"The Rockford Files" Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs: Part 1 (1979)

User Rating:

9.5/10   

Director:

William Wiard

Writers:

Juanita Bartlett (writer)
Stephen J. Cannell (creator)

TV Series:

"The Rockford Files" (1974)

Original Air Date:

5 October 1979 (Season 6, Episode 2)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Jim rubs shoulders with royalty when a princess hires him because she believes someone is trying to kill her friend. |

Plot Keywords:

Police | Detective | Answering Machine | Sting Operation | Malibu

Cast

James Garner	...	Jim Rockford
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford #2 (as Noah Beery)
Joe Santos	...	Police Lt. Dennis Becker
Stuart Margolin	...	Evelyn 'Angel' Martin
James Luisi	...	Lt. Doug Chapman
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Shirley Anthony	...	Bren Dagley
Harold Ayer	...	Minister
Lauren Bacall	...	Kendall Warren
Corinne Camacho	...	Linda Hassler (as Corinne Michaels)
Jon Cedar	...	Peter Pantazzi
Luis Delgado	...	Officer Billings
Michael Des Barres	...	Gordon Flack
Robert Dunlap	...	Repairman Craig
Abel Franco	...	Max Escobedo
Jack Garner	...	Capt. McEnroe
Michael Lombard	...	August Fairfield
Ed Nelson	...	Blake Stenlight
Julie Parrish	...	Donna Soderling
Charlie Picerni	...	Richard Soderling
Douglas Ryan	...	2nd Partygoer
Ivan Saric	...	Maitre d'
Melody Thomas Scott	...	Sherry (as Melody Thomas)
Wally Taylor	...	Policeman
Christopher Thomas	...	Freddie Danzig
Roger Til	...	Henri Tayir
Nicholas Worth	...	1st Partygoer
Dana Wynter	...	Princess Irene Rachevsky

Runtime:

60 min

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Roy Huggins-Public Arts Productions

Quotes:

Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford #2: You're gonna see a real princess... dressed like that?
Jim Rockford: Well sure Dad, I don't have much choice. My satin knee britches and barouche are still at the cleaners.

Bogie's Baby

Bacall's back and Rockford has got her! James Garner played detective Phillip Marlowe in "Marlowe" in the 1960's and Lauren Bacall played opposite Hunphrey Bogart who played Marlowe in "The Big Sleep". In addition, apparently Garner and Bacall had been seeing each other around this time (she also co-starred with Garner in Robert Altman's ill-fated "HealtH") so its no wonder they have a good amount of chemistry in this two parter.

Unfortunately, the story is a bit of a mess as Bacall plays Kendall Warren,the friend of a Princess (Dana Wynter from "Sink the Bismark")who appears to have had a attempt on her life. The resolution is pretty good, but in stretching the story out to fill two full episodes, it just kills the pace despite the chemistry between Bacall and Garner and the welcome presence of regulars like Angel, Dennis and Lt. Chapman. If they'd have boiled this down to one show or kept it tighter in a 90 minute episode, this would have been much better.

I'm only sorry Kendall never met Rockford's old lawyer Beth Davenport. The fur would have been flying!