It’s a lot of fun with Jim Rockford (James Garner) this week as he finds himself in more trouble than usual!

First up we have Sticks and Stones May Break Your Bones But Waterbury Will Bury You, which originally aired 14 January, 1977, and was written by David Chase. The phone gag this time out features the military calling Jim about not having his returned his service pistol when he left the Army.

Jim takes on an unusual group of clients this week, when he finds himself hired by some fellow private investigators, including Blazing Saddles’ Cleavon Little. It seems the case each of them was working on ended up costing them their private investigator licence!

Jim decides to be a little more cautious, and learns that the culprit behind everything is a security firm that is looking for a larger share of the market. And it doesn’t seem to matter how they go about getting it, murdering the competition isn’t off the table.

So Jim, and his fellow investigators, have to find a way to take them down, and hopefully hold onto their licences (or get them back) while they do.

This was a very entertaining episode, and it was great to see Little! He and Garner have a really good chemistry together, it’s too bad this is his only appearance on the show. I wish they had brought him back a couple of times as a fellow investigator.

Oh well. It was a lot of fun, and I loved how they took down the security firm.

The second episode is the first part of a two-parter, The Trees, The Bees, and T.T. Flowers Part I. This originally screened 21 January, 1977 and was written by Gordon T. Dawson.

The phone gag this time around featured Angel (Stuart Margolin) calling to let Jim know that he’s using his one phone call by calling him.

Rocky”s (Noah Beery Jr.) friend, T.T. Flowers (Strother Martin), lives on his own, grows his own food, and raises his own animals. But it seems his daughter, Cathy (Karen Machon) is being manipulated by her husband, Sherman (Alex Rocco) and poor T.T. is being taken to a rest home, where by being fed a cocktail of drugs, will be seen as incompetent by the judge, and remanded permanently to the home’s care, overseen by Dr. Benjamin Crist (Richard Venture).

Crist is in cahoots with a land developer, Muellard (Scott Brady, who was already a baddie in the earlier episode Gearjammers). Crist has older land owners put into his home, and working with Muellard, snaps up the land to make a bundle.

Jim, after much persuasion from Rocky, agrees to help out, and decides that the best plan, right before the episode ends, is to break T.T. out, and they are on their way out, when the cops show up.

It’s a fun, tumultuous episode, but it also starts with T.T.’s memorial service, so we’ll have to see how that plays out next week in part two!

After a quick recap of last week’s episode, Jim Rockford (James Garner) gets thrown right back into it with this week’s installment.

Picking up where Part I left off, Part II of The Trees, The Bees and T.T. Flowers, written Gordon T. Dawson, aired on the 28 January, 1977. The phone gag features a woman just saying “hello?” over and over again.

Jim is able to slip out of the cliffhanger we left him in last week with T.T. Flowers (Strother Martin) and he digs further into what is going on in the land grab, with its tie-in to the home to which T.T. had been committed.

Happily, with T.T.’s, Rocky’s (Noah Beery Jr.), Beth’s (Gretchen Davenport) and Becker’s (Joe Santos) help, Jim slowly turns the tables on Muellard (Scott Brady) and Sherman Royle (Alex Rocco).

After seeing how the first episode opened with the memorial service, it was fun to watch the whole thing play out, especially when it looked like not only T.T. had been killed off, but it looked like Jim was in some pretty dire straits before this episode’s end. Happily though, he tends to be more clever than his adversaries give him credit for, and he had a plan in action, and brought everything around to a happy resolution.

Well almost. It seems T.T. still has a problem with his neighbor spraying pesticide and ruining his farm, and endangering his animals, so the episode ends, quite literally with a rock fight.

This two-parter was smart and fun, and gave not only Garner, but his supporting cast a chance to shine as well. I loved Beth’s comments when dealing with Muellard.

Becker is in trouble this time around in The Becker Connection. which aired 11 February, 1977. It was written by Juanita Bartlett from a story by Ted Harris and Chas. Floyd Johnson. The phone gag this time around features someone who has mistakenly called looking for dial-a-prayer.

Becker has spent the last month on a rotation in Narco, away from his usual assignment in Robbery/Homicide, he’s having a bit of a stressed out time, and blatantly ignores his friends, and his wife who have organized a huge surprise party for him.

When he’s called into his lieutenant’s office, he’s shocked to learn that he’s been suspended and that he is suspected of having stolen, and consequently sold packages of heroin. His tight financial situation doesn’t help his case.

Pleading with Jim, who never takes active police cases, especially ones involving Internal Affairs, Becker finally persuades his friend to dig in to it, cautiously.

The further he digs though, the more troubling things Jim finds, and realizes that perhaps, one of Becker’s friends may have in fact set him up.

This one shows the handle that Bartlett has on all the characters, and I find her scripts tend to help build the show’s mythology in the developing relationships and histories of the characters.

Looking forward to seeing what Jim gets himself messed up with next week!

Jim Rockford (James Garner) welcomes back some familiar faces in this week`s dual installment of The Rockford Files.

Up first we have Just Another Polish Wedding. This episode originally aired 18 February, 1977, and was written by Cannell. The phone gag, featured a call from Malibu Space Watch, wondering if Jim had seen anything unusual in the sky lately…

Jim almost takes a back seat to the antics in this episode which sees the return of Gandy (Isaac Hayes), ex-con, who is now looking for a job and expects `Rockfish` to help him, as well as Jim`s old parole officer, Hayes (Louis Gossett Jr.). Hayes ‘agrees’ to take on Gandy, but instead simply wants to use him to find out what Jim is working on.

It seems, Rockford has taken a county case, but may in fact lead to a huge payday for Hayes if he can track down a missing person before Jim does.

Hayes and Gandy are terrific together, and Jim, when he’s around in the course of the episode, provides a perfect balance point between the two of them. They all end up converging on a wedding, where the missing person is found, but there’s a reason he’s been missing, and the less than friendly folk who have been looking for him, have also tracked him down there.

