The Rockford Files (season 5)

The fifth season of The Rockford Files originally aired Fridays at 9:00-10:00 pm on NBC from September 22, 1978 to April 13, 1979.

The Rockford Files
Season 5
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	22
Release
Original network	NBC
Original release	September 22, 1978 – April 13, 1979
Season chronology

Episodes

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
90	1	"Heartaches of a Fool"	William Wiard	Stephen J. Cannell	September 22, 1978
Rocky (Noah Beery Jr.) is forced off the road while delivering a shipment of sausages in a friend's rig. When the load turns out to be smuggled in from Mexico, Rocky stands to lose his union card as well as his driver's license. Rockford looks into it further, but having nothing else to go on latches on to the country & western singer Charlie Strayhorn (Taylor Lacher) who stars in the TV commercials for the sausages. Strayhorn, who is frustrated from the divorce proceedings he's going through at home, teams up with Rockford to investigate. They come across a sham sausage factory, a dead body, and a Chinese organized crime triad that's about to go to war with an equally ruthless trucker's union. With James Shigeta, Lynne Marta, Norman Alden, Joe E. Tata and Leo Gordon.
91	2	"Rosendahl and Gilda Stern Are Dead"	William Wiard	Juanita Bartlett	September 29, 1978
Rita Capkovic (Rita Moreno), still working as a professional escort, is accused of the murder of a prominent surgeon. When the police refuse to follow up on any of her claims as to who actually did it, Rockford, sometimes with Rita in tow, steps in to do it. It has them crossing paths with a medical devices salesman (Robin Gammell), the dead surgeon's tennis-playing partner (Robert Loggia) and his martini-swilling wife (Sharon Acker), and a vengeful mobster (Abe Vigoda]) who is in great pain. With John Karlen, William Joyce, Jason Wingreen and Ron Gilbert.
92	3	"The Jersey Bounce"	William Wiard	Story by : Stephen J. Cannell, David Chase and Juanita Bartlett Teleplay by : David Chase	October 6, 1978
Rockford is the prime suspect in the murder of a friend of Rocky's new neighbors, stupid punks from New Jersey who aspire to becoming successful criminals. As Beth Davenport no longer works for the law firm that represents Rockford, Jim is sent Wade Ward (Sorrell Booke) to be his defense attorney. However Ward is much more interested in an anti-trust case he's working on at the same time. Jim instead gets help from John Cooper (Bo Hopkins), a disbarred lawyer now working as a legal researcher. With Greg Antonacci, Gene Davis and Luke Andreas.
93	4	"White on White and Nearly Perfect"	Stephen J. Cannell	Stephen J. Cannell	October 20, 1978
While two hoods do their best to make an aging ex-mobster (Peter Brocco) comfortable aboard an abandoned ship in the harbor, Rockford is called in to investigate the kidnapping of the daughter of the head of a weapons conglomerate. To Rockford's chagrin, also called in is the very personable Lance White (Tom Selleck), an investigator whose starry-eyed all-American manner Rockford has no time for, especially since Lance somehow always solves his cases, gets paid and gets the girl. With Jason Evers, Bill Quinn, Eddie Fontaine, Karen Austin and Raynold Gideon.
94	5	"Kill the Messenger"	Ivan Dixon	Juanita Bartlett	October 27, 1978
Dennis Becker (Joe Santos), about to take his lieutenant's exam, is assigned a potentially career-ruining case. He has to investigate the murder of the wife of the deputy police chief (Byron Morrow), which will require him to ask embarrassing questions about their private lives. Becker's wife, Peggy (Pat Finley), gets Jim to help, but everything he discovers seems to point to the deputy chief. With Ed Harris in his first notable role, also with W.K. Stratton, Nancy Parsons and Alex Colon.
