"The Rockford Files" The Trees, the Bees and T.T. Flowers: Part 1 (1977)

User Rating:

9.0/10   

Director:

Jerry London

Writers:

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

TV Series:

"The Rockford Files" (1974)

Original Air Date:

21 January 1977 (Season 3, Episode 14)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Jim helps a friend of Rocky's who's being forced off his property. |

Plot Keywords:

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

Cast

James Garner	...	Jim Rockford
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford
Joe Santos	...	Police Det. Dennis Becker
Strother Martin	...	Thomas Tyler 'T.T.' Flowers
Karen Machon	...	Cathy Royle
Scott Brady	...	Jack Muellard
Richard Venture	...	Dr. Ben Christ
Roy Jenson	...	Winchell
Gretchen Corbett	...	Beth Davenport
Alex Rocco	...	Sherman Royle
Paul Sylvan	...	Steve Fisher
Fred Stuthman	...	Homer Hodgson
Jack Stauffer	...	Brubaker
Bob Hastings	...	Hank Gidley
Linda Ryan	...	Maid

Series Cast

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

James Luisi

...

Lt. Doug Chapman

Trivia:

Stuart Margolin (Angel) does not appear in the episode, but leaves a memorable message on Jim's answering machine during the show's opening titles.

Goofs:

Continuity: At the police station, Dennis mentions T.T. Flowers' "Freedom" property is 3 acres. However, earlier in a conversation with Rocky we learned it is ten acres.

Quotes:

Jim Rockford: This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message, I'll get back to you.
Evelyn 'Angel' Martin: [Beeep] Jimmy-y-y old buddy buddy, it's Angel! You know how they allow you one phone call... well this is it...

Where Have All the T.T. Flowers Gone?

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

With all the westerns James Garner did, I find it kind of amazing to discover this was the only time he worked with veteran character actor Strother Martin.

Martin plays a cranky old friend of Rocky's named T.T. Flowers who has a 10 acre spread he calls "Freedom". Jack Mullerd (Scott Brady, who was last seen as a corrupt union boss in "Gearjammers") is a land developer who's ready to do anything to get control of Freedom and works with T.T.'s son in law Sherm (Alex Rocco) to have him drugged up and pronounced incompetent.

The entire show is told as a flashback as Rocky delivers the eulogy at T.T.'s funeral. Other than a few amusing moments as Jim tries to sneak into the sanitarium where T.T. is being held (the car horn bit is priceless)this is an episode that mostly takes itself pretty seriously.

Strother Martin shines as the cranky old T.T. but the script lets us down just a little there as it fails to give us a scene or a moment that makes us feel like he and Rocky are really friends. They're friends because the script tells us so--it fails to really show us.

Scott Brady is probably my favorite Rockford bad guy outside of Robert Webber and James Woods. He's powerful, devious and quite believable in every one of his appearances on the show (though again the script lets us down a little--he tries to kill Jim by leaving a bottle of nitrous oxide in the Firebird so Jim will crash--something that will surely show up in the wreck).

Gretchen Corbett makes an ever so brief appearance as Beth Davenport in this first half of the two parter as Jim goes to her apartment to hide out (we should all be so lucky to have such a hideout!) and "Mchale's Navy" star Bob Hastings (the weaselly Lt. Carpenter) makes another appearance, this time as a construction foreman.

All in all, a good episode thanks to good casting, but not as much comedy as in some of the best "Rockfords".