Escape to Tampico

Seems like this one could be twice as long- an hour isn't enough to tell the full story. Extremely likeable but tragic character in Steve Corbett (Mohr) and Brett is more of a secondary player in this one. With so much going on beneath the surface this episode is worth more than one viewing to catch it all, and though it's much more dramatic than a standard Maverick entry I still found it to be a strong season 2 offering. For some top notch reviews of Maverick episodes and many other series from the 50's and 60's, check out Hal's blog over at 'The Horn Section'- great analysis of the individual episodes and then some deep dives into the writers themselves. Makes a great companion for watching many of the cherished programs from that era.

I really enjoyed this episode. More like an episode that Bart would be involved in as it's very dramatic, okay in a soap operish way. And yes it's very Casablanca like, as many have already said in reviews here. But glad it was Garner and Brett doing it.

Unfortunately, unlike Casablanca this doesn't end in a friendly, happy way like walking hand in hand with the beginning of find friendship.

However, there are good performances and some different twists and turns and it definitely gets you in, wondering what will happen and what the truth is. And it ultimately turns into a very dramatic ending.

Gerald Mohr who did two appearances as Doc Holiday in the first season of Maverick is back playing a Rick Blaine type of American expatriate who runs a a Rick like gambling establishment in Tampico. He's wanted for murder in the States, murder of Louis Mercier's son a prominent Creole family in New Orleans.

James Garner gets an offer from Mercier and Paul Picerni his other son to go down to Tampico and somehow trick Mohr into leaving Tampico. Also a whole lot like trying to trick Pepe LeMoko into leaving the Casbah so he can be arrested. And like LeMoko it takes pretty singer Barbara Lang to do the job.

But that's far from all in this nice mixture of both Casablanca and Algiers woven into a Maverick episode.

This ep is chock full of anachronisms. The 20th century guitar, the modern attitude and ambience of the club (or restaurant) crowd, the beautiful lady singer's hairdo and songs, the dueling pants worn by the frenchman, the modern attitude and office of the club manager and so on.

There was a 1984 film called 'Streets of Fire' where it looked like the 1950s but it was actually the 21st century and America had simply regressed to a 1950s look more or less. Or the 1958 film 'Teenage Caveman' where we think It is like 20,000 years ago but It is really a century or so from now after nuclear war turned back the clock to the stone age.

It would have almost been possible after seeing this to think Maverick was really set in the 21st century after an economic apocalypse and oil shortage had turned the clock to the late 19th century. In fact maybe that is exactly what has happened. And eps that seemed to be set firmly in the 19th century by dates given are just Maverick's narrative inventions and he and his brother both live in the future. Or that Brett and Bart live in contemporary times and when they narrate their stories this is all what they think the 19th century looked like.