95	6	"A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights"	William Wiard	Rudolph Borchert	November 3, 1978
Rockford's retainer agreement requires him to accept his next assignment, babysitting a headstrong ex-policeman turned actor/writer, Frank Falcone (Hector Elizondo), around whom a line of new toys is about to be launched. However Falcone attracts controversy with everything he does, and when he assaults his policeman ex-partner things fall apart and Rockford loses the yearly income. But there's more involved than mere commerce, at least two hitmen have a contract in town, and there's a connection to Falcone. With Nicolas Coster, James Sikking, Jerry Douglas, Louisa Moritz, James Murtaugh and Patricia Donahue.
96	7	"A Three-Day Affair with a Thirty-Day Escrow"	Ivan Dixon	David Chase	November 10, 1978
Arabs abduct Rockford in the middle of the night and take him to their hotel room to find out where one of his recent clients is. Rockford escapes and tells the police, but Lieutenant Chapman wants nothing to do with it. Rockford tries to track down the client, Sean Innis (Richard Romanus), thinking he might be in danger, but Innis gets wind of it and sends a thug to ambush Rockford and find out what's up. It turns out to be connected to an expensive property sale and the Arab woman, Khedra Azziz (Maria Grimm) Innis fell in love with. When Khedra's husband is killed, the gigilo-for-hire Innis looks good for the murder and Khedra is targeted by the headmen in her family for an “honor killing”. The two of them, Rockford and the head of a real estate company find themselves on a plane about to fly to the Middle East, where all the grievances will be addressed. Episode includes Richard Moll in one of his earliest roles. Also with Robert Alda, Joshua Bryant, Janis Paige, Andrew Masset and Gilbert Green.
97	8	"The Empty Frame"	Corey Allen	Stephen J. Cannell	November 17, 1978
A swanky party of the city's elites is held up by three revolution-spouting radicals who strip all the male guests of their pants before taking off with some choice art works. The host, fearful that the embarrassed police are anxious to bury the case (as many of their top officers, including Lieutenant Chapman (James Luisi), were providing security at the party), hires Rockford to investigate. He had also attended, thanks to an invitation by Angel, who suddenly has become very well connected. Chapman bends over backwards in asking Rockford for help in the investigation. Meanwhile the robbers have their own problems: their escape plan didn’t pan out, they cannot get a good price for the stolen art, one of them has to stay in town because he is on parole, and only their leader still believes in their political cause. With Jonathan Goldsmith, Eddie Ryder, Paul Carr, Lee Delano, Milt Kogan, Dale Robinette and Richard Seff.
98 99	9 10	"Black Mirror"	Arnold Laven	David Chase	November 24, 1978
Rockford falls in love with blind psychologist Megan Dougherty (Kathryn Harrold), who is being subjected to increasingly worrisome harassment and personal attacks. She does not believe the culprit could be any of her patients, so refuses to compromise their confidentiality. Rockford's attention falls on the meek Danny Green (John Pleshette), but Megan insists Green's personality isn’t that of a stalker. However Green goes by another identity, the hostile Jackie Tetuska. Megan and another expert think Green/Tetuska is a split personality, but Rockford suspects Tetuska is a very calculating hired killer who took Megan as his psychologist as part of a fallback plan should he ever get caught. With Carl Franklin, Allan Arbus, Leo Gordon, Denny Miller and John Howard.
100	11	"A Fast Count"	Reza Badiyi	Gordon Dawson	December 1, 1978
TV personality Ruth Beetson-White (Mary Frann) is the power broker in the local boxing scene. Rockford owns a 2.5% share in a promising young fighter Jesus Hernandez (Steven Bauer), but since Jesus is shut out of the televised matches the investment is useless. When Rockford complains to Hernandez's trainer-manager, Morry Hawthorne (Kenneth McMillan), he learns that Morry is up to his ears in fraud and bribery allegations. Rockford comes to believe the troubles were all part of a Beetson-White setup to gain control of Hernandez. With Bert Kramer, Carl Anderson, Don Starr, Len Wayland and Lawrence P. Casey.
