Customer Reviews

The Rockford Files: Season Six

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If ever a star had that certain something which put him in the same category as those shining ones from the 1930's and 1940's, it was James Garner. He had a fine film career, to be sure, but it was his laconic charm as Jim Rockford on television with which he will always be most identified. He was an ex-con given a full pardon when it was discovered he was innocent after all. Working as a P.I. and parking his gold Firebird in front of his trailor on the L.A. beach, Rockford could never quite shake the ex-con tag, nor could he shake his old cellmate, Evelyn "Angel" Martin.

Stuart Margolin was Angel, always looking for the easy buck, and getting his old buddy Jimmy into trouble with him. Neither Rockford or the viewing audience could stay mad at Angel for long, however, because in Margolin's hands, Angel was really a stand-up guy at heart and you had to admire his enthusiasm. Noah Beery, Jr. portrayed Rockford's lovable dad, Rocky, with equal aplomb.

Rocky was an easygoing retired trucker who loved to fish, and passed on the hobby to Jim. Between the car chases, cons, and mad scrambles to stay out of jail were simple moments of life we all recognized from our own. It was that down to earth formula, coupled with Garner's charm and some excellent writing from Juanita Bartlett which kept Jim Rockford coming into our homes week after week for years. Rockford would only work on closed cases in an effort to avoid the cops which, of course, never quite worked out.

Joe Santos was Rockford's often exasperated police pal, Dennis Becker. He was the buffer between Rockford and Becker's superiors, who in season 6 was James Luisi as Lt. Chapman. He hated Rockford and wanted any excuse to pull his P.I. license. Becker was a pal, but could only do so much for Jim as he had to stay out of hot water himself. He had a wife and kids to support, and for some strange reason, that sometimes took priority over helping his old buddy Jim out of a complicated jam. Beth was gone by this season, but Rita Moreno lit up the small screen as Rita Capkovic.

Season 6 only had 12 episodes, but some really fine ones, and some terrific guest stars. Rockford got to go to Hawaii in one installment. In a way, looking back, as someone has already mentioned, it was sort of the changing of the guard type of season. Tom Selleck would reprise his role of Lance White, the detective so perfect it drove Rockford nuts! Larry Manetti would guest star on an episode as well. They would make Magnum P.I. a television staple the following year, and by the end of its long run, Joe Santos would star on that classic also.

Season 6 episodes are: PARADISE COVE (MARIETTE HARTLEY) -- LIONS,TIGERS, MONKEYS AND DOGS (LAUREN BACALL--2 PARTER) -- ONLY ROCK AND ROLL WILL NEVER DIE (MARCIA STRASSMAN--2 PARTER) -- LOVE IS THE WORD -- NICE GUYS FINISH DEAD (TOM SELLECK) -- THE HAWAIIN HEADACHE -- THE NO-FAULT AFFAIR -- THE BIG CHEESE -- JUST A COUPLE OF GUYS -- DEADLOCK IN PARMA

It was only from December of 1979 through January of 1980 that we got to enjoy Mike Post's Rockford Files theme song, which only began after we'd heard one of those crazy messages on Jim's answering machine. It had only been a couple of years since Garner had finally gotten his Emmy Award for his fine portrayal of the affable Rockford. There is comfort food, and comfort television, and Rockford certainly falls into that category. A really fine television show worthy of its fan base.

Im shocked that reviewer smuthdude is the only one who even mentioned and noticed this. But these are all the edited syndication versions, and on some the quality is soso.

On "Lions Tigers Monkeys & Dogs", which was my fave episode of the final season, the audio is warped in the first 10 mins or so..like a dying reel to reel tape. I can tell they cleaned up the picture pretty well, but the audio gets almost annoying. Thankfully it clears up after the first 10 mins.

What I dont understand is, why didnt they just grab the VHS copy exsisting of the original uncut print for this one and clean it up?

My other issue with this release is the menu. It looks very rushed, cheap and ALMOST like a home made bootlegg to be honest. You dont get the same style as on all the other seasons.

Like smuthdude said, the syndication edits may be due to the fact of the fire at Universal destroying the original masters..so guess we can take that possibly into concideration, also its quite possible that the entire season 6 original prints were gone years ago, and these were all that was left.

On season 5, I had noticed that "Black Mirror" was cleaned up and converted from a UK/PAL format video print with slightly pitched faster audio, if anyone realised that. But at least it was the original uncut!