This one is fast, funny, and has a lot of great moments. It’s always a joy to see returning characters, especially when they get paired up with other returning characters in new and interesting ways.

Loved this one!

The second episode, New Life, Old Dragons aired 25 February 1977, and it looks like Cannel, Huggins and David C. Taylor had their hands in a script from a story by Bernie Rollins and Leroy Robinson. The phone gag is from someone named Pete, who is giving Jim a hard time about the cabin he used last week, and where he stowed the trout he caught.

Jim gets hired by a Vietnamese refugee Mai (Irene Yah-Ling Sun) to find her brother, a fellow refugee. Jim is hesitant to take the case, and even suggests she talk to Becker (Joe Santos), but she feigns ignorance in language in protocol, insisting Jim help her.

As he digs deeper, he learns that there are ex-military folks involved, even some CIA personnel, and they are all after Mai’s brother, and a large chunk of cash that may be in his hands.

Menacing Jim in this episode is the always awesome Charles Napier, and it was also very cool to see the familiar face of Clyde Kusatsu.

As things unfurl, those I least suspected become involved and blackmail is escalated up to murder, and Jim could end up in serious trouble!

Once again, a highly enjoyable pair of episodes, though the first one this week was definitely the stronger of the two, and I do hope we see Gandy and Hayes again…. so much fun!

A cop groupie causes all manner of trouble in the two-parter I look at this week.

David Chase wrote this episode, which originally aired 11 March, 1977 with the second part following a week later on 18 March. The phone gag for the first episode featured a female friend of Rocky’s (Noah Beery Jr.) calling Jim to thank him for helping her move into her new place, but why hasn’t he called back to help out with other things around the place. The second episode features a bit of flake calling in to say she dreamed Jim (James Garner) wasn’t home, and then she called, and he wasn’t.

Things start with a bang in this episode as Becker (Joe Santos) is forced to drawn down in a dangerous situation, and has to face a shooting review board. Happily, or maybe not, depending on what you think of her, Lianne Sweeny (Joyce Van Patten), a cop groupie, was on hand and saw everything go down, and offered to help out if she could.

Afterwards at a local cop bar, she’s definitely trying to get him back to her place when Jim interrupts with a favor, working on a missing persons case. She’s initially delighted at his arrival, but upon learning he’s a private investigator, she starts to work against him, as she thinks he’s endangering Becker’s advancement opportunities.

When the force finds out who Jim is looking for, Becker is asked to help out, do the favors, and try to get to this person.

It seems Jim is looking for a missing woman, Patsy Fossler (Leslie Charleson), on behalf of her fiancée, Michael (Jon Cypher), but he’s no the only one. Apparently, she became privy to some information she shouldn’t know about concerning one of the mob families back east, and there are a couple of thugs in town looking for her.

And once Lianne gets caught up in everything, she ends up directing them right at Jim.

Things go from bad to worse as Lianne causes even more problems, and it ends up costing a life.

When this happens, any leeway she may have had with the police indulging her fascination with the police work, while she works at a bowling alley in the shoe concession, is gone, and things change pretty drastically for her.

This one worked really well, balancing some of the humor that we’ve come to expect from this show, with a really good story. It becomes very apparent, very quickly that Lianne is only interested in cop talk, hanging out with cops, and though she wouldn’t have the nerve to do the job herself, as we learn, she also isn’t worried about putting others in harm’s way if it makes her look more appealing to the police officers that she so covets.

Liked this one a lot!

Season 3 of The Rockford Files comes to a close with these two episodes.

First up is Crack Back, written by Juanita Bartlett, and aired, originally on 25 March, 1977. Knowing Bartlett had written this one, told me that it would be very character driven, and it did not disappoint. The phone gag this time out is a final phone call about Jim (James Garner) avoiding the dental appointments for his root canal. He’s no longer welcome at that office.

Beth (Gretchen Corbett) is front and center in this episode that sees her hiring Jim, when she starts getting strange and disturbing phone calls, troubling gifts, and the knowledge that someone is watching her, while she gets ready to defend a big case.  When an up and coming football star is arrested and brought to trial, Beth helps him out, but with all these disturbing things happening around her, she’s not sure she can focus.

Asking Jim to investigate, he makes it a priority, running down leads, getting equally troubling phone calls, and is troubled to learn exactly where the case leads, though perhaps with Becker’s (Joe Santos) help he’ll be able to help Beth before it’s too late.

Bartlett really knows how to write these characters, and this episode gives them all a chance to shine, as they all piece together the mystery from different ends, and all come to the same inescapable conclusion. I like when Jim and Beth share screen time, because it’s obvious that no matter what their past entanglements, with others, and one another, it’s obvious they care about one another a great deal.

It was also cool to see John Calvin, who would later go on to co-star in Tales of the Gold Monkey, in this episode.

The next episode has a Bellisario tie-in as well, directed by Stuart Margolin who plays Angel in the series, this episode was penned by David Taylor and the final episode of season 3 aired 1 April, 1977. The phone gag for this episode is from someone who forgot why they called because Jim’s answering machine is boring.

Jim becomes concerned when Rocky (Noah Beery,Jr.) begins receiving money through the mail, and with good reason, because it looks like it’s all counterfeit. With Rocky out-of-town, on vacation in Hawaii, Jim finds himself caught up with Feds, thugs, and crime bosses, one of them played by none other than Magnum P.I.’s T.C. – Roger E. Mosley.

I also found it really funny that the episode of Magnum I watched last week, All Roads Lead to Floyd, featured Noah Beery Jr. in Hawaii as a bit of a con man, and despite the two stories, being filmed years apart, it’s a bit of interesting coincidence, and put a whole new spin on Rocky’s vacation to Hawaii.

This one was a fun way to end the season, it was cool that Stuart Margolin was in the director’s chair for this one, and I think that may have made the final moments of the episode that much more fun when Angel is getting a haircut.

