Some Rockford Reading
Remarks on ‘The Rockford Files,’ Season One
Watching beloved old shows has its risks and rewards. Styles change. Present standards can reveal past situations in an unflattering light. I didn’t re-watch The Rockford Files to criticize them — I watched to be entertained as I remember being entertained by Jim Rockford and his dad Noah Beery and Angel and Joe Santos forty years ago.
I was. Not every time, but more often than not. That was the reward.
I also noted how much styles have changed and how, by present standards, for instance, the depiction of male-female relationships throughout the series is condescending toward women.
The style that has changed the most, though, is the storytelling itself. Watch any episode of The Rockford Files, then check out Matthew McConaughey in True Detective and what you will see is a substantial increase in realism— dialogue, situations, relationships and life in general are all portrayed more like we actually experience them.
The Rockford Files is not realistic and never attempted to be. James Garner re-invented the western as Bret Maverick, a smart-ass gambler who didn’t much like violence or gunfighting. Ten years later, James Garner re-invented Bret Maverick as a smart-ass detective in mid 70s LA who hates punching people because it always hurts his hand.
Audiences and critics loved both shows. Maverick consistently beat The Ed Sullivan Show and The Steve Allen Show during its run in the 8pm Sunday time slot. The Rockford Files was a Top Twenty show. Neither series ended because people got tired of the character. They ended because James Garner got tired of being ripped off by the studios.
The Rockford Template
Every episode of The Rockford Files features minor variations on a reassuringly familiar theme.
The answering machine lead-off is genius. Quirky little messages that had nothing to do with the episode and everything to do with the strange and humble life of Jim Rockford. Then right into Mike Post’s ear worm of a theme song that hit #10 on the pop charts for two weeks in August, 1975, the show’s second year.
The music runs a minute and a half and leads directly to a scene unfolding somewhere in LA, almost always outdoors, usually with water in sight. The mystery, or some aspect of it, is often introduced in these first few minutes, before we see Jim.
When we do see him, one thing is guaranteed: He will look great. James Garner always looks great. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing or what he’s wearing to do it.
Soon a young woman will enter the plot, usually as his client, but sometimes it’s Gretchen Corbett, the annoying lawyer who always manages to get him out of trouble.
It is also guaranteed that he will argue with Gretchen Corbett about money if she is in the episode, or with his client, or Rocky, if she is not. Getting his expenses covered as well as getting paid in general never come easy for Jim Rockford.
Driving comes easy. Cars are like clothing for James Garner. He puts on the gold Pontiac Firebird Esprit like it’s his own custom tailored suit for cruising the highways of sunny southern California. When Jim Rockford is driving, no matter what else is happening, don’t worry. He’s home.
At least ten minutes of every episode is devoted to driving. These scenes are not filler. They are artistic depictions of an LA area that doesn’t exist any more, if it ever did. The LA of eight-lane highways jammed to a standstill, with tie-ups on the 405 at 3 am, does not exist in The Rockford Files.
The roads are always open. The weather is always perfect and the strange beauty of the urban landscapes is a close second to the natural beauty of the coast and the hills. And that’s just the normal driving.
Then there’s the high-level professional stunt driving that James Garner always did himself. All of it. The first episode of the first season features a golf course car chase that sets a high bar. The mountain road scenes, parking garage capers, and night-time races through LA are always entertaining and sometimes become driving art.
The answering machine, the young woman who needs his help, and the California driving are just part of The Rockford Files template. I’ll describe other key features, like Cops and Criminals, in the Season Two and subsequent articles.
Season One
James Garner was 46 when Season One of The Rockford Files began its run on NBC, September 13, 1974 in the Friday, 9–10pm time slot. The season ended 23 episodes later, on March 7, 1975.
Wikipedia provides cast and plot descriptions for each episode. IMDB shows average ratings (by IMDB voters) along with their episode descriptions. The episodes are numbered differently among online sources; the season and episode numbers below are from IMDB.
I made a small number of selections. For potential Rockford viewers who want to cut right to the high points, here are my five favorite episodes from Season One. I describe why I like them and point out any classic Rockford connections they contain.
S1E14: Aura Lee, Farewell
Jim’s chemistry with the female lead is a crucial part of each episode, providing his motivation and about half the dialogue. There were strong and interesting women in the first dozen shows of Season One — Gretchen Corbett, Susan Strassburg, Sharon Gless, Jill Clayburgh and Shelly Fabares among others.
To me, Lindsey Wagner, playing Jim’s old girl friend Sara Butler, was the first one who wasn’t overly irritating or too quirky and unbelievable. Sara Butler’s relationship with Jim is complicated, go figure. Lindsay Wagner plays compelling and complicated very well, but don’t take my word for it.
“Aura Lee, Farewell, ” airing on January 3, 1975, was her second appearance on The Rockford Files and she impressed ABC producer Kenneth Johnson enough to cast her in a guest role as Jaime Sommers on the popular, Six Million Dollar Man, which led to 58 episodes of, The Bionic Women over three seasons, which led to an Emmy for Lindsay Wagner.
