"The Rockford Files" The Family Hour (1976)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

William Wiard

Writers:

Gordon T. Dawson (writer)
Roy Huggins (creator) ...

TV Series:

"The Rockford Files" (1974)

Original Air Date:

8 October 1976 (Season 3, Episode 3)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Jim and Rocky find an abandoned young girl that leads to Jim finding and helping her father. |

Plot Keywords:

Car Chase | Police | Detective | Answering Machine | Sting Operation

Cast

James Garner	...	Jim Rockford
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford #2
Joe Santos	...	Police Det. Dennis Becker
Burt Young	...	Stuart Gaily
Ken Swofford	...	Al Jollett
Kim Richards	...	Marin Rose Gaily
Paul Koslo	...	Dittson
Stuart Margolin	...	Evelyn 'Angel' Martin
Janice Carroll	...	Duty Clerk
Marged Wakeley	...	Aunt Cecil Goss
Adrian Ricard	...	Receptionist

Series Cast

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

James Luisi

...

Lt. Doug Chapman

Runtime:

USA:60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

John S Gibson Junior Park, San Pedro, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Roy Huggins-Public Arts Productions

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: On the close up of Stu's driver's license, even though it states he was born in 1933, the place reserved for his age is blank.

Quotes:

Frank: [beep and loud background noise comes on] Hey Jim, it's Frank. Me and Ellie's down here for our convention. Can't wait to see you!
[Burps]
Frank: Should be over at your place about One a.m. Bonzai, Buddy!

Little Miss Marker

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I think one of the stock stories in fiction is the "Little Miss Marker" story by Damon Runyun where a couple of guys who know nothing about kids are suddenly left with a little girl on their hands. This is "The Rocckford Files" version of the story and the script by Gordon Dawson does the most with what could be a worn concept.

Burt Young, from "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight" and fresh off filming his role in "Rocky" stars as Stu Gaily, who's on the run and leaves his daughter Marin (Kim Richards-- who by the way is now the Aunt of Paris Hilton!) by Jim's trailer with instructions to wait for her aunt. Jim and Rocky discover the lonely little girl and at big hearted Rocky's insistence, take her in until they can find her father and get her home.

Kim Richards was Tia in "Escape to Witch Mountain" and was a regular as Ruthie on "Different Strokes". She does a good job here by not being annoying or getting in the way of a decent Rockford episode. Rocky really shines as basically a doting grandfather. You can see he really enjoys being with Marin. I'm actually surprised he didn't take the opportunity to pitch Jim about settling down and getting married so he'd have grandkids. Garner is strong as always and nobody plays sympathetic lowlife losers much better than Burt Young (except maybe Stuart Margolin as Angel who is good in his brief appearance, such as when he hears there's a reward out for Gaily--"Hey Jimmy, I don't know this guy and $10,000 is $10,000:)

There is also one of the first mentions of Dennis' son Scotty, who would later actually appear in the Rockford reunion movie "Godfather Knows Best" in the mid-1990's.

Much of this episode was shot on location in San Pedro, California.