So, now, onto Season 4, and what mysteries and guest stars await…

Season 4 of The Rockford Files got under way on 16 September, 1977 with Beamer’s Last Case, written by Cannell from a story by Booker Bradshaw and Calvin Kelly. The first phone gag of the season features a call from Angel (Stuart Margolin) who announces he’s got a new apartment, and has some friends coming over, so could he borrow Jim’s record player.

Robert Loggia guests in this episode that sees Jim (James Garner) coming back from a quick vacation south of the border, sooner than expected because he lost his money gambling, only to discover that while he was away, someone has been using his credit cards, and his car, and taking over his identity.

Not only has someone taken over his identity, he’s starting to stir up serious trouble with his clients, or at least people who believe they’ve hired him. So while Jim tries to figure out who stole his life, he also ends up dealing with a thug who bought his marker and now wants money from him.

He quickly discovers that an auto mechanic, Beamer (James Whitmore Jr.), from the location that always oversees his car’s repairs, is the one that has turned his life completely upside down, and that he has no clue as to the amount of damage he’s caused, as he’s too focussed on living his version of a private investigator.

It’s a nice season opener with lots of humor, and with Angel on the phone, Rocky (Noah Beery, Jr.) and Becker (Joe Santos) both making appearances, the only person missing from this one is Beth (Gretchen Corbett).

We also learn that Jim has an outdoor cat named Valentino.

Trouble in Chapter 17 aired 23 September, 1977 and was scripted by Juanita Bartlett with a phone gag that features a call from a girl named Donna, and it sounds like she’s about to postpone a date with Jim, as things are way too busy at work.

Jim is hired by a successful writer, Ann Louise Clement (Claudette Nevins), against his better judgement to serve as a bodyguard of sorts because of threats being made against her before the release of her new book.

Rockford thinks there’s something wrong from the off in this one, suspecting her husband, Bud (Ed Nelson) to Ann Louise herself in an attempt to generate some free publicity for her book. But when someone actually dies, things take a turn for the serious, and Jim has to figure things out quickly.

I like how this episode played out, and it ends up being one of those stories where everyone has a motive, and any of them could have done it, but Jim is able to unravel it, and while the ending is a little bittersweet for Ann Louise, it’s a deserved ending, and Rockford is ready to take on the next case!

Season four, off to a good start! hard to believe that there are only two more seasons after this one, and one of them is a short one!

More trouble finds Jim (James Garner) this week as he gets caught up in a murder, and a domestic!

The Battle of Canoga Park was written by Juanita Bartlett and aired 30 September, 1977. The phone gag features a call from a neighbor war letting them know they are looking for their missing pet… it’s a leopard.

Jim has a new cleaning lady Viola (Nora Marlowe) and suspicion falls on her and her associates when Jim’s gun goes missing from his cookie jar. Something he catches her on a little later in the episode, rather smoothly. Not only has the gun gone missing, it is now in police evidence as the weapon used in a murder, with all eyes on Rockford, despite the fact that he doesn’t even know the victim.

Jim and Becker (Joe Santos), try to clear Jim’s name, while Beth (Gretchen Corbett) and Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) try to keep him out of prison. Poor Rocky has to take out a second mortgage, and then when a grenade goes off in Jim’s trailer, he’s stuck with another bill to pay (happily, everything seems to be repaired and back in tip-top shape by the next episode).

There are tons of explosions in this episode, as Jim gets closer and closer to the truth.

Tom Atkins is back as Diehl, and one of the other cool guest stars to see as a baddie in this episode was Brion James!!

The second episode, Second Chance, aired 14 October, 1977 and was written by Gordon T. Dawson. The phone gag this time out is a call about a single volume of an encyclopedia that Jim didn’t return within the window of the free sample, now he can expect the rest, and be billed accordingly.

Gandy (Isaac Hayes) is back, Angel (Stuart Margolin) is trying to get money from Jim for a flower business, and Dionne Warwick guest stars as Thea, an up and coming vocalist.

Gandy, realizing that maybe Jim can’t help in helping book a demo recording session for Thea invites him out for a drink to at least listen to her perform. Angel overhears the money talked about and puts a plan of his own into motion that doesn’t come to fruition until the final moments of the episode in a hilarious way. Rockford admits Thea has talent and will no doubt make it big,

Trouble, however, rears its head as it seems there is a bit of a domestic squabble going on with Thea’s ex, Joe (Tony Burton), and this could leave Gandy out in the cold as Thea’s manager, but also heartbroken as it seems he’s developed some feelings for her as well.

It’s always fun when Hayes comes back to the fold on this show, and the dynamic between his character and Garner’s is always a lot of fun to watch, and this one was no exception. And as mentioned the final moments are just a lot of fun. Can’t believe we’re more done now with the series than not!

There’s a lot of fun to be had in this week’s double episode of The Rockford Files.

First up, there is The Dog and Pony Show, which aired 21 October, 1977 and was written by David Chase. The phone gag features a call from a friend collecting on a bet, and letting Jim (James Garner) know that he’s getting a divorce.

Thanks to Angel (Stuart Margolin), Rockford ends up alongside his pal in a group therapy session, where he’s happy to keep things polite, but Angel is his usual troublesome self. That doesn’t stop Mary Jo (Joanne Nail) from approaching Jim for help.

It seems, she thinks someone is spying on her. Unfortunately, because of her interactions in the group, no one believes her, they think she’s just a little unstable. Even Jim is reticent to help out, but once he does, he finds out that there is more going on here than he thought, and perhaps she’s right… someone is out to get her. It seems there are some good guys, and some bad guys both interested in Mary Jo, and Rockford and his client find themselves right in the middle, tugging at strings to unravel the truth.

This is a good episode, the stuff I really enjoyed though was with Angel spinning tales, and Rockford just sitting there watching him incredulously, and occasionally calling him on it.

The second episode, Requiem for a Funny Box, aired 4 November, 1977 and was penned by James Crocker from a story by Burt Prelutsky. The phone gag features a call from someone letting Jim know that his trailer door is going to win her first prize in a scavenger hunt.