101	12	"Local Man Eaten by Newspaper"	Meta Rosenberg	Juanita Bartlett	December 8, 1978
A doctor to the stars hires Rockford to investigate how a National Enquirer-like publication got its hands on the private medical information of some of his clients. Rockford takes a job under a fake name as a reporter for the newsrag, but when his cover is blown the paper prints all the negative information it has about him. Shortly afterwards the doctor is killed when his office is broken into. The paper had previously published a story that a leading local mobster (Gianni Russo) is suffering from a serious cancer, which has set off family intrigues to eliminate and succeed him. In that way Rockford's and the mobster's problems become connected. With Scott Brady, Bo Hopkins, Kenneth Tigar, Rose Gregorio, Scott Marlowe, Harlee McBride, Pat Renella and Joe E. Tata.
102	13	"If the French Heel is Back, Can the Nehru Jacket Be Far Behind?"	Ivan Dixon	Rudolph Borchert	January 5, 1979
Carol, a fashion model ex-girlfriend of Rockford, telephones him panic-stricken one night, but by the time he gets to her hotel room she is already dead in what the police have called a suicide. Rockford strongly disagrees, but Dennis Becker cannot look into the case because he is tied up in the same-night murder of another model. Leaving the police station, Rockford hears a woman (Erin Gray) angrily disputing that Carol killed herself, and the two become friends. The next day Rockford is hired by an aloof fashion designer (Rene Auberjonois) to investigate his theory, that Carol was being pressured by a rival design house to reveal the secrets of his latest clothing line. It gets Rockford looking into the haute couture ‘rag business’, complete with loan sharks, mobsters and superegos. With Michael Des Barres, Marisa Pavan, Howard Witt, Marguerite Ray, Chris DeRose and W.K. Stratton.
103	14	"The Battle-Ax and the Exploding Cigar"	Ivan Dixon	Story by : Mann Rubin and Michael Wagner Teleplay by : Rogers Turrentine	January 12, 1979
Rockford is left facing the rap when, returning from a losing gambling trip in Las Vegas that was so bad a casino is hanging onto his car, he accepts a ride from a windbag, Bernard Petrankus (Sully Boyar), and is behind the wheel of his Cadillac when it is pulled over by police and its trunk is found full of illegal weapons. When Rockford tries to get out from under he learns there is no record of his arrest statement, and the stenographer who took it is missing. Jim teams up with Mrs. Bateman (Marge Redmond), the head of the office steno pool, to search for her. Together they find themselves involved with a hornet's nest of government spooks, including the CIA-like agency that is selling defective weapons to guerillas, and the FBI-like agency that is working against it. With Lane Smith, Charles Weldon, Roscoe Born, Glenn Corbett, Mitzi Hoag and Lawrence P. Casey.
104	15	"Guilt"	William Wiard	Juanita Bartlett	January 19, 1979
An old girlfriend of Rockford's, Valerie Pointer (Pat Crowley), is being terrorized, and Jim feels obligated to help. Then a woman who calls herself Jean Ludwig (Elisabeth Brooks) tries in vain to hire Jim for $500 a day to keep him occupied so he won't have time to help Valerie. Rockford turns up several people who have a reason to dislike Valerie, and others who have their own agendas and secrets. With Ted Shackelford, Rita Gam, Eldon Quick, Robert Quarry and James Carroll.
105	16	"The Deuce"	Bernard McEveety	Gordon Dawson	January 26, 1979
Rockford is on a jury hearing a case about a habitual drunken driver, George Bassett (Mills Watson), accused of causing the death of a woman while driving drunk. Despite intense peer pressure Jim sticks to his not guilty vote, which results in a hung jury. The grateful Bassett and his wife hire Jim to solve the case, which gets Rockford on the prosecuting D.A.'s hit list. Rockford discovers that the dead woman was not killed as the police initially thought, which gets both he and Bassett targeted for murder. With Margaret Blye, Richard Kelton, Sharon Spelman, James Karen and Robert Sampson.
