Classic Cameos: Danny Glover in 'Maverick'
Filed under: Comedy, Fandom, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
People always seem to sneer at Mel Gibson's Maverick, but I've always had a special place for it on my DVD shelf. As television remakes go, Maverick is pretty slick and clever, and gently spoofs the Western genre while remaining true to its 1960s roots. (If you own the special 2-disc copy of Unforgiven, you need to go watch the Maverick episode that's included as a bonus feature. It's hilarious! Also, James Garner was a dreamboat.) Nevertheless, Maverick threatened to be too silly for its own good when it decided to capitalize on Richard Donner's friendships and franchises, and invite Danny Glover in for a cameo. (There's also a Goonie making a cameo in his gang, see if you can spot him.) This is the kind of wink-wink-nudge-nudge joke that should completely annoy me, but it doesn't here. Maybe my love of Lethal Weapon runs too deep, or maybe I get too into meta-references and expanded universes, but I think it's a fun parody. Sure, parts of it are eye-rolling and obvious ("I'm getting too old for this sh*t!"), but they could have been really lame and cast Glover as a straight-laced sheriff or Texas Ranger.
Instead, they let him play on the other side of the law, and it's a nice touch to let Glover set off a bomb for once, and let the explosion mirror the smoke and debris that the loose cannon cops always leave behind. I also love how Glover's look of greed upon beholding Geoffery Lewis' stuffed pocketbook mirrors the scene in Lethal Weapon 2 when Riggs and Murtaugh find the Alba Varden cache. It's a classic cameo, if only for the delightful implication that Riggs and Murtaugh have run into each other throughout American history.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-23-2009 @ 6:33PM
Matt Ramsey said...
One of the most self-satisfied, cringe-inducing cameos ever, in a terrible, terrible, terrible film.
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9-23-2009 @ 7:15PM
RadioDan said...
People sneer at Maverick? I am always so unaware of these things. I always thought it was a fun and clever movie.
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9-23-2009 @ 8:53PM
CParis said...
"Maverick" is one of the few Mel Gibson films I actually enjoyed. He and Garner had great chemistry and Jodi Foster was good too. And it was fun to see the parade of actors from the classic TV westerns of the 50s and 60s in small roles.
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9-23-2009 @ 10:41PM
MarkH said...
I think Maverick was when I realized that Donner, while not a hack by any means, really wasn't a very good director. I've read many times he enjoys indulging his actors' desires to improvise off the script, and that was a total fail here. This was a bad, bad movie.
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9-24-2009 @ 9:45AM
Kevin said...
What the heck are people talking about? This wasn't a great film, but it was a damn good time. CParis and RadioDan nailed it. Just a good time at the movies.
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