The Rockford Files was an American detective television drama that had its first run on the NBC television network between 1974 and 1980. The show was notable for sharp writing (often by creator Stephen J. Cannell) and for the easy charm and charisma of James Garner who starred as Jim Rockford.
The tone of the show varied from light humor (often provided by Stuart Margolin as Jim's shifty friend and former cellmate Angel) to gritty drama. Rockford was an ex-con wrongfully convicted and then pardoned after 5 years in prison. This backstory was frequently used, most often by contact with people he'd met while in prison. Although he was innocent of the crime he was convicted of, he was not above breaking the law to help with a case. His infrequent jobs as a private investigator allowed him to scrape up enough cash (his often-uncollected fee: "$200 a day plus expenses") to keep his trailer in a parking lot on Malibu, California beaches and take care of his father Rocky (Noah Beery).
Seen today the show appears at first sight to be pure '70s camp, with the ubiquitous gangster nemeses sporting huge lapels and spouting tough-guy jargon, but a few minutes in the astute characterizations and warm relationships between the principals often serve to draw in the viewer. Because of this, some viewers contend that The Rockford Files has become a timeless classic. This program spawned many other detective shows, including Magnum, P.I. and Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (also created by Cannell).
The RockfordFiles is generally regarded (along with Harry O) as one of the finest private eye series of the 1970s, and indeed of all time, consistently ranked at or near the top in polls of viewers, critics, and mystery writers.
Rockford's propensity for wisecracks, his fractious relationship with the police, and his network of shady underworld connections, lead straight back to Dashiell Hammett by way of Chandler and Rex Stout.
Jim Rockford could be the Jack Benny of private eyes precisely because he was the first TV private eye--perhaps the first literary one--to be created as a fully credible human being, rather than simply a dogged, alienated purveyor of justice.
The RockfordFiles was an American detective (private investigator) television drama that had its first run on the NBC television network between 1974 and 1980 and has been in constant syndication to the present day.
Rockford’s producers would later tap Selleck for Magnum P.I. Numerous actors who went on to later success in TV and movies appeared in Rockford episodes, including (in addition to Selleck), Lindsay Wagner, James Woods, Ed Harris, Robert Loggia and James Cromwell.
Eight RockfordFiles TV movies were made from 1994 to 1999, reuniting most of the cast from the original show.
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