106	17	"The Man Who Saw the Alligators"	Corey Allen	David Chase	February 10, 1979
Twisted hitman Anthony Gagglio (George Loros) has been released from prison, and he is obsessed with getting even with Rockford. He and his armed buddy force Angel (Stuart Margolin) to tell them where Jim is, then catch up with Jim, Jim's tax advisor and Angel (who had gone to warn Jim) at a remote cabin. As Gagglio and Rockford argue a couple of mobsters show up intending to kill Gagglio. When the mobsters shoot Gagglio's buddy it forces Jim and Gagglio to work together to get rid of the hoods, and only then will they be able to tangle with each other. With Joseph V. Perry, Sharon Acker, Howard Honig, Joseph Sirola, Pennys Santon, Luke Andreas and Joey Aresco.
107	18	"The Return of the Black Shadow"	William Wiard	Stephen J. Cannell	February 17, 1979
Rockford's friend John Cooper (Bo Hopkins) revives an unpleasant side of his youth to go after the motorcycle gang that brutally assaulted his sister (Laurie Jefferson) while she and Jim were on a road trip. While Cooper plots his revenge the gang's leader Paul Koslo has his own plans, to run riot over a picnic hosted by his ex-buddies from the gang's old days, who have become respectable businessmen and have forcibly told him to shut it down. With Dennis Burkley, Noah Keen, Joseph Burke, Andy Jarrell, Ken A. Anderson and Jerry Ayres.
108	19	"A Material Difference"	William Wiard	Rogers Turrentine	February 24, 1979
Angel figures he has come up with a great con, he will pretend to be a hitman and then will disappear after receiving the front money. Rockford gets dragged into Angel's first contract and someone ends up dead. Rockford, with Angel dragged along, has to deal with Russian spies who are very interested in blue jeans, Office of Naval Intelligence agents who refuse to share information with Becker, and a very interesting dentist's office. With Joshua Bryant, David Tress, Rod Browning, Michael Alldredge and Michael McGuire.
109 110	20 21	"Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job"	William Wiard	Juanita Bartlett	March 3, 1979
The show's nod to The Sting. The father (Harold Gould) of youthful P.I. Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan) is assaulted to get him to sign over his company to crooked businessman Harold Jack Coombs (Robert Webber) for a fraction of its actual worth. Richie gets Rockford's help in orchestrating an elaborate con that will get his father the actual value of his lost assets. But the con has many moving parts, starting with Rockford adopting his Jimmy-Joe Meeker persona and winning Coombs’ fancy race car in a one-on-one duel at the track. There's also an auction of ancient artifacts to be staged, a national King Tut exhibit to plan, and the strangulation deaths of several people to arrange. All this will require many good conmen – and one outstanding con woman, Odette Lependieu (Trisha Noble) – to pull off. With Pepper Martin, Kim Hunter, Gary Crosby, Jack Collins, Stanley Brock and David Hooks.
111	22	"A Different Drummer"	Reza Badiyi	Rudolph Borchert	April 13, 1979
Inspired by Coma. Recovering from an accident in hospital, Rockford sees a cadaver's arm moving just as an organ is being removed from elsewhere in the body. When Rockford questions it his doubts are almost assuaged by the operating surgeon, the charming Dr. Lee Yost (John Considine). Still, Rockford wonders why Yost's organ clinic is a for-profit operation. Rockford pretends to be a friend of Yost and talks to his parents, but they threaten him and say they were on to him from the start, as they know their son is incapable of forming friendships. Then Rockford's car develops a problem, which may have been an attempt to kill him. How much of a psychopath is Yost? Jesse Welles portrays Yost's gullible secretary, Reni Santoni portrays an asylym inmate who was first to see Yost's true nature. With Carmen Argenziano, Walter Brooke, David S. Cass Sr., Harlan Warde, Fritzi Burr and Ray Stricklyn.