"The Rockford Files" Requiem for a Funny Box (1977)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

William Wiard

Writers:

James Crocker (teleplay)
Burt Prelutsky (story)

TV Series:

"The Rockford Files" (1974)

Original Air Date:

4 November 1977 (Season 4, Episode 6)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

A washed-up comedian finds out about a Mob family member's secret, and gets Jim in trouble by framing him for a murder. |

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 Det. Dennis Becker
Chuck McCann	...	Kenny Bell
Robert Quarry	...	Lee Russo
Jason Evers	...	Paul Silvan
Jodean Lawrence	...	Maxine Bell (as Jodean Russo)
Meredith MacRae	...	Lori Thompson
Tom Atkins	...	Lt. Alex Diehl
Gretchen Corbett	...	Beth Davenport
Gilbert Green	...	Silvan
Thomas A. Geas	...	Waiter
Del Hinkley	...	Poco
Hank Stohl	...	Officer
Joel Lawrence	...	Newscaster

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

James Luisi

...

Lt. Doug Chapman

Quotes:

Jim Rockford: This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message, I'll get back to you.
Sue Ellen: [Beeep] Mr. Rockford? Sue Ellen. Our class is having that crazy scavenger hunt I told you about. If you're wondering what happened to your trailer door, it's gonna win me first prize!

Chuck McCan't

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Rockford gets involved in a dispute between two feuding ex-show business partners, Kenny Bell (Chuck McCann) and Joe Russo(Robert Quarry), which gets him involved in murder involving stolen jokes, the mob and a secret homosexual affair.

Based on a story by LA Times and "MASH" writer Burt Prelutsky, James Crocker turns in a nice script with some great moments, including one that involves none of the regulars. It's when Paul Silvan (Jason Evers) faces his dad, the crime boss (Gilbert Green) who confronts him about his homosexuality. The scene is very well written and performed, and for the time was probably pushing the envelope.

Tom Atkins is back for this episode as Lt. Diehl (he probably just came back when he found out he was going to be able to arrest Jim for murder!) and Gretchen Corbett makes an ever so brief (but welcome) appearance getting Jim out of jail again.

The only real problem with this episode is the casting of Chuck McCann. He's not funny in his funny scenes (even when he gets "killer" material) and when he's just acting, he's a little too irritating and unscrupulous a character to be likable. Stuart Margolin was the master of being irritating yet likable. Watching Chuck McCann try it, you can see how difficult that is to do. If anything he's too good at being a weasel, so the effect is we like him less and less whenever he appears in the show.

There's one other weird thing about this episode. Jodean Russo, who plays Kenny Bell's long suffering wife Max warns him when he hesitates about going down to the station to clear Rockford with Lt. Diehl by saying: "If you don't go with Jim right now, I might not be here when you get back."

Huh?