I woulda taken that format for the entire uncut season 6 vs what we got here but hey, like I said, im happy just to have it in any format. Cause as we know, the youngsters that run Universal didnt wanna release any Rockford after season 1 to begin with. So we are lucky!

Bottom line, worth having to complete the series, but just dont expect the original NBC versions and the usual top DVD remastered quality.

3 stars not for the content or show, but for the form we got it in.

First of all kudos to Universal for finally finishing up the Rockford series on DVD. That being said, why did they use the washed out, soft focus prints that we saw for years in syndication? It appears there was no restoration performed here. To make matters worse, parts, and in some cases whole episodes were mastered from *video* sources! Some scenes contain slight ghosting, rippling and tracking distortion problems consistant with aging videotape. The color is faded, the contrast is poor and the focus is soft on nearly all episodes. Why!? These obviously aren't the same crisp, clear prints used on seasons 1-5. Also, "Lions Tigers Monkeys and Dogs" is released here in two parts (like in syndication). It was released on VHS as a single two hour episode in the 90's. Again, why? I'm curious if it has anything to do with last year's fire at Universal Studios which destroyed its film archive. Studio officials said everything was backed up. But what was the quality of the backups? I'm curious if the original Rockford prints were lost and these syndication prints are all that's left. That would be a shame.

James Garner required knee surgery during the sixth season of this popular series and discovered that Univeral had surgically removed his wallet. The studio claimed that the series hadn't shown a profit (in an example of typical studio dubious book keeping still practiced to this day)and, in fact, was in the red. Garner shut down production and Universal sued him for breach of contract. Garner ultimately came out ahead but not the fans of "The Rockford Files" as there were only 12 episodes produced for the final season.

Some old favorites return during the final season including Rita Moreno, Tom Sellick playing Lance White and others.

Image quality is the same as the other sets; images particularly during the opening montage are a bit dirty and gritty looking and the episodes themselves have faded just a tad (the show was shot on 35mm film and without a full restoration there will always be some fading)but the shows themselves look surprisingly good despite the fact that no effort was put into restoring them and eliminating white dots, etc.

It appears from the run time that these are the unedited original episodes and, because there are only 12 episodes included because the show was discontinued (it really never was offically cancelled)due to Garner's injuries (and, later, the lawsuit that Universal filed against Garner for not completing the last 9 episodes required by the contract--if they had been patient and hadn't tried to cheat him out of his profits I'm sure he would have considered returning for those episodes before discontinuing the series)the compression artifacts are kept to a minimum as there are four episodes per disc.

Audio sounds pretty good for a vintage mono soundtrack with dialogue crystal clear. We get subtitles in English.

Universal is selling the sixth season for the same price as seasons 1-5 which had TWICE as many episodes and we don't get ANY extras. The least Universal could have done was to include the first Rockford TV movie which featured Noah Berry Jr. in his last performance as a nice coda to this set. This is a solid season make no mistake about it but it never quite hit its stride simply because it was so darn short. Instead, fans of the series will have to buy the TV movies separately.

Universal could have looked through their archieves for vintage promotional material but usually by the time a series has reached the last season you'll find less extras because the studio figures you're in for all the sets if you bought the previous five.

The sixth season will be essential for fans but get it when when it is on sale or as a "Buy 2 Get The Third Free" sale. The image quality varies from decent to extremely soft and it appears as if the syndicated versions were used for this set (unlike most of the previous seasons as near as I can tell).

The quality of the writing during season six was pretty good overall and the show continued to show promise (luckily Garner did benefit from the counter lawsuit getting an undisclosed amount and the show according to the definitive book on the show had made over $100 million profit in syndication when Universal was STILL claiming it was 1.6 million in the red).

For the money The Rockford Files - Season One,The Rockford Files - Season Two,The Rockford Files - Season Three, The Rockford Files - Season Four, The Rockford Files - Season Fiveand the 90's TV movies gathered in The Rockford Files: Movie Collection, Vol. 1--we haven't seen the Volume 2 set yet--might be better values.

For more information about the difficulty in shooting the series and the later difficult legal journey that Garner made to collect the profits owed him read Thirty Years of The Rockford Files: An Inside Look at America's Greatest Detective Seriesa comprehensive look at the show. Now if we could only get Warner to release "Nichols" ("The Rockford Files" predecessor series which lasted one season which acted as a cross between "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files" at the turn-of-the-century )I'd be a happy camper.

