Backlash of the Hunter
- Episode aired Mar 27, 1974
- TV-PG
- 1h 38m
IMDb RATING
7.9/10
1.1K
YOUR RATING
Jim helps a woman whose father was murdered, after LAPD abandoned the case.Jim helps a woman whose father was murdered, after LAPD abandoned the case.Jim helps a woman whose father was murdered, after LAPD abandoned the case.
Luis Delgado
- Luis Delgado
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaRobert Donley portrayed Joseph "Rocky" Rockford only in the pilot. Noah Beery Jr. would pick up the role for the duration of the series. Donley's portrayal was shown to be slightly seedy, as demonstrated by allowing his son to be the victim of an attempted shakedown by his Records Clerk acquaintance.
- GoofsThe file folders Angel looks through for Rockford are all unlabeled.
- Quotes
Jim Rockford: You know what's wrong with karate Jerry? It's based on the ridiculous assumption that the other guy will fight fair.
- Alternate versionsSyndicated repeats are split into two parts, with an alternate opening sequence that features the series' title card over a shot of Rockford's mobile home with the answering machine message, regarding Lt. Chapman's birthday, playing in the background. This opening removes any shots of Noah Beery as he does not appear in the episode.
- ConnectionsFollowed by The Rockford Files: Deadlock in Parma (1980)
Featured review
And no answering machine in sight.
"The Rockford Files" was never a big ratings success, but it found its audience during its six-year run, and to this day is liked by many who watched it in first-run episodes and repeats. The pilot TV movie has all of the elements that made the series so well-remembered; James Garner's performance as wrongfully imprisoned ex-con and now private investigator Jim Rockford; the laid-back Southern California settings; his supportive-if-old-cootish dad Rocky (played here by Robert Donley instead of Noah Beery), police contact Becker and parolee friend Angel; and Stephen J. Cannell's writing (David Chase may get a lot of the credit these days because of "The Sopranos," but the fact that Cannell's best known creation is "The A-Team" overlooks his having more in his arsenal than just the four members of a crack commando unit). The mystery - a pre-Jaime Sommers Lindsay Wagner hires our hero to find out who killed her father - and the characterisation exist side by side, and if it isn't exactly hardboiled it does make you want to watch more episodes of the series. Pilots have to introduce the characters, make you want to see more of them, and tell good stories. The cast, director Richard T. Heffron, Cannell and the late Roy Huggins (aka John Thomas James) succeeded on all three counts.
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- Victor Field
- Feb 8, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Filming locations
- Simi Valley, California, USA(Driving to Las Vegas, wedding chapel shooting, car and plane chase)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
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