In this season one closer, Jim is hired by Insurance company rep Edward Moss (Mills Watson, making one of his four appearances on "Rockford") to find a Nancy Wade (Jesse Welles) to deliver a insurance check worth $10,000 on the death of her mother. The trail leads Jim to his former "Maverick" guest star Virginia Gregg as Nancy's aunt Eleanor Wainwright (Gregg played Gida Jamison in the classic "Maverick" episode "Pappy"). After shaking Jim down for $100, she gives him a letter from Nancy that says she's in Las Vegas.
Jim goes to Vegas and then its the classic boy gets girl, boy loses girl (she gets kidnapped!) and the $10,000 check. So Rockford has to find her, get the check back and then turn it over to her witnessed by a notary. To his surprise Jim finds her working in a Vegas lounge. What happened with the kidnapping? Jim has to find out.
The answer involves money laundering, the mob and the recording industry. This is mostly a action episode, but the mystery of what's going on with Nancy Wade is a good one and done well. There is some comedy with Jim driving a VW bug as he's chased by goons in a powerful sedan and there's a funny moment at the Hoover Dam involving the code word "Geronimo". There's also a great (if subtle) parody of chases. This one is through the Hoover Dam. There's purposely no music used in the background and little tension as Jim chases the bad guy through tunnels, through power rooms, down stairs, on and on, all the way to the bottom of the dam, where they both collapse, exhausted. Another series would have built it up as a big action sequence. The Rockford Files portrays it as the tiring run it really would be.
Jim goes to Vegas and then its the classic boy gets girl, boy loses girl (she gets kidnapped!) and the $10,000 check. So Rockford has to find her, get the check back and then turn it over to her witnessed by a notary. To his surprise Jim finds her working in a Vegas lounge. What happened with the kidnapping? Jim has to find out.
The answer involves money laundering, the mob and the recording industry. This is mostly a action episode, but the mystery of what's going on with Nancy Wade is a good one and done well. There is some comedy with Jim driving a VW bug as he's chased by goons in a powerful sedan and there's a funny moment at the Hoover Dam involving the code word "Geronimo". There's also a great (if subtle) parody of chases. This one is through the Hoover Dam. There's purposely no music used in the background and little tension as Jim chases the bad guy through tunnels, through power rooms, down stairs, on and on, all the way to the bottom of the dam, where they both collapse, exhausted. Another series would have built it up as a big action sequence. The Rockford Files portrays it as the tiring run it really would be.