The image quality is pretty good for a nonrestored show, the episodes themselves quite good but, without any extras (even if there had been some) this set is overpriced since it only has 12 episodes.

Still, for fans this is an essential set. Recommended (but try to get it on sale).

The Rockford Files was always a fun show to watch but this show definitely saved the best for last. This is a short season of 12 episodes. But it has two of the best ever - the reunion show with his commercial partner Mariette Hartley and recent movie costar Lauren Bacall.

Paradise Cove - Jim gets hired to be the security guard at his trailer park. While on rounds he discovers three men digging up the beach -- what are they looking for? Guest star Mariette Hartley and yes the continue their Polaroid commercial antics.

Lions, Tigers, Dogs and Monkeys (parts 1&2)- Jim goes to a posh restaurant but when a party is seated before him, he makes a scene. When one of the party is almost killed, Jim is hired to investigate. This starts a romance between Jim and Kendall (and a real life romance between Garner and Bacall!) Guest Stars Lauren Bacall and Dana Wynter. This is the best episode of the entire series.

Only Rock 'n' Roll Will Never Die (parts 1&2) - Jim is hired to find a missing friend of a rock star by an old prison mate.

Love is the Word - An old flame asks Jim to clear her fiance of murder.

Nice Guys Finish Dead - Rockford is ask to find the killer of a Senator with the help of another, and very vain private eye. Guest stars Tom Sellick and Larry Manetti (no this is not the pilot for Magnum)

The Hawaiian Headache - Jim is lured to Hawaii by his old Army Commander but winds up in a CIA plot.

No Fault Affair - Rita Moreno returns as the hopeful hooker and gets Jim into more trouble.

The Big Cheese - Jim is mailed evidence of union corruption by a murdered reporter.

Just a Coupla Guys - Jim goes to New Jersey to help a retired mob boss.

Deadlock in Parma - Jim gets involved in local politics.

This is was a great send off to a fun show.

The writing for Season 6 slipped dramatically. The best of the episodes were mediocre; the rest were awful. Watching these almost made me wonder if Garner really left the show early because of the poor writing rather than physical ailments, as he claimed. Thankfully, this wasn't really the end. Several of the TV movies measured up quality-wise and they are about to be released (half of them, anyway) in early November.

This is the final season of the Rockford Files. Due to conflicts between the shows writers, producers and James Garner, as well as nagging injuries to Garner, the shows run was abruptly cut short. As a result, the final season ended halfway through, so there are only 12 episodes, and unfortunately there is no "series finale" episode. That being said, the show is still great fun to watch. And in those final episodes are a nice array of follow up visits from pivotal or recurring characters from past seasons--fellow detective Lance White (Tom Selleck), Rockford's prostitute friend Rita (Rita Moreno), and his knock-out former flame, the blind psychiatrist played by Kathryn Harrold. There are some big name guest stars, too, including Lauren Bacall in a two-part episode and also Mariette Hartley, the actress who developed a rapport with James Garner in a series of Polaroid commercials. In this season Rockford also travels to Hawaii with Rocky for a run in with the Feds, and to New Jersey for a run in with a Mafia boss. And you never know when or how Angel will show up. Perhaps they powers that be will now start releasing the Rockford Files TV movies which followed in the late eighties and early ninties.

This is one of the best well written P.I. series ever produced. It was always written and produced by the hard working Stephen J. Cannell back in the '70's. It is kind of sad that no other P.I. series has ever evolved that even comes close to The Rockford Files. It's hands down the best!

Three stars. All three are for the stories direction and acting. If I was focusing only on those I'd have given it 5 stars. However, I'm also rating quality of print and packaging for which I give no stars! The audio and video quality is poor, as is the DVD menu. It simply looks amateurish - like it had been recorded on VHS and given a cheap home menu. The thing that really gets my goat is the photo on the back of the DVD box! A picture of Jim and his beloved dad on the beach! Perfect! Except that the 'dad' here is Robert Donley who played Rocky only once, in the pilot. After six seasons playing Jim's dad how could they not have used a picture of Noah Beery, Jr!!!!?
I think that just about sums up the careless, rushed job of putting together the final season of this beloved series.

I already purchase the other five series set and really enjoy viewing this old TV show series, brings back lots of great memories.

with volume 6 being the last to complete this set, it will be a joy to watch. The only sad part is no more to see.

Also if you're a great fan of the Actor James Garner, then the Rockford Files is a must to add to your DVD collections.