# Did Jim Rockford carry a gun? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [April 3, 2015, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737 "2015-04-03T19:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/21 "2015-04-04T00:45:48Z")
Also, a convicted felon can’t become a licensed private investigator in California, can he? Rockford has a license, so his pardon must have expunged the conviction from his record. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/22 "2015-04-04T00:55:09Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > As others said, no, he didn’t carry a gun, but did keep a revolver in the cookie jar (which Rocky was too pleased with). > > Does anyone know if the TV movies are streaming anywhere? Do a search on youtube. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/23 "2015-04-04T00:56:50Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > In none of the OS episodes do I recall anyone stating the exact crime he was sent to prison for 5 years for. There are episodes where its clearly indicated he was working as a con-artist prior to prison, but nothing about the arrest itself. In the pilot episode, didn’t he and Angel explain to a woman in the records office how they ended up in prison together? (In Angel’s words: “We wuz framed!”) And later on, didn’t he tell Lindsay Wagner about his experience when they were sitting on the couch at her place? I think Jim did in fact keep cookies in the cookie jar, at least some of the time. Oreos. He was eating them behind his desk in at least one episode. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/24 "2015-04-04T00:58:01Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Does anyone know if the TV movies are streaming anywhere? Some of them, but not all. I’ve searched for them more than once. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/25 "2015-04-04T01:57:41Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > … (which Rocky was too pleased with)… Not? ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/26 "2015-04-04T02:53:42Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > In the pilot episode, didn’t he and Angel explain to a woman in the records office how they ended up in prison together? (In Angel’s words: “We wuz framed!”) And later on, didn’t he tell Lindsay Wagner about his experience when they were sitting on the couch at her place? > > I think Jim did in fact keep cookies in the cookie jar, at least some of the time. Oreos. He was eating them behind his desk in at least one episode. Now that you mentioned it, I was able to find “Backlash of the Hunter” (the Pilot), and there is indeed a scene in the newspaper records office where Angel admits he did a bank job, and tries to get Rockford to admit that he did a robbery (Rockford says he didn’t do it, but nobody believed him). However, with other things like Rocky looking quite different (because he was played by Robert Donley, not Noah Beery Jr.), can’t say how canonical this episode is. Along with Lindsey Wagner, the pilot has Billy Mumy as kind of a dickish drug store employee (as well as Lindsey’s brother). And yes, there were cookies in the cookie jar, and one supposed reason Jim kept his gun there (given much later in the series) was to reduce the effects of the corrosive salt ocean air on it. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/27 "2015-04-04T03:21:36Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > However, with other things like Rocky looking quite different (because he was played by Robert Donley, not Noah Beery Jr.), can’t say how canonical this episode is. I remember watching an interview with Meta Rosenberg on line in which she explains how, after seeing Donley in the pilot, everyone felt he just wasn’t right for the part and they cast Beery instead, once the series went into production. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/28 "2015-04-04T03:41:19Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Not? Not _wasn’t_ ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/29 "2015-04-04T04:26:40Z")
I’ve watched every episode at least three times and have them all on my hard drive. I loved that show. He never carried a gun that I recall but he did take one once in a very dangerous situation and was prepared to use it if he had to. I think it was that episode where his dorky friend Angel advertised he was a hit man. He had a great way of making money. He took half the price in advance and then just disappeared. What an idiot. You can guess at the result. I forget who gave Jim the gun. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/30 "2015-04-04T05:07:38Z")
I can think of at least twice Jim took his gun out of the cookie jar. In _Resurrection in Black and White_ (S2:E8) Jim is hired by a journalist trying to clear someone she believes has been wrongfully convicted of murder. Once they figure out the real murderer has left on his boat, they borrow another boat and chase after him. Jim gets in some trouble when the journalist’s article includes a picture of him with his gun. _Profit and Loss_ (a two-parter, S1:E12 and E13) ends with Jim and Rocky (in Rocky’s truck) chasing after Leon Fielder (Ned Beatty, in a Rolls Royce) and shooting at him. They get Fielder to stop, but after five shots Fielder gets Jim’s gun. Our hero should be a dead duck, but the gun doesn’t fire. Early in the episode Jim was trying to un-stick his garbage disposal. After the gun doesn’t shoot, he concludes the sixth bullet must have fallen down his drain. There’s also _The Battle of Canoga Park_ (S4:E3), in which Jim’s gun is used in a murder. The gun was taken by someone connected to his cleaning lady, Viola, who gives herself away when she denies knowing about the gun, but says she never ate a store-bought cookie in her life. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/31 "2015-04-04T06:54:10Z")
