The poker film Maverick will probably not teach anyone how to play poker, but it is a fun film that captures the Old West image of back-alley bars, cowboys and cards. Bret Maverick, played by Mel Gibson, travels to the biggest poker tournament of the day – a five-card draw winner-takes-all contest on a paddle steamer.
Released in 1994, this Western comedy was based on the 1950s television series of the same name. As Maverick recounts his misadventures en route to the five-card draw poker tournament, it is revealed that the wisecracking gambler wants to play poker for money, but he also wants to prove, once and for all, that he is the best.
When he first arrives in the fictional town of Crystal River, Maverick learns he is $3,000 short of the poker tournament entry fee. His efforts to make up this shortage create some diversions in the company of three characters he meets in town: an antagonist named Angel (Alfred Molina) who proves to be Maverick’s rival poker player; a young con-artist calling herself Mrs. Annabelle Bransford (Jodie Foster) and legendary lawman Marshal Zane Copper (James Garner, who played Maverick in the original television series).
Eventually, Maverick, Angel and Bransford make it to the poker tournament. As the others are eliminated, the four finalists turn out to be Maverick, Bransford, Angel and Commodore Duvall (James Coburn), the boat’s owner and the organizer of the poker tournament. The five-card draw game is quite entertaining, but I won’t see anymore for fear of ruining the poker film. Ultimately, Maverick learns a lesson about playing poker for money and even ends up involved in a typical Old West bar fight.
Though it has not officially been linked to the television series and the film, a syndrome has been identified in the poker community called the “Maverick Syndrome.” Anyone afflicted with this “syndrome” thinks that they are a better poker player than they actually are to the point where they become unreasonable about their play.
