Customer Reviews

Rockford Files Season 1

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have been a fan of The Rockford Files ever since it first aired on NBC in the 1970s. I loved the car action, the great L.A. scenes in the background, and of course, Jim Rockford as played by James Garner, along with the supporting players such as Noah Beery Jr., Stuart Margolin and Joe Santos. I think it might be the best detective series of all time and I have long looked forward to its release on DVD.

I bought the box set as soon as I could get my hands on it, and almost immediately experienced disappointment. Several episodes experienced freezing, skipping, or picture breakup, and one ("Just By Accident") refused to play at all. I returned the set and got a substitute, only to experience exactly the same problems.

A word of comment on the editorial review above -- the reviewer mentions cheap DVD players as being the cause of this problem. My player is only a year old and certainly was not cheap. It never has had a problem with any discs prior to this. Just to double-check, I tried the discs in a second player, and that was a total disaster. For all intents and purposes, virtually none of the discs were playable in that. It is all well and good to suggest that a new, expensive player would make these discs watchable, but that ignores the reality that the majority of players in peoples homes are neither, and in such cases these discs will not be watchable. Univeral Home Entertainment must take the responsibility for releasing a product that the majority of buyers will have problems with. It is simply unacceptable.

For the episodes I was able to watch, I have only good things to say. The images are crisp and clean, the sound is as good as you could expect from a series of this vintage, and the colors are rendered properly. The L.A. backdrops during the driving scenes are for me almost worth the entire price of admission, and then on top of that you have the good writing with wit and style. All of which has been spoiled by Universal's shoddy presentation and manufacturing. Surely it cannot be that hard to produce a set of discs that ar eplayable by most people. Shame, Universal, shame!!!

Yes.....you read right, the best TV show ever! Seinfeld was great, the Simpsons wonderful and many others are of note. The Rockford Files was so masterfully written, episode after episode. The casting is marvelous and of course James Garner plays the anti-hero character to perfection. With his quirks, faults and odd nuances Garner breathes life into the character like no other character ever on television. The performances by Garner are simply brilliant and his chemistry with cast mates and guest stars is unrivaled. The Rockford files endures as clearly the best detective show ever and certainly seriously rivals others for best TV show period because it has such human characters. Of course I'm on the side of best ever but the debate of who's best is not what this review is about, it's about the pure joy of watching genius at work. It's about great writing, great casting, some of the finest acting on television and the pure pleasure of savouring each episode.

A great show & James Garner is truly a perfect "Jim Rockford". Actually he pretty much was perfect in every role he did.
My only complaint is, like the other viewer, the DVD's are crap. I've so far been able to only watch a maximum of 2 episodes per disc. If I'm lucky. THe rest freeze, skip, stutter and quit. I have a Bose system which usually manages to override any disc problems, but not here. I'm terribly disapointed & hope the other seasons I bought don't have the same problem.

Rockford Files is simply one of the best American TV series from the 70s.

James Garner definitely helps to put the series in this class but other factors contribute. (1) The scripts are generally so very good. Listening to the dialogue, watching the characters play cat-and-mouse, untangling the plot twists, sitting on the edge of your seat through the car chases (nearly every show) is so pleasurable that you wonder why more series can not be this good. (2) The cinematography is superb. Watching this series is a blast. Everything that made 70s movie making distinct is found here. The off-kilter framing, the swoosh pan, the fast zoom, the burst of light that occurs when headlights flash into the camera--all that cool stuff that characterized the 1970s 'look' appears in Rockford. My wife said it was cheesy, but it only has that feel because it is a real slice of the 70s pie. At the time it was cutting-edge TV. It's only looks cliche now because of the many imitators who came after it. (3) The soundtrack. Some of the music was standard throughout the series, but other parts sound as though they were composed for specific episodes. This gives those episodes a fresh, unique quality. There is some bluegrass banjo music in one episode that beautifully brings out the flavour of the scene: Jim is bombing along a dirt road in pursuit of a bad guy. We get the sense that this is a small-town, backwoods caper.

