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"MAVERICK" (1994) (Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster) (PG) Alcohol/ Drugs Blood/Gore Disrespectful/ Bad Attitude Frightening/ Tense Scenes Guns/ Weapons Heavy Mild *Moderate Mild Extreme Imitative Behavior Jump Scenes Music (Scary/Tense) Music (Inappropriate) Profanity Moderate None Heavy Minor Moderate Sex/ Nudity Smoking Tense Family Scenes Topics To Talk About Violence Heavy Moderate None Moderate Heavy QUICK TAKE: Western/Comedy: A consummate poker player tries to reach a riverboat poker tournament, but encounters many obstacles along the way, including some designed to try to keep him out of the game. PLOT: Bret Maverick (MEL GIBSON) loves gambling, loves winning at poker, and would love even more to be the one to emerge victorious at the All-Rivers Draw Poker Tournament, being held in a few days, and requiring a $25,000 entry fee which he does not yet have. He heads into a town to call a banker on a debt he owes, which will fund part of the entry fee for him, and meets a small-time con artist named Annabelle Bransford (JODIE FOSTER) at a poker game. Also at the game is Angel (ALFRED MOLINA), an unpleasant man who does not like Maverick at all, especially when he loses money to him. He is also assigned to stop Maverick from getting to that poker game, at the behest of an at-first unseen person, via telegraph. A few scrapes are nothing for Maverick and he gets out of them ok, and then travels across the desert with Annabelle and Marshal Zane Cooper (JAMES GARNER) towards the poker game, but a distraught group of religious people, Indians, and a noose hanging around a lone tree in the desert get in his way. He's got more to do and more to get through than any poker player usually does. And when he gets to that game, the stakes are equally challenging. WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT? If they're action-film fans (this one was directed by Richard Donner of the "Lethal Weapon" films), fans of Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, or James Garner by chance, or of the Western genre, they definitely will want to see this. If they like a sense of fun in a movie, they may want to see it. WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG For mild sensuality, language and some western action. CAST AS ROLE MODELS: MEL GIBSON plays Bret Maverick, a poker player, a gambler, a man not always up for adventure, but when it comes, he faces it. He's branded a bit of a coward because he doesn't like to face up to danger, but is an expert marksman with a gun. He intends to get out to the river for the All-Rivers Draw Poker Tournament aboard the Lauren Belle steamboat, but is nearly stopped by forces that don't want him to get there. He curses, drinks, makes love to Annabelle, and appears shirtless numerous times throughout the film. JODIE FOSTER plays Annabelle Bransford, a small-time Southern con artist who's very good at separating Maverick from his wallet, but gets caught. She intends to be one of the players in the poker tournament, but also comes up short of the entry fee, though Maverick has a way around that later on. She shows cleavage, makes love to Maverick, and bears the brunt of Maverick's disrespect toward her, though it's played as comedy. JAMES GARNER plays Marshal Zane Cooper, who accompanies Bret and Annabelle on a stagecoach trip across the desert, and later presides over the law and order of the poker tournament, banning guns from the game, and throwing cheaters overboard when they're found out. He's generally a good guy. ALFRED MOLINA plays Angel, who meets Maverick at a poker game, but doesn't like his style of play. Maverick promises to lose for the first hour and does, and then gains everything back he lost in that first hour and more. Angel's got a dark personality, doesn't feel conflicted about shooting anyone if they get at him, especially if he loses to them, and is equally ruthless toward those who have angered him, but not enough for him to shoot them. GRAHAM GREENE plays Joseph, an Indian friend of Maverick's who concocts a scheme to get him $2,000, which is partly what he needs to get into the poker tournament. He's not happy with the state of his people, always pushed around by the white man, and says just that to Maverick at one point. JAMES COBURN plays the Commodore. He owns the Lauren Belle, on which the tournament is held, and is a player in the tournament. He drinks, smokes once, and is more duplicitous than he looks. CAST, CREW, & TECHNICAL INFO HOW OTHERS RATED THIS MOVIE Curious if this title is entertaining, any good, and/or has any