING together with BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE
KID, sprinkle in a dash of LETHAL WEAPON, and flavor liberally
with elements from the original TV series, and you get MAVERICK,
starring Mel Gibson as that Old West conman Bret Maverick, Jodie
Foster as Annabelle Bransford, a lovely woman who can almost
out-con Maverick, and James Garner as Marshal Zane Cooper, a
reluctant traveling companion and sometime watchdog to the wily
pair. The original TV series treated the Western genre with a
kind of tongue-in-cheek reverence (as opposed to THE WILD WILD
WEST which was an out-and-out lampoon), and I think it's safe to
say that this big-budget, big screen version takes the same
lively tone. It's a fast-moving rip-roarin' ride through an Old
West you won't find on any map or in any history book, tracing
Maverick's trials and travails as he tries to scrape together the
last three thousand dollars for the entrance fee to a lucrative
poker championship. The movie is one big con from beginning to
end, and I think you'll love it.
The filmmakers were reluctant to pitch the project to Garner
at first, fearing he would be insulted they didn't offer the lead
to him. Thankfully, Garner agreed to take the Marshal's role,
and he adds quite a zest to the proceedings. Garner and Gibson
really do blend well together; they seem to have the same larceny
in their hearts and the same twinkle in their eyes. Gibson may
be more of a rough-and-tumble Maverick (he certainly seems to
have more fistfights in this movie than Garner did his whole
first season as TV's Bret Maverick), but that devil-may-care
attitude bonds them together. Jodie Foster is more than a match
for the guys; I am *so* glad her role wasn't written as the
typical simpering female that populated so many Westerns.
Annabelle is tough-minded and resourceful, but she can turn on
the charm when she has to.
Bret and Annabelle meet at a saloon poker game, both hoping
to raise the stakes to enter the steamboat championship game.
Right away, we see the magnetism between the two adversaries;
Annabelle is quite impressed with Bret -- he's quick on the draw,
he plays a mean game of poker, and he fights off five men who
call him out of the game. There's a surprise about that fist-
fight that I won't reveal . . . in fact, there are several
twists and turns in MAVERICK (including a strangely-familiar bank
robber) that, if revealed, would spoil your fun. Needless to
say, nothing is as it seems to be. Even a run-in with an Indian
tribe works to Maverick's advantage, although the hair-raising
runaway stagecoach ride that brings Bret, Annabelle, and Coop to
Indian Territory is certainly not part of the plan. Graham
Greene plays the Indian chief as a native analog for Maverick --
his character is so much fun I found myself forgiving Gibson and
Greene for their modern-day slang.
Look for a ton of cameos during the championship poker game:
faces from country music like Clint Black and Vince Gill, and
faces from old TV Westerns, like Doug McClure and Denver Pyle.
MAVERICK is a fun romp with a resuscitated TV icon that for once
lives up to the nostalgic image baby boomers are carrying around
in their cultural memory banks. This is one of the few times I
can say I'm looking forward to the inevitable sequel.
RATING: $$$