I said before that Garner makes the show; and its true. He was such a good close-up actor. His facial expressions are great fun. And the twinkle he was able to conjure in his eye when he was devising a plot or the steely gaze he leveled at a bad guy is terrific to catch. Plus he did many of his own car stunts. The guy knew how to drive. Also, he was never afraid to look silly, disheveled, or outsmarted. So, when he did finally turn the tables, the pleasure of seeing him do so made the reversal all the richer. You got the low (him being bested) plus the high (him winning the day). He was also a very good physical actor. The fight scenes look real. He was not like the buff action-actors of today; he was a bit pudgy. He looks like a real guy, not a kid's action figure. But, boy, could he still throw a punch! It's great fun watching him run. He was not an obvious athlete, but he took off after the bad guy anyway. This adds to the realism of the moment.

I could go on. But suffice it to say, you will not be disappointed if you purchase this show. It is easily a cut above most of the American TV detective shows of the last three decades.

This episode of "The Rockford Files" was originally cast as the prime time "pilot" for the series. Although some of the details had yet to be worked out, it was (and still is) truly remarkable TV. This is from what I call the "best of TV" and James Garner is an actor without peer. The storyline was way ahead of anything else in its day, and Garner was the only one who could pull it off. Couple this with a talented (and very young) Lindsay Wagner and you have a recipe for success. Definately worth buying/watching as are the rest of the series tapes. It's easy to see why Garner and Co. had such a hot commodity in the '70s with this one.

THE PILOT EPISODE OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, A HOUR LONG CRIME SHOW STARRED BY JAMES GARNER AS JIM ROCKFORD, A PRIVATE DETECTIVE RECENTLY RELEASED FROM PRISON (FOR A CRIME HE NEVER COMMITTED) WHO LIVED IN A TRAILER IN MALIBU BEACH. ONE OF THE BESTS SHOWS IN THE 70'S ORIGINAL AIRED IN SEPTEMBER OF 1974 THROUGH JULY OF 1980. UNTILL TODAY WE CAN WATCH SOME SPECIALS REUNIONS OF THE ORIGINAL CAST IN MADE FOR CABLE SEQUEL MOVIES. AS KOJAK, THE MACMILLAN COUPLE, MAGNUM AND MCGARRETT FROM HAWAII 5-0, JIM ROCKFORD IS ONE OF THE UNFORGETABLE CRIME FIGHTERS OF TELEVISON.

Yeah, there's no reason why this shouldn't be out on DVD. I was not born when the series came out, but I found out about it a couple years ago when it was being rerun on TVLand. I still get my Rockford fix thanks to WGN, but I would really like to see a DVD collection so I can view them chronologically. Aside from having the best theme song of all time, and opening sequence in general, Jimmy is one of the best fictitious characters in any media, ever. Please release a collection!!!!!

The "Rockford Files" is beyond any shadow of a doubt one of my favorite television shows, and brings back precious memories of childhood, when life was far simpler (and better?). There were some excellent, excellent episodes, and some episodes where the writers must have worn their "stupid hat." "BOTL" is just such an episode.
Jim Rockford discovers a sinister plot to murder Lindsey Wagner's father after being informed that a wealth widow is paying for her brother's (Bill Mummy, of "Lost In Space" and "The Twilight Zone?") medical school education. The only trouble is, it never gets explained what this has to do with it. Jim discovers that Wagner bounces a cheque to him, yet continues to work for her, out of the goodness of his heart? When we eventually wind up in the Nevada desert, Jim is chasing William Smith (later of "Hawaii Five-O" fame), when previously he wanted to get out of Smith's apartment before he recovered from a Mickey Finn? To get more speed, Jim downshifts on his trademark Pontiac Firebird. Only trouble is, the car's an automatic! Would the FAA really allow William Smith to keep an airplane in the middle of the Nevada desert? And finally, does anybody really believe that pop gun could bring down a Cessna 172?