artistic merit? Then read OUR TAKE of this film. (Note: The "Our Take" review of this title examines the film's artistic merits and does not take into account any of the possibly objectionable material listed below). OUR WORD TO PARENTS: The following is a brief summary of the content found in this PG-rated Western comedy. Profanity consists of at least 9 "s" words, while many other expletives and colorful phrases are uttered. Some non-explicit but sexually related dialogue is present, as is some fooling around with off-screen sex implied. Varying amounts of cleavage are also present, while it's heavily suggested a woman sees some men fully nude in a nonsexual context. Violence consists of gunfights (many weapons are present throughout the film), a runaway stagecoach, a few (bloodless) shooting deaths, and fistfights as well. Some of the action may be tempting for kids to imitate. Also, various people drink and smoke, while mostly comedy-based bad attitudes are also present. Should you still be concerned about the film's appropriateness for yourself or anyone else in your home, you may want to look more closely at our detailed listings for more specific information regarding the film's content. ALCOHOL OR DRUG USE As Maverick rides slowly into town, a sign at the bottom of the screen advertises Five Feathers Whiskey. As Maverick walks toward the stairs and heads down, he passes two men holding drinks. The second man lifts his glass to his mouth as Maverick passes. After Maverick walks down the last of the stairs, a waitress delivers a beer to a patron. A half-full mug of beer and a full shot glass sit in front of Angel. As Maverick walks down to Annabelle's poker game, he passes a bearded man who has a beer mug in one hand. Behind the game sits a man with a liquor bottle on his table. A nearly empty shot glass sits in front of one of the players, a man wearing a bowler hat. A three-quarter-filled shot glass sits in front of a player whose top card in his hand is an ace. As the women working in the bar light the side lamps and the overhead lights, a full shot glass is seen in front of the man with the bowler hat. A man with sideburns at the table drinks a bit from his shot glass. Maverick defends himself against angry men who are convinced he was cheating at their poker game, saying, "You fellas were drinking a lot. And you played bad, whose fault is that?" Maverick says to Zane and Annabelle about the criminals at the camp, "We could take 'em real easy. We could surprise 'em, they're half-drunk, half-asleep." Maverick worries about the guns the men might have and Annabelle tells him not to worry, that they men are "probably drunk." One of the criminals, wearing a stolen wedding dress and carrying a bottle of booze, drunkenly walks over to the music box, and winds it. He nearly trips turning around and kicks one of his sleeping cohorts in the side. A bottle of booze sits on a log at the camp. One of the men at the camp holds a bottle of booze. Maverick fires at a long-haired man, shattering the bottle of booze he's holding and the man sits down hard. When Maverick asks Joseph how he's supposed to tell Zane and Annabelle that he got away with his hands still attached, Joseph replies, "Ah, tell them the truth-tell 'em you got us all drunked up on firewater, surrounded us, and escaped in the confusion." As they're walking down some steps aboard the Lauren Belle, a man and a woman hold glasses of alcohol. The Russian drinks some alcohol and is heard offscreen exclaiming, "Feh, this wine is for peasants!" He then is seen throwing the glass overboard. On the upper deck, a waiter pours alcohol for a man and a woman. A man near Annabelle holds a glass of alcohol. A bearded man takes the cork off a bottle with his teeth and spits it into the air. As Angel starts to walk away, a set of glasses are seen on a tray, as well as a bottle of champagne wrapped in white cloth, chilling in a champagne bucket. A man walking ahead of the Commodore holds a glass. A waitress passes by with a tray of glasses filled with champagne, and a man she passes, as well as a woman in a blue dress hold glasses, and so does another woman behind that woman. A bespectacled man holds a glass of champagne. A man with a mustache, wearing a bowtie, holds a glass of champagne. A waiter carries past the tables a tray with glasses filled with champagne. A player takes a glass of champagne. The Commodore toasts with his small glass of alcohol. A half-filled shot glass sits in front of one of the players at a cheater's table. A busted player drinks the rest of what's in his shot glass and leaves. A brandy glass sits in front