Customer Reviews

The Rockford Files - Season Two

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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fans were ecstatic when "The Rockford Files" finally was released after many long delays. The first season was great and the second cemented James Garner and his pals as weekly visitors into our homes for years to come.

James Garner's laconic charm as Jim Rockford kept us coming back for more each week and finally won him an Emmy in 1977. Garner, who would have been a star in any era, and sometimes seemed as if he would have fit more into films of the 1940's, had finally found the perfect role on television as Jim Rockford, 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 simply fantastic as the scheming Angel, always with an angle, and always certain to get Rockford into trouble when it backfired. Like Rockford, you just couldn't stay mad at Angel, no matter what con had blown up in his face or how much trouble he would get our favorite TV detective in from time to time. Rockford and Angel remained friends because of that unspoken bond all ex-cons have, and because deep down, Angel was a stand-up guy, though you couldn't always tell it from looking at the surface.

Except for the 90 minute pilot episode, "Backlash of the Hunter," starring Lindsay Wagner as Sarah Butler, who would resurface in another episode from that first season, "Aura Lee, Farewell," Noah Beery Jr. portrayed Rockford's lovable dad, Rocky. Rocky was a retired trucker who loved to fish, and passed on the hobby to Jim. It was the little moments like fishing that were really the heart and soul of this show when you stop to think about it. There were always a few slice-of-life moments mingled in with the great car chases, glorious con games, and other assorted mischief, as Rockford tried to solve a closed case and stay out of jail at the same time. Some weeks he was just trying to stay alive. Rocky would always give Jim that "look" if he had to come post bail.

Joe Santos was Rockford's often exasperated police pal, Dennis Becker. He was the buffer between Rockford and Becker's superiors, who 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 Rockford out of a complicated jam.

Last, but by no means least, was Gretchen Corbett as lawyer Beth Davenport. The relationship between she and Rockford was complicated. They both had a deep affection for each other, which was sometimes complicated by the attorney-client relationship. Her efforts to keep Jim out of trouble with the cops took up a lot of her time. There was a romance of sorts between the two, but it never matured into something that would lead to marriage.

The second season, just like the first, had some great guest stars, in addition to the already mentioned Lindsay Wagner. That original pilot episode is included this time. Guest stars from the second season include: Linda Evans, Michael Conrad, Stefanie Powers, Blair Brown, Isaac Hayes, Rob Reiner, Dick Butkus, John Saxon, Michael Ansara, Joseph Campanella, Louis Gossat Jr., Susan Strasberg, and Veronica Hamel.

There were some fine episodes the second season, in addition to the 90 minute pilot finally included. Those episodes are as follows: THE AARON IRONWOOD SCHOOL OF SUCCESS --- THE FARNSWORTH STRATAGEM --- THE GEARJAMMERS --- THE DEEP BLUE SLEEP --- THE GREAT BLUE LAKELAND AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY --- THE REAL EASY RED DOG --- RESURRECTION IN BLACK AND WHITE --- CHICKEN LITTLE IS A LITTLE CHICKEN --- TWO INTO 556 WONT GO --- PASTORIA, PRIME PICK --- THE REINCARNATION OF ANGIE --- THE GIRL IN THE BAY CITY BOY'S CLUB --- THE HAMMER OF 'C' BLOCK --- THE NO-CUT CONTRACT --- A PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH --- JOEY BLUE EYES --- IN HAZARD --- THE ITALIAN BIRD FIASCO --- WHERE'S HOUSTON? --- FOUL ON THE FIRST PLAY --- A BAD DEAL IN THE VALLEY

Stephen J. Cannell and Roy Huggins created this wonderful series and Juanita Bartlett wrote some of the finest scripts ever done for television. James Garner was absolutely perfect as Jim Rockford, and it has become difficult as the years have passed to separate the two in our minds. Garner was, and is, a great actor and screen presence who made everything look easy. This was a terrific show and one of the best ever to be beamed into our homes once a week.

This DVD sets of "The Rockford Files" have been too long coming, but now we all can wax nostalgia a bit, remembering shows like "The Rockford Files" which entertained with quality. Everyone loved "The Rockford Files" and couldn't wait to hear Mike Post's great theme music each week. It was recorded and turned into a radio hit it was so good.

