The Rockford Files Episodes - Watch Now!

James Garner played easy-going ex-con P.I. Jim Rockford from 1974 to 1980 in an NBC series that became one of the most popular detective shows of all time. With help from his dad (Noah Beery, Jr.), ex-cellmate Angel (Stuart Margolin) and Detective Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), Rockford tackled tough cases that the police considered "unsolvable."
The show's title sequence began with someone leaving a message on Rockford's answering machine, a device which was still something of a novelty in 1974, and which Rockford was leasing, at apparently significant cost (as mentioned in several episodes).

A different message was heard in each episode. These frequently had to do with creditors to whom Rockford owed money, or deadbeat clients who owed money to him. They were usually unrelated to the rest of the plot. As the series went on, this gimmick became a burden for the show's writers, who had to come up with a different joke every week. Suggestions from staffers and crew were often used.

In early episodes in the show's first season, the trailer was located in a crowded parking lot across the highway from the ocean; for the rest of the series, the trailer was located at Paradise Cove, adjacent to the pier, and a restaurant, "the Sandcastle". In the series of TV movies from 1994-99, Rockford was still living in a trailer, but it had been extensively enlarged and remodeled, and could no longer be described as "dilapidated".

Unlike the almost uniformly macho and trigger-happy gumshoes on other shows of that day (and before), Rockford would just as soon duck a fight as swing his fists, and he rarely carried a gun (for which he did not have a permit; he kept it in a cookie jar in his kitchen). In contrast to most nattily dressed TV private eyes of the time, Rockford wore off-the-rack, low-budget, slightly tacky clothing (favoring tan, brown and beige jackets, much to the amusement of a high-fashion model in one episode).

As Rockford preferred talking his way out of trouble over violence, he typically worked on cold cases, missing persons and low-budget insurance scams. He repeatedly states in the series that he does not handle "domestic cases". In the pilot (and in Rockford's Yellow Pages ad), it was stressed he "specialized in closed criminal cases," so as to avoid conflict (and trouble) with the police. This point was mostly ignored in the later seasons, to allow Rockford to become involved in more dramatic cases like murder, kidnapping, and extortion.

Rockford had a close relationship with his beautiful attorney, the idealistic, tenacious Elizabeth "Beth" Davenport (Gretchen Corbett). During the show, never made explicit, it was understood the two had been romantically involved at one time. At other times in the series, the two shared an "open relationship," dating others and openly discussing their respective romances with each other.

Cool Trivia:
Garner's brother, Jack Garner, made 23 guest appearances playing (at various times) a policeman, a gas station attendant, and a stranger in a bathroom. The most regular character Jack played was that of police "Captain McEnroe" in a number of appearances in the final season.

Cast
Starring:
* James Garner — James Scott Rockford - An easygoing low-budget private eye who works by his own code -- and, of course, for $200 a day (plus expenses).

Also Starring:
* Noah Beery, Jr. — Joseph "Rocky" Rockford – Jim's father, a retired truck driver.
* Joe Santos — Sgt. Dennis Becker – Jim's friend in the LAPD (promoted to Lieutenant in season 5)

Recurring Stars:
* Stuart Margolin — Evelyn "Angel" Martin – Jim's former cellmate / con artist friend
* Gretchen Corbett — Elizabeth "Beth" Davenport – Jim's lawyer / girlfriend (seasons 1–4)
* James Luisi — Lieutenant Douglas J "Doug" Chapman (seasons 3-6)
* Tom Atkins — Lieutenant Alex / Thomas Diehl (seasons 1-2 & 4)
* Bo Hopkins — John "Coop" Cooper – Jim's disbarred attorney friend (Season 5)
* Pat Finley — Peggy Becker, Dennis' wife