The Rockford Files (1974) (TV)

Director:

Richard T. Heffron

Writers:

Stephen J. Cannell (writer)
Roy Huggins (writer)

Release Date:

27 March 1974 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Drama

Plot:

Private investigator Jim Rockford is hired by a beautiful young woman to solve the murder of her father...

Plot Keywords:

TV Series Pilot | Private Detective | Beautiful Woman | James Rockford

Cast

James Garner	...	Jim Rockford
Lindsay Wagner	...	Sara Butler
William Smith	...	Jerry Grimes
Nita Talbot	...	Mildred Elias
Joe Santos	...	Detective Dennis Becker
Robert Donley	...	Joseph Rockford
Stuart Margolin	...	Evelyn 'Angel' Martin
Michael Lerner	...	Coroner Ruben Seelman
Bill Mumy	...	Nick Butler
Pat Renella	...	Morrie Talbot
Ted Gehring	...	Norm Mitchell
Joshua Bryant	...	Captain Harry Dell
Bill Quinn	...	Harry Butler
Robert Williams	...	Arnold DeMura
Claude Johnson	...	Officer

Also Known As:

The Rockford Files: Backlash of the Hunter

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Cherokee Productions

Quotes:

[Rockford is trying to convince his client to go undercover]
Sara Butler: How much of my own money am I going to earn back?
Jim Rockford: I usually pay my operatives 20 bucks an hour for this kind of thing.
Sara Butler: I wouldn't do it for less than 50.

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime (1996) (TV)

And no answering machine in sight.

"The Rockford Files" was never a big ratings success, but it found its audience during its six-year run, and to this day is liked by many who watched it in first-run episodes and repeats. The pilot TV movie has all of the elements that made the series so well-remembered; James Garner's performance as wrongfully imprisoned ex-con and now private investigator Jim Rockford; the laid-back Southern California settings; his supportive-if-old-cootish dad Rocky (played here by Robert Donley instead of Noah Beery), police contact Becker and parolee friend Angel; and Stephen J. Cannell's writing (David Chase may get a lot of the credit these days because of "The Sopranos," but the fact that Cannell's best known creation is "The A-Team" overlooks his having more in his arsenal than just the four members of a crack commando unit). The mystery - a pre-Jaime Sommers Lindsay Wagner hires our hero to find out who killed her father - and the characterisation exist side by side, and if it isn't exactly hardboiled it does make you want to watch more episodes of the series. Pilots have to introduce the characters, make you want to see more of them, and tell good stories. The cast, director Richard T. Heffron, Cannell and the late Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) succeeded on all three counts.