Posted on 04/07/2022 12:00:08 PM PDT by Kaslin
April 7th marks the birthday of one of Hollywood’s best – the late, great James Garner – whose multi-decade career spanned everything from early TV westerns like "Maverick," to movies of all genres, from "Grand Prix" to "The Great Escape" to "Hour of the Gun." And, prior to his life on the screen, he served in both the U.S. Merchant Marine and the U.S. Army National Guard – that latter stint in uniform included combat in the Korean War where he was wounded twice in action, and received two Purple Hearts and the Army’s Combat Infantryman Badge for his service. Garner would have been 94 this year.
And while Garner’s career spanned multiple decades on both the big and little screen, it was The Rockford Files where he shined – eventually earning an Emmy for Best Actor on the show. The character – a tough, good-natured and sharp-skilled but perennially down-on-his-luck ex-con (pardoned) private detective – was basically tailor-made for Garner. In fact, he was so perfect for the role that it is almost impossible to envision any other actor playing the part.
But The Rockford Files was more than James Garner. And it was more than superb writing and plots, or excellent characters with chemistry – which it all was, of course. Beyond all of that, it was a tribute to and a defense of the middle-class. Rockford spoke to all of us stuck between the protected polar ends of society, putting in the hours, footing the bill for everyone else, and making just enough to stay above water…but never enough to sit completely high-and-dry. And while The Rockford Files regularly highlighted societal injustice, it was done via a character clad in off-the-rack blazers who lived in a trailer house and drank canned beers…a far cry from the sanctimonious moralizers who endlessly brow-beat the common citizen with their selective outrage today.
Even if it wasn’t intended, Rockford was an everyman hero – the “Average Joe” who is simply trying to get by, earn enough cash to make the payments on his Firebird, and live peacefully enough to throw a few casts into the surf with his old man. Rockford – and often his retired truck-driver Dad “Rocky” – took it on the chin for good people in nearly every episode. And while the villains didn’t succeed with their schemes, Rockford never got rich for his troubles. The hard-knock lesson here is that even if evil gets punished – a big “if” it seems these days – good never seems to get properly reimbursed.
And the villains of Rockford were authentic – not cartoonish heavies from action fantasy land…but the kind of real-life schemers and frauds we read about in the news every day. Larcenous swindlers – who lie and collude for self-enrichment. Crooked lawyers – who bilk their clients to maintain superficial lifestyles. Greedy corporatists – who cut corners to pad their pockets. Charlatan pols – who ignore the constitution on the way to higher office. Some episodes were serious about this stuff – including one from Season Three entitled “So Help Me God” where Rockford is unfairly trapped by an underhanded prosecutor in a grand jury proceeding – a commentary on how easily the average citizen can be destroyed by credentialed authorities in secretive legal structures without transparency or oversight. Sound familiar?
And more often than not, Rockford was implicated as the suspect in the very cases he was working – often by vain and egotistical authority figures who were lazy, blinded by prejudicial notions, and who seemed to operate on the idea that one is guilty until proven innocent. Notably, his only friend on the police force was another honest blue collar stiff, detective Dennis Becker, who personified the overworked and underpaid. Nearly every episode found Rockford either hemmed up and worked over by sundry goons and thugs – or screwed over and left hanging by the nameless, soulless system that grinds up and spits out the individual, without mercy or apology. Ironically, it’s the system that we – and the fictional Jim Rockford – all pay taxes to support.
The Rockford Files was of course a product of its time – the cynical 70’s – and like a great many productions of the era, it questioned everything. It distrusted the words and motives of the influential. It looked skeptically at the company line. And it poked the powers that be. It didn’t matter if it was government, big business, local politics, attractive women or handsome men – Rockford showed that malice and ill-intent could manifest itself anywhere, in anyone, at any time.
It’s hard to ignore the uncomfortable parallels between now and Rockford’s time – the only difference is that the 1970’s had better movies, shows and music. In fact, you could do worse in your off-time than catching a few re-runs of Rockford and watch a guy like us take down the hacks and the creeps – it’s one of the gems from when TV had thought and character. And you might as well, anyway…because with everything going on now – the lies, the chicanery, the usury, the inflation, and the disillusionment with failing leadership and untrustworthy institutions – it basically feels like we’re all part of Rockford’s Files now.
“...throw a few casts into the surf...”
What does this mean?
Casting a line - fishing.
Every daggum time.
OKG 853
$200 dollars a day plus expenses.
And Issaic Hayes calling him “Rockfish”
Loved the show
Issaic Hayes calling him “Rockfish”
***There’s some real classic scenes.
I liked the one at the end of some episode where everyone got sumthin out of it except Angel and he was whining about it. Rockford said he got sumthin he should value, more than he deserved: His own life.
Mercifully, unlike the slow writing, alcohol-fueled, and unhappily married Chandler, Huggins was a happy and solid family man of responsible habits, even temperament, and prodigious output. Moreover, Huggins' shrewd bargaining and far-sighted contract demands became standard for many scriptwriters, which improved their compensation and status.
