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.
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.