Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 14, 1995 TAG: 9505130002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Every decade has its day - and then another day. Already it appears the '80s are poised for a nostalgic rebirth. Can the '90s be far behind? All we have to do is wait for them to be over.
But back to the '70s, and one of its most welcome rediscovered artifacts: Jim Rockford, laconic and sardonic private eye. Although the original ``Rockford Files'' series aired on NBC, nowhere is Rockford more welcome than CBS. The network, suffering a disastrous season in the ratings, scored big when it aired a new ``Rockford Files'' movie during the November sweeps.
``The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A.'' in fact became the highest-rated TV movie of the season. Not surprisingly, CBS has a new one for the May sweeps that are now in full swing. ``The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise'' airs tonight , at 9 (WDBJ, Channel 7).
No heavy analysis is needed to explain the original success or the renewed appeal of ``Rockford.'' It's all contained in the name James Garner, who has played Jim Rockford since 1974 when the series premiered. Actor and character have pretty much merged and become one, but they may have done that on the very first show.
It's a perfect symbiosis, since Jim Rockford and James Garner appear to embody the same qualities: world-weariness, world-wariness, and a kind of optimistic cynicism. They tend to illustrate the adage that hell hath no fury like an angry pacifist. Neither Jim nor James goes looking for a fight, but they can count on the fights coming to look for them.
``Blessing in Disguise'' reunites Rockford with his old larcenous nemesis Angel Martin as played by Stuart Margolin. Angel appears to be taking his name literally rather than ironically; he's become a TV evangelist, and disreputable even by the liberal standards of that profession. Rockford sees him on TV and is furious, not because he knows it's got to be a scam but because Angel is wearing one of Rockford's missing sportcoats.
That Rockford wants his coat back is, admittedly, a flimsy pretext to bring him and Angel together again and involve Rockford in what will eventually, in its own sweet time, become a murder case. But ``sweet time'' is the key phrase because that's what you'll have, as Rockford and company romp through the plot and pause along the way to tweak wacky facts of life today.
The script by series co-creator Stephen J. Cannell may seem tough on right-wing religious fanatics, but it ends up being even tougher on Hollywood phonies and show-biz creeps.
Rockford hooks up with a dizzy, insecure young actress named Laura Sue Dean, played delightfully by Renee O'Connor, and begrudgingly becomes her bodyguard. Dean is starring in a new movie called ``Little Ezekial,'' which Angel's group, the Temple of Holy Light, has targeted for protests over its alleged sacrilegiousness. The group pickets the film and launches a boycott of it, so naturally when the movie opens after all that scandalous publicity, it's an instant smash hit.
While the outcome of all this may be predictable, there's plenty of laugh-out-loud dialogue along the way. Lounging about the lavish mansion he built with funds that were supposed to go to ``the starving children in Lapland,'' Angel tells Rockford, ``I love America,'' and Rockford responds, ``You and Don King.''
A slippery-cheesy Hollywood agent declares with a straight face, ``Believe me, I've been to Fear City. I've seen that elephant.'' Rockford scoffs of Angel's security force, most of them graduates of the penal system, that they ``couldn't get a job scraping gum off theater seats.'' The actress tells Rockford he's done such a good job as bodyguard that ``I'm going to give your name to Shannon Doherty,'' the trouble-prone TV star.
O'Connor is magnificently adorable in the role, and she brings out a rueful warmth in Garner and in Rockford, too. Near the end he tells her she's ``special in a way that's so rare you only see it occasionally.'' He could be describing ``The Rockford Files,'' too.
by CNB