The Rockford Files (TV Series) Caledonia - It's Worth a Fortune! (1974) User Reviews

Treasure Hunt

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 17 October 2006]

Stuary Margolin goes behind the camera and does an excellent job directing Garner and guest babe Shelley Fabres in this treasure hunt mystery that's peppered with the series' sense of humor.

Shelley plays Jolene, the wife of a convict who's hidden something in Caledonia, California. She hires Rockford to help find whatever it is. Only the local sheriff (Ramon Bieni) would prefer Rockford leave town and not come back. In fact, he insists.

Richard Schall plays Jolene's ex-lover, and her husband's former partner. He also holds a key to the treasure. They have to work together to find it while a couple of ex-cons try and muscle in on the action.

There's a nice action scene where Rockford loses the thugs by driving the Firebird onto an auto transport truck--but not without consequences.

The only drawback to this episode is the lack of chemistry between Garner and Fabres. Maybe after working with Elvis, she just didn't have any interest in anyone else. In any case, they never worked together again.

Solid and entertaining early episode

[ronnybee2112 · 8/10 · 27 June 2021]

This is a well-written,well-acted,well-made earlier episode that is quite entertaining indeed.

It gets off to a slow start and picks up speed and momentum as it goes along.

This may not be the most believable episode,but it is one of the best of the first season and it is quite entertaining and amusing to watch.

Treasure and Eye Candy

[danrs000008 · 8/10 · 14 March 2022]

1. This was an enjoyable episode, but as I make my way through the first season of The Rockford Files I recognize a pattern. Every episode seems to feature great looking cars and car chases, really bad guys and then Jim Rockford is quite often getting the shaft as far as monetary rewards go. I have read where season 2 gets better, so I wonder if there will be some improved story lines to enjoy. 3. I did enjoy the action and dialogue in this story. The ex-con named Len actually turns out to be an almost likable character. Of course we were also treated to the presence of Shelly Fabre who was looking quite fetching.

To paraphrase guest star Shelley Fabares, 'I LOVE 'em!'

[UNOhwen · 26 March 2016]

The Rockford Files - Caledonia - It's Worth A Fortune!

In a terrific 1st season episode, with guest star Shelley Fabares, all the qualities which endear this series to it's fans are on display here.

That would be enough, but, as I said, this is an early episode, so, to see how the team behind the series were able to get into gear so fast, is an extra bonus.

In a nutshell; there's a hidden treasure, and the link to finding it is Ms. Fabares.

Now, I'm too young to have seen her in her 'Johnny Angel, and 'I Love Him' popularity of the 60's, and I was under 10 when the series started, but, I would watch it with my mom, and even then, I knew this was more than your typical 1hr-long filler show.

As is usual for most series, the first season is where the kinks are worked out, and, if a series is fortunate enough to have a 2nd year, that's typically what most people who are fans would remember as where a series finally gelled; the characters had become well- formed, and the actors have finally become comfortable in their 'skin.'

The Rockford Files was fortunate to have had top-notch both in-front and behind the cameras, with Garner and co. doing their best, and Cannell (and Roy Huggins) crafting fine scripts.

All of this is on display here, in a terrific story.

It's a simple story; a crook hid loot, and everyone wants it. They each have a piece of the puzzle, but, not the whole thing. Add to this, the crook's girlfriend, Ms. Shelley Fabares, and the chase is on to Caledonia!

The loot - or, as Hitchcock would've said - the 'MacGuffin' - isn't the important part, it's the interactions of the characters, and boy do they.

One of my favourite quotes is the back-and-forth between Fabares and Garner;

Rockford: You know what you do? Jolene: What? Rockford: You apologise - all the time. Jolene: I do? Rockford: Yeah. Jolene: I'm sorry.

It's so funny, because, to me, I find Ms. Fabares' character, a bit of a sad-sack, so, this bit of give-and-take dialogue - and her line at the end - really just clears the deck, as it were, it's as if the writers (speaking for/as Jolene) are saying; 'yeah, I'm a bit whiny, but, I can make you laugh, as well, and we sure do.

The cast includes some other great character actors from the period, including Richard 'Dick' Schaal, and Sid Haig.

Consummate directing by Stuart Margolin

[a-i-b · 10/10 · 21 January 2023]

While reviews of The Rockford Files naturally focus on plot, characters, and setting, little is ever said about direction. What makes this episode stand out for me, however, is the quality of the late Stuart Margolin's directing. There are numerous imaginative shots that lend this episode of The Rockford Files, the first of only two that Margolin directed, its own distinct, playful flavour: the foreground close-up of a goldfish bowl on the counter through which we see Jolene and Len enter her flat in the background; the close-up of a dessert cart with a pink torte under a glass dome being wheeled past before revealing Jolene and Len sitting at a restaurant table in the background; the unconventional camera angles, with actors' faces shown from a point of view looking up at them from below or the Firebird shown from a high aerial angle as it pulls into the golf club car park; the shaky handheld camera chasing after Rockford, Jolene and Len as they run to the chicken shed near the end of the episode - the only example of a handheld camera shot in The Rockford Files that I can think of. Margolin also includes a reference to the then recent What's Up Doc (1972), in the scene where Rockford baffles pursuit by driving up the ramps of a car carrier trailer before ducking down to make it look as if the Firebird is part of the transport, a gag employed in Peter Bogdanovich's film by the Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neill characters after they steal a VW Beetle in the famous San Francisco chase sequence. In the scene in question, Margolin also uses the clever narrative technique of not showing Rockford subsequently trying to justify himself to a traffic policeman: he instead shows the policeman walk up to the Firebird as it backs down the carrier and then cuts to Rockford and Jolene in the car afterward, wondering how Rockford is going to explain the violation in court, leaving it up to the viewer to imagine the scene. The same technique is employed later, when the Firebird is shown in the distance as Rockford and Jolene drive out to look for the hidden treasure, followed by a cut to them driving back, commenting in a voice-over, "two hours of digging and for nothing," thereby dispensing with what would have been a tedious, narratively superfluous scene. It takes an exceptional director to establish a narrative sequence by deliberately creating gaps in the action. All in all, this episode serves as a reminder that Stuart Margolin was not only a brilliant actor, but also a consummate director.

An Old fashioned treasure hunt

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 15 February 2013]

Shelley Fabares hires James Garner in this episode to find some buried loot hidden back on some place that her husband stashed before he went to prison on unrelated charge. Apparently whatever it is has been laundered and can be used for whatever.

With good reason as we see the husband Robert Ginty was not a trusting man. He gave half the clues to Fabares and half the clues to Richard Schaal who was involved with Fabares. Ginty wasn't going to make it easy, was he?

Add to that two hoods who were Ginty's cellmates and a rapacious local sheriff played by Ramon Bieri also want in.

More I can't say other than this is one Rockford Files episode that is truly laced with irony.

Too much Shelley Fabares, but still good

[stones78 · 3 November 2014]

Shelley Fabares gave a decent enough performance as Jolene Hyland, but my only beef with this episode with that she was in every single scene with Rockford, and she basically kept apologizing until the end, as it bugged both Rockford and me. Now that's out of the way, I will say that I did enjoy this early season segment, mainly because all the quirky characters involved. Look for some interesting folks in Sid Haig, Richard Schaal, and Ramon Bieri, who always seems to play cops during his career. Most of the scenes were filmed outdoors, which I always enjoy, and there were several shots of the Firebird, including a very cool moment when Rockford hides from hoods by driving his car on top of a large car carrier; when he backs down off the carrier, he finds a cop waiting to ticket him. I felt the ending was a bit of a letdown, after all of that planning by the parties involved, but I still enjoyed the episode.