The Rockford Files (TV Series) The Dark and Bloody Ground (1974) User Reviews

Enter Beth Davenport

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 3 October 2006]

Right from the get go, there is a great chemistry between James Garner as Rockford and the fetching Gretchen Corbett as Beth Davenport. Not quite a pin up babe type, Corbett is a very attractive woman who brings great intelligence and humor to the role. I have had a crush on her since 1974.

This episode features some really terrific writing although probably one or two more chase scenes than it needed. The comedy and banter was enough for me. As one of the very first episodes shot there are also some small differences: Jim calls Dennis by his last name, the trailer is still at the old Ocean Boulevard location, and Jim keeps his gun in the desk rather than the cookie jar.

Write out of a mystery novel.

[mm-39 · 8/10 · 15 December 2018]

Write out of a mystery novel. A murder, and a suspect who looks so so so guilty. The Dark and Bloody Ground brings in the Beth Davenport characters asking Jim to help a client. Much character development in The Dark and Bloody Ground with sub characters Rocky, Det Becker, and Angel. Rocky the worried but sharp father. Becker the combative friend who has a beneficial relationship with Jim, and Angel Jim source for information are character for a great T V series. Solid script. There is a changed identity, different towns to poke around and a scene which is a copy from the movie Duel makes for an interesting story. The surprise ending which I never saw coming is memorable. Written like a good detective novel. A solid 8 out of 10. What stands out for me and is the best part is the eve and flow between the idealist/lawyer Beth Davenport and streetwise, slick Jim Rockford who Beth knows has a good heart. A relationship, which endures for the entire series run.

Pro Bono work for a Pro Bono client

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 6 April 2015]

I've always thought of Beth Davenport as a great feminist role model. Pretty, smart, and accomplished, Gretchen Corbett finally makes partner in her law firm in her last appearance in The Rockford Files.

So Corbett enters and we already know she's Jim Rockford's attorney and God knows he needs one with all the scrapes he gets into and the police looking to nail him for something.

Corbett kind of, sort of cons James Garner to working for her pro bono client Patricia Smith who is accused of killing her husband by setting a fire that did him in. They're newly arrived in town and get to crash a very swank party given by Walter Brooke and Nancy Malone and arranged by Linden Chiles.

No sooner does Rockford start looking into the background of the deceased than two attempts are made to kill him and the second almost killing Beth Davenport. The deceased apparently did not exist before he married Smith. The deceased is also described as an itinerant poet and drifter.

But he was far more than that. Just his mere existence threatens the well ordered world of the three above people.

It's quite a hold he has on them as it turns out. It's also quite a con Beth Davenport pulls on Jim Rockford. Worthy of an Ange.

The debut of Beth Davenport

[btimmer · 13 April 2006]

Gretchen Corbett, who would play Jim Rockford's attorney, for four seasons, makes her debut in this episode, although she is the one hiring Rockford to work for her instead of vice versa.

Like many of the first season episodes, the story features a very dark and cynical Rockford, who is quite suspicious of whether or not he will ever get paid. Rockford's insolvency is one of the show's recurring themes and probably what set it apart from all other detective shows.

The show was still developing all of its characters and in this episode, Beth Davenport was somewhat naive, Dennis Becker was somewhat hostile, and Rocky was already trying to get his son to switch to truck driving.

Spielberg tribute

[jameslawrence743 · 8/10 · 15 March 2022]

I like the little tribute to Spielbergs DUEL in this episode.,also garner's played back character makes it very interesting to keep watching l hated this show when l was a teenager just listening to the theme from another room made me wanna look for an exit, he is nothing like Starsky and hutch or kojak,this is Philip Marlowe on TV,it took 50 years to make that distinction also l have matured a great deal l grew up with the two latter shows l mentioned above and they both had gimmicks one had the new York city machismo and the other one had a red grand torino but jim is just a regular guy l could be him this guy talks his way into anything.

Reference to Duel

[atrium72802 · 10/10 · 11 June 2022]

As mentioned buy another reviewer, there is a good reference to Spielberg's film Duel (with Dennis Weaver) that came out a couple of years before this episode. The scene with the truck driver chasing Jim in the blue Pontiac Astre. I remember watching this series on TV as a kid, but appreciate the humor much more now. All though campy in some ways, it is much better than the canned, formula based schlock that is on now. Plus the images of a much simpler Malibu and SoCal are nostalgic.

Another 'sort of' reference is the underwater angle of the dead man in the pool, that was reminiscent of a scene in the 1971 Bond movie, Diamonds are Forever.

A little raw

[stones78 · 1 December 2010]

As was previously mentioned by the other reviewers, this is the first episode with Beth Davenport as Jim's infrequent attorney, and it's very obvious they have great chemistry together even in this early season 1 segment. She also appears many other times, and most of those times, her and Jim work well off each other; they're even romantic partners, but never on a serious basis. We want Rockford living alone in the dusty trailer, don't we? To me, the episode seemed to lose track of itself(or maybe my own brain)near the conclusion, when everyone seemed to be guilty of something after the murder of a poet who changes identity takes place. The motive revolves around a copyrighted book which was to become a film, I believe, and if the writer's dead before a certain date, someone else gets the fortune and fame. A fiancé of a woman ends up in jail after killing the attorney(not Beth), but Rockford figures out this woman killed her first husband on a boating trip. Overkill at this point, if you ask me.

In this episode, we see a few scenes with Rocky, Jim's beloved car, the taco stand and Dennis, so a formula is being set in the inaugural season of this great show. If I were to recommend this particular segment, it would for the first partnership between Jim and Beth, who really work well together.

Burning Screen Time.

[coachjchris · 31 October 2022]

Rockford is in aggregate one of the truly golden series in broadcast television. However the show was occasionally prone to overlong and absurd chase scenes. The chase between Jim in an underpowered Chevy Vega and a Mack cabover takes the cake as perhaps the worst in the entire series. Painfully long and utterly absurd. Unless Jim had suffered temporary amnesia all he had to do was move left or right stomp on the brakes and watch the Mack zoom past him. The Mack is by no means a nimble vehicle and even that Vega could out accelerate and out run it to say nothing of its ability to out maneuver the Mack. Instead we get an interminable scene with endless cuts between the same shots over and over. Worth watching only for the incompetent direction and scripting. A sure sign the script was a wee bit underwritten. Otherwise a decent episode in the development of a show on its way to becoming a classic. Notable mostly for the introduction of one of the best drawn characters in the show, Beth Davenport.

One sad note, this episode is one of countless films and tv shows seemingly hell-bent on ridding the planet of every Jaguar XKE in existence. Painful.