Diehl (Tom Atkins) is keen to get Jim behind doors for murder, while Becker (Joe Santos) and Beth (Gretchen Corbett) hope to keep him out when things go bad on a case he’s working on.

Hired by washed-up comedian Kenny Bell (Chuck McCann) to find a stolen funny box, which contains all his jokes, Jim finds himself framed for murder, and learns that Bell has actually learned about an explosive secret about a member of a mob family. Bell ends up setting up the perfect out for Jim at the end of the episode when he refuses to give any information to the police, and help clear Jim’s name. His comeuppance is well deserved!

The secret inside the mob family is handled well for the time, this was the late 70s after all, but the episode certainly doesn’t end happily for all involved.

It’s always fun to have Diehl back, his character shows up just enough to remind us that he’s always around. I also love how Becker has to walk the line between being Jim’s friend and a cop, you can tell that it tries their relationship at times, but that they’re still close speaks volumes.

More cases next week!

Jim Rockford (James Garner) finds himself in all manner of trouble in this week’s episodes.

First up is Quickie Nirvana, which aired 11 November, 1977 and was written by David Chase. The phone gag this time around featured someone calling, complaining about having left a message a few times, and wondering if Jim still has those goats for sale.

Jim finds himself mixed up with a flakey new-age hippie type, when he lets Sky (Valerie Curtin) into his life. While she’s trying to avoid bill collectors, she’s lounging in co-ops, trying to find her inner peace, and falling for one new age con after another. It seems though, the bill collectors aren’t really bill collectors and are actually a couple of thugs looking to find a bundle of money that Sky failed to deliver one night.

Jim gets pulled in against his will, and bounces between new-age rackets, drugs, rock’n’roll and booze, all of which may have led to an incident that someone in the music industry is trying to cover up, and everyone seems to want the money, no matter what it will mean for their karma.

I feel a little bad for Sky, who seems to be a bit of a lost soul, who just wants something to believe, and for someone to tell her what to do, as if she’s a bit incapable of making decisions for herself.

But my favorite part was in the last moments of the episode when Sky, under a new name now, asks Jim if he’s heard of Jesus. His answer is priceless and I laughed out loud.

The second episode this week, Irving the Explainer, screened for the first time on 18 November, 1977, and was written by Chase again, perhaps that’s why the phone gag for this episode is yet another person calling to ask about the goats for sale.

This one is a dense, convoluted episode that involves films, unusual names, paintings, a thirty year-old murder, and Nazis.

Jim starts looking into this mess when Karen Hall (Barbara Babcock) approaches him for help. He quickly learns that she’s being tailed by a number of people including the French Surete, and that the people he’s looking for may in fact have been working with the Third Reich back in the 1940s.

There is a lot going on in this episode, and if you wander away for a moment, you are going to be lost for the rest of the story. Heck, even Jim brings in assistance from the local university in the form of a student named Daphne (Irene Tsu) who is laying out a board of chain of events, victim, suspects, missing items, and trying to apply logic to all of it.

I personally liked the beginning of the episode when Karen is talking to Jim about all these old movies that were supposed to have been made, their names subtly changed to evoke the name of classic films, but changed just enough to sound like they may have come from the same era, and contain similar stories.

More fun next week!

This week finds Jim (James Garner) in all kinds of trouble as he gets caught up in a murder scheme, and Angel (Stuart Margolin) becomes a target of a hitman!

First up is The Mayor’s Committee from Dee Lick Falls, which aired 25 November, 1977, and was written by William R. Stratton. The phone gag this time out features a rather irate female friend of Jim who is made he has the answering machine on at night, because she has insomnia and likes to talk to him,

Helping four men (including familiar face Jerry Hardin) from Deer Lick pick up a used fire truck for their town’s fire house seems like an easy couple days for Jim, but when one of them, Everet (Edward Binns), approaches Jim on behalf of the others to commit murder, Jim turns to Becker (Joe Santos) for help.

But the four men from Deer Lick make their own complaint, and Jim’s licence is hanging in the balance as he tries to find their target, Laura Ingeborg (Priscilla Barnes), and why they want her dead. It seems these four representatives of the Mayor’s committee in the tiny town of Deer Lick Falls of Michigan have been putting one over on the public, inflating costs, using cheaper materials, and lying about their revenue. Laura caught on to this, and was Jim convinces her that she needs to get her story on the record with the IRS as a form of protection.

But after one attempt on her life, the foursome up the ante and focus their sights on taking Jim out as well!

A fun episode and it was cool seeing both Barnes and Hardin in this one!

The second episode Hotel of Fear, sees Angel in some serious trouble. This one aired 2 December, 1977 and was written by Juanita Bartlett. The phone message this time around featured a phone call from a local bar checking with Jim if it was ok to put Angel on his tab.

Jim and Angel’s relationship becomes strained when Angel witnesses a hitman kill one of his neighbors, and then take shots at him. Jim convinces him to go to the cops, and Angel agrees to testify, but only if the police foot the bill and put him up in an expensive hotel. He’s not even safe there, and when the hitman is released because there isn’t enough evidence to hold him, both Angel and Jim find themselves in the crosshairs, and they have to figure a way out.

I personally liked the last act, when Angel tries to convince Jim he’ll be safe at a friend’s house, and Jim ‘falls for it’ only to follow Angel, and end up saving his hapless, conniving friend.

I do like that it really strained their friendship as well, especially when Angel tries to convince the hitman that he was all about keeping mum, but Jim wanted him to testify. It’s a wonder Jim didn’t slug him one, right then and there.

It was also very cool to see Gerald McRaney back AGAIN, this time as a D.A.!

This week’s investigations starts with Forced Retirement. This episode was written by William R. Stratton and aired 9 December, 1977. The phone message this time is an automated call asking if he’s interested in having something sold by computer calls.

Beth (Gretchen Corbett) asks for Jim’s help on a case, after someone breaks into her apartment, that ends up dealing with corporate corruption. Dealing with a company that’s interested in developing a submarine device, Jim (James Garner) poses us an investor as he tries to suss out who’s corrupt, who’s not, and what’s really going on.

