Maverick ( film ) - wikipedia Maverick ( film ) Maverick Theatrical release poster Directed by Richard Donner Produced by Bruce Davey Richard Donner Written by William Goldman Based on Maverick by Roy Huggins Starring Mel Gibson Jodie Foster James Garner Graham Greene James Coburn Alfred Molina Music by Randy Newman Cinematography Vilmos Zsigmond Edited by Stuart Baird Mike Kelly Production company Icon Productions Distributed by Warner Bros. Release date May 20, 1994 ( 1994 - 05 - 20 ) Running time 127 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $75 million Box office $183 million Maverick is a 1994 American Western comedy film directed by Richard Donner and written by William Goldman, based on the 1950s television series of the same name created by Roy Huggins. The film stars Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick, a card player and con artist collecting money to enter a high - stakes poker game. He is joined in his adventure by Annabelle Bransford ( Jodie Foster ), another con artist, and lawman Marshall Zane Cooper ( James Garner ). The supporting cast features Graham Greene, James Coburn, Alfred Molina and a large number of cameo appearances by Western film actors, country music stars and other actors. The film received a favorable critical reception for its light - hearted charm, and was financially successful, earning over $180 million during its cinematic run. Costume designer April Ferry was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Production 4 Reception 4.1 Box office 5 Soundtrack 6 References 7 External links Plot In the American Old West, wisecracking gambler Bret Maverick ( Mel Gibson ) is on his way to a major five - card draw poker tournament. Maverick wants the prize money and to prove he is the best card player of his time. Short $3,000 of the $25,000 tournament entry fee, Maverick travels to the town of Crystal River, intending to collect on debts and win money at card games. He encounters the ill - tempered gambler Angel ( Alfred Molina ), the young con artist Annabelle Bransford ( Jodie Foster ), and lawman Marshal Zane Cooper ( James Garner ). Maverick, Bransford and Cooper journey out of Crystal River together, overcoming runaway stagecoaches and aiding migrant evangelical settlers who have been waylaid by bandits. The settlers offer Maverick a percentage of the money they have collected to start a mission, but Maverick can not bring himself to accept it. The trio are later cornered by a band of Indians led by Joseph ( Graham Greene ). His companions are unaware that Joseph and Maverick are good friends ; Maverick `` sacrifices '' himself to allow his companions ' escape. Joseph is indebted to Maverick ; they scheme to swindle $1,000 from an Russian Archduke that Joseph owes to Maverick. Angel gets word that he needs to stop Maverick from reaching the tournament. He also learns that in Crystal River Maverick conned him. Angel assaults Maverick, leaving him for dead by hanging from a tree but the branch breaks under Maverick 's weight, he boards the paddle steamer Lauren Belle and he makes it to the on - board tournament. Angel already is seated for the game and Cooper oversees the security. Maverick learns that Bransford is $4,000 short of the entry fee, and he, $2,000. The Archduke is on board so Maverick cons him for $6,000. By the time of the tournament `` break '', there are four players remaining : Maverick, Bransford, Angel, and Commodore Duvall ( James Coburn ), the boat 's owner and the tournament organizer. Maverick and Bransford have a tryst, someone chains his door shut and he makes it back from the break just before the game resumes at the 5 A.M. deadline. Bransford is eliminated from the tournament. Maverick protests when the dealer cold decks and is bottom dealing Angel 's cards. Unable to switch dealers, Maverick agrees that Angel get a one card off - the - top deal. Duvall and Angel each bet `` all in '' ; Maverick holds back looking at his discard replacement believing that what he needs will with his mental gift materialize. At the reveal, Angel has a straight flush, but Maverick 's single card deal of an ace of spades, gives him the game - winning hand, a royal flush. Angel draws his gun and Cooper and Maverick shoot him and his stooges dead. When Maverick is