S1 E7: Tall Woman in Red Wagon
Newspaper reporter Sandra hires Rockford to find her missing friend Charlotte Duskey. The trail eventually leads to the mob and phony IRS agent Harry Stoner. This is a classic Rockford segment, with Jim impersonating an insurance agent, funeral home representative, psychiatrist and Internal Revenue agent. Using a mobile printing press, Rockford churns out his own phony business cards from the comfort of his tan Pontiac Firebird.
S1 E8: This Case Is Closed
Joseph Cotten plays Warner Jameson, a disgruntled millionaire who hires Rockford to find dirt on his daughter’s fiancee. The situation spirals until Rockford finds himself being threatened by organized crime figures, the FBI and the Newark, N.J. police. An extended episode with a solid story, with Garner jousting with his client, the Feds, led by FBI Agent James Shore and the cops.
S1 E10: Find Me If You Can
One of the recurring themes on “The Rockford Files” was that many of Rockford’s clients had inadvertently seen or heard criminal activity, and for that reason were being hunted by the Mafia. In the first episode of this type, Joan Van Ark guest stars as a woman who hires Jim, then tells him she’s going to disappear, and that his job is to find her. Barbara hopes that if she can elude an experienced P.I., she can get away from the Denver-area mobsters who are gunning for her. Paul Michael Glaser (David Starsky from “Starsky and Hutch,” plays her violent ex-boyfriend. This episode makes the most of an intriguing premise, grounded by Rockford’s easygoing realism, savvy and a sort of reluctant gallantry, played to perfection by Garner
S1 E14-15: Profit and Loss, Pts 1-2
In the best of the two-part stories, Rockford tries to help Helen Morris, whose husband came to Jim in fear before being kidnapped at the Rockord trailer. She is supposedly convinced that her husband Alec, an executive at conglomerate Fiscal Dynamics, was done in by the organization’s top dogs, who are led by Leon Fielder (Ned Beatty, in a role that presaged his role in “Network.” When the executive turns up alive, telling the district attorney he never saw Rockford, and the wife denies ever being worried about anything, Rockford finds that his aggravation is only beginning. Garner expertly takes Rockford, and the viewers, on a fascinating trip through this episode’s twists and turns.
S1 E18: Counter Gambit
Not for the first time, Rockford is tracked down by a menacing old acquaintance from his time in prison. Moss Williams, who beat Jim up while in stir, and his pal Harry Crown want the P.I. to locate a woman (Mary Frann, who would later star in “Newhart”) who may have some missing pearls. They get the pearls, and give the police the impression that Rockford stole them. This episode provides some of the best early back-and-forth with Rockford’s ex-con buddy Angel Martin, who plays a key role as Jim tries to get the pearls back. While Angel would become sort of annoying later, due to overexposure, at this point he is still a funny and interesting character, and as always it’s a pleasure to see Rockford run one of his con games.
S2 E7: The Real Easy Red Dog
Stefanie Powers guest stars as Christine Dusseau, a P.I. who poses as the sister of an heiress who seems to have committed suicide. There’s plenty of fun for die-hard fans here, as several favorite schticks are on display: Garner gets to show his flair for witty repartee as Rockford unmasks Dusseau as a poseur; Rockford has an early clash with nemesis Lt. Diel, who threatens to have his private investigator license revoked; and Rockford uses one of his many aliases to bluff a hapless lawyer out of a key piece of evidence.
S2 E13: The Girl In The Bay City Boy’s Club
In this installment, directed by Garner in a professional, no-frills style, Rockford ends up working with Deputy D.A. Kate Doyle, who is posing as someone else to investigate an illegal gambling club. Not surprisingly, Garner has great chemistry with Brown, smoothly handling the inevitable clashes and reconciliation, and lifting this episode into the elite class.
S2 E14: The Hammer of C Block
Probably the most famous episode about one of Rockford’s ex-con clients stars “Shaft” composer Isaac Hayes as Gandolph “Gandy” Fitch who composed and performed a song for the episode: “Gandy’s Theme.” The episode sees Garner and Hayes play off each other so well that Haye’s character would reappear several times over the course of the series. The tone of this episode’s conclusion is unusually sober and downbeat
S2 E15: The No-Cut Contract
Rob Reiner guest stars as Larry "King" Sturtevan, star quarterback for the minor league Southern Illinois Warriors, is in town. Sturtevan's "hobby" is taping secret mob conversations back home at his restaurant. With the gangsters now on to him, Sturtevan randomly picks Rockford out of the Yellow Pages, with several thugs paying Jim a visit and demanding the tapes at gunpoint. Rob Reiner has a field day as the conceited Sturtevan, who tells Rockford that he doesn't know anyone in L.A., except maybe for "a couple hundred girls." NFL Hall of Famer Dick Butkus cameos himself.
S2 E22: A Bad Deal In The Valley Karen Stiles, a former flame of Rockford’s, asks him to drop off some escrow papers to a real estate firm. This simple task leads to his arrest on charges of transporting counterfeit money. From there, things get complicated in a hurry, and Jim has to use every resource at his disposal — including one of those classic impersonations of some harassed company employee — to keep his head above water.