The Rockford Files (season 4)
The fourth season of The Rockford Files originally aired Fridays at 9:00-10:00 pm on NBC from September 16, 1977 to February 24, 1978.
| The Rockford Files | |
|---|---|
| Season 4 | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release | September 16, 1977 – February 24, 1978 |
| Season chronology | |
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68 | 1 | "Beamer's Last Case" | Stephen J. Cannell | Story by : Booker Bradshaw & Calvin Kelly Teleplay by : Stephen J. Cannell | September 16, 1977 | |
| Back from a vacation, Rockford discovers that someone has smashed his car and racked up purchases with his credit cards. Most worrisomely, the person has been impersonating Rockford on cases, infuriating ‘his’ clients in the process. With James Whitmore Jr., Jack Kelly, Bibi Besch, Robert Loggia and Cal Bellini. | ||||||
| 69 | 2 | "Trouble in Chapter 17" | William Wiard | Juanita Bartlett | September 23, 1977 | |
| Rockford’s professional reputation is ruined when a publicity seeking anti-feminist author (Claudette Nevins) hires him to investigate threats made against her, and immediately afterward she is shot at, pushed down stairs, and her secretary is killed. With Ed Nelson, Arlene Martel, Arthur Roberts and Donna Baccala. | ||||||
| 70 | 3 | "The Battle of Canoga Park" | Ivan Dixon | Juanita Bartlett | September 30, 1977 | |
| Rockford’s gun is stolen from his cookie jar and used in a murder, which makes him a suspect to the police and a target of members of a nutty local militia group. With no leads, Jim’s suspicion falls on his new, very thorough cleaning lady and her idle adult son. With Nora Marlowe, Brion James, Adrienne Marden, John Dennis Johnston, Charles Hallahan and Ted Gehring. | ||||||
| 71 | 4 | "Second Chance" | Reza Badiyi | Gordon Dawson | October 14, 1977 | |
| A recent parolee abducts the girlfriend, Theda Best (Dionne Warwick), of Rockford's penitentiary pal Gandolph Fitch (Isaac Hayes), wanting something he thinks she has. She is a talented singer whose promising career Fitch is hoping to manage. The parolee (Tony Burton) is Theda’s ex-husband, and he is working for a murderous businessman (Malachi Throne) with a number of ex-con thugs in his operation. Also with Sean Garrison. | ||||||
| 72 | 5 | "The Dog and Pony Show" | Reza Badiyi | David Chase | October 21, 1977 | |
| Angel’s attempted theft of silverware from a restaurant gets him and Rockford sentenced to attend group therapy sessions. Mary Jo Flynn (Joanne Nail), who has a history of paranoia, says in the session that she thinks she is being followed. Jim investigates, which gets him involved with dysfunctional mobsters and the paranoid head of a government intelligence agency. With Walter Brooke, George Loros, Michael Bell, Al Ruscio, Ed Lauter and Gary Crosby. | ||||||
| 73 | 6 | "Requiem for a Funny Box" | William Wiard | Story by : Burt Prelutsky Teleplay by : James Crocker | November 4, 1977 | |
| Kenny Bell (Chuck McCann), a comedian whose career is in decline, hires Rockford to protect him from his bad tempered, still very successful ex-partner, Lee Russo (Robert Quarry). Later Kenny hires Rockford to recover, for ransom, his ‘funny box’ catalogue of jokes that has just been stolen. When Rockford goes to make the exchange he finds Russo’s dead body. When Kenny denies any involvement in what Rockford was doing, Lieutenant Diel (Tom Atkins) is ready to pin the murder on Rockford. It forces Jim to investigate further, and he turns up an unexpected connection between Russo and a leading local mobster (Jason Evers). With Meredith MacRae and Gilbert Green. This 1977 episode is notable for its depiction of the efforts high profile homosexual men would go to in that era to keep their sexual orientation secret, as well as the denial and lack of support they often received from their families. | ||||||
| 74 | 7 | "Quickie Nirvana" | Meta Rosenberg | David Chase | November 11, 1977 | |
| Jim allows flower child Sky Aquarian (Valerie Curtin) to get sent her last work cheque to his home. Before she quit she was supposed to deliver a package to someone on the Venice boardwalk for her boss, but forgot. It sets off a chain of events that leaves a music fan dead and a musician’s two henchmen after Sky to recover the package – $30,000 in cash, which her guru subsequently steals from her. Even if Rockford gets it back, he knows too much to be allowed to merely return it. With Quinn K. Redeker, Dick Anthony Williams, Lawrence Cook and Kip Gilman. | ||||||
| 75 | 8 | "Irving the Explainer" | James Coburn | David Chase | November 18, 1977 | |
| A woman (Barbara Babcock) hires Rockford to track down an old Hollywood director (Paul Stewart), but she is actually after a valuable Watteau painting that went missing several decades before. Also after it are two Germans from the Nazi era, and two investigators from the Sûreté seeking to return the painting to France. The Germans kill the director, and there were other mysterious deaths in the painting’s recent past. But all the knowledge from all the previous investigations isn’t getting anyone any closer to the painting. With Byron Morrow, Irene Tsu and Maurice Marsac. | ||||||
