Indeed, all that's missing is Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett), private investigator Jim Rockford's (Garner) long-suffering bulldog of an attorney. A smart and assertive, tough-talking but also attractive young woman, Beth was a neat contrast to most of Rockford's disreputable pals and hangers-on (such as the unscrupulous, always-in-trouble grifter "Angel" Martin), as well as Rockford's equally long-suffering working class pal in the LAPD, Sgt. Dennis Becker (Joe Santos). As detailed in Ed Robertson's recommended book Thirty Years of The Rockford Files, Corbett was the only cast member under long-term contract to Universal. Perversely, the studio eventually asked so much money for her services (on a show they were co-producing - sheesh!) that Garner's and co-creator Roy Huggins' production companies no longer could afford her. It was a major loss. Corbett wouldn't get a chance to reprise her character until the third Rockford Files reunion movie, which aired many years later, in 1996. In the meantime, Bo Hopkins (The Wild Bunch, American Graffiti) replaced her for this season only as Attorney John Cooper, while Kathryn Harrold (Desperate Housewives), as blind psychologist Megan Dougherty, pinch-hitting for Beth as Rockford's new love interest.

Though only Garner, Santos, and Noah "Pidge" Beery, Jr. as - Rocky, Jim's sweet, semi-retired truck driver father - get billing over the opening titles, the show had built up a veritable family of continuing and semi-regular characters. The late James Luisi, as Dennis's hotheaded boss Lt. Doug Chapman has become a perfect foil for Rockford, one that also generates a lot of dramatic tension whenever Jim is asking Dennis for favors, which is just about every episode. Luis Delgado, as Officer Billings, has become another familiar presence.

Meanwhile, Rita Moreno's straight-shooting L.A. hooker Rita Capkovic is back, in an amusing episode co-starring Abe Vigoda. Dennis Dugan, whose Richie Brockelman, private eye, was always a bridesmaid in TV Land, likewise returns in "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job." The character (always played by Dugan) had first been introduced in a 1976 TV movie, then reintroduced on Rockford Files' fourth season finale, with Dugan's series debuting (and folding) that spring. Cannell, certain there was a hit show in there somewhere, brought him back one last time for this two-hour slotted TV-movie-cum-episode. The episode itself is an entertaining if highly derivative mishmash. Loosely based on an episode of Garner's Maverick called "Shady Deal at Sunny Acres," it also bears more than a passing resemblance to The Sting, Universal's hugely successful Best Picture winner from a few years before. Dugan and Garner assume the Redford and Newman roles, with the former wanting revenge after a wealthy gangster (Robert Shaw in the movie, Robert Webber on Rockford) wrongs an older mentor (played by Harold Gould on Rockford; he also appeared in The Sting). The con itself, involving a second U.S. tour of King Tutankhamen's riches (!) is set-up much like the 1973 film. Though its script doesn't hold up to scrutiny, it's a hugely enjoyable episode nonetheless. (Kim Hunter makes a curious guest appearance in this episode, one strangely limited to just a few lines of dialogue!)

For many, a highlight of the fifth season is "White on White and Nearly Perfect," a Stephen J. Cannell show that introduced Tom Selleck as idealized private eye Lance White, a man outrageously heroic and totally oblivious to the dangers (and unglamorous side) of his chosen profession. Impossibly handsome, blithely ignorant about the peril he puts himself and others in, Lance's Golden Ticket stroll through life has Rockford green with irritation and bemused envy. Like "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job," it's somewhat adapted from Maverick, a classic episode called "The Saga of Waco Williams." More significantly, it was also really a warm-up for Selleck's subsequent Magnum P.I., whose title character was originally conceived as a spoofy character closer to Lance than the one he eventually became.

The show continues to impress with the frequency in which it breaks away from the usual genre conventions. Season opener "Heartaches of Fool," about a Jimmy Dean-type country singer-sausage king whose shady handlers cause Rocky to lose his trucking license, ends with an amazing, lingering flyover of the Los Angeles basin, to Willie Nelson's title tune, written especially for this episode. (The show also has some of the best Rockford/Rocky, father/son moments of the entire series.)

The list of great stars continues unabated, with season five featuring such familiar faces as Hector Elizondo, Mary Frann, Ed Harris, James B. Sikking, John Pleshette, Allan Arbus, Denny Miller, Rene Auberjonois, Erin Gray, Glenn Corbett, Patricia Crowley, Mills Watson, John Considine, and Leo Gordon.

Video & Audio

The Rockford Files's fifth season is a bit of an odd one. There were just 19 individual shows, but three of these are TV-movie length. ("Black Mirror" and "Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job" originally aired in a two-hour time slot, while "The Man Who Saw the Alligators" originally aired in a 90-minute one.) The two longer shows were padded - very, very badly - into two-parters for syndication while the 90-minute show was trimmed to fit in the standard hour slot. Happily, all of these shows have been restored to their original length. The trade off is that the picture quality is notably less pristine than the regular hour episodes, probably because their original negatives were physically cut to create the disjointed syndicated versions - but hats off to Universal for having the good sense to include the long-unseen original broadcast versions of these shows.

Shows are presented in their original full frame format on five single-sided DVDs with 3-5 episodes per disc, none of which appear time-compressed. The shows look pretty good considering the abuse Universal gave them over the years (even before they first aired); title elements are pretty dog-eared, dirty and grainy but the rest of the shows generally are fine. The Dolby Digital 2.0 mono sounds strong for what it is. English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing is available. This time out there are no Extra Features

Parting Thoughts

It will be interesting to see how Universal handles the abbreviated sixth and final season of The Rockford Files, whose run was cut short by James Garner's mid-season illness, brought on by overwork and abuse to his body over the past six years. Personally, I hope Universal is smart and opts to include the first several reunion TV movies as an enticement to the buy the rest of the little-seen but entertaining movies Garner and most of the old gang made back in the 1990s. In the meantime, The Rockford Files' last full season is another gem and comes Highly Recommended.

　 Film historian Stuart Galbraith IV's latest books, Japanese Cinema and The Toho Studios Story, are now available for pre-order.