‘m a little late to the party here. The Rockford Files played while I was in junior high and college, and that was D&D night so I never caught them. I do know that in my final year at Va Tech, my roomate watched these things and curious, I watched over his shoulder. I still carried an interest in this show for, what, forty years? Thus, in retirement, I took time to watch the series on Roku (which shows dedication, since it runs with lousy commercials that are no longer fun to dissect the tenth time around).

Anyway, Garner plays the part of a thread-bare PI in Los Angeles perfectly. He’s got a friend on the force and knows everyone. He habitually gets beat to hell, can out-drive anyone and keeps a standby gun in a cookie jar in his rusty trailer. He’s quite the everyman-hero.

Curious, I decided to find out more about him and read The Garner Files, an autobiography by the man himself and Jon Winokur (who I’ve mentioned HERE and will review on his own shortly) wrote. It’s a very interesting, from his drifter youth days to his fighting in Korea (and his close shave there). Then there are his early successes and some back-stage tidbits, most interesting. He’s quite the storyteller in that dry Rockford way. And it was interesting to have him talk about the time he was at the receiving end of a road rage incident that saw him (as an action hero) take a thumping the like Rockford took. It was hard for him to relate this in public (in print) which I can understand – we all have moments in our lives when we are beaten (physically or mentally) by someone else. That he admitted what took place (in grim details) really raised my respect for the man.

So anyway, it was a great book and worth the read. I learned a lot about what it’s like to be a Hollywood start, standing against the studios with one foot in the has-been grave. It was quite telling, very informative and wonderfully written.

Worth a look. At the tone, leave a name and number…

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