| 76 | 9 | "The Mayor's Committee from Deer Lick Falls" | Ivan Dixon | William R. Stratton | November 25, 1977 | |
| Four respectable citizens hire Rockford to shop for a second hand fire engine for their town. One of them, Everet Alton Benson (Edward Binns), also hires Jim to find his niece, Lauren Ingeborg (Priscilla Barnes), who has come to L.A. to be an actress. When Rockford reports that he has found her, the four offer him $20,000 to kill her or arrange to have it done. When Rockford reports it to the police they deny it and file a complaint against him, which could cost Rockford his P.I. licence. Meanwhile they continue to plot to kill the niece, who also does not believe Jim’s claim, and later they attempt to kill Jim too. With Charles Aidman, Jerry Hardin, Richard Sanders and Richard O'Brien. | ||||||
| 77 | 10 | "Hotel of Fear" | Russ Mayberry | Juanita Bartlett | December 2, 1977 | |
| Angel (Stuart Margolin) flees to Rockford’s home when he witnesses a murder in his building, but becomes a co-operative witness when promised police protection and 24-hour room service in a hotel. However, the murderer is a connected hitman Del Kane (Madison Arnold), and the judge at the preliminary hearing has been bribed to set Kane free. Angel panics, and in trying to get on the killer’s good side tells Kane that Rockford knows who he is in town to kill. It guarantees that Angel and Rockford are next on the hit list. With Vincent Baggetta, Barry Atwater, Frank de Kova and Gerald McRaney. | ||||||
| 78 | 11 | "Forced Retirement" | Alexander Singer | William R. Stratton | December 9, 1977 | |
| Beth's old college friend Susan Kenniston (Margie Impert) is head of a company developing a breakthrough underwater robot explorer. However Beth (Gretchen Corbett) has misgivings about the accelerated pace of testing, and when she insists on proceeding cautiously she is removed as the law firm’s legal advisor to the project. Beth hires Rockford to check into everything, but his Jimmy-Joe Meeker character is exposed by Angel. It leaves the newest member of the submersible team’s braintrust, the sinister Richard Lessing (Larry Hagman), with everything going his way. Featuring Denny Miller and William Joyce. | ||||||
| 79 | 12 | "The Queen of Peru" | Meta Rosenberg | David Chase | December 16, 1977 | |
| The noisy Wronko family from Indiana, travelling in an RV, sets up to camp next door to Rockford’s trailor, but Jim is able to slyly talk the father (Ken Swofford) into not staying long. Rockford is called in as a consultant when a stolen $2 million diamond is offered to the insurance company for half its insured value. At the exchange one of the thieves takes the ransom money and reveals that the diamond has been placed in Rockford's barbecue grill. Rockford races home but finds his barbecue has been taken by the Wronkos. It leaves Jim having to explain things to Lieutenant Chapman (James Luisi) and the insurance company agent (George Wyner), and then track down the family. The two most dangerous members of the gang of thieves (Christopher Cary and Luke Andreas) are after the diamond too, having already shot one of the two other gang members. With Hunter von Leer, Joe E. Tata and Paul Cavonis. | ||||||
| 80 | 13 | "A Deadly Maze" | William Wiard | Juanita Bartlett | December 23, 1977 | |
| Rockford is hired to find a man’s missing wife, a case he accepts only because he is offered extra money. When Jim reports potentially worrisome news, the husband is more interested in asking questions about how Rockford feels than the danger his wife might be in, and again it takes extra money to keep Rockford involved. It all turns out to be just an experiment conducted by a behavioural psychologist (Larry Linville), but then the pretend wife (Corinne Camacho) is murdered, and her killer may be going after Rockford too. With J. Pat O'Malley, Lance Legault, Johnny Seven, Jack Collins and Cliff Carnell. | ||||||
| 81 | 14 | "The Attractive Nuisance" | Dana Elcar | Stephen J. Cannell | January 6, 1978 | |
| Rocky and his new friend Vincent Whitehead (Ken Lynch) have opened a roadside diner, ‘Rocky Summit’. As a business venture it has been a bust, because Vincent is the cook and he puts garlic in everything. Weird little things happen in and around the diner at night. Grizzled older guy Eddie LaSalle (Victor Jory), long ago retired from the FBI, is conducting surveillance on it. Meanwhile Rocky, when not at the diner, has been watching whale migrations from a telescope on the roof of Jim's beach trailer. Rocky leaves the telescope up there along with a ladder, and when a stranger falls off the roof an ambulance-chasing lawyer sues Jim for a fortune under the attractive nuisance doctrine. With Hunter von Leer, John Morgan Evans, Rudy Bond, John Morgan Evans and Dick Balduzzi. This episode features the last appearance of Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) in the series. | ||||||
