MAVERICK: GHOST RIDER {1960s RERUN} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of offbeat western dramas about the Mavericks, unlikely heroes who prefer gambling to gunplay. In this episode, Bret Maverick has a lucky poker night and wins $3,000 – which is then stolen by a bandit known as "The Kid." Bret pursues the thief all the way to the town of White Rock, where he finds him gambling with the stolen money – but the Kid is then gunned down by an angry fellow player, and Bret sadly realizes that the fortune is lost. He then encounters a pretty young redhead, Mary Shane, in tears after a fight with her fiancé, and Bret offers her his coat and a ride back to her home, but Mary ventures into the darkness to inspect a bridge up ahead and vanishes, taking Bret's $1,000 bill with her. Bewildered, Bret questions Mary's former landlady – who reveals that Mary died a week earlier.
Alarmed by his ghostly encounter, Bret then consults the sheriff, who explains that Mary had been engaged to Bert Nicholson, the local undertaker. Bret finds his coat, complete with the money, draped over Mary's headstone, and when a black-clothed figure shoots at him in town, Bret guesses that Nicholson is attempting to cover up a dark secret. Nicholson claims ignorance, explaining that he has been busy preparing for the Kid's funeral, but Bret soon tails him to the site of a recent rock slide, where he appears to search for something buried underneath. Back at home with Mary – who is very much alive – Nicholson is frightened by the arrival of one Mr. Hank Felton, a.k.a. "Foster," who somewhat resembles Bret and who then demands $60,000 from the mortician. Nicholson ends up dead in the struggle, and Bret is soon arrested for the crime.
The townsfolk consider simply hanging him for his obvious crime, though the sheriff intervenes, and Foster/Felton arrives at the jail, revealing that he's a special investigator and offering to help Bret escape in exchange for information about Mary. Bret agrees on the condition that no one else is hurt, but Felton murders the deputy moments later and Bret quickly realizes that he's also Nicholson's real killer. Bret defeats Felton in a hasty brawl and ties him up, and he finds Mary back at the rock slide. Mary finally reveals that her husband escaped prison along with Felton, whom she still believes Bret to be, and buried the remaining $59,400, minus her living expenses, under the rocks. She pulls a gun and forces "Felton" to dig for it, adding that she teamed up with the undertaker in order to evade her husband by playing dead and then unintentionally fell in love with him, and Bret finally reveals that he's not who she assumes him to be. He takes her back to the real Felton, who coldly reveals that her husband is indeed dead, and Bret drags the killer back to town. Later, Bret is amused to find that the $3,000 reward money means that he's now even after the Kid's theft, and he sits down to increase his winnings at the poker table.
(Episode is a 1960s rerun and features color commercials, in addition to roughly two minutes of the ensuing program, "Ironside.")
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: October 13, 1957 7:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:02:20
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: B:81014
- GENRE: Drama, western
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, western; Drama, action/adventure
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1957-1962
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - Alpha Beta supermarkets
- TV - Commercials - C&R Clothiers apparel
- TV - Commercials - Capitol Home Loan company
- TV - Commercials - Carpeteria carpet stores
- TV - Commercials - European Health Spa
- TV - Commercials - Gaines dog food
- TV - Commercials - General Foods International Coffees
- TV - Commercials - Head & Shoulders shampoo
- TV - Commercials - Holiday Inn hotels
- TV - Commercials - Lee's Bars, Stools 'n' Dinettes furniture store
- TV - Commercials - May Company shop-at-home services
- TV - Commercials - Mazola margarine
- TV - Commercials - Mountain Dew soft drinks
- TV - Commercials - Oh Boy! snack foods
- TV - Commercials - Prime dog food
- TV - Commercials - Red Carpet real estate
- TV - Commercials - Safeway stores
- TV - Commercials - Shake & Bake seasoning
- TV - Commercials - TV Guide magazine
- TV - Commercials - Viva paper towels
- TV - Commercials - Wilsons House of Suede & Leather shops
- TV - Commercials - Zachary All stores
- TV - Commercials - Zody's stores
CREDITS
- William T. Orr … Executive Producer
- Roy Huggins … Producer
- Leslie H. Martinson … Director
- Marion Hargrove … Writer
- James Garner … Cast, Bret Maverick
- Joanna Barnes … Cast, Mary Shane
- Rhodes Reason … Cast, Hank Foster / Felton
- Willard Sage … Cast, Bert Nicholson
- Stacy Keach … Cast, Sheriff
- Ed Byrnes (see also: Edd Byrnes) … Cast, The Kid
- Dan Sheridan … Cast, Sideburns
- Charles Tannen … Cast, Stableman
- John Cliff … Cast, Deputy