Standing in his way his a scheming businessman, who is using the company, and its developments as a cover, and who better to play Richard Lessing, than Larry Hagman. He just comes across as devious in this episode, and you just don’t want to trust him.

Jim has a lot of fun posing as an ex-oil man from Oklahoma, but soon gets caught out by Beth’s friend, and the woman who hired her law firm, Susan (Margie Impert). She’s aided in her discovery by some meddling by Angel (Stuart Margolin).

Angel causes a number of problems for Jim and Beth in this episode, and it’s a wonder that their relationships survive it. Everything gets worse and worse until Beth quits the firm she works for, and Susan, who was a college rival for her, ends up almost a bitter enemy.

A good episode that lets Rockford have a lot of fun playing up the role of Jimmy-Joe, investor.

The second episode, The Queen of Peru, is filled with a lot of laughs. Penned by David Chase, it originally screened on 16 December, 1977, and this time around the phone message features a call from the bank, to let Jim know that the money he thought he had, he doesn’t… computer error.

This one starts with a bang right off as Jim and insurance man, Stephen Kalifer (George Wyner) are in the midst of negotiating for the return of a diamond. The crooks demand $1 million dollars, and an agreement and a set-up is made.

Unfortunately, things go hilariously sideways when an a family in a RV camper show up, and throw a wrench in the works.

It seems the thief hid the diamond in the ashes at the bottom of Jim’s barbecue until he can get the money. But, when the RV family, led by Carl (Ken Swofford), mistakenly taken Jim’s barbecue instead of theirs, and then, empty the ashes into some roadside garbage, the mess gets bigger than Jim would like, as he finds out that he and Stephen aren’t the only ones trying to recover the diamond.

There’s also a nice character bit with Kalifer in that he’s a reservist, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard, and seems to think that Jim is nowhere near as professional and capable as he believes the investigator should be.

To his credit, Jim doesn’t say a thing about his service in Korea, and just lets Kalifer get his karmic comeuppance on his own. Something that also delightfully happens to Carl as well.

This one was just a lot of fun!

Jim (James Garner) finds himself in more trouble this week, which sees the last episode of ’77 and the first of ’78 under review.

First up is A Deadly Maze, which aired 23 December, 1977 and was written by Juanita Bartlett. The phone gag this time out features a call from a friend of Jim’s letting him know that he got the date wrong, the rally was yesterday…

A familiar face to TV viewers pops up in this episode, as Larry Linville (Frank from M*A*S*H*), takes on the role of Dr. Eric Albich. Albich hires Rockford to find his missing wife, something that Jim doesn’t want to do at first, but through some extra monetary motivation, he finally relents, figuring he can finish the case in a day. As his search begins for Tracy (Corinne Camacho), Jim comes across some rather disturbing clues, and the possibility that Albich’s wife may be having an affair, and then discovers, she may not be his wife at all…

But every lead brings him up against the threat of violence, and he thinks about backing off the case, until Albich throws more money at him. Jim reluctantly continues, until Tracy turns up dead, and then, revelations on all sides are made, including the real motivation behind Albich’s actions.

I quite liked seeing Larry Linville in this episode, though honestly, separating the actor from his performance of Frank Burns will always be tough for me, he always comes across on screen as a bit of a weasel, which serves him perfectly in this episode. And I loved the revelations as they started rolling in.

Also a surprise appearance… Lance Legault!!

The second episode, The Attractive Nuisance, was directed by Dana Elcar! and was written by Cannell, with an original airdate of 6 January, 1978. The phone message this time around features a call from Jim’s aunt, who calls him Jimmy Scott, and tells him that her son wants to  move to Hollywood to be a producer, so get on that…

Rocky (Noah Beery Jr,) has teamed up with a cook named Vince (Ken Lynch) and opened a new truck-stop, Rocky Summit, but things don’t seem to be going to well for the duo, and after an odd break-in Jim starts digging around, while at the same time trying to deal with a potential lawsuit from someone who had climbed up on his trailer’s roof to use Rocky’s telescope.

As Jim investigates, he comes across an elderly man, Eddie LaSalle (Victor Jory), who may be involved in ways that at the moment, Jim certainly doesn’t believe, but as the old man’s story begins to pan out, we learn that Vince may be connected to the mob, and maybe the new truck-stop is being used as a front for swapping of cargoes and other dark dealings.

This one was light and entertaining, and you have to feel a little bad for Rocky, he so badly wants the Summit to be a success, but Vince is so heavy-handed with the garlic no one wants to eat any of it, and those folks who do show up aren’t there for the food…. And meanwhile, Jim is trying to prove that the guy who fell off his roof is faking his injuries…

More next week!

Jim (James Garner) meets up with an old friend, with a problem, in the first episode this week, The Gang at Don’s Drive-In. It was written by James Crocker and aired 13 January, 1978. The phone gag features a call from someone who just went through 12 years of therapy, and will happily tell Jim what he thinks of him, if Jim would please call him back.

Anthony Zerbe, who would later go on to menace Timothy Dalton’s James Bond, and Patrick Stewart’s Enterprise, plays an old friend of Rockford’s, Jack Skowran, who is in town compiling information, and research for his new book. He had a bestseller back in the 50s, and now, he thinks he’s on the cusp of another one, by looking into a murder from the 60s. Unfortunately, he’s crippled by writer’s block, and has become an alcoholic, which ends up not only endangering himself but Jim as well.

Even as things begin to come together during the investigation, Skowran can’t resist the lure of the drink, and ends up in the hospital, and betraying Jim’s trust when left alone in his trailer.

I think the best part about this episode is that it doesn’t treat Skowran or his illness like a punchline. His alcoholism is ruining his life, driving away his friends and supporters, and putting people in harm’s way. It’s done well, and Zerbe is top-notch in the role. His drunk arrogance rings true, and his humble side, when it shows when he’s sober feels real, even when he’s eying the tempting bottle across the room.

