Nice Guys Finish Dead

James Whitmore, Jr., is back as garage mechanic and wannabe P. I. Freddie Beamer, and two guys from Magnum P. I. (Tom Selleck & Larry Manetti) also return for this final-season episode of the series. Selleck's character of Lance White is just about as different from the one he'd become known for as you could imagine, but how much Rockford loathes him continues to be humorous. And unlike Garner, whose trick knee & bad back were forcing him into retirement, young Selleck would excel in the coves and on the beaches of Hawai'i for almost a decade, driving a borrowed Ferrari in style (but not as expertly as Jim Garner in his Pontiac Firebird). I rate this as the final 9-of-10-star installment of one of (if not *the*) best TV shows of the 1970s!

What a fantastic episode to help say farewell to the series. Always look forward to seeing it as we run through all the seasons chronologically.

Tom Selleck was just hammy enough, returning as picture-perfect private eye Lance White, and James Whimore Jr. Reprises his role as goofball PI-wannabe Freddie Beamer. ("This guy is 100% chucklehead!" Rockford famously said when we met Beamer in his debut episode.) Between these two's antics, Garner gets to work the legendary eye roll and exasperation perfectly.

And kudos to the writers for coming up with the most mundane reason Jim was nominaed for an award. "It was timing several affadavits..." This in comparison to heroic acts by the other nominees, including Lance. The scrunched-up look on Simon Oakland's face (as Vern St. Cloud) as he was reciting the details of the nomination during the awards ceremony was just perfect.

Yeah, the overall plot was somewhat far-fetched, but I'm willing to overlook that to see Garner interact so well with his two co-stars.

I think this is a wonderful last-season episode. The large cast of guest-stars work very well together,and it is a very funny episode despite the grim topic. One of the best and most memorable episodes!

Classic Rockford comedy! Nice Guys Finish Dead is a comic episode where Jimmy plays the straight serious guy, while Beemer is the pathetic humorous character and Selleck is the over naive P I who is over skilled, and lucky. Selleck's character is a guy women love, saves peoples lives, and always has the breaks. Selleck over applauds Jimmy winning the award is hilarious. Selleck's character tells people to put their hands up to fight fair, and Chapman just over love for the P I who saved Chapman's life is the funny two funny on going jokes of Nice Guys Finish Dead. Not much of a story, but Nice Guys Finish Dead's paper thin story is done deliberately to enhance the humor. Nice Guys Finish Dead starts out with a bang of a serious episode, which slowly unravels from one silly moment to the next as the comic collusion climaxes! 8 out of 10 stars. A break form the more serious episodes, which makes for a classic series.

Played for laughs and there are plenty of them in this one, one of the best in the last season of a wonderful series. Great reprised performances by Tom Selleck as Lance White, as perfect as always, James Whitmore, Jr. As Freddie Beamer, the penultimate nebbish and Simon Oakland as the overbearing Vern St. Cloud. Rockford does his best but comes up short in this one, perhaps Beamer's incompetence has affected his abilities. This episode has all the elements, skillfully presented, that made The Rockford Files so good in its day and still enjoyable and worth watching forty-four years later. Erica Hagen as the ridiculously named hypnotist Brandy Alexander adds to the fun. Try to not get as distracted by her as Beamer did. Definitely worth a watch.