The Rockford Files (TV Series) The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company (1975) User Reviews

Lake of Sand

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 8 November 2006]

Car trouble makes Jim Rockford have to stop in the town of Colson overnight. He locks up $10,000 in cash in a safe at a real estate office. When he returns the next morning, there's no sign of his money or the guy who locked it up. Nobody seems to know him. He seems to have never existed. The Sheriff is suspicious that Rockford is trying to pull some sort of con and tries to run him out of town. But Rockford is not leaving without his money.

He recruits Rocky and another old prison buddy, con man Harry Danova (Richard B. Shull) to try and run a con get back his cash (ten thousand dollar bills--which they don't make anymore!). Rockford discovers the real estate company is running it's own scam, selling worthless desert land to retirees who dream of retirement homes on a lake.

Highlights include the appearance of "Mchale's Navy" co-star Bob Hastings as a real estate goon, an appearance by silent film actress Bartine Zane (Burkett) and a scene where Rockford engineers an escape from jail. It's a really enjoyable and intriguing episode.

One note though: Stuart Margolin is NOT in this story.

Almost a great one!

[hipchecker20 · 8/10 · 23 October 2017]

A few things bothered me about what could have been one of the best episodes.

First, since when does the Jim Rockford we all know hand over $10,000 in cash to a stranger? Next, the sheriff doesn't even look under the bed? How did Rocky and Harry find Jim at the place he was hiding after stealing a sheriff's car? I so wanted to make this a ten.

Entertaining.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 23 December 2018]

Entertaining episode. Blue Lake has a land scam, and Rockford is taken for 10 grand and framed for murder. How is Jim going get out of this one? Well written, acted and directed. The script and acting keeps the viewer wondering how is Jim going get con the con men? Some great stunts with a desert car chase. A bit formulated, but done well. Not the best Rockford files episode, but entertaining. I give The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company 7 stars out of 10.

Rockford and Fast Harry

[stones78 · 20 September 2012]

The most notable aspect for me regarding this solid episode was several familiar character actors that you should recognize easily, and the fact that the entire episode took place in a desert town. The actors include Dennis Patrick, Dana Elcar, Noble Willingham, Bob Hastings, and Richard B. Schull, who plays slimy "Fast Harry", who Rockford needs to help him get out of a jam, as Rockford's stuck in this town after needing his car fixed. As he prepares to spend the night in town while his car gets fixed, he gives an employee of Walter Hart's(Patrick)named Murray $10,000 to secure in a safe; the money was for someone's bail, but I forget who, and the man tried to steal the money. What happens next has Hart eventually getting the cash back to Rockford, as he explains that his employee was down on his luck, and begged Jim not to tell the authorities, or his development corporation could be in big trouble, although Jim says he'll think about it. I guess Hart wasn't convinced, and he has Rockford framed for Murray's(employee)murder which Hart committed, and sheriff Mitchell(Elcar)has Jim arrested, and thrown in jail. Elcar is very good here, although he acted unrealistically when he thinks Rockford escaped the prison, as Rockford's hiding under the bed, but Mitchell never looks there, as Rockford also steals the sheriff's patrol car. That's the only lame moment in an otherwise solid episode, which also includes several cool scenes with Rocky, and some nice shots of the Firebird. I usually recommend episodes starting in 1976, but this 1975 entry is as solid as many later ones. Back to the conclusion, Hart and Rockford arrange a meeting where Jim gets his cash, and Hart gets incriminating documents the murdered man had against him, although Hart has Rockford held at gunpoint and plans on having him killed too. It turns out that the clever Rockford had this meeting recorded and has Hart and Paul(Hastings)arrested. I'm not normally a fan when the show goes on location, but there were many quirky characters adding an element, and I enjoyed the different premise instead of the usual routine.

Where's Angel?