This in turn helped to trigger a wave of quality TV shows beginning with The Sopranos. The key innovation was that the writer-creator got both a large and secure share of the profits and creative control, demands first won by Huggins. As it happens, Sopranos creator David Chase worked for Huggins as a scriptwriter and wrote and produced about two dozen episodes of the Rockford Files -- including an episode in 1979 that sent Jim Rockford on a trip to New Jersey to deal with a couple of mobsters.
“Casting a line - fishing”
Yes. Thanks.
Casting. It’s a verb. I would cast my line as far as I could when I fished.
I never threw a cast.
Maybe people use that terninology but I never heard it.
Probably the best quality TV show ever.
He insisted on doing his own stunt work until his knees gave out and he had to retire,
It is more likely that we will be driving old vehicles a lot like in Cuba since 1957. This country is set for a crash course in communism 101.
A lot of people think we are near the second coming of Christ, if that is true FIRST the “Beast system” will crash and burn, and it won’t work until the literal Man of Sin takes over and brings Peace Peace Peace, for just a little bit of time.
First though, the system will horribly crash, and all the plans of the Oligarchs will come to Naught.
Loved him. Loved Rockford files
The Greatest American Hero.
***Now there was a show that had potential. I keep thinking it would be worth revising that show but in today’s politically correct climate it would suck.
I had fond memories of it from when I was a kid and tried watching it a few ago when it was one the streaming services ( Netflix?) anyway I didn’t get through two episodes and the leftist tropes of the time were too much for me. When Ralph wasn’t being an incompetent superhero, he was an even more incompetent high school teacher for troubled kids. It was incredibly preachy then, a modern “Ralph” would no doubt be a transsexual struggling with his queer class not being able to talk about their true lived experience while he fought global warming and evil patriots in his super power suit.
Just about my fave tv series. Have all on dvd and watch them over and over.
Highly recommend Paradise Cove Beach Cafe. Best meal we had in Cali on our visit last summer. Thats location where Rockfords trailer was parked.
Maybe it’s casting a net? I dunno... weird verbiage, that’s for sure.
But, context clues usually help figure it out - at least for me.
I also used to fish dang nearly weekly with my parents for my formative years (up until I was about 15)...
My wife and I watched the first two shows in Season one.
Enjoyable to watch.
The second show caught some of the Rockford mojo and was fun to watch. Only Rockford could shot down a small private plane with a hand gun.
The system to schedule/order the part 2/finale on the first show really was a pia!
My wife kept commenting about the lack of heavy traffic in the LA area.
Rockford’s use of pay phones throughout the shows, shows the impact of smart phones later in real life
Thanks, my wife and I did two shows from season 1 last night.
Bathroom fight scene. “Jim calls him a Queer.”
Last night my wife and I watched that episode and another one.
I stopped the tv and replayed:
“Jim calls him a Queer.”
We discussed how today’s radical gay left would put that scene on the cutting room floor.
“Did ya ever see the episode where Tom Selleck got his start on TV”
“If you said it’s a flesh wound I’m gonna kill you.”
“...anyway I didn’t get through two episodes and the leftist tropes of the time were too much for me. When Ralph wasn’t being an incompetent superhero, he was an even more incompetent high school teacher...It was incredibly preachy then...” [Data Miner, post 91]
“...I keep thinking it would be worth revising that show but in today’s politically correct climate it would suck.” [Kevmo, post 90]
Fretting about the preachiness of a 1980s TV action series is probably being a bit too intense. Quite true of The Greatest American Hero then; doesn’t make it a standout.
Much of prime time TV 40 years ago was just the same. However, it was still possible then to relax and enjoy things. Not anymore.
The show was more about the mundane problems encountered by mere mortals who have been handed enormous power; but the power barely affects the day-to-day troubles, minor conflicts, personality clashes, and never-realized dimly perceived dreams of doing good (and doing well) are still present, bollixing most outcomes. The stuff of daily life mires us mere mortals even when aliens try to help save us from ourselves.
Several critics and reviewers have written that the struggles between William Katt’s character and Robert Culp’s character were rooted in this incompatibility: the former wanted to save the whales, but the latter wanted to save America from Communism. Structuring it that way would simply fail to work today.
I found it more interesting to note how goofily untalented Katt’s character remained, despite acquiring the suit. He manages to lose the instruction manual not once, but twice. And his landing skills simply suck - but the suit saves him from harm. Over and over. Technical flubs remain outside the purview of politics and ideology; they refuse be remedied by an abundance of faith. Or sterling character.
One could even consider The Greatest American Hero a tongue in cheek admonition about the failure of aliens to recognize crippling flaws in human nature; if they had bothered to perform deeper background studies and psychological tests before committing, they might have given the suit to frogs, not to a human. Fortunately, it remained lighthearted.
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