of the Commodore. The dealer at the Commodore's table gets up to help a distraught losing player, and suggests going up to the bar to get a drink. The Commodore swirls a glass of alcohol. Maverick slams open double doors just as a man takes a glass of champagne off a waiter's tray, and the woman next to him holds one too. The Commodore drinks from his glass of red alcohol. A bathhouse matron asks Zane and Maverick if they "got enough cigars? Enough brandy?" Maverick dips the tip of his cigar in a glass of brandy and shakes it into his mouth, catching a drop, and puts the cigar back in his mouth. Maverick holds a small glass of brandy. BLOOD/GORE Maverick tells Annabelle he can have 30% of whatever he has, according to their deal, and holds out a coin. Annabelle spits in his hand, though we don't see it. Maverick then wipes his spit-upon hand on the sleeve of Annabelle's dress. Blood is seen from Maverick's left nostril. Ollie, Maverick's horse, farts on him while he's lying on the ground. The bald, near one-eyed man has a bit of blood in his mouth. Zane fires a shot into Angel's chest and blood is seen for a split-second. Maverick fires off three shots from Zane's gun, hitting the two members of Angel's posse. The first man is hit in the chest and the second man is hit twice, near the shoulder and in the chest, and though the wounds are seen, there's no blood. DISRESPECTFUL/BAD ATTITUDE Most of the following is played for comedy: Angel, a violent cowboy, tries his hardest to stop Maverick from attending the All-Rivers Draw Poker Tournament on the Lauren Belle, at the behest of someone who wants it that way. He beats up a few people, does the same to Maverick, and brandishes his gun whenever necessary. Johnny Hardin, a gunfighter and a sore loser at poker, believes that his losing hand shouldn't count since his mind wasn't on the game. Maverick, not wanting any trouble, relinquishes the chips he won. Maverick tells Annabelle that obviously he doesn't know how to clean his shirt and "obviously, you must know how to," and since the laundry's closed and he has to leave early in the morning, she owes him. "So take it easy on the starch," he says to her as he hands her his shirt. Annabelle gets her light-hearted revenge later by shrinking Maverick's shirt. Annabelle holds out her hand for Maverick to take her down from the stagecoach, and he grabs her umbrella, steps off the stagecoach and walks back to the action. Annabelle then tries to step down, gets her dress caught, which tears a bit, and she falls. Maverick then walks back, hands her umbrella back to her, and walks back. To convince the men at the camp that they're surrounded, Maverick gives a speech about two of the figures that are watching them: "The man who'll blow your brains out is Marshal Zane Cooper. You probably heard of him. I know what you're thinking: He's old and decrepit, gums his food and his women, but he can still shoot straight. After you is Ugly Annie Bransford. When she was born, she came out backwards and no one noticed. Hell, when she was a kid, she was so ugly, her parents had to tie a pork chop around her neck so the dog would play with her. When she's making love, she has to pretend she's someone else." Zane and Annabelle each react unfavorably when talked about, though one laughs about Maverick's words about the other when they come up. Zane collars a cheater, who has a card holder in his sleeve, and throws him off the deck of the Lauren Belle, and the guy splashes into the water. Another much older cheater is also caught by Zane and rather than be thrown off by Zane, he chooses to jump off himself. Towards the end, there's a convoluted scheme to get the half-million dollar prize that originally goes to Maverick, but is taken from him. FRIGHTENING SCENES Scenes listed under "Violence," "Blood/Gore," and "Guns/Weapons" may be unsettling, suspenseful or scary to younger viewers and/or those with low tolerance levels for such material. Rattlesnakes hiss at Maverick as he lies on the ground, and also show teeth and try to lunge at him. GUNS/WEAPONS Handguns/Rifles/Shotguns/Bow and arrow: Carried and used to threaten, wound and kill people. See "Violence" for details. Maverick quickly brandishes his gun at Johnny. Maverick spins his gun on his hand and puts it back in his holster. He then takes it out, spins it again, and points it again at Johnny. He puts the gun back in the holster, throws it up and says, "Damn thing won't stay in the holster." He starts to put the gun back in his holster and throws it up again. Maverick puts his gun belt onto the poker table. Maverick opens the door to his room and throws