What
made The Rockford Files stand out from the crowd was a combination of well-crafted
characters, strong, intelligent scripts, and a great balance of humour and serious
drama. Unlike most modern series, the regular cast was small - Jim Rockford
(James Garner) with just four regular supporting actors - rarely did all four
appear in the same episode. You could usually perm any two of his father, Rocky
(Noah Beery Jr.), Sgt. Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), his lawyer and one-time girlfriend,
Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) and last (and by all means least!), his friend
and one-time cellmate, Angel Martin (Stuart Margolin). For most of each
episode, Garner was on screen, often supported by his Pontiac Firebird - which
amzingly survived, despite being beaten up almost as often as Jim! 'Rockford'was
intended to be a modern-day version of Maverick, Garner's earlier success,
and like that series, it relied heavily on garner's own personailty and charisma;
as well as a few stolen plot lines! TriviaThe
team at NBC continually tried to remove the comedy elements from the script. Garner,
who rather fancied himself as a racing driver, did virtually all the driving stunts. This
contibuted to chronic knee and back problems, which forced Garner to quit halfway
through the final season; by then, the Dukes of Hazzard were stealing his
audience, anyway! | 
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