The Rockford Files: Season One

The Rockford Files: Season One

The Rockford Files ran for six seasons, from 1974 to 1980, then returned for 8 TV-movies from 1994 to 1999. The series was groundbreaking for its time, focusing on a private investigator who wasn't a "knight in shining armor" dedicated to the highest of ideals and willing to sacrifice himself for a client, as most P.I.s from 1950s and 1960s series had been up to that point. Instead, drawing from the type of self-serving character that James Garner had perfected in Maverick, Jim Rockford was an ex-con (although he didn't do the crime he was jailed for) who was just trying to make a living. He didn't like weapons, and he really didn't like getting in fights for his clients, even though the bad guys regularly beat him up. He lived in a broken-down trailer on the beach; his father didn't really approve of what he did for a living; and he was constantly being hit up for favors by his shifty friends and former cellmates. When Jim Rockford punched somebody, he tended to break his own hand rather than the other guy's chin. As the series progressed, the humorous elements became more prominent, but in this first season, the series was a bit more gritty and downbeat. Watch for guest appearances by many of today's big stars in some of their earliest television work. And don't be thrown by the different actor playing Rocky in the pilot episode! The series featured stellar supporting work by Joe Santos as Jim's cop friend, Dennis, Noah Beery Jr. as Rocky, Gretchen Corbett as Beth, and Stuart Margolin as Angel Martin. If you like this first season, following the remaining seasons in sequence -- the character relationships build over time! -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library


[ Rockford Files at epguides.com ] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this series ]


Have you seen this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?


New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.