The Rockford Files - Season One
by Alexander Grasshoff, Bernard L. Kowalski, Charles S. Dubin, Jackie Cooper, Jerry London
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DVD details
Actor: James Garner, Noah Beery Jr., Ramon Bieri, Richard Schaal, Shelley FabaresDirector: Alexander Grasshoff, Bernard L. Kowalski, Charles S. Dubin, Jackie Cooper, Jerry London
Brand: NBC Universal
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 1156 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-12-06
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of The Rockford Files - Season One
DVD Review: Viva la Rockford!
Summary: 4 Stars
This 1974-75 Season of this detective drama series is the season that started it all and brings me all the way back to memory lane to when I used to watch The Rockford Files every Friday night during it's whole 6-year run from 1974 thru 1980 on NBC.
Jim Rockford(James Garner)was a MANNIX-like private detective who was a pardoned ex-con and Vietnam veteran now turned private-eye who lived on a shoe-string budget in a rusty trailer in a parking lot by Malibu Beach and often got snookered by clients, got his ass kicked by goons every other week, often got burglarized, frequently got robbed, & often got his bronze Pontiac Firebird racked up a lot too especially since the often fastidious Rockford was always getting himself into mischief by snooping around and sometimes did a little bit of hanky-panky trying to find leads and clues to his investigations, but one of the intriguing things I found about THE ROCKFORD FILES was I cant help finding it kind of amazing how Rockford was always able to make ends meet living his eccentric lifestyle & continue to manage residing in a beautiful coastal area near Pacific Coast Highway in L.A. County and still manage to often be gussied up in 3-piece suits and afford a hot muscle car since Rockford was barely able to make a living on his shoe-string budget just like Mannix(Mike Connors), Magnum(Tom Selleck),and Rick & AJ Simon(Gerald McRaney, Jameson Parker)all did.
Therefore, you could say that THE ROCKFORD FILES was like a poor-mans MAGNUM, especially since the often fastidious(Jim Rockford)was a lot like the Hawaiian beach-bum private detective(Thomas Magnum)in many ways since this show often poked at how Rockford's cash flow problem was such a joke just like Magnum's was, except Magnum got to live a fantasy kind of lifestyle since Magnum lived rent-free and often had unlimited use of Robin Masters' Ferrari, and worked only when he wanted to, unlike most gumshoes.
Additionally, even though Rockford was a bachelor who didn't have a nice home or steady income to fall back on, Rockford seemed to have a lot of talent and seemed to be quite popular with the ladies kind of like Magnum(Tom Selleck) and Houston(Lee Horsley)were.
In addition to that, Rockford would always have a different message on his answering machine at the beginning of each episode before the introduction would start, but most of Rockford's messages left on his answering machine at the beginning of each episode were bad news, but I used to get a kick out of them along with the fact that Rockford had an answering machine taking calls from potential clients at his trailer instead of having a leggy secretary answering his calls like a typical private-eye show did.
Rockford also had an ex-con buddy Angel Martin(Stuart Margolin) who often got him into hot water and a drop-dead gorgeous attorney girlfriend Beth Davenport(Gretchen Corbett)bailing him out of jail, plus Rockford had his often exasperated police investigator buddy Sgt. Dennis Becker(Joe Santos)from the LAPD whom Rockford had a love/hate relationship with, but would sometimes feed classified information to Rockford to help him solve his cases despite all the friction it caused Becker to have with his overzealous superior officers Lt. Diehl(Tom Atkins)and Lt. Chapman(James Luisi)who detested Rockford immensely and would always look for any excuse they could find to arrest Rockford and get his PI license revoked just like Rick & A.J. Simon had their cop buddies from San Diego P.D. such as the streetwise police Det. Marcel "Downtown" Brown(Tim Reid) and the foxy Lt. Abigail Marsh(Joan McMurtry)to help Rick(Gerald McRaney) and A.J.(Jameson Parker) solve cases on the private detective drama SIMON & SIMON.
Rockford also had kind of a strange relationship with his long-time suffering retired truckdriver father Joseph "Rocky" Rockford(Noah Beery)who often argued with Rockford about his lifestyle and occupation about being a private investigator and would always try to encourage Rockford to get into the trucking business instead along with the fact that this show was still in its honeymoon phase when this private detective drama made its debut on NBC in the Fall of 1974, but this show got even better when it hit its 2nd Season, which was when THE ROCKFORD FILES really started to hit its stride since Rockford's 1975-76 Season was the season when this show was starting to walk since this was the season when this show just started to crawl along with the fact that this was one of the better years for this show when Rockford was in its honeymoon phase of the series.