| 82 | 15 | "The Gang at Don's Drive-In" | Harry Falk | James Crocker | January 13, 1978 | |
| Anthony Zerbe plays Jack Skowran, an alcohol-fueled writer friend of Jim who hires him to do background research for a book on his high school class of 1962. Jim finds out the book is really about the 16-year-old murder of a teenage girl by a spoiled rich kid, which involved an expensive coverup. When Jim gets too close to solving the case, one of the original offenders (Mills Watson) hires a hit man to eliminate him. With Arlene Golonka, Richard Bakalyan, Elaine Princi, Connie Sawyer, Lawrence P. Casey and Bill Fletcher. | ||||||
| 83 | 16 | "The Paper Palace" | Richard Crenna | Juanita Bartlett | January 20, 1978 | |
| Rockford befriends Rita Capkovic (Rita Moreno), a prostitute who sometimes works as a snitch for Dennis Becker (Joe Santos). Rita hires Jim when two men attack her in her home and Lieutenant Chapman refuses to investigate. Jim takes Rita to stay at the home of a friend, Maggie Gillson (Shirley O'Hara), but when the friend is killed the only lead they have is Rita’s attackers spoke French. With Bruce Kirby, Patricia Donahue and David Lewis. | ||||||
| 84 | 17 | "Dwarf in a Helium Hat" | Reza Badiyi | Stephen J. Cannell and David Chase | January 27, 1978 | |
| An inept mobster (Gianni Russo) misreads the phone book and confuses Jim Rockford with self-centred bon vivant Jay Rockfelt (John Pleshette), who the mobster has a serious grudge against. It compels Jim to rescue Jay’s poisoned dog, save Jay’s girlfriend (Rebecca Balding) when she is attacked by two men, be the getaway driver of a luxury coach when Jay flees a "Paris at Dawn" party, and spring Jay’s sister when she is kidnapped. With Rick Springfield, Milton Selzer and Ted Markland. | ||||||
| 85 | 18 | "South by Southeast" | William Wiard | Juanita Bartlett | February 3, 1978 | |
| The show’s sly crack at Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest. Intelligence agents confuse Rockford with their contact person and fly Jim to a South American country. By the time they realize the mistake it is too late, and Rockford is begrudgingly enlisted to perform the mission. The operation involves contacting an heiress, Christine Van Deerlin (Dorrie Kavanaugh), and ultimately rescueing her from her scheming husband, who is carefully managing her public appearances while he poisons her. With Don Chastain, Carlos Romero, Bert Rosario, Mark Roberts, Don Diamond and Ernesto Macias. | ||||||
| 86 | 19 | "The Competitive Edge" | Harry Falk | Gordon Dawson | February 10, 1978 | |
| Rockford is hired by the wife of an alleged embezzler (Jim McMullan) to find him. The trail takes Jim to the Alphian Way, an exclusive health club for businesss professionals run by a megalomaniac (Stephen Elliott) who drugs Rockford and ships him off to his brother’s psychiatric asylum, where if he shows any opposition he will be permanently dealt with. The asylum has many genuine patients, which will make it very difficult should Rockford try to escape. With Logan Ramsey, Robert Hogan, George Murdock, John Fiedler, Pepper Martin, John Lupton and Harold Sakata. | ||||||
| 87 | 20 | "The Prisoner of Rosemont Hall" | Ivan Dixon | Story by : Chas. Floyd Johnson and Maryann Rea Teleplay by : Stephen J. Cannell and David Chase | February 17, 1978 | |
| A journalism major in college is assumed to have died as a result of a tragic hazing accident. Investigating for a friend, Jim comes across a sinister head of campus security (Kenneth Tobey), mysterious foreign investigators, and a professor (Frances Lee McCain) in a long-term romantic relationship with a student. With Michael Swan. | ||||||
| 88 89 | 21 22 | "The House on Willis Avenue" | Hy Averback | Stephen J. Cannell | February 24, 1978 | |
| Rockford’s P.I. mentor Joe Tooley is dead, and Jim does not believe the official story, that he was killed in a freeway accident. Also doubting it is young investigator Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan), who finds evidence the dead body could not have been Tooley’s. Rockford and Brockelman team up, which gets them looking closely at a political activist (Howard Hesseman), a corrupt local politician (Philip Sterling), and several houses that contain nothing but very large computers. Also in the picture is a private investigation company run by the gimmick-obsessed Garth McGregor, (Jackie Cooper), who is out to corner the market on everyone’s private information, and who will kill to realize his business vision. Rockford and Brockelman go into hiding, then decide to take the attack to their pursuers. They arrange for Jim to get caught by McGregor’s goons, hopeful that Richie will be able to follow them wherever they go and learn something that might break the case. With Pernell Roberts, Simon Oakland, Paul Fix, John Van Dreelen, Robert Hogan and Russell Thorson. The episode ends with a public service message that computer networks that gather vast amounts of information about people's private lives are a potential danger. | ||||||
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