Shady Deal at Sunny Acres
Encyclopedia
Shady Deal at Sunny Acres, starring James Garner
and Jack Kelly
, remains the most famous and widely discussed episode of the Western
comedy
television
series Maverick
. Written by series creator Roy Huggins
and Douglas Heyes
and directed by Leslie H. Martinson
, this 1958 second season episode depicts gambler Bret Maverick
(James Garner) being swindled by a crooked banker (John Dehner
) after depositing the proceeds from a late-night poker
game, then recruiting his brother Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) to mount an elaborate sting operation
to recover the money.
As Huggins noted during a lengthy discussion of the episode in his Archive of American Television
interview, the first half of the 1973 movie The Sting
seems obviously based on Huggins' script. While Bart and all of the series' recurring characters join forces to energetically flim-flam the banker ("....if you can't trust your banker, who can you trust?"), Bret sits whittling in a rocking chair across the street from the bank every day, responding to the amused and patronizing queries of the local townspeople curious about how he plans to recover his money, "I'm working on it."
"Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" is always the first episode that Garner mentions in interviews and was subsequently remade by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell
into a 1975 Rockford Files installment called "The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company" (a combination of "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" and another Maverick episode entitled "Maverick Springs").
The episode is also the only one featuring brief appearances by all of the series' early semi-regular recurring characters, including Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
as Dandy Jim Buckley, Diane Brewster
as Samantha Crawford, Leo Gordon
as Big Mike McComb, Richard Long
as Gentleman Jack Darby, and Arlene Howell
as Cindy Lou Brown.
It is one of only three original "Maverick" programs officially released on DVD.
Jack Kelly ... Bart Maverick
John Dehner
... Bates the banker
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
... Dandy Jim Buckley
Diane Brewster
... Samantha Crawford
Leo Gordon
... Big Mike McComb
Richard Long
... Gentleman Jack Darby
Arlene Howell
... Cindy Lou Brown
Regis Toomey
... Ben Granville
Karl Swenson
... Sheriff Griffen
Joan Young ... Susan Granville
Irving Bacon
... Employee
Val Benedict ... Cowhand
Earle Hodgins ... Plunkett
Jonathan Hole ... Brent Williams
J. Pat O'Malley
... Ambrose Callahan
Syd Saylor
... 1st Townsman
Leon Tyler ... Henry Hibbs
Edwin Reimers
... Announcer (voice)
List of Maverick episodes
The Rockford Files
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
and Jack Kelly
Jack Kelly (actor)
Jack Kelly was an American film and television actor most noted for the role of "Bart Maverick" in the TV series Maverick, which ran on ABC from 1957 to 1962...
, remains the most famous and widely discussed episode of the Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
. Written by series creator Roy Huggins
Roy Huggins
Roy Huggins was an American novelist and an influential writer/creator and producer of character-driven television series, including Maverick, The Fugitive, and The Rockford Files....
and Douglas Heyes
Douglas Heyes
Douglas Heyes was an American film and television writer, director, producer, actor, and composer with a long list of accomplishments.He was the father of actor Douglas Heyes, Jr..He died in Beverly Hills, California....
and directed by Leslie H. Martinson
Leslie H. Martinson
Leslie "Les" H. Martinson is an American television and film director. He is married to television host and writer Connie Martinson.-Career:...
, this 1958 second season episode depicts gambler Bret Maverick
Bret Maverick
Bret Maverick is an American Western series starring James Garner in the role that made him famous in the 1957 series Maverick: a professional poker player traveling alone year after year through the Old West from riverboat to saloon...
(James Garner) being swindled by a crooked banker (John Dehner
John Dehner
John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...
) after depositing the proceeds from a late-night poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
game, then recruiting his brother Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) to mount an elaborate sting operation
Sting operation
In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person committing a crime. A typical sting will have a law-enforcement officer or cooperative member of the public play a role as criminal partner or potential victim and go along with a suspect's actions to gather...
to recover the money.
As Huggins noted during a lengthy discussion of the episode in his Archive of American Television
Archive of American Television
The Archive of American Television is a division of the non-profit Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation that films interviews with notable people from all aspects of the television industry....
interview, the first half of the 1973 movie The Sting
The Sting
The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936 that involves a complicated plot by two professional grifters to con a mob boss . The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who previously directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.Created by...
seems obviously based on Huggins' script. While Bart and all of the series' recurring characters join forces to energetically flim-flam the banker ("....if you can't trust your banker, who can you trust?"), Bret sits whittling in a rocking chair across the street from the bank every day, responding to the amused and patronizing queries of the local townspeople curious about how he plans to recover his money, "I'm working on it."
"Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" is always the first episode that Garner mentions in interviews and was subsequently remade by writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen J. Cannell
Stephen Joseph Cannell was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.-Early life:...
into a 1975 Rockford Files installment called "The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company" (a combination of "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres" and another Maverick episode entitled "Maverick Springs").