his gun belt and holster onto the bed. After Maverick hears a knock at his door, he takes out his gun and cocks it before asking who it is. After Annabelle answers, he uncocks his gun and puts it back. Maverick closes the door to the banker's office, and the shutters, takes out his gun and cocks it at Eugene. The robber takes Maverick's gun from his holster and throws it off-camera. The robber holds a gun at Eugene and demands that he empty his pockets. One of the men Maverick owes money to cocks a gun and points it at his face. Angel carries his gun to his horse and puts it back into its side-saddle holster. Maverick cocks his gun, points it at Zane and growls, "Don't you ever try and help me again," and then points it at Annabelle and tells them both to back off. Maverick uncocks his gun and puts it back in his holster after Zane and Annabelle walk away. Annabelle trips and holds onto Maverick from behind as she falls, and the gun in his holster goes off. Zane cocks his gun and takes it out and points it at Maverick, but after realizing what happened, he puts it back in his holster. Maverick, shocked, asks Zane, who insists on staying behind while Maverick approaches the men at the camp, "You mean you just stand here and let me go and face six guys with six guns?" "Yeah," Zane replies. Maverick continues, "When I've got only one gun, that's only six bullets and they got six guns and that's 36 bullets. What if they've got two, that's 72 bullets. We haven't even talked about rifles, maybe they got rifles." "Oh would you shut up?" Zane demands of Maverick. Zane takes out his gun and cocks it. Zane takes out both his guns and cocks them. Annabelle tells him to point the guns the other way. Maverick reaches around Annabelle to get her gun, a tiny one. About his skills as a gunman, Maverick says to Zane, "Well yes, it's true. I am fast. But I also can't hit sh*t, especially when it's real people I'm aiming at. So I need all the bullets I can get." Maverick has his gun out and aimed as he walks toward the camp. He puts Annabelle's gun in a side vest pocket and his back in its holster after he arrives. Maverick, trying to create the effect that the men are surrounded, says to them, "I'm just here to tell you that, right now, each and every one of you's got a gun pointed at your pretty little heads." Annabelle sees the damage Maverick's doing with her gun and exclaims to Zane, "Oh, that's my gun! That's my gun!" Maverick uncocks his gun and holsters it. Maverick points his gun at the defeated men and exclaims, "Get back! Put those guns down and line up." A boy tries to reach up for Zane's holstered gun, but Zane slaps his hand away. Men hold rifles at the Indians. Joseph, the Indian chief, holds a rifle as well. One of the women, Mary-Margaret, also holds a gun at the Indians. A few of the Indians fire their rifles into the air, at Maverick's command to them to scream at him. Joseph fires his rifle into the air. One of the Indians fires his rifle into the air. One of the Russian's men loads a shotgun and closes the chamber. The Russian carries his shotgun with him. Maverick asks Joseph if he fixed the Russian's gun so it doesn't fire at him and Joseph replies, "I couldn't. He wouldn't take his hands off it." The Russian points his shotgun at Maverick-as-an-"Injun" and commands Joseph to tell the "Injun" to start running. Joseph stops him, saying that, "Injun shot by white man's weapon not reach happy hunting ground." Joseph tells the Russian that the "Injun" must die by the "Injun way," and demonstrates to the Russian how to shoot a bow and arrow and then hands it to him. The Russian fires the arrow, pained by shooting it, and the arrow lands in the bark of a tree right near Maverick. Joseph gives the Russian back his gun for $2,000 and tells him to follow him to find the ""Injun." The Russian cocks his gun, Joseph makes a cawing sound at Maverick, and Maverick sees the Russian ready to fire. During an attack on Maverick, one of the men cocks his gun and holds it at Maverick's face. On the Lauren Belle, Zane announces to the poker players and spectators that his guns, which he pulls out, are the only two allowed. Zane accidentally drops his gun while trying to holster it and the Commodore picks it up and hands it back to him from behind. A lady's handbag drops to the floor and a small gun falls out. Zane picks it up and says to the woman, "We have rules about that on board ship." The man with her claims that it's his gun and Zane replies, "Oh, it's your gun. Uh, do you swim?" The man backpedals, replying, "Swim? No, but she does and it's her gun." Zane counters with, "Oh, it's her