Once again we will get to listen to all those crazy messages left on Jim Rockford's answering machine. Fans never missed the opening of the show because a smile or a good laugh might be missed. You don't want to miss it either.

"This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and message and I'll get back to you."

James Garner is probably the hardest working television
actor of them all. My favorite shows are Columbo, Mission: Impossible and the Rockford Files, but as an actor, Garner outclasses them all. As good as Columbo is, Peter Falk is puts in uneven performances. In Mission:Impossible, the focus continually shifts from one character to another, so no one
actor is on the spot all the time. In "Rockford Files", the story revolves around Jim so he is on screen much of the time,
yet he NEVER puts in a bad performance, in spite of what must
have been an exhausting schedule, putting out a new show week after week. Of course, the outstanding writing and directing add to the charm of the program. I was in college in Southern California while the show was being produced so I can attest to how well the show reflected the slightly wacky society of the time and in the various odd types of people Jim encounters.

When I was 6 or 7 this was my favorite show, and it's so nice to see these again and realize that it's even better than I'd imagined. Watching it now as an adult it seems funny that as a child a show like this appealed to me, but that testifies to the show's balance.
I miss the days of this kind of television that seem, alas, long gone. But I guess even then this show was something very special.
I'm positively delighted that Season 2 is coming out.

Universal did a lot better job of producing the season 2 DVDs. They got rid of the 2 sided "flipper" discs and replaced them with single sided DVDs. So instead of 3 "flipper" DVDs you get 6 single sided DVDs. It's nice to have one side printed so you can set these down on that side and not have to worry about scratching the data side. It's also nice to be able to easily read the label instead of the tiny one around the hole like in the season 1 DVDs. Also the DVD package looks better than the Season 1 DVD package. The package is one case that folds out to a tri-fold and contains all 6 discs. And unlike the Season 1 cases, the interior is not blank but contains scenes from the show. This Set of DVDs includes the series pilot "Backlash of the Hunter" with Lindsay Wagner, Stuart Margolin, Bill Mumy(of LOST IN SPACE and BABYLON 5 fame), William Smith(who took over for James MacArthur in the last season of HAWAII 5-0), and Robert Donley as Joseph Rockford, Jim's dad. In the rest of the series this was switched to Noah Berry Jr. as Jim's dad. This was a good switch because Berry plays Jim's dad with a lot more charisma. The DVD package includes a 9 minute interview with Stephen J. Cannell, the Co-Creater and producer of the show.

The boxed set of the 2nd season of The Rockford Files is a true pleasure to watch. In fact, I have to pace myself and only allow myself to watch one episode per day. Like a fine wine, this series is to be savored and enjoyed for the gem that it is. The packaging is much better than with season 1, and I found the interview with Steven J Cannell to be interesting. But the performances of James Garner are not to be topped by any dramatic series on television. I was particularly impressed by the way his relationship with his dad was handled: warm and caring, but not sappy. Gearjammers (2 part episode) was a great opportunity to learn more about Jim and Rocky's relationship. Noah Beery did an outstanding job. One plus that I haven't heard mentioned is that the season 2 box has the "better" theme song starting out each episode. If I recall, this is the edit of the Mike Post radio version that is more jammin' than the original first season theme song.

In addition, the audio and print quality are excellent, even on a large screen.

Great stuff, and I can't wait for season 3.

The season 2 set of The Rockford Files will include the missing pilot, Backlash of the Hunter that was left out of the first season of the series. Better late than never!!!

As fans of this original series back in the 70's when we were teenagers, my husband and I have greatly enjoyed "going back in time" and enjoying Rockford all over again. James Garner is still one of our favorite actors and he was such a natural in this series. His Rockford character was such an honest portrayal of the everyday man. He was funny, charming,honorable, and very much human. He won some, he lost some. If you love detective series and enjoy seeing the 70's lifestyle of music, cars, clothing and fads - Rockford is great entertainment.

"The Rockford Files" was a wildly popular, and now, iconographic, television detective series based on the life and work of Jim Rockford, a private detective living in southern California in the 1970's. The series is undoubtedly one of the best television shows ever produced: so good that one almost winces when the word "television" is mentioned in context with the show. Although television was the format and forum for the series, the work lays clearly outside the norms of "good television," and moves into areas generally only found in film and drama.

