The Rockford Files (TV Series) Piece Work (1976) User Reviews

Street Smart?

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 24 December 2014]

Seeing this and other episodes of The Rockford Files I've come to the conclusion that one of the fringe benefits of Jim Rockford's job as a PI is the interesting characters he meets. In this episode it's Michael Lerner who when we first meet comes off as a street smart tough guy.

Lerner can make anybody so he says with some shady characters who run a health club. He's close when he makes James Garner out for a cop. That's further confirmed in his mind when he trails Garner to the police station when he sees him chatting with Joe Santos.

But he's far from the only one who makes wrong assumptions. Everyone here even Rockford which includes the crooks, the LAPD, the Feds gets it wrong for most of the program. Rockford in fact was in the health club working for an insurance claim about an accidental death there. What he stumbles into is a gun running racket that the mobbed up owners of the health club are involved in.

As for Lerner, this guy is a professional informant who sells his information to those that pay the best, that being the Feds. He doesn't seem to have any other means of support and that sure is a dangerous way to make a living. But he's a street smart guy you know.

There's an interesting side scene into Lerner's life where we see him living in a middle class LA neighborhood and when he finds out his son Ricky Powell ratted someone out in school the kid gets a stern lecture on being an informer from a guy who makes a living at it.

Michael Lerner, definitely one interesting character.

Car chase double-switch

[bdp222 · 7/10 · 26 March 2009]

There is a scene toward the end of the episode where Murray is going to Chase Jim forcing him off the road. At the beginning of the scene Murray is driving the same red Galaxy 500 that he has been driving since the beginning of the show. After Jim takes off, we see a red car following Jim, however this car has suddenly become what appears to be a red Oldsmobile 98! Then, we see Murray at the wheel, cut back to Jim in his Firebird, and then when we switch back to Murray he's back in his original Galazy 500.

All in all, the show was very entertaining. Not as good as a Jimmy Joe Meeker, or some of the twisted Angel episodes, which are my personal favorites. This episode is not quite up to that caliber, but it holds your attention.

I like this departure from the way they normally cut into the action, starting out completely away from the normal "Rockford" setting - Not that James Garner looks out of place at a gym, however most episodes we see him coming to his house, where someone comes and hires him, or a friend gets him involved. In this case, we start right out in the middle of something and you might not even think that You're watching a Rockford unless you know that was what was scheduled for that time slot. We don't see Jim until a few minutes in, where we notice him doing some sort of leg-pull ups - 2 points for Jim exercising before exercising was cool!

-B

Great character!

[mm-39 · 8/10 · 18 January 2019]

I like Piece Work which is a character driven episode. What works here: The interesting character interactions with the story makes Piece Work a gem of a story. Jim has to play wits against a rival P I, which makes for some interesting scenes. The upper elite country club has some interesting mob character, who add spice to a gun running story. Jim of course gets dragged unknowingly into a gun running operation for interesting interaction with the F B I characters. All 3 mentions variables makes for an interesting interplay between the characters and story. Worth watch as the director puts all the stories characters into the execution for a memorable ending. 8 stars out of 10.

Rockford hits the weights

[stones78 · 26 May 2011]

This is a difficult episode for me to gauge, as I didn't feel this had a very interesting hook to reel me in as this show usually does. It's still a solid story with good writing, but in the solid 3rd season with many great episodes, I would rank this towards the middle; basically, it's an "ok" segment. Michael Lerner, who does piece work for turning in rifles to the authorities, is very solid as much of the episode revolves around him and his plight. There's a funny scene in which Murray(Lerner)is lamenting to his wife about his dour situation, and shortly afterwards, he finds out his son was sent home from school because he was threatened by another student; it turns out that his son ratted to a teacher that he saw the other kid smoking, for which Murray calls his son a "fink". Rockford unintentionally gets involved in the rifle sting because he talked to the wrong people at a local gym; an insurance company hired him to check up on someone who's potentially faking an injury to collect on a claim, so they fix Jim up with an expensive membership at this posh gym. I wondered if Garner was really working out, because of his chronic bad knees he endured while working on this taxing show, as he apparently did most of the stunts. Becker and Chapman have several cool scenes as both yell at Rockford at times(especially Chapman), and Rocky has the obligatory scene warning his son about trouble. On a completely unrelated note, fans of Salem's Lot(1979)might recognize actor Ned Wilson, who played Henry Glick in the epic vampire film.

