The Rockford Files (TV Series) Profit and Loss, Part 1: Profit (1974) User Reviews

Profit

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 18 October 2006]

"The Rockford Files" really hit its stride with this two-part episode. Jim's trailer is parked where we'll see the rest of its seasons, the relationships with Rocky, Beth and Dennis are all clarified and solidified, Jim gets beat up and arrested, and doesn't even know what's going on.

The episode begins with Ned Beatty as Leon Fielder, the head of Fiscal Dynamics in a setting very much like the one he was in in "Network". He's very effective as the head of a powerful corporation.

Rockford gets involved when the computer programmer from Fiscal Dynamics comes to him for help. Jim's in the midst of trying to fix his garbage disposal, which seems like a little bit on inconsequential funny business, but in the end turns out to have a key role in the story.

The man who came to him is suddenly taken by force and Jim is beat up and left unconscious. Rocky finds him and we have a key scene that completes the transition of the Rocky character from grifter (as he was written in the pilot and several first season episodes) to mother hen and concerned dad. He's upset, concerned and angry with Jim and Noah Berry plays it very well.

Rockford's in for a surprise when he reports the man kidnapped. The man shows up unharmed and denies the whole story. Fiscal Dynamics presses the police to come down hard on Rockford and nail him for filing a false report. Jim goes to work to find out what in the world he's suddenly involved in.

Among the highlights is the scene between Beatty and Garner in which Fielder tries to intimidate Rockford with his powerful handshake, which Rockford later gets even. Dennis is still a police lieutenant in this episode, and Beth makes a brief appearance getting Jim out of jail. Gretchen Davenport looks sexier and more fetching than ever. A side note--Tracy Bogart, who appears in this episode, also appeared on Garner's previous series, "Nichols".

There's a good mix of mystery, action and humor in this episode that makes watching it again a pleasure.

The Root of All Evil

[dballtwo · 9/10 · 19 May 2019]

If the investors in Enron and Madoff Securities had seen this episode of the Rockford Files, and remembered it, they could have saved themselves a lot of money before those two enterprises folded and took their money with them. This episode, thought up by Roy Huggins and written up by Stephen Cannell, used a lot of the themes of Wall Street swindling before they became all too familiar to the general public. Detective Rockford finds himself coming and going between insiders and outsiders involved in corporate skullduggery that doesn't really interest him, but threatens to land him in jail and bankruptcy court. Great performances by Ned Beatty, Michael Lerner, and Sharon Spelman, all of whom were called back for encores on the Garner show.

Classic detective TV Show - Profit!

[ivo-cobra8 · 9/10 · 14 August 2016]

R.I.P. James Garner (1928 - 2014) you will be always Jim Rockford and you are missed by everyone and you are one of the most underrated actors.

The Rockford Files is a classic 70's detective show created by Roy Huggins and Stephen J. Cannell. Into the detective TV shows I was more into Magnum P.I. , Riptide and Remington Steele. The most shows I was watching as a kid were Knight Rider, The A-Team, The Incredible Hulk and The Six Million Dollar Man. I didn't know nothing about The Rockford Files as a kid and as a teen I was more in to Magnum P.I. more than in The Rockford Files. Today that I am watching the complete first season and I must say I am impressed with this TV show. The Rockford Files is Miles way better than Magnum P.I. ever was. Trough whole Season 1 I haven't saw Jim Rockford killing any person, the show has most of humor. Jim Rockford almost never uses his gun, he almost never kills a baddies. Oh boy life of private investigator is tough and hard, trough whole season I see Jim been punched and been coned. Jim was working alone on a cases and he didn't use his friends to help him to crack his cases down like Magnum did! I hate how some of his clients are coning him for his services and they don't pay him a squad. He is a honest guy, that try's to make living for him self, he also likes to go fishing. I really do miss the 70's and I miss this TV Show.

Season 1 of The Rockford Files is terrific and a classic TV show. The Rockford Files spawned a numerous detective shows because the detective shows in the 80's become very popular.

Profit and Loss (Parts 1 & 2) are two-part stories which are my favorite episodes in the first season and they are terrific and very serious and realistic. I love The Rockford Files and the first season is a classic and Profit is the first episode of the first two part stories.

Plot: A very frightened computer programmer working for Fiscal Dynamics is kidnapped from Jim's trailer before he can hire Rockford to act as his go between with the Feds. After Jim files a police report, the programmer says he never met Jim, who is then charged with filing a false police report. The wife of a former employee of Fiscal Dynamics hires Jim to investigate the suspicious death of her husband.

