User Reviews

This was four years AFTER "Deliverance"! (1976 and 1972, respectively.) This is one of the very best RF episodes ever. Once again, we see Jimmy get close to the big payoff - no spoilers here!

I'm flabbergasted that Mr. Beatty was doing TV after the iconic "Deliverance", but I did read that that film was not recognized as the masterpiece that it was in its time of release. Sad. Also, if you are a fan of "Deliverance", please look at "Banjo Boy's" Go-Fund-Me, the poor b*st*rd has been working at Walmart since the greedy tribe members who produced the film did not feel it necessary to fairly compensate him for his work.

Jim Rockford seems to have formed lasting associations in two places where men are thrown together not at their own volition, the Korean War and prison. In this episode his old sergeant Ned Beatty shows up and asking for help.

Only he's not being quite truthful. He wants use of the Rockford PI license to allow him to hunt. To James Garner he's looking for a missing person, Veronica Hamel's sister to be precise. But what it's really all about is a missing Chinese Ming vase appraised at 3 million dollars which Beatty traced to the Pacific coast.

Where Beatty is a nobody and he needs the Rockford contacts and connections. In fact there are all kinds of players in this game looking for the finders fee of 300 grand the insurance company is offering.

James Garner in this series had a knack for attracting all kinds of interesting and sleazy people. Beatty in a fine performance fits beautifully into the sleaze category.

This installment of the Rockford Files guest stars Ned Beatty as Rockford's old military buddy, who just happens to be in town looking for detective work, and he wants to be partners with his old pal Jim. Veronica Hamel also has a few scenes as she enlists the help of Jim to help find her missing sister, and this occurs as Al(Beatty)is with Jim, and Al takes an interest in the case, even though Jim's gut tells him they should stay away from this potential case. In a surprise occurrence and some clever writing, both Al and the woman were a team all along, and the missing sister angle was entirely made up. They all get involved in an insurance case regarding a very expensive and rare vase which has a nice reward if found. Paul Stevens(Gunsmoke)is very convincing as John Stabila, who plays an art dealer who's somehow involved in the missing vase. After Jim finds out that his old pal basically stole his contacts and resources to better his chances at stealing the expensive vase, he catches up with Al on a train where the artifact supposedly is. After the 2 beat up the bad guys, Al tosses the crate(vase inside)off the train hoping to find it later on. The final scene has Jim without his suit jacket on(he was wearing it on the train, did it mysteriously disappear?)and Al both walking miles looking for the vase, which they never find. Rocky and Dennis have a few scenes also, as Rocky keeps pestering his son about the planned fishing trip, which Jim never seems able to get to.