presented the $500,000 grand prize, Cooper escapes the boat with it ; Maverick prevents Duvall from shooting Cooper. At a nighttime meeting in the woods, Cooper and Duvall discuss their success : Angel was working for Duvall, and Cooper 's job was to steal the money if anyone other than Duvall had won the tournament. Duvall betrays Cooper and prepares to shoot him, but they are interrupted by Maverick, who recovers the money back and leaves a single gun to settle between them their argument. It is unloaded ; Cooper beats up Duvall just short of killing him and sets out after Maverick. Cooper finds Maverick relaxing in a tub and threatens to shoot him but the pretense is dropped when they acknowledge they are father and son ; they had all along conspired after the $500,000. As Cooper enjoys a bath of his own, Bransford enters and robs the two, having surmised the relationship from their similar mannerisms. After she escapes, Maverick tells Cooper that she only got half the money, the rest being hidden in his boots. He reluctantly admits that retrieving the money back will be fun. Cast Mel Gibson as Bret Maverick Jodie Foster as Annabelle Bransford James Garner as Marshal Zane Cooper Graham Greene as Joseph Alfred Molina as Angel James Coburn as Commodore Duvall Geoffrey Lewis as Matthew Wicker Paul L. Smith as The Archduke Max Perlich as Johnny Hardin There are multiple cameo appearances in the film from Western actors, people who have formerly worked with Donner, Gibson, Foster, or Garner, and other celebrities including Danny Glover ( uncredited ), Hal Ketchum and Corey Feldman as bank robbers ; Read Morgan and Steve Kahan as card dealers ; Dub Taylor as a room clerk at the opening game ; Art LaFleur and Leo Gordon as poker players at Maverick 's first game ; Paul Brinegar as the stagecoach driver ; Denver Pyle as a cheating old gambler ; Robert Fuller, Doug McClure, Henry Darrow, William Smith and Charles Dierkop as riverboat poker players ; Dan Hedaya as Twitchy, another Riverboat poker player ; William Marshall as a riverboat poker player defeated by Angel ; Dennis Fimple as Stuttering, a player beaten by the Commodore ; Bert Remsen as an elderly riverboat gambler beaten by Maverick ; and Margot Kidder as missionary Margaret Mary in an uncredited appearance. Leo Gordon had played a semi-regular supporting character in seasons one and two of the original Maverick TV show : gambler Big Mike McComb. Gordon also later wrote a few episodes of the show. Margot Kidder had been Garner 's co-star in the short - lived western TV series Nichols. Danny Glover 's cameo appearance references Donner 's Lethal Weapon film series starring Glover and Gibson as cop partners. Their meeting in Maverick sees them share a moment of recognition, and as he leaves, Glover says Roger Murtaugh 's catchphrase : `` I 'm getting too old for this shit. '' Country singers also cameo including Carlene Carter as a waitress, Waylon Jennings and Kathy Mattea as a gambling couple with concealed guns, Reba McEntire, Clint Black as a sweet - faced gambler thrown overboard for cheating, and Vince Gill and his then - wife Janis Gill as spectators. Production The steamboat used in the film -- dubbed the Lauren Belle -- was the Portland, the last remaining sternwheel tugboat in the US ; at the time it belonged to the Oregon Maritime Museum in Portland. Over several weeks, the boat was decorated to alter its appearance to resemble a Mississippi - style gambling boat, including the addition of two decorative chimneys. In August 1993, the production requested permission to film scenes of the riverboat along the Columbia River in Washington State. The artificial smoke released by the boat 's chimney was considered to violate air - quality laws in Washington and Oregon and required approval for the scenes before their scheduled filming date in September 1993. After filming concluded, the decorations were removed and the boat was returned to its original state. In Five Screenplays with Essays, Goldman describes an earlier version of the script, in which Maverick explains he has a magic ability to call the card he needs out of the deck. Although he is not able to do so successfully, the old hermit he attempts to demonstrate it for tells him that he really does have the magic in him. This