THE ROCKFORD FILES @ 50

 

Debuting on NBC on March 27th, 1974, it's The Rockford Files, which turns 50 years old today. The series was co-created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell as a vehicle for actor James Garner, with whom Huggins had worked on his series, Maverick, from 1957 to 1962. The concept for the new series was to take Garner's character from the old western show, and bring him into the modern world, retaining his affable wit and charm while putting him into the gritty world of a low rent LA private detective.

The titular character of Jim Rockford was created to be something of an anachronism in terms of the popular style of private detectives of the era. Rather than being smartly dressed and put together, Rockford was a bit of a mess, wearing off the rack suits and living in a ramshackle trailer in a parking lot near Malibu Beach. Though he was a bit ragged, he was no dummy, and was street smart with an edge thanks to a stint in jail in the 1960s on a charge for which he was eventually pardoned. While in the slammer, he made friends with a con by the name of "Angel", played by Stuart Margolin, who appeared regularly on the series as a comic foil and frequent crony whenever Jim needed to run a ruse on a potential target. Rockford was also frequently assisted by his father, played by Noah Beary Jr. His approach to work as a PD was largely to stick with cold cases or "off the books" jobs in order to avoid stepping on the toes of police during active investigations. However, this position was softened in later seasons as conflicts with police investigations became a regular trope of the series. Rockford was averse to physical violence, often avoiding carrying his gun, which he usually kept in a cookie jar, and he was often overpowered and ambushed by his adversaries, though he could hold his own when things got desperate. He also had a talent for playing characters and doing accents, especially southern and Midwestern types, whenever he needed to go undercover to further an investigation. Each episode began with an amusing, vaguely threatening message being left on Jim's answering machine before the opening credits of the show.

The series ran from 1974 until it was abruptly cancelled in 1980 after going on hiatus due to medical issues with Garner. He had been ordered by his doctor to take time off to recuperate from a number of back and knee injuries he'd sustained over the run of the series while performing his own fighting and driving stunts. While on break, NBC suddenly cancelled the series, citing that it was losing money and costing too much to produce because of the location shoots and A-list guest stars. In the aftermath of the cancellation, Garner became embroiled in a bitter, decade long legal battle with Universal over the profits from the series, ultimately resolved out of court with a settlement in the actor's favour. While those legal woes were unravelling, the intellectual property associated with the show and its characters was in limbo and there were no new works done until the mid 1990s.

Between 1994 and 1999, the Rockford characters were reunited and revived for a series of successful made for TV movies, which included most of the original regular cast. Noah Beery Jr. sadly passed away in 1994, so was not able to return to his role, but his character was referenced in the first few movies until he was officially deceased by the third one. The series itself went on to become a syndication staple over the years, gaining new fans with younger generations. In comparison to many of the genre series from the 1970s, The Rockford Files remains one of the more intelligent, humorous and sophisticated of the lot.