ROCKFORD FILES, THE: LIONS, TIGERS, MONKEYS AND DOGS (TV)

Summary

One in this series of dramas about the cases of private detective Jim Rockford, an ex-convict who was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and who gets involved in cases his self-protective instincts tell him to avoid.

Jim goes out to a fancy restaurant on a date and is upset when his reserved tale is given away to another arriving party. He argues with the maître d’ before one of the arriving guests, identified as Princess Irene Rachevsky, asks for Jim to be seated. Both parties are seated, although Jim is still resentful of the entire thing. Later that night, Irene returns to her hotel with her friend Kendall Warren, who is nearly run over by a car on the hotel driveway. Irene calls Jim the next morning to hire him to find out who is responsible for what she believes was attempt on Kendall’s life. She explains that Kendall is her closest friend and has recently felt as though she was being watched. She convinces Jim to take the case immediately, and they go together to a masquerade party held on a houseboat owned by local personality Blake Sternlight. A mysterious figure watches them enter from afar and prepares to go in himself armed with a switchblade. Irene finds Kendall inside talking to August “Gus” Fairfield, a tabloid publisher whom Irene describes as a “nasty little character.” The mysterious guest, dressed as a friar, attempts to murder Kendall but Jim catches him in time and stops him. The assailant successfully flees by jumping overboard.

Kendall believes that the man did not intend to murder her and was simply trying to rob her of her diamond brooch. Gus wants more information about the attempt for his paper but Irene staunchly refuses his request. The party breaks up and Jim takes Kendall out to eat. She tells him that she’s originally from Simi Valley and marvels at how much the region has changed over the years. Jim finds he cannot get a table at the Mexican restaurant he takes Kendall to as Gus and several other partygoers arrive, and they are invited to join their table. Jim feels quite uncomfortable in the company of rich trendsetters, and talks to Kendall about her friendship with Irene. She reveals that Irene is in the middle of conducting a massive lawsuit against Gus for libel. Later Jim drops Kendall off at her hotel and she asks to see him again sometime. He returns home and is informed by Rocky that Irene has been calling for him constantly. He calls her back and she asks if Kendall is safe, chiding Jim for not phoning the police about the attempted murder on the houseboat. Jim says that it may still be possible for him to find the assailant.

The next day, Jim is preparing for a fishing trip with his father when Kendall arrives to treat him to a picnic lunch. She meets Rocky and he treats her to pancakes. Jim explains to her that he hopes to get a lead on the assailant by determining where he rented his costume, and Kendall gives him the name of the costume supplier Blake used for his party, Peter Pantazzi. Jim talks to him, but before he can discover anything Kendall marches in and asks him about the extra friar costume. Pantazzi insists that he only rented out one, but Kendall is suspicious of him. He believes that the costume may have come from another supplier and inquires about it. The identity of the assailant turns out to be Richard Soderling of Pacoima, Los Angeles, whom Kendall has no familiarity with. Much to Jim’s surprise, Kendall confesses that she’s broke and “survives” out of the kindness of her wealthy friends. Jim heads to Pacoima to find Soderling, whom he discovers returned home wearing the soaking wet robe. Jim finds Soderling at a local bartender’s convention and chases him to the roof. Soderling accidentally plummets off the roof to his death.

Back at his trailer, Jim is arrested by the police and put in a lineup of suspects, where he is identified by a maintenance man on the roof of the hotel where Soderling died. The police come to believe that Jim is responsible for his death, but Irene and a number of other state officials call in about Jim, prompting Lieutenant Chapman’s interest. The maintenance man’s testimony correctly describes Jim’s behavior and Soderling’s death, and Kendall and Irene soon arrive to pick up Jim, and pointedly evade Chapman’s questions about the attempt on Kendall’s life. Jim apologizes to Kendall for not informing her that he was hired by Irene. He comes to suspect that Soderling was hired by another party to kill Kendall. He looks up Soderling’s funeral in the hopes of attending it and finding out more answers.

Jim and Kendall arrive at Soderling’s sparsely-attended funeral. Jim is suspicious of the large number of flowers at the funeral and determines the name of the florist which provided them. He and Kendall trick the manager to into revealing the order form for the flowers and discover they were paid for by a local mafioso named Tommy Manette. Jim reviews his list of suspects and believes that Irene’s current boyfriend Freddie Danzig might be viable. Manette calls Jim and asks to speak with him at a manufacturing plant, and Jim reluctantly agrees, bringing his friend Charlie with him as backup. However, Charlie is almost immediately knocked unconscious by Manette’s thugs and Jim is held at gunpoint. He warns Jim not to meddle in his private affairs and threatens him if he continues his investigation. Jim reports his encounter to the police and waits at the station with Kendall as Manette is brought in. Kendall doesn’t recognize him, invalidating Jim’s theory about him being part of a conspiracy to kill her. Manette has an alibi for his whereabouts and rebuffs Jim’s accusations of assault against him; the police are forced to let him go. However, Manette communicates with someone else over a payphone, indicating that he is working for another party hoping to remain anonymous.

