The Rockford Files (TV Series) New Life, Old Dragons (1977) User Reviews

A Vietnamese Jackpot

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 5 November 2012]

In this episode of The Rockford Files Irene Yah-Ling Sun comes into James Garner's life as he's having a running argument with Noah Beery Jr. about his trailer needing painting. She pulls out a wad of cash and asks Garner to locate her missing brother Jim Ishida, but no police involved. The pidgin English she's speaking is eventually dropped and the rule about when the client asks for no police, usually cops had better be on hand.

Fortunately Joe Santos as Sgt. Dennis Becker, Rockford's friend in the LAPD is. As it turns out the brother and sister who are refugees from the Vietnam War have run off with some money that got lost in those last days before Saigon fell. Charles Napier and a group of former Rangers want it and John Callahan who's playing a lone hand wants it as well. Let's say neither are acting officially.

Watching The Rockford Files you often wonder if James Garner ever has a straight out investigation with no wrinkles that put him into so many jackpots. Then if he did the show would never have been so much fun.

A good episode

[mm-39 · 8/10 · 23 November 2011]

New Life, Old Dragons is one of my favourite episodes! Jim Rockford gets into trouble again trying to find a client's brother. The story involves a Vietnamese immigrant, loss money from the war, and people who want to get the cash! The episode is well casted, with Jim's dad Rocky being himself. Charles Napier always plays the heavy. Dennis is his cynical self. Jim pulls a few smooth moves in this episode. The show is formulated as always with Jim being the hero in the end. There is always conflict between Rocky and Jim. Rocky wants to paint the trailer and Jim is happy with the ugly status quo. Dennis comes to the rescue at the end. I give this episode an eight out of ten.

Good Morning, Vietnam

[zsenorsock · 6/10 · 27 December 2006]

Kind of a forgettable episode of the series, "New Life, Old Dragons" has Rockford searching for Vihn (Jim Ishida) the missing brother of Vietnamese refugee Mai (Irene Yah-Ling-Sun). As it turns out, a couple of Vietnam vets are also looking for Vinh, including Charles Napier (who always does a great job playing a sadistic goon in his "Rockford" appearances). Vihn apparently is the key to $500,000 in cash scammed before the fall of South Vietnam.

There's not a lot of comedy in this episode and even though the story is ripped right out of the headlines at the time, it falls flat seen 30 years later. It's not written by any of the regular "Rockford" writers and despite whatever staff rewrites they may have done, the episode comes off as less than memorable.

There is another rare appearance of Rocky's friend L.J. who Rocky brings over to help paint Jim's trailer (an ongoing story in this episode) but not much else.

Paint that trailer, Jim

[stones78 · 29 July 2011]

In a serious episode about a Vietnamese woman trying to locate her brother, who's in serious trouble, there's a running gag about Rocky wanting to have Jim paint his old trailer. Back to the main premise, Rockford is hired by this woman and she has enough cash to lure him to take on her case, no matter how she keeps leading Jim in different directions; she also doesn't want the police involved at all, despite Rockford's persistence. The brother, who's named Vinh, helped himself to $500,000 in a botched transaction in the Vietnam war, although I don't think he technically stole the money. I think he worked as a liaison between Vietnamese and American soldiers in their dealings, and now the old American soldiers want that missing cash and hold him hostage until they get their hands on it. Look for a couple familiar faces in Charles Napier and Clyde Kusatsu, whose mugs you'll probably recognize. It's nice having some scenes with Rocky and Dennis, and there's even a cool scene at a taco stand, which we all know is Jim's favorite snack. The sister's(Mai)act gets a little tiresome at times, and it even frustrates Rockford, but eventually the cops get involved and all the wrongs are righted, and Jim's trailer is soon to get a paint job. I disagree with the other poster who said this episode was basically weak and unfunny, as I thought it had some funny moments and many good scenes as well.

Not as simple as it seems...

[MoneyMagnet · 7/10 · 14 October 2014]

I have to admit, when I first watched this episode I skipped over it midway through because I found it a little trite/annoying having a helpless Vietnamese woman speaking in extremely broken English begging Jim for help to find her brother. Talk about clichéd defenseless female! I chalked it up to "well, not every episode can be great" and moved on.

Well, silly me. If I'd just bothered to stick with the episode, I would have seen that everything was not as it seemed, and that it was a pretty intelligently written story with a couple of twists! Good thing I decided to give it another try. The Vietnamese girl speaks excellent English, and she definitely has something big to hide. There's a pretty brutal murder (the architect's wife) and Jim has to do some quick wheeler dealing to make sure everything turns out all right in the end. I don't know why I assumed that the episode was going to be dumb; true to Rockford Files form, it wasn't clichéd at all.

A rather farfetched and silly episode

[ronnybee2112 · 6/10 · 26 January 2023]

This is an undeniably weak episode from the word 'go'.

The plot and the basic story are quite weak and pretty farfetched,and in my opinion this episode just doesn't ring true at all.

This episode still does manage to have some entertainment value, and it is probably not the very-worst episode in the series,but this episode just isn't up to the usual high-standards that this show was so well-known for.

Unfortunately,I cannot give this episode more than 6/10.

I didn't like this episode very-much on the first viewing,and subsequent viewings have only served to reinforce my bad opinion of this episode.

Check this out and see for yourself,and let us know what you think about it !

Two years after the fall of Saigon

[safenoe · 7/10 · 14 August 2020]

Two years before the release of Apocalypse Now, we have New Life, Old Dragons. Jim helps Pham Vam Mai find her brother. This is an intriguing episode, broadcast just two years before the fall of Saigon. Rockford has a heart as he is persuaded to find the brother.