April 7th marks the birthday of one of Hollywood’s best – the late, great James Garner – whose multi-decade career spanned everything from early TV westerns like "Maverick," to movies of all genres, from "Grand Prix" to "The Great Escape" to "Hour of the Gun." And, prior to his life on the screen, he served in both the U.S. Merchant Marine and the U.S. Army National Guard – that latter stint in uniform included combat in the Korean War where he was wounded twice in action, and received two Purple Hearts and the Army’s Combat Infantryman Badge for his service. Garner would have been 94 this year.
And while Garner’s career spanned multiple decades on both the big and little screen, it was The Rockford Files where he shined – eventually earning an Emmy for Best Actor on the show. The character – a tough, good-natured and sharp-skilled but perennially down-on-his-luck ex-con (pardoned) private detective – was basically tailor-made for Garner. In fact, he was so perfect for the role that it is almost impossible to envision any other actor playing the part.
But The Rockford Files was more than James Garner. And it was more than superb writing and plots, or excellent characters with chemistry – which it all was, of course. Beyond all of that, it was a tribute to and a defense of the middle-class. Rockford spoke to all of us stuck between the protected polar ends of society, putting in the hours, footing the bill for everyone else, and making just enough to stay above water…but never enough to sit completely high-and-dry. And while The Rockford Files regularly highlighted societal injustice, it was done via a character clad in off-the-rack blazers who lived in a trailer house and drank canned beers…a far cry from the sanctimonious moralizers who endlessly brow-beat the common citizen with their selective outrage today.
Even if it wasn’t intended, Rockford was an everyman hero – the “Average Joe” who is simply trying to get by, earn enough cash to make the payments on his Firebird, and live peacefully enough to throw a few casts into the surf with his old man. Rockford – and often his retired truck-driver Dad “Rocky” – took it on the chin for good people in nearly every episode. And while the villains didn’t succeed with their schemes, Rockford never got rich for his troubles. The hard-knock lesson here is that even if evil gets punished – a big “if” it seems these days – good never seems to get properly reimbursed.
And the villains of Rockford were authentic – not cartoonish heavies from action fantasy land…but the kind of real-life schemers and frauds we read about in the news every day. Larcenous swindlers – who lie and collude for self-enrichment. Crooked lawyers – who bilk their clients to maintain superficial lifestyles. Greedy corporatists – who cut corners to pad their pockets. Charlatan pols – who ignore the constitution on the way to higher office. Some episodes were serious about this stuff – including one from Season Three entitled “So Help Me God” where Rockford is unfairly trapped by an underhanded prosecutor in a grand jury proceeding – a commentary on how easily the average citizen can be destroyed by credentialed authorities in secretive legal structures without transparency or oversight. Sound familiar?
And more often than not, Rockford was implicated as the suspect in the very cases he was working – often by vain and egotistical authority figures who were lazy, blinded by prejudicial notions, and who seemed to operate on the idea that one is guilty until proven innocent. Notably, his only friend on the police force was another honest blue collar stiff, detective Dennis Becker, who personified the overworked and underpaid. Nearly every episode found Rockford either hemmed up and worked over by sundry goons and thugs – or screwed over and left hanging by the nameless, soulless system that grinds up and spits out the individual, without mercy or apology. Ironically, it’s the system that we – and the fictional Jim Rockford – all pay taxes to support.
The Rockford Files was of course a product of its time – the cynical 70’s – and like a great many productions of the era, it questioned everything. It distrusted the words and motives of the influential. It looked skeptically at the company line. And it poked the powers that be. It didn’t matter if it was government, big business, local politics, attractive women or handsome men – Rockford showed that malice and ill-intent could manifest itself anywhere, in anyone, at any time.
It’s hard to ignore the uncomfortable parallels between now and Rockford’s time – the only difference is that the 1970’s had better movies, shows and music. In fact, you could do worse in your off-time than catching a few re-runs of Rockford and watch a guy like us take down the hacks and the creeps – it’s one of the gems from when TV had thought and character. And you might as well, anyway…because with everything going on now – the lies, the chicanery, the usury, the inflation, and the disillusionment with failing leadership and untrustworthy institutions – it basically feels like we’re all part of Rockford’s Files now.
Connor Martin is a US Marine veteran and policy analyst in Washington DC.