"The Rockford Files" Gearjammers: Part 1 (1975)

User Rating:

9.1/10   

Director:

William Wiard

Writers:

Don Carlos Dunaway (teleplay)
Stephen J. Cannell (story)

TV Series:

"The Rockford Files" (1974)

Original Air Date:

26 September 1975 (Season 2, Episode 3)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

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

Cast

James Garner	...	Jim Rockford
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford #2 (as Noah Beery)
Joe Santos	...	Police Det. Dennis Becker
Rosemary DeCamp	...	Mary Ramsey
Scott Brady	...	Hammel
Robert F. Hoy	...	Scheib (as Bob Hoy)
Ted Gehring	...	Johnny LoSalvo
Peter Brocco	...	Hodges
Charles Cooper	...	Jack
Al Stevenson	...	L.J.
Robert Ray Sutton	...	Paco (as Robert Raymond Sutton)
Jack Garner	...	Officer
John Dullaghan	...	Sullivan

Goofs:

Continuity: The 73 light green Monte Carlo is missing the left front wheel cover. Later it is the left rear wheel cover is missing. Even later the two men working for Hammel, actor Scott Brady, pursue Rockford in a squealing car chase about halfway through, they quite noticeably lose their left front hubcap when executing a reverse, sending it bouncing down the street, so at this point both left wheel covers are missing. But when the chase comes to a halt in the parking garage and Rockford cuts the valve from that same tire, the left front hubcap is still there.

Rocky's Secret Life

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This is one of those great episodes where no one quite knows what's going on--except for the audience. When two goons show up at Jim's trailer looking g for Rocky and work him over, Rockford goes on a search to find his father and warn him...only he can't find him! In looking for Rocky he finds out how little he knows about his dad. He discovers Rocky's been working at the freight yards, has a couple of girlfriends (including Rosemary DeCamp as Mrs. Ramsey) he sees on a regular basis and is involved in union organizing of independent truckers.

When he finally finds his father, Rocky doesn't believe anyone's after him. He was just trying to sell tickets to the OOTA (Owner Operated Truckers Association) fund raising ball. He has no idea he's witnessed something he should not have seen.

This episode gives us a lot of good character development between Jim and Rocky and helps fully flesh out Rocky's character. We also get another brief appearance by Rocky's friend LJ (Al Stevenson) who's fixing Rocky's plumbing, the firebird blows up again and we have appearances by both Garner's brother Jack (as an obnoxious cop who won't let Jim in to see Dennis) and Beery's son Bucklind as Officer Mazurski.

There's a great scene where Rocky hits Jim with a skillet (then claims he doesn't know what happened, he just found him there like that) and Jim tries the trick of parking the Firebird on a used car lot to try and lose the goons chasing him (this time it doesn't work!).

Dennis delivers a great line laced with the irony of this episode: "What is Rocky into? He's your father, if anybody knows what he's up to, you do."