Sunday, January 15, 2012

The Garner Files

The Garner Files
by James Garner

James Garner has always been one of my absolute most-favorite television actors. Though I was born a little too late to have enjoyed him in Maverick, I consider The Rockford Files to be, perhaps, one of the most perfectly-constructed television series ever made. And James Garner deserves the lion's share of the credit for that. He puts out the impression of gruffness or, as he mentions in his biography, "crochetyness", but underneath it, he's got a warm personality. His autobiography is definitely written in his voice -- he shares anecdotes, both positive and negative, from throughout his career. He's blunt but honest about the people whom he has issues with, but cordial and sentimental about the creative types whom he respects. He spends about equal time on his TV and movie careers, but also a large amount of the book covers his personal life outside of the show-biz trappings -- his hard-scrabble youth, his love of both golf and racing cars, and the issues of growing older. I very much enjoyed this book, and recommend it highly to anyone who's a fan of Garner's extensive body of work on screen. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try This is Jim Rockford..., Maverick on DVD, The Rockford Files on DVD, James Garner's feature films, particularly The Great Escape, Murphy's Romance, My Name is Bill W., Support Your Local Sheriff, and so many others...] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library


[ James Garner page on Wikipedia ] | [ official Internet Movie Database page for Garner ]

Have you read 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.

1 comment:

MorganLvr said...

I have read this book, and I totally agree with your review. The book is so much Garner's voice that you could swear he's sitting beside you, reminiscing about old times.

I have been a Garner fan since Maverick and this is the book I've always hoped for but never expected to see.

Congrats to Jon Winokur for talking him into it!