[A_Dude_Named_Dude · 6/10 · 27 June 2014]

Rockford is on his way to deliver $10,000 bail money to a client when his car develops problems somewhere out in the desert. He manages to limp into a small town, a town so small it doesn't have a bank, but it does have a land development company that has a safe. Jim talks the one remaining employee there into locking up his money for the night since it would be foolish to keep it with him overnight in a motel room. (Kind of makes you wonder why Jim would be transporting such a large sum of money himself (which would be equivalent to about $45,000 in today's money) instead of Wells Fargo. Or why they were ten $1,000 bills, when all bills over $100 had been withdrawn from circulation ten years beforehand. I know, we're not supposed to be asking questions...)

The next morning the money and the man he gave the money to have disappeared and Jim's in trouble. Since the land company director appears to be a part of the scheme and the local sheriff isn't interested in taking Rockford's story seriously, Jim decides to pull another con job of sorts. Here is the reason for my title of this review: In a story that appears to have been written specifically with Angel in mind, Angel is no where to be seen. Jim needs an inside con artist to infiltrate the company and he arranges for an old acquaintance named "Fast Harry" DeNova (Richard B. Shull) to come to town. Shull is excellent as the con man, but the whole time you're watching you can't help but ask yourself why he's here and not Angel. (One can only assume that Stuart Margolin was otherwise engaged and they couldn't change the production schedule to accommodate him.)

Rockgord gets into more trouble, of course, as the sleazy company director at first appears to return the lost money to Rockford, only to use it to frame him for murder. (The scene where Jim manages to escape from his jail cell is far too unrealistic to be believed and mars an otherwise excellent episode.) Rockford does clear his name and bring the bad guys to justice, somewhat fittingly in the desert, right in the middle of the future Blue Lake. (Just where did they expect to get the millions of gallons of water to create this lake?)

There's another odd plot point in this episode. After Jim gets stuck in the small town, Jim tries to call his trailer and talk to Rocky and explain why he won't be home that night. When Rocky answers the phone Jim asks him why he hadn't answered the phone, and Rocky says that he was tired of the client 's lawyer calling and asking where Jim is with the bail money. This makes no sense for two reasons. One, since one of the most famous things about the show was Jim's answering machine (it's played every time during the opening credits, it's not like it's something unknown to the viewer), why didn't Rocky just screen the calls and only answer when Jim called? Two, if Rocky didn't answer, why didn't he just leave a message on his answering machine? This whole thing would have made sense if it had taken place at Rocky's house. It almost makes you wonder if that had been the idea when the script was written but for some reason they filmed it at Jim's trailer. After all, they could have at least put something in the dialog that the machine was out of order. Or even better, have Rocky tell him that the machine was repossessed, since a running joke for him was his shaky finances.

Despite it's odd faults it's still a good episode, as every single actor delivers a fine performance. And as good an actor as Shull is, if you're like me, you'll saying to yourself, If only Angel had been there....

A sheriff, but no bank?

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 21 November 2014]

This episode had me reaching a bit. I can't figure out that a town which wasn't big enough to have a bank could afford to have a sheriff. That certainly does not compute. But the lack of a bank is the crux of this whole story.

James Garner is driving back to Los Angeles with $10,000.00 dollars in ten Grover Cleveland notes which he has noted the serial numbers. It's bail money for a client who apparently doesn't believe in wire transfers. He wants the money secure so he asks for a bank in town. No bank, but there's the The Great Blue Lakes Land&Development Corporation and they have a safe there. Going there Garner meets up with Ray Girardin who is a salesman there and agrees to take the money and gives Garner a receipt on company letterhead.

Next day Girardin gone and no one believes him, not Dennis Patrick the head of the company, not sheriff Dana Elcar. Of course there's something wrong, more wrong than Garner realizes when Girardin turns up dead.

To set things right Garner calls on his father Noah Beery, Jr. and another old prison friend, conman Richard Shull who works at a used car lot, but is always looking for a big score. This was obviously written with Stuart Margolin in mind, but Margolin probably wasn't available for the episode. Shull's character wasn't that well defined and we never see him again.

One of the lesser Rockford Files episodes.