On Friday the 13th in September of 1974, The Rockford Files premiered on NBC starring James Garner, written by Stephen J. Cannell and directed by Lou Antonio. The Los Angeles set detective drama show ran for six seasons and remains in syndication to this day 50 years later. Garner brought his trademark wit, strength and class to the role after charming and entertaining audiences already on TV’s Maverick and graduating to movies like The Great Escape and Support Your Local Sheriff!. As pardoned ex-con turned private investigator Jim Rockford who lives in a trailer at the Malibu beach, drives a gold Firebird and often gets beat up before getting even, Rockford worked on cases big and small for “$200 a day plus expenses” but rarely seemed to get paid.
Filmed predominantly on location around Los Angeles, The Rockford Files provides a gritty, street level view of the city and its fun trying to spot locations five decades later. To celebrate, fans of the show and Garner’s official Facebook page hosted Rockford50Fest! in Thousand Oaks, CA where an episode of the show was shot at the fictious Buena Vista Inn aka a Best Western. There were multiple Firebirds parked in front along with artwork, memorabilia and guests galore inside. This vies for the most unique fan gathering I’ve ever attended, the other being a con dedicated to 1998’s The Magnificent Seven television series starring Michael Biehn and Ron Perlman.
Barring some grand children of guests, we were seemingly the youngest attendees there which was commented on more than a few times, but I’ve been a Garner fan since seeing The Great Escape in college and this was too rare an event to pass up. The keynote speaker was The Garner Files co-writer Jon Winokur who provided a walk down Garner’s life and career then shared anecdotes of spending time with Garner to write the actor and activists 2011 memoir. It was fascinating to hear how Garner successfully sued both Warner Brothers and Universal over Maverick and The Rockford Files. On the latter, Universal claimed the show lost money on $120 million in revenue but tried to settle for $600,000.00. Garner was ready to take it all the way and pressed for a trial. Details of the final settlement are not public, but it’s estimated Garner walked away with between $9 and $20 million.
Video tributes from co-stars like Gretchen Corbett and Hector Elizondo were played between panels featuring cast and crew. Biker turned actor and Garner’s assistant/driver Chester Grimes was particularly insightful and hilarious as Grimes spent decades in Garner’s circle in a relationship that reminded me of Brad and Leo’s characters in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Much was remembered about how good a guy James Garner was, helping Grimes buy a house, taking care of the crew, making the set welcoming for guest stars, giving up and comers a shot and interacting with fans. Grimes also asked me about my Jean-Claude Van Damme shirt and mentioned he did a prison picture with him so I’m guessing that was Death Warrant!
It was a terrific way to spend a Saturday and on Sunday, the crew met up at famous Malibu location Paradise Cove where a restaurant still operates before taking a drive to nearby locations. Miami Vice and Knight Rider recently celebrated their 40th anniversaries with in person gatherings in Miami and Atlanta so we’ll see what pops up next. Until then “leave your name and message, I’ll get back to you.”
