User Reviews

Once again Jim is haunted by his past as he returns home to find an urgent message from someone he hasn't seen in years--his old Korean war commander. Col. Daniel Hart Bowie (Frank Maxwell, who appeared in "Maverick" as Collins in "The Third Rider"). When he tries to call him back, there's no answer. The next thing you know Dennis shows up with an Army investigator demanding to know how Jim was involved with Bowie! Bowie's daughter Shana (Jesse Welles, in the second of her third appearances on "Rockford"--all as different characters!) hires Rockford to find out why her father would desperately call him right before he died.

Along the way we learn Rockford fought in the battle of Pusan, was wounded in action, won the Silver star and was saved by Bowie after being pinned down by North Korean troops. We also discover in his Army career as a scrounger (reflecting Garner's role in "The Great Escape") he traded food to the Koreans in an exchange for an enemy tank! The other highlights include a over the top performance as a crooked sheriff by Charles Napier, the first of three Rockford appearances by Eddie Firestone, the reappearance of Jim's backseat printing press (I wonder if this one's new since the Firebird had been totally destroyed just a few episodes back!) and an appearance by the lovely Carol Vogel (she starred in the movie "Depraved!") as Terri, a woman hired to "distract" Col. Bowie. And she is quite a distraction! Yes! This isn't one of the top Rockford episodes, but its not bad.

I like watching this show it good stress relief. Jimmy is in trouble again. This time and Jim's army C O phones Jimmy for help and Jimmy has to to find out why! Jimmy plays the con real well in this episode. Of course Charles Napier plays the nasty sheriff. Well, the army investigators end up loving Rockford in the end. I will not ruin the episode by saying anymore. The viewer finds out that Rockford owes the officer a favour, which is a memorable scene. The most funny scene is when the viewer learns Jimmy traded food for a North Korean during the Korean war. I give this episode a seven out of ten. Time well wasted. A true classic show.

While it was good to hear details about Rockford's Korean War background, I found the dialogue in this episode to be too artificial in many of the scenes (too much clichéd talk about "ghosts from the past" etc). This is definitely not a criticism you can level at The Rockford Files very often, as usually the writing quality is very good and the dialogue flows much better. But you know the script is not good when even James Garner seems to be struggling to get through it. (And I confess that usually I can't really take Jesse Wells; although she was very effective in her first scene where she comes to Jim's trailer, the dialogue didn't do her any favors either.) I honestly think I would have preferred an episode where Jim's old commander was still alive and they had some sort of case together, rather than it focusing on the daughter.