The Reincarnation of Angie

The 'Angie' the title alludes to is Angie Perris, a 25 year old woman, who, for the better part of her life, has been raised - and sheltered - by her (much older) Brother Tom.

The episode begins late at night, with a phone call awaking Angie. It's a phone call from her brother. He sounds panic stricken, and he tells Angie he needs her to do some things.

He wants her to open the safe in his house (which she lives at), remove a package, and to bring it somewhere. He tells her she must not go to the police.

With ominous sounds getting closer to Tom, he tells Angie he's going to give her the safe's combination, and she asks him to hold whilst she gets a pen.

With Angie looking for a pen, a car screeches to a stop by Tom, he is roughed up by two men, and appears to be thrown in their car.

When Angie gets back on the phone, Tom is gone. The only sound she hears (which she later tells Jim) are from someone breathing into the phone.

Angie jumps into a car, but, we see she's being followed.

Rocky and Jim are fast asleep at Jim's trailer, having fallen asleep with the TV still on.

They're woken by the phone ringing – Angie is at a drugstore, found Jim's number in the phone book, and had called him, because she's scared of the man who is following her.

Jim tells Angie to meet at a bar, and when he gets their, he asks her where the man is. He goes over, and after the man produces a fake FBI agents identification Jim slams his head into the table.

After this, Jim starts to talk business with Angie, and when he mentions his cost, she takes on a very childish tone and says she's not going to pay that amount, she doesn't make that much, and she thinks he's only worth $25 and says shall give it to him,

She digs through her purse, and only finds $23 and change.

Though Jim repeatedly tells her to just forget it, Angie - who's already emotionally highly- strung - flings it, angrily at him, and exits the car.

It quickly becomes apparent to Jim that dealing with Angie – who is not only young chronologically, but still seems to be childlike emotionally - and it would not be a good idea for him to work on this, so, he tries to end this arrangement, and he offers to find her a safe place, and then end it.

As the episode goes on, it becomes readily apparent that it's more than likely Ange's brother has been murdered, but she angrily refuses to acknowledge this very real possibility, and goes so far as to repeatedly tell Jim to stop saying it.

Angie's only willing to see her brother as he was to her as a little girl; a 'knight in shining armour,' who took his baby sister under his wing when both their parents died within a short period, during Angie's childhood.

Jim tries to get Angie to understand that - not only is it more-than-likely Tom's dead, but, contrary to being a blemish-free, heroic type, he was mixed up in something very dangerous; false stock certificates, and swindles, and, it's because of this, that he's almost certainly dead.

Midway, Angie breaks down, she can't come to grips with this - reality. To her, her brother IS alive, and is STILL her saviour.

But, Jim fears that, if Angie continues to believe this fantasy, and not deal with the very dangerous reality she's in now, she might not survive, either.

Might not survive this ordeal, and might not survive living in the real world, without her brother, there to be her 'rock.'

Elayne Heilveil appeared in a lot of series during this period, as a sort of waif, and her performance here, is exceptional, because, it's due to her making Angie 'real' for us, we first find her to be a petulant, slightly snobbish, childlike, and a bit prima-donna-ish. We - I - find her annoying, but, it's a defence mechanism, and Jim - at first, he, too, finds her annoying, and such, but, he tries his best to help her grow up, because, if she doesn't, her life - if she even survives - will be full of pain and torment.

A lot of credit for the power of this episode goes not just to the fine performances of Mr. Garner, and guest star Ms. Heilveil, but, to the writers, who happen to be series co- creators, Steven J. Cannell, and Roy Huggins.

It's not just a typical(ly great) Rockford, with something criminal lurking, it's also about life, and how hard it is for someone who'd been so sheltered from its harsh realities, trying to come to grips with it, all during a devastating loss, and with the possibility they, too might not fare well, if they don't try to blossom.

I can't think of someone better than Jim Rockford as a person, as a man, who has the toughness, but, the sensitivity to help someone through - not just having to grow up (and fast) - but, such trauma, and I really wish I, too, had Jim Rockford in my life, when I had to grow up.

I must admit to getting slightly confused at the plot and motives regarding my summary title, but the always exciting security scheme is at work here, and this leads Rockford to play an almost father figure to a baffled young lady. From what I gather, her brother(looked liked her dad, but I digress)is involved in a scam WITH the FBI to nab another party, and he ends up with $500,000 and involves his sister somehow, although he didn't want her harmed. The lead actress here was OK, as was her scenes with Garner, but the scenes without her were better. I enjoyed the scenes with Wayne Tippit, who played the FBI agent, as he and Rockford clashed heads, even though Jim got the upper hand. There's even a great moment later in the episode when Jim says to the agent, "you have your moments" as a compliment, and the agent basically says something arrogant like, "it pleases me that you approve". Great sequence there, my personal highlight. Lastly, we get a few scenes with Jimbo's car and some with Rocky in the trailer. That being said, the episode seemed slightly rushed as too much happened in just under an hour's time, even though I did enjoy it mostly.

Or does it? It doesn't seem that anytime Rockford gets a call from someone who finds his ad in the phone book that it ends up being a paying client.

This episode has Rockford working with the FBI instead of the LAPD and as unhappy as the FBI agent is with Rockford in the beginning, they end up getting along pretty well and far better than they ever would for the rest of the series. By the end of the series, Rockford would really end up in trouble anytime the FBI came by.

Sharon Spelman, who did a great job as a strong independent woman who hires Rockford in "Profit and Loss" is brought back for this episode as a secretary who falls for Rockford's scam and almost tells him everything.

The title character, Angie, played by Elayne Heilveil, just has a face that reads "poor, helpless victim."

The Rockford client in this episode is young and somewhat naive Elayne Heilveil. She's looking for her brother after he gave her instructions to take a package from his home safe and then disappeared.

The package turned out to be half a million in cash which has both the Feds and a crooked brokerage house looking for him. Agemt Wayne Tippit and stockbroker David Huddleston are both after the sister, Rockford and the money.

The brother whom all assume to be dead correctly was quite the operator. The money was Uncle Sam's and the brother was to buy phony stock certificates from Huddleston. Of course James Garner always cool and thinking fast on his feet takes down the bad guys.

Nice performance from Elayne Heilveil as a sweet naive kid.

Elayne Heilveil plays a little girl lost whose brother protector has gotten in over his head in a con game. She calls Jim in desperation and plays the sultry but helpless girl. Elayne's is very beautiful and seems to bring out the best in Jim and the Feds, all wanting to solve her problem. The cast is as good as it gets in 70's television, and all members pull their weight. The bad guy goons are frightful, the evil head honcho is suitably nasty, the bit players are suitably clueless yet talkative, the cops are tough yet golden in the end. The interplay between Jim and Elayne is great and one of the better early pairings I've seen in this series.