In this season of Rockford, it was also interesting seeing guest stars like
-Gerald McRaney in the "Sleight Of Hand" episode before his co-starring days as the gonzo private detective(Rick Simon)on SIMON & SIMON & before his co-starring days on MAJOR DAD, PROMISED LAND & TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL
-Lindsey Wagner in the episodes "Backlash Of The Hunter" & "The 4-Pound Brick" before her co-starring days as Steve Austin's old flame(Jamie Summers)on THE BIONIC WOMAN
-Paul-Michael Glaser in the "Find Me If You Can" episode before his co-starring days as the street-savvy police detective(Dave Starsky)on STARSKY & HUTCH
-Shelley Fabares in the "Calendonia: It's Worth A Fortune" episode before her co-starring days on ONE DAY AT A TIME and COACH
-Abe Vigoda in "The Kirkoff Case" episode before his co-starring days on BARNEY MILLER
-Sharon Gless in "The Case Is Closed" episode before her co-starring days on CAGNEY & LACEY"
-Norman Burton in "The Big Ripoff" episdode before his co-starring days as Diana Prince's boss(Joe Atkinson) on WONDER WOMAN
-Joan Van Ark in the "Find Me If You Can" episode before her co-starring days on KNOTTS LANDING
-Mills Watson in the episodes "Roundabout" and "Exit Prentiss Carr" before his co-starring days as the doofus Deputy Perkins on SHERIFF LOBO
-Dana Elcar in the "Caledonia:It's Worth A Fortune" episode before his co-starring days on MACGYVER
-Julie Sommars in "The Kirkoff Case" episode before her co-starring days on MATLOCK
-Lance LeGault in the "Claire" episode before his co-starring days as the hard-nosed Army nemesis(Col.Decker)on THE A-TEAM & before his co-starring days as Magnum's pessimistic Navy nemesis(Col.Buck Greene)on MAGNUM, PI
-Pamela Hensley in the "Say Goodbye To Jennifer" episode before her co-starring days as CJ Parsons on the detective drama MATT HOUSTON & before her co-starring days as the relentless Princess Ardala on the science-fiction drama BUCK ROGERS
-Steven Keats in the "Just By Accident" episode before his co-starring days on ALL MY CHILDREN
-Jess Walton in "The Four Pound Brick" episode before her co-starring days as the sassy Jill Abbott on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS
-James Woods in "The Kirkoff Case" episode before he was a star
-Gordon Jump in the "Just By Accident" episode before his co-starring days on WKRP IN CINCINATTI
-Former L.A. News Anchorwoman(Kelley Lang)in the "Aura Lee Farewell" episode
-Tim O'Connor in "The Dexter Crisis" episode before his co-starring days as the remarkable Dr. Huer on BUCK ROGERS: IN THE 25TH CENTURY
-Beatrice Colen in the "Just By Accident" episode before her co-starring days on WONDER WOMAN
-Del Monroe in "The Case Is Closed" episode after his co-starring days on VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
-Linda Evans in the "Claire" episode before her co-starring days as Crystal on DYNASTY
-Mel Stewart in the "Charlie Harris At Large" episode before his co-starring days on SCARECROW & MRS. KING
-Suzanne Sommars in "The Big Ripoff" episode before her co-starring days as the ditzy Chrisy Snow on THREE'S COMPANY
-Joe E. Tata in the "Profit & Loss" episode before his co-starring days on the original BEVERLY HILLS 90210 series
It was also cool being able to watch every episode of Rockford complete & uncut like they were all originally shown on their original air-dates on NBC with the exception of being commercial-free on the DVD box sets as opposed to watching them in reruns with too many deleted scenes & too many commercial interruptions like they were shown on A&E, TNN, TV Land, and WGN.
This season also takes me all the way back to memory lane to when I was only 2 years old and was living in the Imperial Valley for the very first time along with the fact that I was raised in El Centro, CA, which by the way is an intensely hot and ultimately boring place.
In the meantime, I just got word that Paramount will finally be releasing MATT HOUSTON-Season 1 out on DVD on Tuesday March 9th, 2010 and Shout will be releasing SIMON & SIMON-Season 4 out on DVD on Tuesday April 6th, 2010 and are both available for pre-order and give us 2 private detective dramas in the works to look forward to in the Spring of 2010.
Description of The Rockford Files - Season One
The world's most unlikely detective comes to DVD for the first time ever in all 23 thrilling Season One episodes of The Rockford Files. 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 wisecracking private eye takes on the cases of the lost and the dispossessed, chasing down seemingly long-dead clues in the sun-baked streets and seamy alleys of Los Angeles. Including an interview with James Garner himself, this phenomenal DVD set contains 23 TV hours of classic Rockford action and includes such stellar guest stars as Lindsay Wagner, James Woods, Abe Vigoda, Suzanne Somers and Ned Beatty. The Rockford Files are now open and declassified for mystery fans everywhere! Starring: James GarnerBestsellers in DVD
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