Jim travels to Newark, and draws the attention of organized crime and the FBI. The FBI is protecting Jim's target because he is a former federal witness. The target is found dead, and Jim's ... Read allJim travels to Newark, and draws the attention of organized crime and the FBI. The FBI is protecting Jim's target because he is a former federal witness. The target is found dead, and Jim's client has some explaining to do.Jim travels to Newark, and draws the attention of organized crime and the FBI. The FBI is protecting Jim's target because he is a former federal witness. The target is found dead, and Jim's client has some explaining to do.
- Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford
- (as Noah Beery)
- Bartender
- (as Stu Nisbet)
- Carhop
- (uncredited)
- Bar Patron
- (uncredited)
- Kathy Tillison
- (uncredited)
- Louie - Taco Stand Man
- (uncredited)
- …
- Federal Agent
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJim Rockford's California private investigator license is seen in a close-up shot: License number 463025; Height: 6'; Weight: 195; Age: 37. James Garner's actual height is 6'2". And at the time this episode was filmed, he was 46 years old. Since no issue date appears on the license, a viewer cannot determine when Jim Rockford was actually age 37.
- GoofsIn the syndicated version of this episode, Jim Rockford's' 74 Firebird Esprit (2 headlights) changes/morphs to a '77 Firebird (4 headlights) repeatedly back and forth from the 5th through the 12 minute of the teleplay. This is due to the addition of stock footage when the episode was converted into a 2-parter for syndication.
- Quotes
Jim Rockford: This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message, I'll get back to you.
Bookie: You really want Shim in the seventh? C'mon, that nag couldn't go a mile on a pickup truck. Call me!
- Alternate versionsSyndicated repeats are split into two parts, with part 2 containing a 7 minute 15 second pre-credit opening sequence that includes excerpts from part 1, instead of the usual 30 seconds of excerpts (previews) of the episode you're about to see. With the added 65 second opening credit sequence for part 2, the entire episode necessitated 8 minutes and 20 seconds of cuts, reducing the original timing from 99 to 91.
- ConnectionsReferences Airport (1970)
- An extra opening and closing theme eats up 90 seconds.
- There's a brief episode 2 preview at the end of episode 1, lasting maybe a minute.
- There's a seven-minute recap of episode 1 at the beginning of episode 2.
- Even with the recap, the closing scene of episode 1 (with Rocky and Jim) is partially repeated (though edited) in the opening moments of episode 2. Another minute gobbled up.
- Every single time any character goes somewhere by car (which happens a LOT in this episode), we are treated to long, loving stock footage recreations of their journey. Shots are reused and repeated frequently, in order to lengthen the on-screen travel time; it doesn't take too much skill to notice cars going around the same corner again and again. This footage of cars essentially driving in circles takes up a good ten or more minutes of screen time.
- Stock footage of a plane landing is seen twice. Another minute or so.
- Any time someone retrieves information via computer? Long, tedious footage of whirring 1970s computers and/or punch cards are shown. Another precious 30 seconds added.
- When we see the Federal building, we then see pointless stock footage of office workers inside, stretching things for maybe another 15 seconds
- Most egregiously, three short, completely disposable (and poorly-acted) scenes are ineptly added in. All three scenes are shot so that no character is seen on-screen, even though dialogue is spoken. The first of these scenes has a police lieutenant giving orders to a subordinate (heard over an interoffice talk-box). The second "extra" scene features some particularly terrible voice actors talking about the results of a fire, over much stock footage of ambulances at a night-time crime scene. And the third added scene is -- against all odds -- an even bigger waste of time, with characters in The Federal Buliding discussing Rockford's arrival, again over an intercom. All told, maybe another two minutes here.
That's a grand total of 25 minutes of momentum-destroying footage that makes this two-part episode almost unwatchable. Mind you, there's a good story under all this mess, and some scenes with James Garner and Joseph Cotten that really crackle. (Sharon Gless is very good, too.) But the utterly maddening padding just never lets up; a full quarter of this two-part episode is made up of boring, repetitive, inept, and/or redundant footage, and it just kills any momentum dead.
Why Bernard Kowalski agreed to keep his name on this re-edited farce is beyond me. If ever something called out for an Allen Smithee credit? This two-part hatchet job is it.
- rudyardk
- Oct 6, 2015
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- S Arroyo Blvd., S San Rafael Avenue, Pasadena, California, USA(Feds catch Beck)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro