The best detective show of the era. Great cast good writing and Rockford wasn't beating the crap out of people all the time like Chuck Norris. He was human, and his friends seemed very real. The villains were well done also not supermen like so many today.  Many recurring characters like Stuart Margollin, Isaac Hayes, Rita Moreno, and many others. Tom Selleck got his big start as Lance the amatuer detective that was always showing Jim up.

Great show, chemistry was excellant between all the actors. Exciting show and fun to watch.

Love the theme to the show.

this is one of the better detective shows.

I thought this was one of the better network shows ever. I never missed it when it was playing, and I still try to catch the occasional repeat.

I think it has traveled well even after 25+ years. The cast of characters was first rate.

The Rockford Files was one of the smartest, funniest, action-packed T.V. shows of all-time. James Gardner was great as Jim Rockford and the rest of the cast was great as well. There guest stars were A-list: James Woods, Ed Harris, Rick Springfield, Jackie Cooper, Lindsey Wagner, Issac Hayes, Robert Webber and many more. The show lasted six seasons and could have gone longer, but James Gardner had enough and called it quits in 1980.

James Garner was great in this show and it always had great story lines with just enough comedy.

I love the theme song/music...the show itself never really sucked me in...but that's not me saying it was a bad show.

I liked this show, Garner has always been a little underrated, Angel was cool, and I even liked the theme song. My favorite detective show from that era was one I wasn't aware of then as I was too young- a shortlived supernatural detective show with Darren McGavin called "Kolchak The Night Stalker" that I've been catching up with. McGavin has some great lines in those shows, and Simon Oakland as his editor was excellent and funny too.

Cop, detective, and PI shows were really popular in the 70s and some of them rocked the ratings, but, this one I found profoundly boring.

For a television series that started over 30 years ago (i.e. 1974), "The Rockford Files" has really held up well in my opinion. Obviously the production and color is dated, but the show was extremely well written, including elements of humor and drama. As other reviewers have noted, Rockford (James Garner) was a believable character with real human flaws and problems, namely a nagging father, shifty friends, and deadbeat clients. Rockford also lost more than a few fights, relying more on intelligence rather than guns and brawn. The casting was also impeccable, with Garner, Stuart Margolin as ex-con Angel, and Noah Beery, Jr. as Rockford's father. All of this makes "The Rockford Files" still enjoyable today and clearly a five star series.

This is what the world (sorry, non-Americans) really looked like in the 1970s - Firebirds with white walls, houndstooth sportcoats, cigarettes and strip malls. Loved this show.

Still one of my all time favorite shows!

I just like James Garner, I even watched 8 simple rules!!! Actually a very entertaining detective show in a sea of many of such at that time.

Still just the male equivilant of suzanne summers,this tedious snorefest should have been just a bad idea on crumbled piece of paper in whoever wrote its trash basket.James Garner became a real actor once he started getting old unlike the hapless skank Suzanne Summers who prostitutes herslf pitching wothless products destined to be first hidden under beds never to be used again in driveways across america in garage sales never to be bought again.

even though i think james garner is a good actor i never really liked this show.it was boring to me.

Well I see there's only a few reviews here...I guess this show is somewhat dated but I still enjoy it because it filmed on location here in Los Angeles. I don't see why people watch these stupid comedy shows...the sets all look so phoney. It would cost a lot of money to produce a show like this today !!

I liked this quite a bit the first time round and caught it recently on syndication. Was surprised to find that it holds up pretty well. Good cast, well written and not as stupid as most TV detective shows.

No American actor in the second half of the 20th century captured the male psyche with such pitch-perfect machismo and sensitivity as James Garner. The Rockford Files is his magnum opus.

really good show. james garner is great

Huh? Well, like my Mama used to say an opinion is like an a$$hole (everybody has one)...

Good crime detective show. James Garner was great as Jim Rockford the easy going smart detective. this show could be both drama and funny at times too. I remember it being one of the more well done shows of the 1970s. I loved the fact that things did not always go so great for Jim Rockford and the way he handled it.

A great show, they had some really good writers. And of course a lot of it is filmed outside on location something seldom done today.

BEST show ever!!!! Impossible to beat this show....

Back in the seventies, I really enjoyed watching Rockford get out of jam after jam. Great show!

Wonderful,wonderful.