The second episode, The Paper Palace, aired 20 January, 1978, and was written by Juanita Bartlett. The phone gag is someone calling to thank him for his donations to an organization working for a better Malibu, and could he kindly move his trailer.

Rita Moreno plays Rita Capkovic, a prostitute who hires Jim after she’s received a number of death threats. Sounds pretty basic right? Well, happily, Becker (Joe Santos) and Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) pop in for this episode as well, and it ends up being just as much about how we treat and see sex workers, as it is about the case Jim is working on.

He pretty much takes her friendship, and her career at face value, not really judging at all, but there are pointed remarks made by police officers, and at a dinner she and Jim go to, hosted by Becker and his wife. The shoe is on the other foot though, when one of the guests ends up having had an arrangement with Rita.

I like the way this one is handled as well, the way she is treated is horrible, and no one seems to be too worried if something terrible does happen to it.

Bartlett has become my favorite writer on the series, as she not only had a fantastic handle on the cast, she put them in engaging stories, sometimes funny, sometimes dramatic, but anytime I saw her name as the writer for that week’s episode, I knew I was in for a good episode.

Until next time…

Mistaken identities seem to be the key to both episodes this week, as Jim Rockford (James Garner) gets wrapped up in a couple more cases.

First up is Dwarf in a Helium Hat, which aired 27 January, 1978. It was written by Cannell and David Chase. There’s a missed opportunity with the phone gag this week. A bookie calls and gives Jim the rundown on the money he owes… anytime before Friday.

Jim gets a phone message, but this one is meant for someone else, Jay Rockfelt ( John Pleshette). It seems his name is right above Rockford’s in the phone book, and they called Jim by accident, warning him that he and his girlfriend, Carol (Rebecca Balding) are next.

Jim tries to get in touch with Jay, through Carol, but Jay doesn’t seem entirely bothered. He seems more interested in partying up with his rock star friend, Keith Stuart (Rick Springfield). Jim tries a number of times to walk away, but phone calls keep bringing him back into it, much to his chagrin.

Everything comes down to a mobster, Gianni Tedesco (Gianni Russo), money and his birthday party.

It’s actually a pretty enjoyable episode, and it’s very cool to see Rick Springfield guesting, even if it’s a fairly small role. There are some fun moments, and Jim just wants to walk away from this case, and he just can’t no matter how many times he tries.

The second episode, South by Southwest, as the name implies, is a bit of a nod to the Hitchcock film, North by Northwest. It screened 3 February, 1978 and was written by Juanita Bartlett. The phone message this episode features a call from a private detection outfitter who is willing to demonstrate a new telephone bug with a free weekly offer.

Jim is picked up by a couple of Feds, who through a foul-up in communication and paperwork think he is someone else. Before he can sort anything, or even talk to anyone in charge, he’s hustled off to an airplane, and finds himself in a South American country, on his own, confused, and supposed to get in touch with a local contact and help rescue an heiress, Christine Van Deerlin (Dorrie Kavanaugh) from her oppressive, and dangerous husband.

For once, I wasn’t a big fan of the story. This one just didn’t keep me involved like most of Bartlett’s have prior to this. But from a guest star front, I loved seeing a very familiar looking actor in a supporting role, character actor, Bert Rosario makes a fun appearance.

And just like that, we’re closing in on the end of Season Four! I can’t believe how quickly I’ve ended up flying through this series. Sure there are 37 episodes left yet, but this one was number 85!

I really have loved revisiting this series. So, until next week…

Rockford (James Garner) finds himself in a mental institution in the first episode of this week’s review.

The Competitive Edge originally aired 10 February, 1978 and was written by Gordon T. Dawson. The phone gag this time around featured a call from Becker (Joe Santos) who knows Jim is deliberately not answering the phone because Becker wants some sports tickets.

When Jim tries to find a missing man, Barry Brauder (Jim McMullan) the trail leads him to the Alpheian club, a gathering of the super-rich and privileged. But when Jim gets too close to figuring out is really going on at the club, he gets caught, drugged, and dumped, with the intention of being forgotten in the asylum.

Once there he meets a variety of odd characters, amongst them someone who calls himself Doc Holiday (George Murdock), a James Bond (John Fiedler), and a John Doe (James Bond’s Oddjob – Harold Sakata), and buried amongst them is the man he’s looking for… Brauder. Now the two of them have to escape and get the truth out about the club.

This one ends up being more a fun lark of an episode than one with a really in-depth, twisty mystery, but it definitely has some fun moments, and ends in a cool chase, as Jim drives a pickup truck loaded down with escapees, including Doc who insists on calling Jim Wyatt, and a psychotic James Bond in pursuit.

Happily, there’s a surprise guest amongst the inmates that helps Jim and Barry out at the last moment, so every thing turns out all right in the end.

The Prisoner of Rosemont Hall was written by Cannell and David Chase, based on a story by Chas. Floyd Johnson and Maryann Rea. It aired 17 February, 1978. The phone message is from a pizza joint Jim just visited, it seems he shouldn’t eat the pizza he just picked up, some scouring powder fell on it.

Jim ends up on campus when a son, Paul (Bill Thornbury), of a friend goes missing. Things get really rough for Jim when he comes up against the Security Chief of the Campus, Max Kilmore (Kenneth Tobey), and he is threatened with a rape beef, in an attempt to drive him away.

When Paul, who was a promising journalism student, turns up dead, Jim also finds out there is something more going on here than a hazing gone bad, but things of an almost international level, as it seems he’s not the first boy to go missing or die from a ‘hazing’ incident, and perhaps that is the key to what is really going on…

And Kilmore is right in the middle of it all.

Jim sorts it all out, digs up a great story for Paul’s lover, Leslie Callahan (Frances Lee McCain) and justice is served in the end.

Season four of The Rockford Files comes to a close with this feature-length episode that aired 24 February, 1978, and was written by Cannell himself. The phone gag this time around features a call from the phone company, advising him that there is  an end to his service coming… in two minutes. And I wonder if that perhaps meant that they weren’t sure at this point if they were coming back for season 5…

This is only the second episode so far that has had a text tag at the end of it, citing its basis in things that are actually occurring, and as the episode plays out, foreshadowing the rise of Big Brother, I wonder what Jim Rockford (James Garner) would think of the world today.

