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Storyline
Private investigator Jim Rockford is hired by a beautiful young woman to solve the murder of her father, a homeless man found beneath a pier two months earlier. The killing was never solved by the police. Written by
Marty McKee <mmckee@wkio.com>
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Robert Donley, who played Joseph "Rocky" Rockford, only played him in this one (pilot) episode. The role subsequently went to Noah Beery Jr.
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Goofs
There are no bullet impacts in the sand during most of the strafing runs in the desert, but in a couple of the shots there is, so there should be impacts seen from most of the runs.
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Quotes
Jim Rockford:
You got to be one of the dumbest looking apes I ever saw.
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"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.