gun, and this one?", pulling a handgun out of the man's jacket pocket, who claims he's "just carryin' it for her." Angel gets up, flings a gun out of his sleeve and grabs it, while Zane takes out his gun and Maverick grabs a gun from Zane's other holster. Angel's gun fires into the air as he falls. Maverick spins Zane's gun on his finger and puts it back into his holster, and Zane does the same thing with his own gun. Zane tells Maverick to move down the steps, motioning with his gun. Zane cocks his gun at Maverick to show that he's serious. Zane fires a shot into the air, causing everyone to scramble, and fires a second shot, making them move a little faster. He fires a third shot and then runs. The Commodore commands the captain to get his gun. The Commodore takes hold of his rifle. Zane holds his gun up at the steamboat as his lifeboat putters away. The Commodore aims his gun at the lifeboat and we see Zane through the barrel. As he fires, Maverick grabs the gun and tells the Commodore to let him go. The Commodore cocks his gun offscreen and Zane cocks his gun in reaction, gets up and points it at the Commodore. Zane spins his gun on his finger and puts it back in the holster. Maverick says the right thing to do would be to let Zane or the Commodore kill the other and throws a gun up into the air. Zane trips over the edge of the campfire, falls on the other side of it, and catches the gun. The Commodore grabs at it too, grabs it away from Zane, and points it at him. The Commodore tries to fire at Zane, but the chambers are empty. Zane knocks the gun out of the Commodore's hand. Zane points a gun at Maverick's head and cocks it. Zane says to Maverick that there's a half-million dollars in a satchel near him and his gun is eight feet away. "Not smart, not smart at all." A gun cocks from offscreen and it's Annabelle with her tiny gun. "Well look at this. Here's a lot of money and your gun is six feet away from you," says Annabelle to Maverick. IMITATIVE BEHAVIOR Phrases: "Oh, I'm gettin' too old for this sh*t," "Sh*t," "Oh, sh*t," "Sh*tty" "You always been gutless?" "I'm going to cut you up, fancy man," "That'll learn them assholes!" "Damn, what the hell else bad can happen?" "Damn you, damn you!" "You are the most blindingly attractive man I've ever seen," "Let's just call it square, shall we?" "Son of a bitch," "Get up you bald-headed reprobate," "You silly old bastard," "Gotcha now," "What the hell do I expect?" "Oh, you sweet woman," "Oh hell, I been there," "Heavens to Betsy, no!" "Now get your hands off me!" "Heathens!" "Would you two shut up? Just shut up," "Oh would you shut up?" "Who the hell are you?" "What the hell was that all about?" "You people are such assholes," "Big asshole," "You son of a bitch," "Oh, the silly son of a bitch," "It's over for you, Dukie," "We best be quiet," "Now how the hell'd you get here?" Jackass," "Dumbass!" "You cheatin' son of a bitch!" "You miserable cheatin' son of a bitch!" "This is no time to be brave, Bertie-boy," "You sidewinding son of a bitch!" "I'll kill that son of a bitch," "Well I'll be damned," "I will be damned!" "Adios," "Where the hell have you been?" "Poor dead bastard," "You're just another decrepit old has-been," "That, as they say, is that!" "I really enjoyed nailing that bastard," and "Oh I'm sick of this!" As the noose tightens around his neck from his horse Ollie walking forward two steps, Maverick's voice becomes more strained as he tells Ollie not to go without him. Maverick holds his cards in front of him picture-side out, jokingly realizes his mistake, and turns them back. Annabelle has a Southern accent, which may be tempting to imitate. Some of the action and various gun-related stunts, such as Maverick and Zane spinning their guns around on their fingers, may be tempting for kids to imitate. A bearded man removes the cork of a bottle with his teeth and spits it into the air. JUMP SCENES None MUSIC (SCARY/TENSE) A heavy amount of suspenseful music occurs in the film. MUSIC (INAPPROPRIATE) During the end credits, a song by Randy Newman, "Ride Gambler Ride," contains this lyric: "Ride, gambler ride, till you're poor, broke up, raggedy; your ass is sore." PROFANITY At least 9 "s" words, 1 slang term for breasts ("hind t*t"), 16 damns, 16 hells, 7 asses (4 used with "hole") 11 S.O.Bs, and 1 use each of "G-ddamn," "God-awful," "Jesus," "Oh my God" and "Oh Lord." SEX/NUDITY As he walks down the last of the stairs, Maverick passes by a painting that shows a bare-breasted woman. As she pulls in the money she won from a hand of poker, Annabelle shows some cleavage. Maverick reaches out and pulls Annabelle back by the rear