The Rockford Files (season 5)

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

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.

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
Rockford investigates an operation smuggling sausages from Mexico. It starts out with Rocky driving a nonunion big rig at high speed and two cars block his path resulting in a wreck. The DMV takes his license and Jim investigates in order to reinstate his license and reinstate him with the union. They have nothing to go on except a package of sausages, and the company doesn't exist. But Jim sees a TV commercial about the sausages and visits country western singer Charlie Strayhorn (Taylor Lacher), whom he recognizes. Jim and Charlie team up to investigate. They fly to the site of the American sausage factory in Charlie's Lear jet and find nothing but a trailer with a telephone and a fax machine. A Chinese mafia called the Triad seems to be running the operation, which causes a deadly war between the Triad and the trucker's union.
91	2	"Rosendahl and Gilda Stern Are Dead"	William Wiard	Juanita Bartlett	September 29, 1978
Rita Capkovic is accused of murder.
92	3	"The Jersey Bounce"	William Wiard	Teleplay: David Chase Story: Stephen J. Cannell, David Chase and Juanita Bartlett	October 6, 1978
Rockford is the prime suspect in the murder next door to Rocky's house of a hooligan because of bad feeling between him and the New Jersey hooligans who live there. Beth Davenport no longer works for the law firm Hartcourt and Low, and Jim was sent Wade Ward, a real turkey, as a defense attorney. Jim gets help from John Cooper (Bo Hopkins), a legal researcher.
93	4	"White on White and Nearly Perfect"	Stephen J. Cannell	Stephen J. Cannell	October 20, 1978
Rockford meets up again with another detective, Lance White (Tom Selleck), whose halo effect is off the charts. He's the type who always gets the girl, and, well, he does.
94	5	"Kill the Messenger"	Ivan Dixon	Juanita Bartlett	October 27, 1978
Becker is unable to study for his lieutenant's exam. Episode includes one of the first, if not the first-ever, featured role for Ed Harris.
95	6	"The Empty Frame"	Corey Allen	Stephen J. Cannell	November 3, 1978
Rockford annoys the police with his investigation of an art theft at a party.
96	7	"A Three-Day Affair with a Thirty-Day Escrow"	Ivan Dixon	David Chase	November 10, 1978
Arabs think Rockford has information they want, putting Rockford in a situation where he has to try to prevent an "honor killing" in a Muslim family. Episode includes Richard Moll in one of his earliest featured roles.
97	8	"A Good Clean Bust with Sequel Rights"	William Wiard	Rudolph Borchert	November 17, 1978
A writer who was once a cop keeps getting into trouble.
98/99	9/10	"Black Mirror, (Parts 1 & 2)"	Arnold Laven	David Chase	November 24, 1978
Rockford falls for a blind psychologist (Kathryn Harrold) who's being targeted by a psychopath.
100	11	"A Fast Count"	Reza Badiyi	Gordon Dawson	December 1, 1978
A TV personality plots to set up a boxer's manager.
101	12	"Local Man Eaten by Newspaper"	Meta Rosenberg	Juanita Bartlett	December 8, 1978
Rockford faces obstacles when he investigates a shooting.
102	13	"With the French Heel Back, Can the Nehru Jacket Be Far Behind?"	Ivan Dixon	Rudolph Borchert	January 5, 1979
Rockford investigates what appears to be a suicide when a homicide is committed.
103	14	"The Battle-Ax and the Exploding Cigar"	Ivan Dixon	Teleplay: Rogers Turrentine Story: Mann Rubin and Michael Wagner	January 12, 1979
Rockford hitches a ride in a Cadillac that is stopped by the cops (while Jim is driving) because it's stolen. When they search the trunk they find suspicious cargo and both are arrested, and Jim falls into a hornets nest of Federal agents. There are good Feds (FBI) and bad Feds (CIA). The other man in the car is working for the CIA, who engineer his release by kidnapping Stacey, the secretary who took the his deposition that would have exonerated Rockford. Jim and Mrs. Bateman ("The Battle-Ax") team up to find Stacey. Mrs. Bateman is Stacey's boss. Inspired by Three Days of the Condor. The chief bad Fed is CIA Agent Donnegan (Lane Smith). The chief good Fed is FBI agent Spelling (Glenn Corbett). The "Exploding Cigars" are defective weapons being sold to the Commies by the CIA in a sting operation. Nice climax with the FBI arresting the CIA as they load the guns onto a ship. Mrs. Eleanor Bateman is played by Marge Redmond.
104	15	"Guilt"	William Wiard	Juanita Bartlett	January 19, 1979
An old girlfriend of Rockford's, Valerie Pointer (Pat Crowley), is being terrorized. A woman who calls herself Jean Ludwig (Elisabeth Brooks) tries in vain to hire Jim for $500 a day to keep him occupied, so that he won't have time to help Valerie. Nice helicopter chase as one of the would-be killers follows Rockford's car. This episode is one of the rare episodes where the answering machine message in the opening credits is referenced in the episode.
105	16	"The Deuce"	Bernard McEveety	Gordon Dawson	January 26, 1979
Juror Rockford defends a habitual drunken driver, George Bassett (Mills Watson), accused of causing the death of a woman, Betsy Pruitt. George Bassett was set up by two men who used him as a murder weapon to kill Betsy Pruitt, and you are shown this in the first scene. Jim votes not guilty resulting in a hung jury, and the grateful George Bassett and his wife hire Jim to solve the case. Sharon Spelman plays Karen Hathaway, George Bassett's grateful defense attorney. The episode was written to point out the importance of taking jury duty seriously, as Rockford and Karen Hathaway discuss the topic at the end of the episode.
106	17	"The Man Who Saw the Alligators"	Corey Allen	David Chase	February 10, 1979
Angel reveals Rockford's location to a thug working for the syndicate. James Garner has limited screen time in this 90-minute episode that focuses mostly on the other characters.
107	18	"The Return of the Black Shadow"	William Wiard	Stephen J. Cannell	February 17, 1979
Rockford's friend, John Cooper, goes after the motorcycle gang that hurt his sister and Rockford. This episodes focuses mostly on the on John Cooper character.
108	19	"A Material Difference"	William Wiard	Rogers Turrentine	February 24, 1979
Angel accepts an advance on his job as a hit man with no intention of fulfulling his contract. In this hilarious episode there are Russian spies, a formula for blue jeans, and ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) agents. The "material" is denim.
109/110	20/21	"Never Send a Boy King to Do a Man's Job, (Parts 1 & 2)"	William Wiard	Juanita Bartlett	March 3, 1979
Novice P.I. Richie Brockelman (Dennis Dugan) makes another appearance when he hires Rockford to con a con artist. The mark is Harold Jack Coombs, played by Robert Webber. Inspired by The Sting, the episode also includes one of the co-stars of The Sting, Harold Gould. The "Boy King" is King Tut.
111	22	"A Different Drummer"	Reza Badiyi	Rudolph Borchert	April 13, 1979
While in the hospital after an accident, Rockford thinks he sees a cadaver's arm moving just as an organ is being removed. (Inspired by Coma). John Considine plays the psychopath Dr. Lee Yost, who kills people for their organs, and Jesse Welles plays Sorel Henderson, his mentally challenged secretary.