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THE ROCKFORD FILES SEASON 1 There have been tougher, more polished private eyes on TV than Jim Rockford (James Garner) but none as cool. Rockford was a classic '70s outlaw antihero: a roguish, check-bouncing ex-con (wrongly convicted) who lived in a trailer and was nearly as great a pain to the cops as to the crooks he nabbed. The cases and car chases were not anything special; Rockford's raffish sense of humor and ability to fast-talk his way out of any jam were. Garner's insouciance bursts off the screen like a Pontiac Firebird flying off a ramp.