Universal Studios Home Entertainment
Release date: January 20th, 2009
MSRP: $39.98

Stars: James Garner, Noah Beery Jr., Joe Santos

I’m an unabashed James Garner fan and The Rockford Files season six is among his best. By this, the last season, he’s so comfortable in the role he could have done it in his sleep, but seems to add greater and greater depth to the character. Co-stars like Lauren Bacall, Tom Selleck and Mariette Hartley from the hugely successful Polaroid camera commercials they did together a few years before didn’t hurt either. The stories for the most part were a reason to bring Jim and his crew together but that was plenty. And some, like Katheryn Harrolds reprisal of the blind Psychologist and deep love interest Megan, are downright tender, as is Noah Beery’s caring but somewhat befuddled father role as Rocky.

For the one or two of you who have been living in a Yurt in Lower Slobovia the last several decades, or are too young, I’ll give a brief backstory. Ex-con Jim Rockford is a Private Investigator (a neat trick in itself) barely hanging on. He lives in a trailer in the low rent district of Malibu. He has a friend, Angel, another ex-con who if he were your or my friend we would throw under a bus A.S.A.P. (My Editor said that would have made a great episode explaining why Jim didn’t). Jim is not your usual iron jawed, steel fisted P.I. He gets the stew knocked out of him at regular intervals and will fight if he has to and run when he can. The anti-hero hero that was a hit because he played you and me only better.

I’m not going to belabor the point. This is good stuff and stands up well considering it’s thirty plus year age.

There’s something for everyone here from comedy to angst and you youngsters owe it to yourselves to check it out. Us old schoolers already know.

Order season six of The Rockford Files.

Lee Crawford

P.S. There are no special features.