The Rockford Files (TV Series) The Four Pound Brick (1975) User Reviews

Rocky foots the bill

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 28 February 2013]

Edith Atwater plays the wife of an old truck driving buddy of Rocky's and she refuses to believe that her son died in an accident. So he offers James Garner's help to check out her son's demise. Now Garner isn't in the business of being a PI for love, no more than Noah Beery, Jr. made free hauls in his truckdriving days. So Beery hires his own son and refuses even to accept a family discount.

Turns out the young rookie cop was not killed in an accident and that Atwater's suspicions were correct. Her late son's partner Paul Carr is very much on the pad.

This episode belongs to Noah Beery, Jr. who even though he's not crazy about his son's profession finds it handy in this situation. However being the frugal fellow he is, Rocky tags along to see he's getting his money's worth. That is kind of cramping Rockford's style.

As Sgt. Becker says, he wants to be around when Garner tries to get Beery to pony up.

Revenge of the Rockford

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 27 October 2006]

This episode was co-written by Leigh Brackett, writer of "Star Wars: Revenge of the Jedi" along with Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye", the Bogart version of "The Big Sleep" and John Wayne's "Rio Bravo" and "El Dorado" among others. With that in mind, this episode is a bit disappointing. It's a pretty straight cop action episode and its not that different than most TV cop shows.

The widow of Rocky's friend, Kate Banning (Edith Atwater--"Aunt Gertrude" in the Hardy Boys series!) is suspicious when her son, a rookie police officer is killed in a car accident. Her son always kept his car in mint condition, had just had it worked on and would not have neglected his brakes. Rocky, ever the soft hearted, volunteers Jim's services to investigate.

However, Jim is not willing to work for free, so Rocky fights his own tendency to being cheap and hires Jim to investigate--$200 a day plus expenses--and Rocky plans to keep an eye on those expenses!

The cops are convinced what happened is an accident and have closed the investigation. The son's partner Sgt. Wilson (Paul Carr, Lt. Kelso on "Star Trek") feels the same way. The case looks like a dead end. But what kind of episode would that make?

This episode includes a scene that I first thought was shot at the Hollywood Bowl, but then realized it was a rare shot of the Universal Amphitheater before they decided to enclose it. Frank Campenella, Joe's brother makes the first appearance of three on the series, this time as Morrie, a crime boss.

The relationship between Dennis and Jim is finally expanded beyond the detective/cop contact and we see they actually do hang out together and really are friends. Watch Dennis' reaction when he finds out Rocky is actually paying Jim to investigate! He insists on being there when Rocky gets the bill--and is!

Viewers' notes

[alebarjr · 10/10 · 5 November 2006]

About ten minutes into the episode, Jim and Rocky share a couple beers from Jim's "frost free" refrigerator (which is due for replacement). Rocky removes the beer can pull tab, and delicately deposits it into a nearby ashtray, while Jim, when the camera turns to him, opens his can and PLUNK! drops his pull tab right into the can! How very "Jim" that move is! A few minutes later, a couple hoods make note of Jim's license plate number, which we all know to be California 853 OKG ("Ocean King George"). But as the camera zooms to the plate, one hood tells the other to write down OKG 853. Dyslectic? A great exchange between Jimmy and Rocky: Jim: "You ate my steak...." Rocky: "Well, it was in the freezer.... you defrosted it... it was gonna spoil" Jim: "Not before dinner!" Rocky: "It didn't have no sign on it." Jim: "Next time I'll have 'em all monogrammed." Rocky: " Hah ha... we have the same initial!"

Rock in the hock for PI favour

[Chase_Witherspoon · 6/10 · 14 May 2020]

Good to see Stuart Margolin as 'Angel' even if it's only incidental to the story of Jim investigating the apparent accidental death of a rookie cop as a favour to his father on behalf of Edith Atwater's character.

Paul Carr has an integral supporting role as a could-be crooked cop, whilst the senior Campanella brother- Frank- plays his usual kingpin outline. John Quade is also in typically fine form as a smart-mouth heavy, and Tom Atkins makes his second appearance in the series as another hard-nosed detective with little time for Jim's casual interference. The action is relatively taught with a decent car chase, and some modest suspense.

It's a predictable caper, but the actors are becoming more relaxed in their characters, and the chemistry which was such a standout of the series is starting to become apparent, especially between Santos and Garner.

Hit the bricks, Jim

[stones78 · 9 April 2012]

In this opening season episode from this terrific series, it was clear to me that there are some rough edges and the show was still trying to find the formula which we all know and love. This is a decent entry, although hardly a great one, revolving around Rockford helping a lady friend of Rocky's, who's son was a cop believed to have died in an accident, but she has her doubts. The mother(Kate), played by Edith Atwater, at times talks so fast that I could hardly understand her, and is devoid of much emotion; there's a few familiar faces in Frank Campanella, and John Quade(Any Which Way But Loose), who's characters are more interesting, but they don't get as much face time. Dennis, Angel, and a very fine performance by Tom Atkins as Diel, also have several scenes, especially the latter when it comes to a rather heated conversation between he and Rockford when it comes to dirty cops. It's amazing how much father and son have aged during the run of this series, as the 2 look very young in this episode, but in only a few years later, they almost look like old men. The plot eventually boils down to the woman's son being murdered by the mobster's(Campanella)goons because he had a crooked partner and knew too much I guess. Look for Jim's Firebird exchanged for a rental Monte Carlo, as his car's in the shop after damage done in a chase. This isn't a very memorable episode, let alone a very good one, but the show is rounding into shape and many better ones are around the corner.

A bit convoluted but OK

[rms125a · 6/10 · 22 November 2019]

OK Rockford Files (TRF) episode but I will remember it best because I was distracted by Edith Atwater's performance. No disrespect. She was a fine, established stage actress, who also appeared in notable films.

But the Chicago-born, Pennsylvania-reared, and AADA trained-actress sounded at times like she was speaking with a poorly-obscured Appalachian twang, and, at other times, trying to sound like a rock-ribbed New Englander (who could've been a patron of Cheers or a neighbor of Jessica Fletcher). She just didn't sound anything like the California character she was portraying.

I guess she couldn't decide how she wanted her character, a good woman, but a tough and no-nonsense one, to sound. She evidently didn't get much help from the director.