This episode was based on the short story "That Packsaddle Affair" by the legendary western writer Louis L'Amour. The director of the episode was Leslie H. Martinson. The teleplay was written by George Slavin. "Stage West" was later adapted to the Maverick comic book published by Dell. Quotable Maverick "Nothing's for certain, but some things I'll put money on, like a straight flush or a crooked mind." Quotable Maverick "Where money's concerned it could be dirty, dusty or soggy, just so long as it's money." Like many of the Warner Brothers television shows many actors appeared as guests before they went on to become stars. Peter Brown who plays Rip Fallon, later went on to star in Lawman and later in Laredo. Edd Byrnes of course later became famous as Kookie in the detective classic 77 Sunset Strip. Ray Teal later became Sheriff Roy Coffee on the long running western Bonanza.
5 Reviews
Fallon Family Values
bkoganbing5 August 2018
This episode of Maverick finds James Garner trapped at Chubby Johnson's stagecoach station with Erin O'Brien and the Fallon family who consist of Ray
Teal and his fine sons Edd Byrnes and Peter Brown. The Fallons who want
possession of a gold mine that O'Brien's husband had found and killed him for
it. It's Garner who found his body on the trail as O'Brien was scheduled to meet
him at the stagecoach station.
The Fallons are some real old west bottom feeders. They remind me a bit of the Burley family who menaced Alan and David Ladd the following year in The Proud Rebel. Byrnes is a chip off the old man's block and Brown must have favored the late mother.
Maverick gets out of trouble with that patented gift of gab he's developed. One to see especially for Ray Teal far from the upright sheriff Roy Coffee in Bonanza.
The Fallons are some real old west bottom feeders. They remind me a bit of the Burley family who menaced Alan and David Ladd the following year in The Proud Rebel. Byrnes is a chip off the old man's block and Brown must have favored the late mother.
Maverick gets out of trouble with that patented gift of gab he's developed. One to see especially for Ray Teal far from the upright sheriff Roy Coffee in Bonanza.
Good episode, despite the pot-stirring one review I read ~
cranvillesquare1 June 2019
I'm frankly quite tired of this "native American" nonsense. Several of the families in my tree go back here to the 1640s. I'm as native American (12 generations now) as anyone else.
Secondly, those referred to as "native American" merely walked across the Bering land bridge during the last Ice Age, or in some circumstances in western South America sailed eastward from New Zealand, Indonesia through the Pacific islands to present-day Chile, Bolivia and Peru. (Yes, Bolivia is landlocked now - but only lost the Atacama region to Chile after the War of the Pacific in 1879.) The American Indians displaced the previous residents of North and Central America, and quite likely conquered the other immigrants from Oceania in South America.
Thirdly. people referred to them as savages because they exhibited savage behavior. Europeans didn't scalp their vanquished victims, nor did they run them through the gauntlet. Yes, the reservations were created to give American Indian tribes their own land but with the agreement of the tribes.; This is why Indian nations to this day are treated as sovereign nations within the US borders...because the Indians demanded it. Trust me, there were enough treaty violations on both sides to make both sides ashamed of themselves, but we were no worse than anyone else.
Please, let's remember the times in which these shows were created - and not make yourselves guilty of trying to re-write history to PC standards. Truth is truth, and the PC view of the world is a pack of tripe. Enough, already. Enjoy the shows for what they are, when they were produced.
Secondly, those referred to as "native American" merely walked across the Bering land bridge during the last Ice Age, or in some circumstances in western South America sailed eastward from New Zealand, Indonesia through the Pacific islands to present-day Chile, Bolivia and Peru. (Yes, Bolivia is landlocked now - but only lost the Atacama region to Chile after the War of the Pacific in 1879.) The American Indians displaced the previous residents of North and Central America, and quite likely conquered the other immigrants from Oceania in South America.
Thirdly. people referred to them as savages because they exhibited savage behavior. Europeans didn't scalp their vanquished victims, nor did they run them through the gauntlet. Yes, the reservations were created to give American Indian tribes their own land but with the agreement of the tribes.; This is why Indian nations to this day are treated as sovereign nations within the US borders...because the Indians demanded it. Trust me, there were enough treaty violations on both sides to make both sides ashamed of themselves, but we were no worse than anyone else.
Please, let's remember the times in which these shows were created - and not make yourselves guilty of trying to re-write history to PC standards. Truth is truth, and the PC view of the world is a pack of tripe. Enough, already. Enjoy the shows for what they are, when they were produced.
