Maverick (1994) Blu-ray

[aiman04]

Maverick Blu-ray



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Ante up - for laughter and action aplenty! Mel Gibson is sly gambler Bret Maverick, Jodie Foster is a charming scam artist and James Garner is a laid-back lawman in this crowd-pleaser that deals you a winning hand. A riverboat poker tourney promises a winner-take-all $500,000 - and Bret aims to be the winner who does the taking! But first he must cope with the hangman's noose, a runaway stage, a wily Indian chief, outlaws, ingrates, rattlesnakes and more close calls than a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs. Under the wily direction of Richard Donner, these jokers are wild!

Starring: Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, James Garner, Graham Greene (I), Alfred Molina
Director: Richard Donner

[aiman04]

Anybody who owns this can be so kind to post a short review on the PQ & AQ? How bad is the PQ, curious as 2 user reviews say it looks good.

[Berek]

I'm not a so called master of PQ and AQ, but I can tell you I've watched this blu-ray several times and it looks and sounds great. Worthy purchase especially if you can get it cheap. Plus anything is better than the DVD release. Talk about old.

[meremortal]

It's a big step up from the old dvd and laserdisc copies I had.

[Blu-Benny]

i'd say the PQ is very good. i haven't watched it on my HT so i can't comment on the AQ.

[Roy Batty]

Originally Posted by aiman04

Anybody who owns this can be so kind to post a short review on the PQ & AQ? How bad is the PQ, curious as 2 user reviews say it looks good.

Maybe this will help you more than any opinion.

[aiman04]

Thank you everyone, now I have more confidence to buy it. One of my favorite films from Richard Donner with excellent performance all around, even by minor characters. I can watch this repeatedly and laugh out loud each time!

[Roy Batty]

Actually, had I noticed how cropped the frame is on the BD before getting it, maybe I wouldn't have purchased it.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Roy Batty

Actually, had I noticed how cropped the frame is on the BD before getting it, maybe I wouldn't have purchased it.

The only Maverick DVD previously available was a DVD-10 [one side being anamorphic WS, the other P/S] that had a window-boxed image from a blurry-as-hell, washed-out master encoded with 1997-era first-gen software.

The BD is more than acceptable when seen through the prism of being a mid-tier catalog title headlined by 2 currently past-their-prime stars and a dead guy, all set in a relatively unmarketable genre (being a "Comedy Western" of sorts). It was never going to get a restoration comparable to The Wizard of Oz from Warner Bros. to begin with. The zoomed-in image and intermittent EE/haloing isn't great by any means, but it doesn't have any fatal flaws such as the pervasive "jaggies" as seen on WB's Lethal Weapon releases.

In short, those of us who like Maverick (myself included) are lucky to have even got it on a BD at all, let alone one that isn't a total fiasco.

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by Roy Batty

Actually, had I noticed how cropped the frame is on the BD before getting it, maybe I wouldn't have purchased it.

Yeah, now that you mentioned it they cropped it quite a bit. A little too much probably. However, I can't resist. I must see this again in much better PQ than the DVD.

Originally Posted by svenge

The only Maverick DVD previously available was a DVD-10 [one side being anamorphic WS, the other P/S] that had a window-boxed image from a blurry-as-hell, washed-out master encoded with 1997-era first-gen software.

The BD is more than acceptable when seen through the prism of being a mid-tier catalog title headlined by 2 currently past-their-prime stars and a dead guy, all set in a relatively unmarketable genre (being a "Comedy Western" of sorts). It was never going to get a restoration comparable to The Wizard of Oz from Warner Bros. to begin with. The zoomed-in image and intermittent EE/haloing isn't great by any means, but it doesn't have any fatal flaws such as the pervasive "jaggies" as seen on WB's Lethal Weapon releases.

In short, those of us who like Maverick (myself included) are lucky to have even got it on a BD at all, let alone one that isn't a total fiasco.

Agreed. This movie had a great cast, so fun, but the marketing is so bad it was never announced, suddenly out of nowhere it simply appeared in stores.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by aiman04

Agreed. This movie had a great cast, so fun, but the marketing is so bad it was never announced, suddenly out of nowhere it simply appeared in stores.

It was a Best Buy exclusive initially.

[Cliff]

Originally Posted by svenge

The only Maverick DVD previously available was a DVD-10 [one side being anamorphic WS, the other P/S] that had a window-boxed image from a blurry-as-hell, washed-out master encoded with 1997-era first-gen software.

The BD is more than acceptable when seen through the prism of being a mid-tier catalog title headlined by 2 currently past-their-prime stars and a dead guy, all set in a relatively unmarketable genre (being a "Comedy Western" of sorts). It was never going to get a restoration comparable to The Wizard of Oz from Warner Bros. to begin with. The zoomed-in image and intermittent EE/haloing isn't great by any means, but it doesn't have any fatal flaws such as the pervasive "jaggies" as seen on WB's Lethal Weapon releases.

In short, those of us who like Maverick (myself included) are lucky to have even got it on a BD at all, let alone one that isn't a total fiasco.

While "2 currently past-their-prime stars" is debatable... James Garner isn't dead.

But agreed on the rest. Maverick actually looks fantastic on Blu-ray. And quite frankly, if the cropping was so horrible it would have been bothersome WITHOUT having to be shown first.

[svenge]

Originally Posted by Cliff

While "2 currently past-their-prime stars" is debatable... James Garner isn't dead.

Whoops! I must've conflated James Garner with James Coburn, who played Commodore Duvall in the film...

[Johnzilla2179]

Yeah... kinda disappointed with this one. I understand the logic of having a flawed transfer rather than nothing in HD, but the cropping really hurts it. I'm pretty sure they just used the DVD transfer and zoomed it in a bit to cut off the damage that pops up at certain moments. I honestly wish that Warner proper hadn't bothered years ago as I'm almost certain that by now Warner Archive would have put this out, probably with the remaster the film deserves to boot. But given that this disc exists, I doubt we'll ever get a remaster.

[Pumbo]

I just bought this on iTunes and the picture is pretty ropey, the text looks pixelated, as do some shots, and there’s occasionally a flicker between shots, and plenty of print damage. I probably should have gone for the blu but wasn’t confident the film was worthy of a physical purchase.

[gooey]

Originally Posted by Pumbo

I just bought this on iTunes and the picture is pretty ropey, the text looks pixelated, as do some shots, and there’s occasionally a flicker between shots, and plenty of print damage. I probably should have gone for the blu but wasn’t confident the film was worthy of a physical purchase.

hasnt changed in 5 years. it was so bad i thought it was SD or my internet was taking a hit

[sa5150]

Blu-ray looks fine , But this could use a new encode . Fun film, 4K would be sweet !

[openviews]

RIP Graham Greene.

https://deadline.com/2025/09/graham-...er-1236502962/

Would also love a proper 4K release for this one.

[Skylath]

Originally Posted by openviews

RIP Graham Greene.

https://deadline.com/2025/09/graham-...er-1236502962/

Would also love a proper 4K release for this one.

Terrible shame, he was also terrific in Clear Cut and Defiance. RIP.