“The Ghost Soldiers”

“The Ghost Soldiers”

 

Season: 3 episode 9

Series Episode: 62

Air Date: November 8, 1959

Maverick TV series starring James Garner and Jack Kelly

A Warner Bros. production

 

 

Teaser

The specter of annihilation motivates a bizarre performance.

 

 

 

Cast & Crew Lists

Cast

Character	Role	Actor	Actor Age	Status
Bret Maverick	Gambler / Con artist /	James Garner	31	Credited
Baines	4th Cavalry Sergeant	James Westerfield	46	Credited
Willie Daggett	4th Cavalry Corporal	Ted Otis	23	Credited
Jennings	6th Cavalry Lieutenant	Chuck Wassil	26	Credited
Red Wing	Son of Mike Burke's partner in the silver mine / Poker player	Stuart Randall	50	Credited
Running Horse	Sioux War Chief	Paul Clark	32	Credited
	Sioux Chief	Jack Lilley	25	Uncredited
	Announcer	Ed Reimers	57	Uncredited
Walls	6th Cavalry Sergeant			Uncredited
	10 men in Lieutenant Jennning's squad			Uncredited
	Trooper	Jerry Brown	44	Uncredited
	Sioux Chief with eagle feathered war bonnet with beaded triangles on the forehand band	Artie Ortego	69	Uncredited
	Sioux Chief with the ends of the feathers encased in leather rolls wearing a fringed shirt	Charles Soldani	66	Uncredited
"Pappy" Beauregard Maverick	Bret Maverick's father			Mentioned
Bart Maverick	Bret Maverick's brother			Mentioned
Baines	Baines father / Fish monger			Mentioned
Parkinson	Colonel at Fort Burnside			Mentioned
Mrs. Parkinson	Colonel Parkinson's wife			Mentioned
Major Harrington	Army officer at Fort Burnside			Mentioned
	Cherokee nation			Mentioned
	General at Ft. McKittridge			Mentioned

 

Crew

Director	Leslie H. Martinson
Assistant Director	Claude Binyon, Jr.
Developed by	Roy Huggins (uncredited)
Writer	Richard Carr / Robert L. Jacks
Executive Producer	Wm. (William) T. Orr
Producer	Coles Trapnell
Director of Photography	Roger Shearman
Art Director	Howard Campbell
Supervising Film Editor	James Moore
Film Editor	Carl Pingitore
Production Manager	Oren W. Haglund
Sound	Carl David Forrest
Set Decorator	Steven Potter
Makeup Supervisor	Gordon Bau, S.M.A.
Composer: Original Theme	David Buttolph (uncredited)
Original Theme Lyrics	Paul Francis Weber
Stock Music Composer	Max Steiner (uncredited)
Musician: Harmonica	Tommy Morgan (uncredited)
Production Company	Warner Bros. Television
Distribution Company	American Broadcasting Company (ABC)

 

 

Dialogue/Figurative Language/Literary References/Quotes

Bret: The colonel, he guessed wrong too. Sending all his men out and not leaving enough help to mind the store.

 

Bret: Sergeant, you don’t mean for us to,,. How do you say it? Sell our lives as dearly as possible.

 

Sergeant Baines: Because, Mr. Maverick, we are in a pickle.  

 

Bret Maverick: Alright, I’ll turn my cards face up.  

 

Sergeant Barnes: It takes all kinds to make a world.

References go as far back as Don Quioxte, Part II Chapter VI by Miguel de Cervantes, 1605: “Recollect, my friend,” said Don Quixote, “all knights cannot be courtiers, nor can all courtiers be knights-errant, nor need they be. There must be all sorts in the world; and though we may be all knights, there is a great difference between one and another; for the courtiers, without quitting their chambers, or the threshold of the court, range the world over by looking at a map, without its costing them a farthing, and without suffering heat or cold, hunger or thirst; but we, the true knights-errant, measure the whole earth with our own feet, exposed to the sun, to the cold, to the air, to the inclemencies of heaven, by day and night, on foot and on horseback; nor do we only know enemies in pictures, but in their own real shapes; and at all risks and on all occasions we attack them, without any regard to childish points or rules of single combat, whether one has or has not a shorter lance or sword, whether one carries relics or any secret contrivance about him, whether or not the sun is to be divided and portioned out, and other niceties of the sort that are observed in set combats of man to man, that you know nothing about, but I do. And you must know besides, that the true knight-errant, though he may see ten giants, that not only touch the clouds with their heads but pierce them, and that go, each of them, on two tall towers by way of legs, and whose arms are like the masts of mighty ships, and each eye like a great mill-wheel, and glowing brighter than a glass furnace, must not on any account be dismayed by them. On the contrary, he must attack and fall upon them with a gallant bearing and a fearless heart, and, if possible, vanquish and destroy them, even though they have for armour the shells of a certain fish, that they say are harder than diamonds, and in place of swords wield trenchant blades of Damascus steel, or clubs studded with spikes also of steel, such as I have more than once seen. All this I say, housekeeper, that you may see the difference there is between the one sort of knight and the other; and it would be well if there were no prince who did not set a higher value on this second, or more properly speaking first, kind of knights-errant; for, as we read in their histories, there have been some among them who have been the salvation, not merely of one kingdom, but of many.”

to,

“It takes all sorts of people to make a world, as I’ve often heard, but I think there are some who could be spared,’ Anne told her reflection in the east gable mirror that night.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Avonlea, 1909
Meaning: A diversity of thoughts, races, professions, beliefs, cultures, etc. are necessary to create a well rounded world.

 

Bret Maverick: Since we’re about to leave said world, shall we go through that beige door and make one last try to pound some sense into that greenhead?
Meaning: someone who is inexperienced, a novice.

 

 

Notable Mentions

Fish market on the waterfront in New Jersey
Black Hill’s gold stampede
Sioux
Long knives
Cherokee 
Military Board of Inquiry 
Martial Law   

 

Geographic References

Fort Burnside 1942 -1948) – A World War II Coastal Fort first established in 1942 on Beavertail Point, Newport County, Rhode Island. Named in G.O. 65, 4 Dec 1942, after Major General Ambrose E. Burnside. Also one in Kentucky.
Fort McKittridge
New Jersey
Denver    

 

 

The Games People Play

Bret Maverick: You see sonny, I deal in odds. And the odds are about a thousand to one and I think we oughta throw our cards in and try another game.

 

 

Music

“Taps” (instrumental) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taps_(bugle_call)
“Reveille” (instrumental) https://www.army.mil/article/108998/retreat_and_reveille_pay_your_respects_to_the_flag
“Mess Call” (mentioned) http://www.usscouts.org/mb/MessCall.asp
“Assembly” (instrumental) https://www.mfiles.co.uk/scores/assembly.htm
“Recall” (mentioned) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recall_(bugle_call)

 

 

 

Sources: Maverick episodes (written, spoken and credits), Internet Movie Database (IMDb), Wikipedia, individual observations, and others as indicated by the links.

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