of her dress. Maverick tells Annabelle, "Now it's time for you to do a little something that I want," taking off his tie as if that's what he wants. Annabelle, thinking that's what he means, reacts with, "How dare you? I'm a lady; not in a million years. Not if you were a hundred years old, not if I was a hundred years old." Maverick tells her to shut up because that's not what he was after. Maverick responds, "I don't want to go to bed with you, lady," and she replies, a little miffed, "Why not?" Maverick answers, "Why not? Why not? I'd be too frightened. What if I dozed off? God knows what parts of me you'd steal, I'd wake up with all sorts of things missing." Maverick unbuttons his shirt and takes it off, his bare chest showing. Maverick walks into view in his room shirtless. He remains shirtless for the entire time he's in his room. Zane, being gentlemanly to Annabelle, says, "See my feeling is that if there weren't any women, none of us would be here." Maverick, incredulous, responds, "Well what kind of sense does that make? If there weren't any men, we wouldn't be here either." Zane says to Maverick and Annabelle that they ought to say something nice about the dead and now-buried stagecoach driver, and Annabelle replies that they don't know anything about him. "The only thing he's got in his wallet is a bunch of names of whorehouses," she says. As Maverick is telling the men in the camp about the two people who would be after them, he says about "Marshal Zane Cooper" that he "gums his food and his women." For "Ugly Annie Bransford," he says that "when she's making love, she has to pretend she's someone else." Maverick is shirtless while sitting next to Joseph. A woman close to a man who loses badly, shows cleavage in a black dress. Annabelle shows some cleavage as she collects her winnings and then, as she does it a second time, she shows even more cleavage. Annabelle nearly jumps onto Maverick and starts kissing him and they nearly barge backwards into another room and a woman screams. They go into Maverick's room, she pulls him in, and the door slams behind them. Maverick and Annabelle roll onto the bed, her on top of him and they kiss. After Maverick puts two valuables in a drawer, he really gets into the act, kissing Annabelle more than he did before. After hearing the 30-minute warning before the start of the final game, Maverick and Annabelle get up from the floor. He's shirtless and she has only her head above the bed, implying nudity, unseen. Maverick checks the time on his pocket watch, determines that the caller is a "good four minutes fast," and he and Annabelle return to the floor, out of sight. When the gentleman calls a 15-minute warning outside of the rooms, Maverick gets up and suggests to Annabelle that maybe they'd better get serious, in getting ready for the game, but Annabelle takes him by the head and pulls him down to the floor. Zane comments to Annabelle that she has a "nice glow" about her. One of the women in the crowd shows a bit of cleavage. Maverick explains to Annabelle, "See, usually when you get excited, you tend to breathe heavily," about the tell that caused her to lose. Annabelle starts to ask Maverick how he knows, and then stops, remembering how he knows. Maverick sits Annabelle on his lap, and after a minute of dialogue, they kiss. A man with a hairy chest with a towel wrapped around his waist walks past Maverick, lying in a full bathtub with only the upper part of his bare chest showing. As Maverick gets up a second time from being pushed underwater, more of his bare front self is seen, nearly down to the waist. Zane sits bare-chested in his bathtub. Annabelle looks into the tub of each man at the obvious part of them and comments, "My, such splendid similarities" (we don't see what she does). She stops before exiting and says, "From the looks of things, I'll have the lady come in with more hot water." Zane and Maverick each look at their own parts, and Maverick sits up to try to see Zane's to compare, and Zane considers doing the same, but stops short of doing so. SMOKING Maverick smokes a cigar four times, the Commodore smokes a cigar once, a man with sideburns in the poker game at the beginning of the film smokes once, and one of the men in the crowd during the poker tournament smokes a cigar once. Cigar or cigarette smoke is seen from offscreen during the tournament. The Commodore holds a cigar between two fingers. Smoke rises from a crystal ashtray at Maverick's table. The Commodore puts a cigar in his mouth, hoping to light it, but his hand of poker becomes a losing hand. A bathhouse matron asks Zane and Maverick if they "got