This is another one of those great episodes that begins with a couple of thugs roughing up Rockford when he has absolutely no idea what they want and what they're talking about.
This time Rockford gets in the middle of a fight between the feds including Agent Dan Shore (Wayne Tippit) who first appeared in the episode "The Reincarnation of Angie" and the mob. He's drawn in by a professional football player, "King" Sturtevent (Rob Reiner), a second rate loser with illusions of grandeur who quarterbacks for a mythical Southern Illinois team.
The script is really terrific, with a good mix of comedy and action. There's a nice appearance by the ever fetching Gretchen Corbett as Beth Davenport, and Stuart Margolin is again put to good use as Angel Martin. Garner is also in top form.
Rob Reiner, on a hiatus from "All in the Family" at the time is kind of a push as a loser football player. He's convincing as a loser with illusions of grandeur, but he's just not very convincing as a pro athlete. Even a bad quarterback is generally in some sort of physical shape. But if you can ignore that, this episode is solid.
This time Rockford gets in the middle of a fight between the feds including Agent Dan Shore (Wayne Tippit) who first appeared in the episode "The Reincarnation of Angie" and the mob. He's drawn in by a professional football player, "King" Sturtevent (Rob Reiner), a second rate loser with illusions of grandeur who quarterbacks for a mythical Southern Illinois team.
The script is really terrific, with a good mix of comedy and action. There's a nice appearance by the ever fetching Gretchen Corbett as Beth Davenport, and Stuart Margolin is again put to good use as Angel Martin. Garner is also in top form.
Rob Reiner, on a hiatus from "All in the Family" at the time is kind of a push as a loser football player. He's convincing as a loser with illusions of grandeur, but he's just not very convincing as a pro athlete. Even a bad quarterback is generally in some sort of physical shape. But if you can ignore that, this episode is solid.