The episode is also the only one featuring brief appearances by all of the series' early semi-regular recurring characters, including Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is an American actor known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. He is also known as recurring character "Dandy Jim Buckley" in the series Maverick and as the voice behind the character Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series...
as Dandy Jim Buckley, Diane Brewster
Diane Brewster
Diane Brewster was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in US TV series of the 1950s and 60s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in Maverick; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen...
as Samantha Crawford, Leo Gordon
Leo Gordon
Leo Vincent Gordon was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television....
as Big Mike McComb, Richard Long
Richard Long (actor)
Richard Long was an American actor better known for his leading roles in several ABC television series, including The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor and Bourbon Street Beat.-Early life:...
as Gentleman Jack Darby, and Arlene Howell
Arlene Howell
Arlene Howell , a.k.a. Eurlyne Howell, was an American television actress who held the Miss USA 1958 title.Howell became the first of three Miss Louisiana USA titleholders to win the Miss USA crown when she won the Miss USA 1958 pageant held in Long Beach, California in July 1958...
as Cindy Lou Brown.
It is one of only three original "Maverick" programs officially released on DVD.
Cast
James Garner ... Bret MaverickBret Maverick: The Lazy Ace
Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace is the 1981 2-hour pilot episode of the television series Bret Maverick, trimmed to a quicker pace and repackaged as a TV-movie for rerunning on local television stations. The 1981 show was based on the 1957 series Maverick, catching up with professional poker-player...
Jack Kelly ... Bart Maverick
The New Maverick
The New Maverick is a 1978 made-for-TV movie based on the 1957 television series Maverick, with James Garner as Bret Maverick, Charles Frank as newcomer cousin Ben Maverick , Jack Kelly as Bart Maverick, and Susan Sullivan as "Poker Alice" Ivers. The TV-movie was a pilot for the series Young...
John Dehner
John Dehner
John Dehner was an American actor in radio, television, and films, playing countless roles, often as a droll villain. Between 1941 and 1988, he appeared in over 260 films and television programs. Prior to acting, Dehner had worked as an animator at Walt Disney Studios, and later became a radio...
... Bates the banker
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is an American actor known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. He is also known as recurring character "Dandy Jim Buckley" in the series Maverick and as the voice behind the character Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series...
... Dandy Jim Buckley
Diane Brewster
Diane Brewster
Diane Brewster was an American television actress most noted for playing three distinctively different roles in US TV series of the 1950s and 60s: confidence trickster Samantha Crawford in Maverick; pretty young second-grade teacher Miss Canfield in Leave It to Beaver; and doomed wife Helen...
... Samantha Crawford
Leo Gordon
Leo Gordon
Leo Vincent Gordon was an American movie and television character actor as well as a screenplay writer and novelist. He specialized in playing brutish bad guys during more than forty years in film and television....
... Big Mike McComb
Richard Long
Richard Long (actor)
Richard Long was an American actor better known for his leading roles in several ABC television series, including The Big Valley, Nanny and the Professor and Bourbon Street Beat.-Early life:...
... Gentleman Jack Darby
Arlene Howell
Arlene Howell
Arlene Howell , a.k.a. Eurlyne Howell, was an American television actress who held the Miss USA 1958 title.Howell became the first of three Miss Louisiana USA titleholders to win the Miss USA crown when she won the Miss USA 1958 pageant held in Long Beach, California in July 1958...
... Cindy Lou Brown
Regis Toomey
Regis Toomey
John Regis Toomey was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey and attended Peabody High School...
... Ben Granville
Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson
Karl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...
... Sheriff Griffen
Joan Young ... Susan Granville
Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon
Irving Bacon was an American character actor who appeared in over 400 films. He played on the stage for a number of years before getting into films in 1920. Bacon was sometimes cast in films directed by his namesake Lloyd Bacon such as The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse...
... Employee
Val Benedict ... Cowhand
Earle Hodgins ... Plunkett
Jonathan Hole ... Brent Williams
J. Pat O'Malley
J. Pat O'Malley
James Patrick O'Malley was an English singer and character actor, who appeared in many American films and television programs during the 1940s–1970s, using the stage name J. Pat O'Malley...
... Ambrose Callahan
Syd Saylor
Syd Saylor
Syd Saylor was a light comedy actor and movie cowboy sidekick who appeared in 395 films and TV series between 1926 and 1962...
... 1st Townsman
Leon Tyler ... Henry Hibbs
Edwin Reimers
Ed Reimers
Edwin W. Reimers , known as Ed Reimers, was an American actor active during the 1950s and 1960s, who also served as the stentorian-voiced announcer for such early Warner Brothers television series as Cheyenne and Maverick: "From the entertainment capital of the world, this is a Warner Brothers...
... Announcer (voice)
See also
Duel at Sundown (Maverick)List of Maverick episodes
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
External links
- Shady Deal at Sunny Acres in the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Shady Deal at Sunny Acres in TV GuideTV GuideTV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
.com - Shady Deal at Sunny Acres in TV.com
- Reviews of "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres"
- Roy Huggins' Archive of American Television Interview
- Stephen J. Cannell's Archive of American Television explanation of Huggins' approach
- Museum of Broadcast Communications: Maverick
- James Garner's Archive of American Television Interview
- The Paley Center for Media