He gets asked occasionally, “Don’t you carry a gun?” or “Why don’t you carry a gun?” His answer: “I don’t like to shoot people.” In one of those episodes, and I think it was “Resurrection in Black and White” mentioned just above, he did eventually pull out the gun, but he said, “I didn’t shoot it. I pointed it.” I don’t recall him ever shooting it, but there were a couple of episodes where he pulled it out of that coffee can (or cookie jar) and then you knew Shit Just Got Real. All seasons stream on Netflix I think. I watch one or two a week. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/32 "2015-04-04T14:32:41Z")
> [@SirRay](#): > > Now that you mentioned it, I was able to find “Backlash of the Hunter” (the Pilot)… Watch that episode all the way to the end and you’ll see Rockfish put his gun to good use…he shoots down an airplane! [https://youtu.be/MgWb2uk8NS4?t=1h6m19s](https://youtu.be/MgWb2uk8NS4?t=1h6m19s) ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/33 "2015-04-04T15:19:00Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Watch that episode all the way to the end and you’ll see Rockfish put his gun to good use…he shoots down an airplane! [https://youtu.be/MgWb2uk8NS4?t=1h6m19s](https://youtu.be/MgWb2uk8NS4?t=1h6m19s) Spoiler: I love how it exploded after it landed. 😃 Ah, the 1970’s crime shows, where so much as a pothole can cause a car to explode. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/34 "2015-04-04T15:23:11Z")
Why did the fuselage blow up? The fuel tanks are in the wings. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/35 "2015-04-04T15:31:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Why did the fuselage blow up? The fuel tanks are in the wings. The late 1960’s through early 1980’s “exploder” device (nickname for a temperamental antismog device using left over WWII munitions) was generally mounted near the trunk of large Detroit sedans, while small plane manufacturers mounted them under the pilot’s seat for better weight distribution. Sudden change in elevation could “explode” them, hence the nickname. This can clearly be seen in many archive films of cars exploding in the air after driving off cliffs. Why they were ever put in planes given such temperamental combustion is still a mystery. Luckily, they were banned in use of all internal combustion engined vehicles in 1983. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/36 "2015-04-04T17:46:05Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > Spoiler: I love how it exploded after it landed. 😃 > > Ah, the 1970’s crime shows, where so much as a pothole can cause a car to explode. What I love is how helicopters and planes always exploded - just _after_ they crash out of sight behind a convenient hilltop. I love the old Rockford Files for car-spotting - so many classics in their prime on that show. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/37 "2015-04-04T20:33:03Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > I don’t recall him carrying a firearm in any episode I ever watched. Considering the number of times he got the crap kicked out of him, I’m assuming he either could not legally carry one, or had some sort of moral objection to them that outweighed getting his ass kicked about every third episode. Ya know, Magnum always carried a big old .45, and _still_ got his ass kicked on a fairly regular basis as well. Shot a lot, too. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/38 "2015-04-04T22:09:17Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Ya know, Magnum always carried a big old .45, and _still_ got his ass kicked on a fairly regular basis as well. Shot a lot, too. I always wanted to know _how_ magnum was carrying a pistol. Hawaii has some of the most draconian gun laws around, and issue CCW permits to nobody. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2015, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/39 "2015-04-04T22:49:56Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > I always wanted to know _how_ magnum was carrying a pistol. Hawaii has some of the most draconian gun laws around, and issue CCW permits to nobody. Why stuffed into the waistband of his tight, short shorts, of course! ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737/40 "2015-04-05T22:47:39Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > I love the old Rockford Files for car-spotting - so many classics in their prime on that show… It’s a crack up watching those old boats bounce around during the chases.They sure don’t make suspensions like they used to! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-jim-rockford-carry-a-gun/716737.md?page=3)