There are a couple of very welcome guest stars in this episode, including Jackie Cooper, who has also directed a couple of episodes, and Howard Hesseman, best known for his Johnny Fever on WKRP In Cincinnati.

When a number of gumshoes gather for the funeral of private investigator, Joseph Tooley (Paul Fix) Jim finds himself investigating his peer’s death, even though it was ruled an accident on the highway. He finds himself paired up with a young, brash fellow investigator, Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan), who is convinced that there is something suspicious going on.

Hesseman plays Al Steever a political activist who is trying to stop a series of constructions that seem to violate legal mandates, and nothing is being done about them, it slowly ties into Tooley’s death as Jim and Richie dig.

They find a private company, run by Garth McGregor (Cooper), who using his international connections with governments and law enforcement, as well as the burgeoning computer industry (demonstrated by the massive computer banks seen everywhere in Garth’s company) is gathering information of all manner, compiling them into files on everyone – and then allowing the government to have them for a price, in a happy, locked-up business deal.

Jim and Richie get some nice moments together, posing as repair men a number of times to slip by unsuspecting secretaries and they have a somewhat good chemistry together, though I personally hope the plan wasn’t to introduce a new, young sidekick for Jim.

Becker (Joe Santos) and Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) both get appearances in this episode, and Beth (Gretchen Corbett) gets mentioned, so it’s nice everyone is thought of in the season finale.

Jim’s car gets shot up, so does he, though I don’t recall him spending any time in a hospital getting patched up.

Nonetheless as a huge episode, this one works nicely, and the pacing doesn’t slow at all, it all moves nice and smoothly, and shows a series at the top of their game.

Season 5 begins next week!

Private investigator Jim Rockford (James Garner) is back as season five opens.

The season premier was 22 September, 1978 and saw Jim’s dad, Rocky (Noah Beery jr.) in a bit of a trouble in this episode written by Cannell. And the first phone message of the year features a phone call from a person who hit Jim’s car, confiding that sorry, he doesn’t have any insurance but hey, he thinks he hurt his arm.

Rocky ends up in an accident, rolling his rig, when a pair of cars ambush him. While in the hospital, he and Jim learn that the haul was non-union, which may cost Rocky his licence, not to mention boot him from the union, and that what he was hauling is an illegal meat import from Mexico.

As Jim digs in, he goes right to the top of the company, or at least the face of it, Charlie Strayhorn (Taylor Lacher), a country-western singer (actually it’s Willie Nelson singing). The two of them form an initially shaky relationship, as they look into the meat company, and uncover a deal involving the triads, overseen here by Clement Chin (Die Hard’s James Shigeta), but even they end up with problems with the locals.

It’s a lighter story to start the season with (it is fun to see how Jim and Charlie interact however), and while it was fun to see a slightly Rocky-centric story, I would have loved something a little stronger and rougher for the season opener. But hey, different times…

Rosendahl and Gilda Stern are Dead was written by Juanita Bartlett and aired 29 September, 1978 and had a hilarious phone gag that had a guy calling to say he found Jim’s wallet… he’ll return the money but being a leather fetishist, he’s keeping the wallet.

This one has a few familiar faces, including Robert Loggia, Abe Vigoda, and Rita Moreno returning as Rita Capkovic, it also has Becker (Joe Santos) making his first appearance in the season, and it’s also worth mentioning that Officer Billings (Luis Delgado) usually shows up in the police station as well.

Rita is being held for murder of a doctor, and no one seems to believe her that there is something more going on. As Jim gets involved he finds a bit of a revenge scheme at work; it seems mobster Phil Gabriel (Vigoda) is suffering from pain from a surgery that while not necessarily botched did not go as well as could be hoped.

Suffering from incredible pain, Gabriel is exacting his revenge, and Jim slowly pieces it all together and is able to clear Rita’s name.

There are some nice comedic moments in this one, especially at the end when Rita is sharing gifts with Becker, Jim and Rocky.

And like that, the fifth season is underway – I wonder what other guest stars we’ll be seeing soon?

Jim Rockford (James Garner) is in for a lot of fun this week. First up is Kill the Messenger, written by Juanita Bartlett. This one aired 27 October, 1978. The phone gag features a very early version of phone tag.

Dennis (Joe Santos) is getting ready to take his lieutenant’s exam, and is suffering from some serious stress. Things get worse for him when his lieutenant hands him a rough homicide. It seems Deputy Chief Eugene W. Towne’s (Byron Morrow) wife, a parole officer, has turned up dead.

Jim, as the request of Becker’s wife, Peggy (Pat Finley), agrees to take a look at the case, to hopefully help alleviate some of his friend’s stress. Unfortunately, Jim learns that Towne’s wife, wasn’t completely innocent, and seemed to have embarked on a number of affairs over the course of their marriage. And that, gives Towne motive. Becker is unhappy to hear this, as it means he’ll have to question the Chief, and surprise, surprise, it also appears that Towne is sitting on the exam review board which will decide Becker’s fate.

There are some nice additions to the cast in this episode, familiar face W.K. Stratton plays Frank Dusenberg, the cop partnered with Becker to help solve the murder. Unfortunately, he tries to avoid trouble by using his pregnant wife as an excuse.

Then, rounding out the cast, is a very young and blonde Ed Harris, playing officer Rudy Kempner. And, of course, in an episode like this, it’s easy to tell who the guilty party is, simply by the casting…

Next up, is A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights, written by Rudolph Borchert. It aired, originally on 3 November, 1978. The phone gag this time around, features a friend calling to talk with Jim about his divorce.

Hector Elizondo guest stars as a famous cop turned celebrity, Frank Falcone. He’s riding a great wave, he has a tv show, movies and books, but he’s also a bit of a loose cannon. Jim is called in to watch over Falcone until his new toy line launches, overseen by Jeff Seales (James Sikking).