Jim is a genuinely good-hearted, but nevertheless cynical, hero of the common man who makes his sometimes meager income pursuing his unusual and often dangerous job. As an ex-con himself who spent time in jail for a crime he did not commit (and for which he eventually received a full pardon), Jim's street smarts equip him to move through all types of dangerous and unexpectedly dramatic situations that arise as he works his way through his revolving caseload, the "files" part of "The Rockford Files." Jim's response to questions about his daily rate, usually asked by someone in most every episode, is "200 dollars a day, plus expenses." Jim's duties might be to look for a missing person, collect on a debt owed, solve a crime, or anything else that someone might hire a private detective to do.

Jim makes frequent use of his friend in Los Angeles Police Department, Sgt. Dennis Becker, to get important information, but as often as not, pays the favors back by providing help to Becker which allowed Becker to make arrests. Jim claims to be averse to picking up any job that involves real danger. He owns a gun, but rarely uses it, and makes a point of telling anyone who will listen that he doesn't like guns. Nevertheless, it is Jim's care for the individual that generally moves him into danger to help someone else in need. His closest real friend, Angel Martin, is a small-time grifter and con artist who is always trying to con someone out of a few dollars, but never manages to lose Jim's friendship for reasons that may rest more with Jim's sense of responsibility to a person who needs SOMEONE to care for him than for more selfish reasons.

Jim's gold Pontiac Firebird became one of the enduring visual representations of the decade. The car was routinely bruised, dinged, crashed, vandalized, and in one episode, even blown up, but was nevertheless kept in steady repair throughout the entire run of the series. Few automobiles have been so closely identified with a dramatic character while never being the central focus of attention.

The Rockford Files was well-known for extremely strong plot lines, with virtually every episode in the run of the series an outstanding piece of dramatic writing and acting set to full musical score. The music in the first season or two is often exceptionally strong, where we often discover entire episodes seemingly a continuous musical score underpinning the story. (The theme song for the series, played at the beginning of every episode and revisted within episodes as variations on a theme, was immensely popular during the series run, and was catchy enought to be released commercially on the radio waves at some point in the show's run.) Individual episodes focus on a variety of themes, either comic, intrigue, mystery, problem solving, and others, but the common thread in them all is life as viewed through the lens and experiences of Jim's efforts to stay out of trouble while he faces trouble. Episodes typically contains enough twists and turns to keep even the most seasoned watcher on the edge of the seat in trying to figure out the angle or angles that are at play. The commanding and reassuring presence of James Garner, a greatly-loved figure in American movies and television, carries virtually every scene while keeping the plot believable and engaging. The fact that the series could maintain such high levels of realistic credibility while not allowing the viewer to assemble all the pieces until the near end of each episode is simply a marvel of narrative storytelling. These are some of the best examples of premier storytelling in the history of television, and arguably, film.

Many reviews of television shows contain lists of "best" episodes. In my own mind, it is simply not possible to create such a list for The Rockford Files. To do so would perhaps do some injustice to the series, because virtually every episode is "good" in the basic sense. Yes, there are indeed some episodes that are archetypical examples of mastery in video storytelling, but to be perfectly honest, you can basically pick any episode of The Rockford Files at random, and, assuming you understand the basic premise of the show, chances are you'll have a great viewing experience. But perhaps this is a series best watched by starting with Season One, and watching each episode in order, so that one can fully appreciate the cast of characters, their relationship to one another, and the unfolding story of Jim's life. Along the way, we come to love Rocky as a father and human being, appreciate Denis as an honest and hard-working police officer, admire Beth as a skilled and knowledgeable lawyer, and feel some level of understanding, and yes, even sympathy, for Angel as he cons his way through small-time scams. Running through it all is Jim, a person who often puts others above himself, and has a touch of humanity that appeals to most everyone, and easily makes the series one of the most endearing to ever appear on television.

If you even remotely like The Rockford Files, you better get this. Season two is awesome, I'd say better than Season One, with all kinds of stars that made it later. Who doesn't like james Garner's smartass attitude?
Rockford Files Fan

What is the hold up in getting Season Three released? Who do I need to bribe at Universal to move this up the list! It's a tragedy that we had to wait 6 months between Seasons 1 and 2, why have we not even seen a preorder for Season 3 yet?! In the meantime, I'm stuck Tivo-ing the butchered versions off WGN...