Whose Side Am I On
dougdoepke15 July 2008
Good story adapted from a Louis L'Amour work. Ray Teal and his two sons, Edd "Kookie" Byrnes and Peter Brown, are out to steal a mining claim from widow Erin O'Brien after they've killed her husband. Only Bret Maverick stands in the way. Byrnes is surprisingly good as a cold-blooded killer. It's unexpected that the producers would use him again so soon after Episode #4 Ghost Rider. Here, they slap on a moustache and hope, I guess, that viewers won't remember that he was killed off two weeks earlier.
Nearly the entire 60 minutes takes place in a single set of a stage depot, so the script has its work cut out for it. The problem is handled pretty well, with an Indian attack that has some nice touches and a round of shifting alliances among the cast principals. So things do keep moving. The climax is interesting since Maverick's intentions are cast into doubt. In fact, you might consider whether his actions have been morally correct all along. The twists do get pretty complicated, so it's not easy to determine a balance sheet in the end. Anyway, Teal is quite good as the brains of the family, while Jim Bannon in a bit role as the ill-fated Matson manages to pull off a rare bit of acting skill. In a part that calls for being frightened, he actually appears frightened. That's a rarity for both the little screen and the big one.
Nearly the entire 60 minutes takes place in a single set of a stage depot, so the script has its work cut out for it. The problem is handled pretty well, with an Indian attack that has some nice touches and a round of shifting alliances among the cast principals. So things do keep moving. The climax is interesting since Maverick's intentions are cast into doubt. In fact, you might consider whether his actions have been morally correct all along. The twists do get pretty complicated, so it's not easy to determine a balance sheet in the end. Anyway, Teal is quite good as the brains of the family, while Jim Bannon in a bit role as the ill-fated Matson manages to pull off a rare bit of acting skill. In a part that calls for being frightened, he actually appears frightened. That's a rarity for both the little screen and the big one.
Most Dramatic of the Early First Season Maverick Episodes
jayraskin7 August 2013
This episode has little humor, but makes up for it with an interesting and tension filled plot. A ruthless family hold three people, including Maverick hostage. They are trying to get Maverick to show them where a gold mine they're trying to steal is located. Maverick knows that as soon as he reveals where the mine is, they're going to kill him and the other two people. He has to string them along until they're rescued. As usual Maverick is one step ahead of everybody else in the show, including the audience at almost every turn, making the episode a lot of fun to watch.
Also making it fun is an almost anti-Cartwright or evil Cartwright family of a tough rancher father and his two sons. Ray Teal (Sheriff Roy Coffee on "Bonanza") plays the father, and Peter Brown ("Lawman," "Laramie") and Ed Byrnes ("77 Sunset Strip") play the sons. If you are watching the show sequentially, it is funny that Peter Brown appeared as a deputy in the second episode and Ed Byrnes as a thief in the fourth episode. I suspect both were under contract to Warner Brothers who were grooming them for stardom. Coffee, Brown, and Byrnes all give sharp performances.
The only unfortunate thing about the episode is a rather racist and ugly portrayal of Native Americans. They're portrayed as stereotyped savages who want to control the Gold mine on their territory. They're actually there to just add more danger to the situation. Maverick and friends not only have to deal with the outlaw family of killers, but with the attacking blood thirsty Native Americans. This type of racist portrayal of Native Americans was pretty standard for the 1950's and was only changed in the 1960's.
In any case, this is a fine episode, one of the best of the early first Season.
Also making it fun is an almost anti-Cartwright or evil Cartwright family of a tough rancher father and his two sons. Ray Teal (Sheriff Roy Coffee on "Bonanza") plays the father, and Peter Brown ("Lawman," "Laramie") and Ed Byrnes ("77 Sunset Strip") play the sons. If you are watching the show sequentially, it is funny that Peter Brown appeared as a deputy in the second episode and Ed Byrnes as a thief in the fourth episode. I suspect both were under contract to Warner Brothers who were grooming them for stardom. Coffee, Brown, and Byrnes all give sharp performances.
The only unfortunate thing about the episode is a rather racist and ugly portrayal of Native Americans. They're portrayed as stereotyped savages who want to control the Gold mine on their territory. They're actually there to just add more danger to the situation. Maverick and friends not only have to deal with the outlaw family of killers, but with the attacking blood thirsty Native Americans. This type of racist portrayal of Native Americans was pretty standard for the 1950's and was only changed in the 1960's.
In any case, this is a fine episode, one of the best of the early first Season.
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