"The Rockford Files"
The Prisoner of Rosemont Hall (1978)

Director:

Ivan Dixon

Writers:

Stephen J. Cannell (creator)
Stephen J. Cannell (teleplay)

TV Series:

"The Rockford Files" (1974)

Original Air Date:

17 February 1978 (Season 4, Episode 20)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

When the son of an old friend goes missing, Jim goes to the young man's college to try and find out what happened. |

Plot Keywords:

Malibu | Sting Operation | Firebird | Pontiac Firebird | Detective

Cast

James Garner	...	Jim Rockford
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Joseph 'Rocky' Rockford #2 (as Noah Beery)
Joe Santos	...	Police Det. Dennis Becker
Frances Lee McCain	...	Leslie Callahan
Kenneth Tobey	...	University Police Chief Max Gilmore
Joyce Easton	...	Valerie Douglas
Daniel Ades	...	Machmoud (as Danny Ades)
Maurice Sherbanee	...	Khadaffi
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Julia Benjamin	...	Melinda (as Julia Ann Benjamin)
Ric Carrott	...	Pledge Miller Claussen
Paul Coufos	...	Thomas Tate
Barney McFadden	...	Bert Hannan
Kathy Richards	...	Judy
Douglas Ryan	...	Herb
Michael Swan	...	Cal Morris
Bill Thornbury	...	Paul Lowe Douglas
Buck Young	...	Jake Sands

Series Cast

These people are regular cast members. Were they in this episode?

James Luisi

...

Lt. Doug Chapman

Quotes:

Jim Rockford: This is Jim Rockford. At the tone leave your name and message, I'll get back to you.
Pizzeria Employee: [Beeep] That number four you just picked up from Angelo's Pizzeria? Some scouring powder fell on there; don't eat it! Hey, I hope you try your phone machine before dinner...

Animal House

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

When Paul Douglas (Bill Thornbury--Jody from the "Phantasm" movies) leaves his car parked outside of Rockford's trailer with blood inside, as an old family friend of the Douglases, Jim decides to investigate. The trail leads to Rosemont college and the Chi Rho Zeta fraternity, a place campus security chief Gillmoore (another of Garner's co-stars from "Marlowe", Kenneth Tobey) desperately wants to keep him away from.

While the plot twist of a missing Persian Prince and his country's intimidating investigators is a highlight (the scene where the two investigators speak to each other in Persian after Jim tells them what he's got is very well done) this episode falls a bit flat.

The whole story angle of Paul having an affair with his counselor, a woman 17 years older than him (the script is very careful to establish Paul is 21--yet still a freshman pledge!) falls a bit flat. Frances Lee McCain doesn't bring much to the table as the counselor. She's kind of forgettable and the role demands someone who can make an impression with it.

With both Cannell and Chase on this one, its disappointing they give short shrift to Jim's relationship with Paul and his mother. When Paul ends up dead, it hardly seems to effect Rockford at all. You wonder why he even bothered to investigate to begin with. It would have given Garner a nice opportunity to show some real grief, instead of just showcasing his con ability as he again pulls out the Jim Taggert identity.

One interesting bit of trivia about this episode: the rape victim that Gillmore has look over Rockford in the school medical center is played by Kathie Richards, the mother of Paris Hilton.