In this episode a man is kidnapped from Rockford's trail while two goons knocks out Jim and take the man away. Jim makes a police report but the computer executive turns up alive, telling the district attorney he never saw Rockford, and the wife denies ever being worried about anything, Rockford finds that his aggravation is only beginning. Rockford finds him self for 4 till 6 months of jail for falsely report and when he starts investigating the company Fiscal Dynamics, president and the owner Leon Fielder (Ned Beatty) of the company threatening Jim with a law suit of $10,000,000. A woman Doris Parker (Sharon Spelman) hires Jim to investigate the company, because the leader of top dogs Leon Fielder is responsible for her husband's dead, so the two investigate the company.

This episode is really dark with a twist, James Garner expertly takes Rockford, and the viewers, on a fascinating trip through this episode's twists and turns. The big risk in a two-parter is that there will be excessive padding, a pitfall "Profit and Loss" deftly avoids.

This episode get's 9 out of 10 I enjoy it, but not as much I have enjoy part II. James Garner was incredible as Detective Rockford!

The Rockford Files is an American television drama series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974, and January 10, 1980, and has remained in syndication to the present day. Garner portrays Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford with Noah Beery, Jr., in the supporting role of his father, a retired truck driver nicknamed "Rocky".

9/10 Grade: A+ Studio: Universal Television Starring: James Garner, Noah Beery Jr., Ned Beatty, Sharon Spelman,Joe Santos, Gretchen Corbett Director: Lawrence Doheny Producers: Stephen J. Cannell, William F. Phillips, Meta Rosenberg, Jo Swerling Jr. Screenplay: Stephen J. Cannell, Roy Huggins Rated: R Running Time: 50 minutes

Almost perfect

[stones78 · 12 November 2014]

This was the first "two-parter" of the great series, and while it was a very solid entry, I did detect some flaws that prevented it from becoming a terrific segment. This was still an episode I'd recommend, and while I don't particularly like many episodes from the first season, I'd have no trouble recommending this one. There were many familiar faces which included Michael Lerner, Val Bisoglio, Ned Beatty, a mediocre Sharon Spelman, and the first appearance of Rocky's friend L.J., played by Al Stevenson; Beth and Dennis had a scene or two, and there was several scenes with Rocky, which is always good. There was also several great shots of the Firebird, the beach, the trailer, and even the rare shot of Rockford with his fishing gear. Even more rare is the introduction of part 2 with narration by James Garner himself, which I didn't really expect. There were some aspects that didn't hold up for me, especially how/why Mr. and Mrs. Morris were absent for the entire latter segment, considering they were the ones who asked for Rockford's help in the first place. I also thought Rockford and Doris were acting way too cool when the police were chasing them after a building's alarm went off, and I found it odd that Doris kisses Rocky in the jail at the end of the episode, as she didn't even meet him until then. Don't let my negative comments outweigh what was otherwise a very good episode, with solid writing also.

An early 2-part episode that will hold your interest throughout !

[ronnybee2112 · 8/10 · 18 March 2023]

This is a very-good first part of a solid 2-part show. As far as being entertaining and fast-moving this is a definite winner. The tale itself is sinister and frighteningly-creepy. The various players in this strange story are obviously very-serious and very dangerous. Exactly what is really going-on here is hard to tell,as the details are rather murky indeed. This first-half here is a great introduction and set-up of the whole-story,and the complete story we eventually do get-to see is an awful-lot to digest.

At the time this episode was made,the events depicted in this episode would have been considered rather far-fetched and unlikely. Today,everyone pretty-much knows and accepts that this type of stuff really-is going-on all of the time. This tale here is another 'one of many' examples of the Rockford Files tv series being way-ahead of it's time when it comes to social and criminal matters.

I enjoyed watching both halves of this rather engaging tale!

I say 8/10,this is a great,earlier 2-part episode!

A tentative client

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 4 November 2014]

An officer of Ned Beatty's company Fiscal Dynamics comes to the Rockford Trailer and is looking to hire James Garner. But Garner can't get any information out of him, not even his real name. But John Carter has good reason to be scared and Garner sees that well enough when two thugs come into his trailer, knock him out and spirit Carter away.

Others might forget and certainly Garner has no reason to pursue this case, but getting beat up by a pair of thugs will tend to set some people off. He finds out about Fiscal Dynamics and its president Ned Beatty a most paranoid individual.

But he gains another client in Sharon Spelman and there's a murder of a man who owned a printing shop Val Bisoglio that Spelman swears is connected to the goings on at Beatty's company. Her own husband was killed in an automobile crash that she says was suspicious.

The two part story leaves off with a tentative alliance with Spelman and Garner.