When the circus was playing in Los Angeles, California, actor Buck Jones encouraged Maynard to try working in the movies.

The action scenes were so spectacular that they were often reused in films of the 1930s, starring either Maynard himself or John Wayne, or Dick Foran.

His reckless screen personality spilled over into his private life, with alcoholism and high living resulting in production delays and temper tantrums on the set.

Other independent producers took a chance on the hotheaded star—among them Tiffany Productions and Sono Art-World Wide Pictures—before he returned to Universal in 1933.

Maynard played several musical instruments, and was featured that year on the violin in The Fiddlin' Buckaroo, and on the banjo in The Trail Drive.

He was teamed with fellow veteran stars Hoot Gibson and Bob Steele, and the trio offered action for the kids and nostalgia for their elders.

It was not long before Maynard's raging temperament again cost him the job; he liked Gibson but did not like Steele, and left the series after seven films.

[citation needed] Maynard turned his back on the movies and made appearances at state fairs and rodeos.