Maverick (TV Series) High Card Hangs (1958) User Reviews

The law's writ doesn't run here

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 29 August 2018]

Bart Maverick and Dandy Jim Buckley are in a mining camp where the law's writ doesn't run in the Dakota Black Hills with a lot of Sioux on it. The miner's make their own law and they're not that fond of professional gamblers. Besides no big money yet to make poker worth their while so Jack Kelly and Efrem Zimbalist are biding their time.

When old timer Frank Ferguson shows up with a big poke it's good for one of them. Kelly, Martin Landau, and Charles Fredericks all get into a game where Ferguson cleans them out. Turns out he got that money cleaning out another gold camp. Then he's found murdered and Kelly, Landau, or Fredericks are suspected.

All I'll say is things are pretty informal legally in this camp and Jack Kelly tries a Hail Mary move to uncover the real killer. It nearly doesn't work.

Veteran character actor Frank Ferguson who usually plays upright citizens is quite the rogue here. Could have been the model for good old Pappy Maverick.

As for the murderer, one who blends right in with the furniture.

One of Jack Kelly's best episodes.

don't miss this one

[loydmooney-1 · 8/10 · 20 August 2008]

Criminal, folks that nobody has yet commented on this great episode. It's so good that it's better to not tell you much about it: let's just say it dwarfs The Sting in surprises. Jack Kelly is wonderful in it. Efram Zimbalest is nearly as, no, he IS as good, the only time I ever caught him when he wasn't so serious that he was deadening: and well, at the end you will feel as suckered and great as Hansel and Gretal following the trail of goodies to the witches shack.

The only warning, if you feel even getting close to somebody about to reveal much of the plot, that is until you have seen it, jump off that train fast. You can always catch it when it comes around again after you have enjoyed this baby.

God's Country

[tlschwab · 9/10 · 22 July 2009]

In this episode, Jack Kelly, as Bart Maverick, arrives on horseback in the Black Hills of South Dakota. In his narration at the start of the episode, Kelly states that in 1868, the United States turned over the rights to the Black Hills to the Great Sioux Nation "in perpetuity", which he describes as a phrase that no one, including the Sioux, actually new the meaning of. Everyone finds out, he continues, eight years later when in 1875, gold is discovered in the Black Hills, and the return of the white man to claim that gold is inevitable.

Bart proceeds to stake a claim, along with occasional friend and nemesis, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. as Gentleman Jim Buckley. A pretty good who-done-it ensues, but as you watch this episode, you will be struck by the significance of Bart's opening remarks. And how they seem so out of place for the times in which this show first appeared.

Wait for the End

[dougdoepke · 20 August 2008]

There's only one reason to comment on this highly uneven episode, and that's the stunningly unexpected moral surprise sprung at the end. Unfortunately, the entry features some of the least inspired acting of the entire series. Kelly appears to be reading his lines from a cue card, enunciating each syllable in woodenly precise fashion, while even the usually reliable Dandy Jim Buckley seems to have left his charming demeanor somewhere behind. Thus the central characters fail to gel in the usual Maverick way. Nonetheless, the episode features the great Franklyn Ferguson, the busiest actor of the day, in a patented role as the sly old prospector. The plot itself is interesting enough-- who killed the old prospector and stole his swag. Too bad the direction is too slack to heighten the suspenseful possibilities.

I don't want to give away the ending, but it has two phases-- first, the reminder Bart puts forth, and second, how that idea is received by the goldminers. Now, how Bart's reminder is received is poorly handled and quite unbelievable given the headstrong nature of gold camp rowdies, a stereotype never known for appreciating the finer points of morality and the law. Nonetheless, the idea itself is wholly novel and (I think) unprecedented for a Western of any sort. It's certainly food for thought and a rather risky historical reminder for a popular series to plop in the lap of a 1950's audience. For that reason alone, the entry is worth watching.

Maverick: High Card Hangs

[jcolyer1229 · 9/10 · 31 May 2015]

"High Card Hangs" aired October 19, 1958. I was in the 7th grade and quite naive. In the Black Hills of 1875, there is gold and Sioux Indians to be dealt with. Bart and Dandy Jim Buckley (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.) wait in a mining camp for a poker game. They meet an old prospector who has struck it rich. When the prospector is killed, Bart becomes a suspect. It turns out that the cook, an Indian woman, did it. All the episodes with Dandy Jim Buckley are good. Bart and Dandy Jim are actually friends, much more so than Bret and Buckley. Dandy sympathizes with Bart when Bart is accused of murder. There is not much he can do, and he retains his sense of humor. He has Bart's hanging postponed, then slips him a gun. Then, Dandy has to flee also. It dawns on Bart that the Indian woman is guilty. The leader of the camp is bald-headed, and there are some bald joke. Being bald is now cool.