Unfortunately, it seems some old ‘friends’ of Frank’s are causing problems, and Falcone’s gung-ho attitude makes it tough for Jim to keep up with the ex-cop. And he’s not sure he wants to.

Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) is quite taken with Frank, both in person, and the actor who plays him on television,and that makes for some fun moments.

Elizondo is obviously having a lot of fun as Frank, playing the macho cop to the hilt, and he won’t let anyone stop him, or get in his way, be it Jim, or a group of angry mothers about the perceived violence of his toy line, and of course, his television show, despite the fact that it airs after kids should be in bed.

Jim just can’t seem to catch a break with this guy, but in the end, as things get resolved… it seems like a friendship of sorts will be springing to life between them.

More next week!

A subject that is getting a lot of talk of late makes an appearance in the first episode under review this week… Three Day Affair with a Thirty Day Escrow was written by David Chase and aired 10 November, 1978.

Jim (James Garner) finds himself immersed in a real estate swindle with romantic overtones, when one of the con men, Sean Innes (Richard Romanus) falls for one of the marks, an attractive, married woman, Khedra Azziz (Maria Grimm).

When Azziz’s family, led by an honour-bound sheik, shows up threatening Rockford, and demanding to know where his daughter is, things get worse for Jim and Sean.

When the duo finally come across Khedra, and Sean pleads his case, the trio get snapped up by the wealthy sheik, and she is put on trial by her family. It seems it’s quite alright for her husband, newly arrived in America, like she was, to have affairs and sleep around, but not ok for Khedra to meet someone and fall in love.

In fact, if her family (the male members of her family) find her guilty, the verdict is in fact death. In other words, we’re talking about an ‘honour’ killing. Knowledge of these things nowadays is fairly common, and I will say, it’s sad, and disgusting, a commentary on a male-dominated culture that seems to be afraid of its women and therefore subjugates them, but to have it pop up in the late 70s in an episode of The Rockford Files, I was really surprised, I wasn’t aware that we as a Western culture were aware of it at that point.

Made for an interesting episode.

The second episode, The Empty Frame, aired 17 November, 1978, and was written by Cannell. The phone gag this time are a series of directions to a party…

Rockford is at a swanky party, where he’s stunned to discover that his, well, nemesis is a strong word, but Lt. Chapman (James Luisi), is working security there. Jim delights in needling him a little, but things get serious when mid-party, masked gunmen arrive, spouting lines about ‘capitalist pigs,’ and make off with a series of valuable paintings.

Jim is quite happy to leave well enough alone, until he’s asked by one of the hosts to look into it. Since the theft happened while Chapman was working the party, he wants to get back into the commissioner’s good graces, and insists on pairing up with Jim to dig into things and resolve the case.

It makes for some fun, tension-filled dialogue between the two of them and Jim does his best to exploit some of it.

Speaking of exploiting, there’s a sub-plot with Angel (Stuart Margolin), who now has an ‘in’ with a local D.A. and people from all walks of life (most of them shady) come to him for help, and consequently he starts living the high-life with plenty delusions of grandeur, treating Jim like dirt, until the last few moments of the episode when everything is torn down around him.

That moment literally made me laugh out loud, as Becker (Joe Santos) takes a piece of paper from Jim, hands it to Billings (Luis Delgado), who hands it to Chapman, who in turn hands it over to Angel…

An arrest warrant.

Hilarious!

More next time!!

This two-parter aired 24 November, 1978 and was written by David Chase. As it was later split into two episodes, there are two separate phone gags. The first is a friend calling from London trying to figure out what his arrival time is, with time changes and flight times. The second one is the neighbor’s association calling to complain about all the gunfire that seems to happen around Jim’s (James Garner) place.

Jim finds himself falling for his client when he’s hired by Doctor Megan Dougherty (Kathryn Harrold), a blind psychiatrist, who is being terrorized by an unknown stalker.

The story takes its time, letting things develop nicely between Jim and Megan, while always hinting at the trouble not so very far away from her. Her apartment gets tossed, in an especially chilling moment, she reaches for the phone to call for help, and it’s not where it’s supposed to be, it’s been tucked under the table, inches away from where it’s meant to be, left there mockingly by her stalker.

As Jim explores more, sometimes with Angel’s (Stuart Margolin) and Becker’s (Joe Santos) help (we also get to seen Becker’s new office, now that he’s a lieutenant). He starts to find a possible candidate for the stalker, one of Megan’s own clients, Danny Green (John Pleshette).

As he investigates Danny, and with Becker’s help even brings him into the station for questioning, we learn that he’s calling himself Jackie Tetuska. In fact, he has no awareness of anyone named Danny Green.

Megan believes he may be suffering from split personalities. Jim, along with Angel, is a little more suspicious and think it’s all a con to protect himself, and now that Megan is on to him, she may have to be removed. Which suits both personalities fine, since one of them is actually a professional killer.

Everything comes to a head with Megan’s life in the balance, but Jim,  with help from Becker, Angel and even Billings (Luis Delgado).

There are a lot of fun moments in the episode, there’s a bit at the beginning when Angel and Jim are on the beach, and Angel tries to steal a football. He also has a nice moment, when he tries to convince Jim that Megan is faking being blind, and rifles through her purse to lift money while he makes a phonecall. Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) gives Megan his stamp of approval and wants to spend time with her and tell her all about Jimmy.

The fact that Chase as the writer, and producer in this case, was allowed to tell this tale over two episodes allowed the romance, nicely written and executed, and the characters to develop nicely. It will be unfortunate that I’m sure Megan won’t be around for anymore episodes, because, I quite like the interaction she has with Jim.

This is a great little episode, and lets Jim have an actual romantic liaison that feels real, and not just scripted for the week. It truly will be a shame that her character won’t be back for the remainder of the series. Apparently she doesn’t appear again until the final season for one last episode.

Oh well.

She was a welcome addition to the fun this week.

More next week!