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New Maverick (The)
R1 - America - Warner Home Video Review written by and copyright: Pat Pilon (9th June 2008). |
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The Film
 'Maverick' helped push James Garner into stardom and it's now one of the shows that a lot of people are looking forward to seeing on DVD. Warner haven't decided to release the original series on DVD just get, but they're perhaps wetting people's appetite with this 1978 television movie. Years after the end of the original 'Maverick', Bret Maverick (James Garner) comes back home to hear that his brother, Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly), was shot dead. His nephew, Ben Maverick (Charles Frank) tells him that Bart isn't actually dead, but is scheming for something. So, Bret and Ben are on their way to find Bart, but get separated along the way. Bart loses his $1000-dollar stash and has to find it again, while Ben goes on to find stolen guns after a train robbery. Now, I'll be honest and say that I’ve never seen the original 'Maverick' television series (about 30 years before my time), but I enjoyed this very much. There’s nice comedy and nice action to keep things interesting and the directing is light and airy. The twists and turns in the two parallel plot lines are pretty, but the way they meet back together is pretty vague. The interplay between the characters is enjoyable, though, and more important than whatever happens in the movie. That being said, the movie is a lot of fun. There's danger at every turn, but it's only minimal danger and the fun, I guess, is seeing James Garner being Maverick once again. The overall movie may seem a bit easy in the end, but it entertains, even if it’s light entertainment. It brings James Garner to his roots, which is always nice to see.
Video
1.33:1 full screen. Warner generally did right by the movie. There are specks (pretty big ones at that) in a few shots, but these were such an impediment as to be permanent. The colours are very nice and accurate, and are pretty vibrant to boot. The black level is pretty good with nice shadow detail. Some close-ups show an extraordinary amount of detail, which is very impressive. Some other shots, on the other hand, look a bit soft and light. Overall, I'm happy with this picture, and I can't find much to complain about.
Audio
The movie comes in English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. For a TV movie, that track is no surprise. It does its job very well. The dialogue is clear and seems to have been cleaned up a bit. It's never drowned out or muffled by the score or the hooves on dirt trails. The score is loud and clear, with good volume levels. English (HoH) subtitles are here.
Extras
There are absolutely no extras of any kind on this disc. In fact, in the main menu, there isn't even a Scenes Selection option (though the movie does have chapters).
Overall
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