Roundabout

James Garner was really up against it in this Rockford Files Story. He gets hired by a hard nosed insurance executive to find the beneficiary of a &10,000.00 policy. I remember when I was the beneficiary of life insurance I didn't go through half the trouble Rockford did to give Jesse Welles her money. Then again the insurance companies didn't have to look for me.

He finds Welles who is performing in Las Vegas at one of the lesser nightspots. But some syndicate people who own the place and her resent his presence. It doesn't take Garner too long to figure out that her contract and the money she's supposed to be making are part of a syndicate money laundering scheme. Welles is so colossally dumb that she accepts a $200.00 living allowance a week while her manager Ron Rifkin who is all mobbed up controls the rest. That $10,000.00 all of a sudden showing up in her account is apparently bringing too much unwanted attention.

There are two fine performances here from guest stars. Mills Watson plays the insurance executive who hires Rockford and he's a tough customer to deal with. The second is Virginia Gregg as Welles's aunt who wheedles $100.00 out of Rockford for information. She's a tougher customer than Watson and Watson won't pay that tip money unless he has a signed receipt from Rockford.

The life of a PI ain't easy and Rockford's life is anything but.

Rockford is hired to deliver a life insurance check to one Nancy Wade. He finds her without too much difficulty (considering the problems that usually crop up against him). Fine. Who doesn't want a check for ten thousand? Apparently, annoying Nancy Wade doesn't. Why?

She seems to be living on the edge of poverty. But when he finally lassos her he finds she has a sizeable bank account. Then she's kidnapped. Or is she?

Like many early Rockford Files episodes this one is rough around the edges. But the ending, where James Garner, past his first youth, and bad guy Ron Rifkin have their final confrontation, is a classic. It's not something you see at the end of detective shows. It's described by other reviewers, even some who don't label their reviewers with spoilers. That's a shame. It has to be seen. It's not a great episode like "Chicken Little is a Little Chicken," "irving the Explainer," "Real Easy Red Dog" or another Rifkin episode, "The Trouble with Warren," but the ending is one of Rockford's best.

This episode contains several good shots of 1975 Las Vegas. It has several driving and chase scene shots of old downtown Vegas including the famous 4 corners. This is before Vegas closed off the streets downtown and added the current light show overhead. We are also privy to several good shots of the existing hotels on the 1975 "Strip". Many of the hotels shown on the strip no longer exist and have been replaced by newer venues.

The episode closes with foot chase scene shots of the interior of Hoover Dam, from top to bottom. The long and tiring chase appears to not have a lot of "doubles" work, but shows a lot of running by James Garner, bad knee and all.

Classic Rockford.

See other reviews for additional commentary and more information about the story line.

"Roundabout" seems like a very simple case for Jim Rockford. An annoying insurance agent hires him to locate a beneficiary for a policy, as the policy holder has died. However, the case doesn't go simply...and when Rockford eventually finds the woman in Las Vegas, she sure acts strangely...as if she's afraid someone is following her. But he convinces her to come with him to the bank to deposit the check...and then things get really weird.

This is a good episode and it's nice to see the way old Vegas used to look. It also has an unusual story...a major plus.

By the way, this doesn't really change the episode one way or another, but I had a hard time imagining one of the characters being a singer in Vegas...her voice was incredibly thin to say the least.

For this gritty episode, Rockford's on location in Las Vegas searching for a woman in order to hand her an insurance check, but of course, certain factors get in the way of an easy transaction. There's plenty of recognizable faces like Ron Rifkin, Mills Watson, and George Wyner, all having other appearances in this series; Jesse Welles, who played Nancy, was only decent, and she also has guest starred a few other times. The most notable moment for me, personally, was the slick chase on foot between Rockford and Tom Robertson(Rifkin) inside the Hoover Dam of all places, and it probably was real how both men were easily out of breath when Jim eventually catches him, as both had to take a break on the steps. Nancy was a lounge singer somewhere, but was discovered by the crooked Robertson, and signed a contract with him to play in Vegas, but she never saw that much cash to show for it, and he and his goons are skeptical of Rockford's presence. In the end, naturally, the cops catch the bad guys, and soon after, Rockford has that cool chase scene. I wouldn't call this close to one of my favorites, as not many from the early seasons are, but the writing was solid and the story was interesting, as well as the many cool sights.