In “Aura Lee, Farewell,” She hires, persuades, and/or emotionally manipulates Jim to find out the real reason her employee, Aura Lee Benton, died. The police believe it was a drug overdose but Sara is convinced Aura Lee was murdered.
It turns out to be a good old-fashioned Southern California complicated crime plot, involving a prominent State Senator, a shakedown artist, and a classic beachside grill on the coast highway named, ‘Oscar’s.’ Jim’s resourcefulness draws everyone steadily toward the answers, on the beach near Oscar’s, where he somehow saves everyone who deserves to be saved. That includes Aura Lee’s reputation, Sara Butler’s motivation all along. Having her friend seen as a random, accidental murder victim was better than having her seen as a drug overdose victim.
S1E17: Claire
This episode aired January 31, 1975 and it also worked for me because the lead female role is well-written —and Linda Evans, another of Jim’s ex-girl friends, does an excellent job with it.
Claire has burned him more than once in the past and Rocky rails against getting involved with her again. Rocky rails against all Jim’s old girl friends — as well the private detective business in general. He wants his boy Jimmy doing a real job; namely, driving a truck like he did.
But when she asks Jim for help again and seems genuinely scared, he takes the case. Claire needs protection from two hoods and of course does not disclose the full truth of the situation to him. No one ever does.
As it turns out, there’s a missing undercover cop involved. A cop in danger makes Jimbo’s relationship with the Police even more strained than usual. Jackie Cooper excels as Lieutenant Highland, unable to intimidate Jim no matter how hard he seethes.
S1E18: Say Goodbye to Jennifer
At this point in Season One, I feel like The Rockford Files was on a roll. This unusual episode kept it going. It’s unusual because the friend he helps out is a male friend as opposed to the usual femme fatale borderline anti-heros he tends to get sucked in by.
Mitch is a photographer and a friend from the Korean War, where they both served in the 24th Infantry Division. Jim still gets sucked in.
It should be called the Hector Elizondo show because he does the impossible and steals every scene from James Garner. Whenever Elizondo is present, it is impossible to pay attention to anyone else. Whenever he isn’t, we miss him.
He is smitten and refuses to believe his girl friend is dead. Even Jim believes Mitch’s girl friend is dead. But Mitch is such a force of nature that Jim flies out of town to look for her. Jim doesn’t fly much; that’s a little unusual too.
I was personally not smitten by Jennifer (Pamela Hensley) who is very much alive but not a very nice person. This episode is not selected on the strength of its story line. I think Hector Elizondo’s portrayal here should be in the Guest Star Hall of Fame, single episode category.
S1E21: Four Pound Brick
Angel is one of the more complicated sidekicks I can think of. He’s no Dr. Watson to Sherlock Holmes. More like the neglected offspring of Nora Charles and Joe Pike.
Stuart Margolin played the no-good snake-in-the-grass character who never pretended he was anything else, except when he was pulling a scam, which he did constantly. He appeared in all six seasons plus the reunion shows. Audiences liked him and so did James Garner.
I like him too. A character like Angel has to be used carefully and I believe he was used to perfection in The Rockford Files, for a while. It’s easy to overuse eccentrics as shows move on through the seasons — but certainly in Season One and Season Two, he is often worth the price of admission all by himself.
Angel’s first appearance was S1E17: “Countergambit.” His essential sleaziness and perfidy begin to emerge clearly in this story of a dead cop who looks crooked. The client is the dead cop’s mother, who has had close ties to Rocky for a long time. Trying to convince his son to take the case goes against everything Rocky has been arguing for, which does not go unnoticed by Jim.
S1E22: Roundabout
This is a great episode for chase fans. The most absurd car chase of the entire season features Jim battling large eight-cylinder vehicles inside a construction site driving a little green VW. He also survives a really cool chase down the endless stairways inside Hoover Dam.
These are extremely high quality scenes for weekly television in the 1970s. James Garner’s body broke down eventually. Watch this episode and you will see why.
I selected “Roundabout” because it’s much more than the chase scenes. James Garner is a constant. He is the foundation of every episode and he is always Jim Rockford. His interaction with the weekly female guest sets the tone we can see and feel over his foundation— the friction, the friendship, the half-truths.
Jesse Welles helped set one of the best and most enigmatic tones of the season. She’s a missing heiress in trouble, even if she doesn’t know it. She has to present a bunch of different personnas, including Vegas lounge singer. She nails them all and made me think she must be a professional vocalist.
I searched a little on IMDB and learned she came back to The Rockford Files a few times in later seasons and did other television series guest roles as well. I could also see that she has been married to successful actor, writer and producer Stephen Nathan for almost fifty years. They have three children.
Not really a Rockford ending, unless anything can happen is a Rockford ending. Great work on, “Roundabout,” Jesse! I appreciate it and I’m sure many other people do too.
Hope I see you in Season Two, (coming soon).
Tom Nickel writes about new media technologies and other topics he has little if any standing to write about. His work has not appeared in The New York Times, New Yorker Magazine, The New Republic, or the New England Journal of Medicine.
Tom holds a Black Belt in Learning and is a founding Board Member of the African VR Campus & Centre and a long-time supporter of the Khmer Magic Music Bus.
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