As I said above, it was hard getting the right feel for this episode as no one was killed, and the revenge motive wasn't prevalent, as is usually the case. I must admit my favorite moment is the short scene with Murray's family, and Rockford wasn't involved in this part. Eventually, the cops bust the rifle scam and the right people get arrested, and Rockford gets a cash reward for reporting this in the first place, and Murray gets stiffed. It's a good episode, but not one of my personal favorites.

Michael Lerner looks like one of the Belushi brothers

[safenoe · 7/10 · 13 July 2020]

I like watching The Rockford Files as it's nostalgic, a time when you didn't have cops swearing or showing their backsides for ratings. Anyway, here Michael Lerner (brother of Ken) appears and he really looks like one of the Belushi brothers. Bring in Jim Rockford and a gun running operation, and it's all fireworks at the end. I wish I knew which cafe was used for the final scene of this episode.

Guns For Sale

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 14 December 2006]

As Rockford investigates an insurance claim at an upscale health club, he comes across a gun running operation and gets involved in a federal scam operation.

There's something unsatisfying about this episode. For one thing it has a LOT of filler scenes, many involving Murray Rosner (Michael Lerner) as a guy the feds use to help catch gun runners. This is Lerner's third and last appearance on the "Files" and he gets a lot to do here--we're never sure if his character is a good guy or a bad guy--but there are scenes with him and his family that can only be called filler. He's good, but the script is a bit weak.

Joe Santos as Dennis is a bit over the top in his anger with Jim in their first scenes together. You wonder what's going on with Dennis and wonder if he's going to have a coronary. He could have toned it down a little. Despite his troubles with Chapman in this episode and mobilizing the swat team for a false alarm, at the end he does receive a promotion to investigator three.

The title of the show, "Piece work" refers to the way Rosner is paid--by the piece/gun he recovers for the government.

we have all been here

[CoastalCruiser · 7/10 · 17 April 2012]

No actual plot details leaked in this review: This episode exemplifies a situation we have all been in at one time or another. It's all about mistaken assumptions! One person says one little lie, and everyone down the line assumes the lie is true and react to that falsehood. Or, someone sees something .... a snippet of reality.. and draws false conclusions based upon being predisposed to what they saw might mean, when in fact it means something entirely different. This episode totally typifies that classic dilemma of daily life.

And of course all the mistaken assumptions are centered around Jim Rockford, as his uncanny ability to draw heaping masses of trouble act as a magnet for all the wrong signals being sent/received in this quite adequate episode. Recommended.

Babe, I got your money

[feindlicheubernahme · 7/10 · 18 December 2023]

Yes, folks, at the end of this episode, Jim gets paid! He actually gets paid $5,000 and he gets to keep it. No deductions for this, that and the other until there's nothing left or he ends up owing money. I don't even mind that it turns out that he's been stiffed and should have made a lot more. At least, for once, he gets paid.

70s and 80s P. I. shows just loved keeping their heroes perpetually penniless, despite solving cases week in, week out. There was always a reason why they ended up not getting the payout they were owed, which could become frustrating, especially for the poorer viewers - such as myself - who would like to see their TV heroes be able to at least eat the the kind of good food that we can't afford. I watched an episode of original Magnum yesterday where Mags couldn't even repay a $13 debt to one of his friends! It's a good thing he's living rent-free in Robin's Nest.

"Piece Work" is a decent, solid Rockford episode, which means it would a great episode in most other series. Rockford just has higher standards. Michael Lerner is especially good. It's still strange for me to see him so young, though. Before Rockford Files, I'd really only seen his later stuff, from the mid-80s onwards.

............

Oh, no. Checking his IMDB bio to make sure that I hadn't seen Michael Lerner prior to the 80s before submitting this review, I've just found out that he passed away in April of this year. RIP, Mr Lerner, and thank you for the entertainment you gave us.