scene was shot with Linda Hunt playing the hermit but it was felt it did not work on the context of the rest of the movie and was cut. Reception The film has received generally favorable reviews. The film garnered a 67 % approval rating from 52 critics -- an average rating of 6 out of 10 -- on the review - aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes, which said, `` It is n't terribly deep, but it 's witty and undeniably charming, and the cast is obviously having fun. '' James Berardinelli, from reelviews.net, gave the film three and a half stars out of four. He stated, `` The strength of Maverick is the ease with which it switches from comedy to action, and back again... it 's refreshing to find something that satisfies expectations. '' Reviewing it for the Chicago Sun - Times, Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of a possible four, writing : `` The first lighthearted, laugh - oriented family Western in a long time, and one of the nice things about it is, it does n't feel the need to justify its existence. It acts like it 's the most natural thing in the world to be a Western. '' Box Office The film earned $101,631,272 ( 55.5 % ) in North America and $81,400,000 ( 44.5 % ) elsewhere for a worldwide total of $183,031,272. This gross made it the number 12 highest - grossing film in North America and the number 15 highest - grossing film worldwide of 1994. As of 2013, the film is the number 6 highest grossing Western film in North America. Pre-release tracking showed that the film would open strongly,. During its opening weekend in North America, Maverick earned $17.2 million million from 2,537 theaters -- an average of $6,798 per theater -- ranking as the number 1 film of the weekend, and took a total of $41.8 million over its first two weeks of release. The movie was a box office success as it grossed over $183 million worldwide. Soundtrack Main article : Maverick ( soundtrack ) The soundtrack featured three chart singles : `` Renegades, Rebels and Rogues '' by Tracy Lawrence, `` A Good Run of Bad Luck '' by Clint Black ( which also appeared on his album No Time to Kill ), and `` Something Already Gone '' by Carlene Carter. Also included on the album was an all - star rendition of `` Amazing Grace '', from which all royalties were donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. References Jump up ^ Hall, Carla ( May 15, 1994 ). `` SUMMER SNEAKS ' 94 : Was, Is and Always a Maverick : His signatures are Rockford and Maverick -- can anybody in Hollywood do cool and canny better than James Garner ? ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 23, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Maverick ''. bbfc.co.uk. British Board of Film Classification. May 26, 1994. Retrieved August 31, 2012. Jump up ^ Box Office Information for Maverick. The Wrap. Retrieved April 4, 2013. ^ Jump up to : `` Maverick ''. Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com. Retrieved August 31, 2012. ^ Jump up to : Ebert, Roger ( May 20, 1994 ). `` Maverick ''. Chicago Sun - Times. Sun - Times Media Group. Retrieved September 3, 2012. Jump up ^ Full Cast & Crew on IMDb ( cited 9 April 2014 ) ^ Jump up to : Weinraub, Bernard ( June 23, 1994 ). `` At The ` Maverick ' Helm ''. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved September 2, 2012. ^ Jump up to : `` National Register of Historic Places Registration Form : Portland, Steam Tug '' ( pdf ). National Park Service. June 25, 1997. Archived ( PDF ) from the original on February 2, 2013. Retrieved February 1, 2013. Jump up ^ `` ' Maverick ' Scene Hinges On Approval ''. Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 24, 2010. Jump up ^ Goldman, William ( 2000 ). William Goldman : Five Screenplays with Essays. Hal Leonard Corporation. pp. 474 -- 479. ISBN 978 - 1 - 55783 - 362 - 4. Jump up ^ Goldman, William, Which Lie Did I Tell ?, Bloomsbury, 2000 p 68 Jump up ^ `` Maverick ( 1994 ) ''. Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved September 2, 2012. Jump up ^ `` James Berardinelli review of Maverick ''. Retrieved February 12, 2010. Jump up ^ Fox, David J. ( May 23, 1994 ). `` Maverick Wins Big Pot at Box Office : Movies : An estimated $17.2 - million take for the weekend is the biggest opening this year. ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 23, 2010. Jump up ^ Fox, David J. ( June 1, 1994 ). `` Memorial Day Weekend Box Office : A Mighty Big Take at the Cash Register ''. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 23, 2010. Jump up ^ Whitburn, Joel ( 2008 ). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. pp. 232 -- 233. ISBN 0 - 89820 - 177 - 2. Jump up ^ Whitburn, pp. 50 - 51 Jump up ^ Maverick ( CD booklet ). Various artists. Atlantic Records. 1994. 82595. External links Wikiquote has quotations related to : Maverick ( film ) Maverick at AllMovie Maverick at Box Office Mojo Maverick on IMDb Maverick at Rotten Tomatoes James Garner Interview on the Charlie Rose Show Maverick Episodes `` Shady Deal at Sunny Acres '' `` Duel at Sundown '' Maverick ( film ) The New Maverick Young Maverick Bret Maverick Bret Maverick : The Lazy Ace Bret Maverick : Faith, Hope and Clarity Films directed by Richard Donner X-15 ( 1961 ) Salt and Pepper ( 1968 ) Twinky ( 1969 ) Sarah T. -- Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic ( 1975 ) The Omen ( 1976 ) Superman ( 1978 ) Inside Moves ( 1980 ) The Toy ( 1982 ) The Goonies ( 1985 ) Ladyhawke ( 1985 ) Lethal Weapon ( 1987 ) Scrooged ( 1988 ) Lethal Weapon 2 ( 1989 ) Two - Fisted Tales ( 1992 ) Radio Flyer ( 1992 ) Lethal Weapon 3 ( 1992 ) Maverick ( 1994 ) Assassins ( 1995 ) Conspiracy Theory ( 1997 ) Lethal Weapon 4 ( 1998 ) Timeline ( 2003 ) 16 Blocks ( 2006 ) Superman II : The Richard Donner Cut ( 2006 ) Works by William Goldman Plays Tenderloin ( 1960 ) Blood, Sweat and Stanley Poole ( 1961 ) A Family Affair ( 1962 ) Misery ( 2012 ) Novels The Temple of Gold ( 1957 ) Your Turn to Curtsy, My Turn to Bow ( 1958 ) Soldier in the Rain ( 1960 ) Boys and Girls Together ( 1964 ) No Way to Treat a Lady ( 1964 ) The Thing of It Is... ( 1967 ) Father 's Day ( 1971 ; sequel to The Thing of It Is ) The Princess Bride ( 1973 ) Wigger ( 1974 ) Marathon Man ( 1974 ) Magic ( 1976 ) Tinsel ( 1979 ) Control ( 1982 ) The Silent Gondoliers ( 1983 ) The Color of Light ( 1984 ) Heat ( 1985 ) Brothers ( 1986 ) Films Masquerade ( 1965 ) Harper ( 1966 ) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ( 1969 ) The Hot Rock ( 1972 ) The Stepford Wives ( 1975 ) The Great Waldo Pepper ( 1975 ) Marathon Man ( 1976 ) All the President 's Men ( 1976 ) A Bridge Too Far ( 1977 ) Magic ( 1978 ) Mr. Horn ( 1979, TV ) Heat ( 1987 ) The Princess Bride ( 1987 ) Misery ( 1990 ) Memoirs of an Invisible Man ( 1992 ) Year of the Comet ( 1992 ) Chaplin ( 1992 ) Maverick ( 1994 ) The Chamber ( 1996 ) The Ghost and the Darkness ( 1996 ) Absolute Power ( 1997 ) The General 's Daughter ( 1999 ) Hearts in Atlantis ( 2001 ) Dreamcatcher ( 2003 ) Wild Card ( 2015 ) Non-fiction The Season : A Candid Look at Broadway ( 1969 ) The Story of ' A Bridge Too Far ' ( 1977 ) Adventures in the Screen Trade ( 1983 ) Wait Till Next Year ( with Mike Lupica, 1988 ) Hype and Glory ( 1990 ) Which Lie Did I Tell ? ( 2000 ) The Big Picture : Who Killed Hollywood ? and Other Essays ( 2000 ) Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Maverick_(film)&oldid=804343530 '' Categories : 1994 films English - language films 1990s adventure films 1990s Western ( genre ) films American adventure comedy films American comedy films American films American Western ( genre ) films Films based on television series Films produced by Bruce Davey Gambling films Western ( genre ) comedy films Country music films Films directed by Richard Donner Screenplays by William Goldman Film scores by Randy Newman Films set in Oregon Films shot in Oregon Films shot in Arizona Films shot in Utah Films shot in California Icon Productions films Warner Bros. films Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from November 2013 Film articles using image size parameter Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikiquote Български Bosanski Català Dansk Deutsch Español Euskara فارسی Français Հայերեն Hrvatski Italiano Magyar Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Русский Српски / srpski Srpskohrvatski / српскохрватски Suomi Svenska Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 8 October 2017, at 10 : 52. 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Question: what river was the movie maverick filmed on
Answer: Columbia River in Washington State