Jim decides to follow Manette out of the station and Kendall insists on going along as well. Manette goes into a mansion and Jim and Kendall wait outside to see what happens. They head in for a closer look and see Manette talking on the phone before he suddenly collapses, seemingly asphyxiating. They return to the police station and discover that Manette was poisoned to death. Jim and Kendall pressure Chapman into revealing more details about Manette’s death; he was poisoned with the common chemical vanadium diaxin, slipped into his wine. They talk to Irene about Manette and Soderling, and Jim hits upon Gus, publisher of a fashion-centric tabloid, as a link to Manette, who represented on of the garment unions. He suspects that Gus may have hired Manette to kill Kendall, and that Manette enlisted Soderling to do the job, and that Gus may have had Manette killed to silence him. Jim has Kendall stay with Rocky that night for her protection.

In the middle of the night, an assailant sneaks into Rocky’s house and attempts to smother Kendall with a pillow. Jim rushes in to save her, discovering that the assailant is Gus. Gus explains that he was blackmailed into killing Kendall by Irene, who offered to drop her lawsuit if he carried it out. Irene arrives at the police station to meet Jim and Kendall, and confronts Gus directly. Irene denies having blackmailed Gus, although he insists otherwise. Irene is allowed to go, although Jim tells Kendall that Gus might be telling the truth. Kendall doesn’t believe Jim and leaves coldly. Irene has Freddie bring her to the Simi Valley High School football stadium, although he is uncertain as to why. Out on the field she asks Freddie to kill Kendall, pressuring him with both guilt and offers of money. Irene calls Kendall from a payphone, luring her out to the football stadium. She distracts her while Freddie takes aim with a pistol, but Jim arrives and prevents Freddie from killing Kendall. Irene wanders out onto the football field; she muses that her real name is “Irene Pinchuk,” and that she is from Simi Valley just like Kendall. She and Kendall fabricated her royal title as a means of helping them escape their drab, pedestrian life, and Irene wanted Kendall killed to preserve her secret. Despite Irene’s plot, Kendall still wants to be her friend, and she and Jim resolve their quarrel. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: NBC
• DATE: October 12, 1979 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 1:37:59
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:56992
• GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
• SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1974-1980
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Meta Rosenberg … Executive Producer
• Chas. Floyd Johnson … Supervising Producer
• Stephen J. Cannell … Supervising Producer, Created by
• Juanita Bartlett … Producer, Writer
• John David … Associate Producer
• William Wiard … Director
• Roy Huggins … Created by
• Mike Post … Music by
• Pete Carpenter … Music by
• James Garner … Cast, Jim Rockford
• Noah Beery … Cast, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford
• Joe Santos … Cast, Sergeant Dennis Becker
• Lauren Bacall … Cast, Kendall Warren
• Dana Wynter … Cast, Princess Irene Rachevsky
• Carmine Caridi … Cast, Tommy Manette
• Ed Nelson … Cast, Blake Sternlight
• James Luisi … Cast, Lieutenant Doug Chapman
• Corinne Michaels … Cast, Linda Hassler
• Michael Lombard … Cast, August Fairfield
• Christopher Thomas … Cast, Freddie Danzig
• Leo V. Gordon … Cast, Charlie Martell
• Stuart Margolin … Cast, Evelyn "Angel" Martin
• Jack Garner … Cast, Captain McEnroe
• Robert Dunlap … Cast, Repairman Craik
• Jon Cedar … Cast, Peter Pantazzi
• Roger Til … Cast, Henri Tavir
• Abel Franco … Cast, Max Escobedo
• Paul Martin … Cast, Attorney Eyeler
• T. Miratti … Cast, Paul Juliano Jr.
• Harold Ayer … Cast, Minister
• Shirley Anthony … Cast, Bren Dagley
• Luis Delgado … Cast, Officer Billings
• Alfred Dennis … Cast, Paul Juliano Sr.
• Michael DesBarres … Cast, Gordon Flack
• Charles Picerni … Cast, Richard Soderling
• Douglas Ryan … Cast, 2nd Gentleman at Party
• Julie Parrish … Cast, Donna Soderling
• Ivan Saric … Cast, Maitre d'
• Melody Thomas … Cast, Sherry
• Wally Taylor … Cast, 1st Policeman
• Nicholas Worth … Cast, 1st Gentleman at Party