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.
