Synopsis:
Season 1 – The world’s most unlikely detective is on the case for only two hundred dollars a day, plus expenses.
- Emmy® winner James Garner stars as the offbeat Jim Rockford, an ex-con-turned-private-investigator who would rather fish than fight but whose instinct on closed cases is more golden than his classic Pontiac Firebird. From his mobile home in Malibu, this wise cracking private eye chases down seemingly long-dead clues to solve crime in the sun-baked streets and seamy alleys of Los Angeles.
Season 2 – He takes his time, but always solves the crime.
- Jim Rockford is back and better than ever in all 22 Season Two episodes of the celebrated detective hit The Rockford Files. Join James Garner in his breakout Emmy®-winning role as the cool, calm and collected ex-con-turned-detective who loves to mouth off but avoids using his fists at all costs. Whether it’s blackmail, theft, scams or murder, you are along for the ride with his no-nonsense approach and wise cracking wit, it’s no mystery that Rockford always gets his man.
What We Thought:
The Rockford Files was a show I grew up watching reruns of with my mom. It’s been years since I’ve seen a single episode and after watching Season 1 & 2 on DVD from Mill Creek, I gotta say, the show still holds up.
It’s your classic detective drama. James Garner is probably one of the most underrated TV actors of all time. He was very well-respected and was nominated and won many awards, but I still think he doesn’t get enough credit. He was fantastic in this just like he was in Maverick, Nichols and every other project he was in.
Even though this show ran from the mid 1970s to 1980, it has a timeless feel to it. Jim Rockford could have been Magnum PI in the 1980s or a cop in NYPD Blue in the 1990s or on any of the Law & Orders or CSIs in the 2000s.
The show as smartly written and that’s why it still weeks. I’ve always enjoyed police/detective procedurals and even today I can see why this was a popular show. And Garner just dominates every scene he’s in.
Sure some of the dialogue, clothing, styles and sets look dated by today’s standards, but if you watch the show for the storylines, it still works. Hunting down a killer on a case the cops gave up on, being hired by a woman to find her so she can tell if she’s easy to find, an investment firm accused of fraud, cops maybe killing one of their own, his own girlfriend disappearing and coming back. All those stories would work today in prime time.
The Rockford Files may not be remembered as much as similar shows like Magnum PI, the original Hawaii 5-0 or even Columbo, but to me, James Garner’s Jim Rockford was just as good as any of those leads. It was cool rewatching the show I remember watching before. It was a nice little trip down memory lane actually.
RECOMMENDED!
Cast & Crew:
- James Garner
Recommended If You Like:
- Columbo
- Hawaii 5-0
- Detective Dramas
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