enough cigars? Enough brandy?" Maverick puts a new cigar in his mouth, but Zane pushes his head underwater again. Maverick comes back up and demands that he stop that because "these damn things are a buck apiece. You brought me up to save money." Maverick dips the tip of his cigar in a glass of brandy and shakes the cigar once into his mouth, catching a drop, and puts the cigar back into his mouth. TENSE FAMILY SCENES None. TOPICS TO TALK ABOUT The risks of playing poker, as evidenced by the losing players who put down a lot of money to play. The Old West and the small towns found along the way. Steamboats gliding along the rivers with gambling available. Stagecoaches as one mode of transport across the West. After Maverick comments that Joseph really knows how to pick the spots to settle on, he replies, "Yeah, I know. You know, the next time you people come to drive us off our land, I'm gonna find a piece of swampland that's so godawful, maybe then you'll leave us the hell alone." Perception of Indians, as with the Russian whom Joseph and the other Indians are forced to entertain for the money, and who believes all Indians speak like they do in books, such as, "How, white man." The religious people Maverick, Zane, and Annabelle encounter, who have been robbed, and who are trying to start a church in the West. The various twists that the film has, which may require some discussion to understand. VIOLENCE Angel grabs Maverick by the collar, intending to do damage, but is stopped by men who have more of a beef with Maverick. One of the men kicks a chair away. The angry men rush at Maverick, who runs at the table, jumps on it, knocks the hanging lamp to the side with his hand, and runs out of the parlor. One of the men brandishes a whip and lashes it at the ground. The whip-wielding man lashes the whip at Maverick, who catches it, pulls the man to him, and punches him. A man in a black outfit punches Maverick who falls, and another man holds him while the man in black punches him. Maverick kicks the punching man away from him and kicks another man, holding a stick, in the crotch. He elbows the man, holding him, in the stomach and then bashes him in the face with the stick. He does the same to a man in front of him, who falls, and then he spins around and punches another man in the face. As Angel looks out at the action, we hear punches. Maverick hits a man's foot with the stick and he falls, holding his foot. He then punches another man in the gut and then the face. He grabs the shoulder of one man and as another assailant approaches him, he ducks, and the assailant accidentally punches the man. After all that, Maverick shouts and runs after the men with the stick, swinging it at them as they run. Maverick knocks over a table in anger after discovering that his lucky shirt's been damaged. Distracted by Annabelle, Maverick accidentally closes the door on his hand. Annabelle slaps Maverick. Annabelle throws Maverick's shirt inside and sits on the ledge of the window to move back in. Maverick asks her if she wants a hand and tips her inside, head first. A robber with a bandana over his face holds a gun to the head of Robert, one of the employees of the bank, and shoves him toward the desk. The robber hits Eugene on his chest and demands the rest of the money. One of the robber's partners lights a match and then lights the fuse of sticks of dynamite to blow open the safe. Eugene and Maverick run at each other to avoid the impending explosion and then try to get under Eugene's desk at the same time. The explosion at the bank blows out the double doors and the windows, with debris shooting out from two sides. Two bystanders fall to the ground and then get up, and one starts running. Maverick grabs Annabelle by the wrist, but Zane appears and says, "Remove your hands from the lady." Angel takes a skillet and hits one of Maverick's former assailants in the face with it. He hits another man in the stomach, and shoves him toward another guy, then wraps a whip around the shoved guy's neck, and wraps the whip around a wooden beam and the guy chokes, turning red. Another guy comes at Angel, trying to punch him, but Angel punches him hard in the face and the guy spins around, his face hitting the counter hard enough to hear a clanging sound, and then falls down. Angel punches the whip-choked guy in the stomach and he slides down. Maverick is dragged on the ground by a runaway stagecoach, and in the process of trying to get back up to the roof and then to the horses to try to stop them, luggage bounces out of the rear hold, nearly hitting Maverick. However, a barrel falls and hits Maverick on his