There was no official wrap-up ending. There were a few reunion movies made in the '90s; but again no wrap-up in the last one. He did move, in a sense. He still lived at the same location, but now it was a double-wide.
Real purists will know he moved once before. In the first few episodes his trailer was at a different location; still near the beach, but it looked like it was closer to (maybe in) L.A. proper. There was also a different actor playing Rocky in the first episode.
This was when you needed to post the Rockford File Episode Guide
I didn’t realize how many Rockford Files movies they made in the mid-90s, I thought there were only 3 or 4 - there were 8!
Also, I thought the Hawaiian Episode was the last regular series episode (Rockford and Rocky flying into Hawaii, Rocky excitedly telling Jim to look at the Palm trees, Rockford tell him they have Palm trees in Los Angeles as well, and Rocky complains they look all sickly and terrible due to the smog…), but clearly it was not.
METV? Now I’m getting nostalgic for when I watched Rockford File reruns on TVLand!
I think you missed my earlier post. In the '70s there were neighborhoods (even near the beach) in Malibu that bus drivers, waitresses, surf bums, and yes, even private dicks could afford to live in. A three bedroom trailer near the beach might run you $250 a month back then.
And what were Jim Rockford’s rates?
Let’s see… $200 a day, plus expenses…
I’d say he was doing well if he was even partly booked.
Yeah, but he was almost always stiffed by his clients, and sometimes he even worked pro bono. He was forever having to put things in hock just to pay his own bills. 
It seemed like he was short on money a lot of the time. I did assume he was doing a lot of mundane stuff between episodes like trailing cheating husbands. He had low overhead for his home and office, but maintenance on the car must have cost a fortune, and he was always behind covering Beth’s fees.
“I don’t do divorces.”
In the final season, the damage done to Rockford’s various Firebirds* finally gets a good-sized lampshade hung on it. After some collision or other, Jimmy says in a very world-weary tone, “Not my car again.”
*He had a new one each year.
Garner starred in a 1966 film called Grand Prix. It was (obviously) about Formula One GP racing. It is known as one of the great auto racing films ever as far as the racing footage. The plot…not so much. The reason it is highly regarded is that all the racing is filmed on the real life tracks, with the actors driving at high speed. The actors playing drivers trained with real life racing coaches and racers. They pretty much all agreed that Garner was good enough that he could have dropped acting and gone into racing.
I recommend it to racing buffs or car fans that can handle the schmaltzy, soap opera storyline between fantastic racing footage from the golden age of GP. The DVD has a Making Of feature that is fun. Garner appears in it (2006, I believe) but looks bad. I’m surprised he’s still kicking.
He looks rather as he did in a Maverick episode where he portrayed “My Old Pappy”.
AFAIK, Garner was Bob Bondurant’s first student, followed by Paul Newman for Winning. This led to the school.
Not only did Cannon have a Lincoln Continental, but he had the first car phone I ever remember seeing. It was literally a rotary phone sitting in the console of the car, and he had to dial the rotary dial, and talk on a regular phone receiver, curly wire and all. I can’t imagine what that guys cell phone bills were in the 70, but man, they had to be steep!
Big Rockford Files fan here, and I can still watch the reruns and get some enjoyment out of them. He was kind of an “Everyman”, down on his luck, spent time in prison, sketchy friends… Bit some very good friends who looked out for him too.
I always hated Angel, because he never seemed to bring anything to the relationship. He was a user, scammer, and Rockford never got anything positive out of knowing Angel. He usually got beat up. I could never understand why he never kicked that parasite out of his life.
Beth… Had a crush on her. I think she and Jim had a mutual admiration for each other, and probably both flirted with the idea of dating, but were only friends. But she helped him out a lot.
Never understood the rusty trailer at the beach, in the parking lot of a seaside restaurant. Talk about an eyesore! Where were the utilities coming from? Why would the restaurant put up with it? Was it kind of like an old bugs bunny cartoon, where Jim was there before the restaurant, and they let him stay? (Like bugs with the freeway? Or the big building in the city?)
Plus, Rockford was much more realistic as a PI. I don’t know how many folks remember the shows before Rockford, but they had Mannix, Cannon, Barnaby Jones, and a few others… All very stylish views of the PI business, not the real gritty look that Rockford portrayed. everyone else had this dream life set up, never got dirty, had secretaries, and were always driving new cars.
I have to say, that picture of Mannix in the car brings back no memories. But it’s a great car! Can anyone ID it for sure (year, make , model)? I remember darts being shorter and less “sexy” than this car, but maybe this is an earlier version of the Dart.
'68 Dodge Dart GTS prepared by Barris Kustom Industries.
Want to know the make, model, and approximate year of a prominent road-going vehicle in any show or movie? Go to the Internet Movie Cars Database and see if it’s listed.
I’m still a big fan of this show. He was always taking on some mundane case that ended up being anything but mundane because of unexpected mob connections or government agents or whatever.
How many times did thugs show up at his trailer to beat the crap out of him and demand answers about things he knew nothing about?
That’s not even the good Mannix car. He had a more showy car in the first season. Looks like a 1966/67 Oldsmobile Toronado convertible (no Toro convertibles were made in the early years, maybe never). I believe I’ve read that he worked for a hi-tech agency the first year and then the show was retooled and he had his own agency. That Dart looks fairly close to stock to me; just some nice paint and wheels.
I just watched an episode-did the LAPD actually have AMC Matador cruisers? AMC was never noted for making powerful V-8 engines…this seems odd.
When I was a chef in Studio City, one of my favorite customers was Brion James, the actor. I once told him that I loved cooking for him because he was in 2 of my favorite movies.
He said “Yeah, but my first start as an actor was regularly playing the henchman who got his ass kicked by Jim Rockford!”
Wiki: “While V8 power was down for many domestic sedans, AMC used a 401 cu in (6.6 L) V8 engine that outpowered most other police vehicles.”
He was kidding, right? I don’t remember anybody getting their ass kicked by Jim Rockford.
