Seed of Deception

On his way to Yuma, Bret is mistaken for Doc Holliday. Bart shows up and is mistaken for Wyatt Earp. Adele Mara plays a sexy dancer in on a bank robbery. "You like it, sheriff?" Bret asks. "Oh, Them Golden Slippers" takes us back. Livery stables keep popping up. Thinking Bret is Holiday, the townspeople invite him to a turkey dinner. It is a funny scene where the sheriff interrupts the Mavericks' breakfast to tell them gunfighter Mundy is in town. They want nothing to do with it. "Live and let live!" Adele is Mundy's wife pretending to be his cousin. Her skimpy costume brought some criticism. Black and white TV was pretty conservative. It is odd how gunplay and murder were permitted and overt sexuality was not. Bret and Bart split the reward money, and the real Doc Holliday (Gerald Mohr) shows up in the end.

For reasons that are never quite explained when James Garner and Jack Kelly arrive in a sleepy desert town on the way to Yuma they are mistaken for Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. The town especially Sheriff Frank Ferguson wants the town to think these are the famous western duo from the OK Corral.

That's because there's an outlaw family named Mundy headed by Myron Healey who are cousins to the Clantons of Tombstone. Ferguson figures with Wyatt and Doc around they'll cool whatever plans they have.

No such luck as the Mundys plan a big score and are using saloon entertainer Adele Mara as a distraction. In her outfit she'd distract any redblooded man of the west.

With both brothers part of the story season one for Maverick ends on a high note.

Good early entry with several classic features. The brothers are mistaken for Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday, winding up as a result in the middle of a bank heist. Some amusingly droll moments, as when the boys try to back out of a showdown with the baddies, or the mischievous kid whose running gag insists on dictionary definitions. Fine supporting cast that includes that great hayseed Frank Ferguson, lovely vixen Adele Mara, along with premier bad guys Myron Healy and Bing Russell, and a quick cameo from tough-talking Gerald Mohr.

But, I'm still wondering about the surprising turn of events when Bart (Kelly) disappears for a big chunk of time, letting Bret (Garner) carry the plot. Might be a backstory to that. Also, I'm thinking June (Mara) ends up dancing in a modest outfit rather than the advertised skimpy one because of censorship concerns.

What keeps the entry from A-grade Maverick (in my view) is the gunplay at the end instead of the classic battle of wits. Nonetheless, there's enough plot and tongue-in-cheek to both amuse and entertain in clever series style.