head and his back. Maverick is thrown off the horses and flies to the edge of a cliff, hanging down from it. Annabelle shoves Maverick to the side, demanding to know what kind of animal he is for asking the religious people how much money was taken from them, and then proceeds to ask two women the question differently. Maverick shoves Annabelle behind him after hearing how much money was lost and attempts to make a deal. Maverick and Annabelle keep shoving each other back and forth during the conversation with the women. Annabelle trips and holds Maverick from behind as she falls, and the gun in his holster goes off. Annabelle steps on Maverick's chest as she walks over him. One of the criminals, drunk, nearly trips while turning around, and he kicks one of his sleeping cohorts in the side. One of the men shouts, "I'll give you something to remember," and dives for his gun, but as soon as he has it out, Maverick shoots the gun out of his hand. Maverick shoots at another man who has a gun and then fires a few more shots all around. A man fires at Maverick, who ducks, and another man accidentally fires at the first man, knocking his hat off and him down. Zane fires off a shot from behind a tree, hitting a man in the leg. Zane fires off another shot, hitting a man holding a long stick. Maverick fires three times at another man, causing his hat to fly up and his shotgun to go off as he holds it up, and he falls backwards into a stream. Then Maverick fires at a long-haired man, shattering the bottle of booze he's holding and he sits down hard. Maverick tries to fire again, but realizes he's out of bullets, and as the long-haired man gets back up, Maverick rolls to the ground as more shots are fired. Maverick then takes out Annabelle's gun and fires at a man wearing a black hat, whose gun flies out of his hand and he cries, "Ow! My wrist!" The man with the rifle shakes water out of the barrel while shouting at Maverick, "Damn you, damn you!" He tries to fire at Maverick, but Maverick shoots at a rock on a ledge and the rock falls on the man's head and he reels backwards. Another man gets up to shoot at Maverick, but Maverick punches him in the face with the side of his hand and he falls backward. Joseph shakes Maverick, tells him to pull himself together, and then slaps him. Maverick says he doesn't like to be teased, then begins to choke Joseph. The Russian fires the arrow, visibly pained from shooting it, and the arrow lands in the bark of a tree right near Maverick. The Russian fires his gun and Maverick looks like he's hit, clutching his arm as he falls down. A man grabs Maverick, pushes him against a rock, punches him in the gut and then the face, and Maverick spins around. Maverick recovers and punches the first assailant in the stomach, kicks the second in the face (he slides down a bit), but the third man punches him in the face, sending him back to the first guy, who punches him again in the stomach. The first and the third man grab him by the collar and hold him against the rock. The first man cocks his gun and holds it at his face. The second man backhands Maverick hard across the face. Annabelle slaps Maverick after he reveals a hand she thought wasn't there anymore. Maverick taps a bearded man on the shoulder and punches him in the stomach when he turns around. He then punches a near one-eyed man in the face, and tries to get at Angel, but Angel grabs his fist. Maverick kicks Angel at the heel and he nearly trips. A player tries to hit a fat old cheater, but Zane stops him. Angel gets up, flings a gun out of his sleeve, and grabs it while Zane takes out his gun and Maverick grabs the gun from Zane's second holster. Zane fires a shot into Angel's chest and blood is seen for a split-second. Maverick fires three bullets from his gun, hitting the two members of Angel's posse, who both have guns. The first man is hit in the chest, and the second man is hit twice, once in the shoulder and once in the chest. A porter offers to carry Zane's bag out, but Zane tells the man to get his hands off his bag and get into the crowd, and kicks his leg. Maverick says the right thing to do would be to let Zane or the Commodore kill the other and throws the gun into the air. Zane trips over the edge of the campfire and falls on the other side, and catches the gun. The Commodore grabs at it too, then grabs it from Zane and points it at him. The Commodore tries to fire at Zane, but the chambers in the gun are empty. Zane knocks the gun out of the Commodore's hand, punches him in the stomach and the face, sending him staggering to the ground, flat on his back. Reviewed off DVD / Posted June 6, 2008