Even though its a pleasure seeing Lauren Bacall back in action in a detective film, stretching this story into a two parter killed the pace of both these episodes. It would have made a much better story if they'd managed to keep it to one.
Bacall puts in fine performance though, tough, sassy and sexy in a hard boiled way. The scene where she joins Garner in conning some information out of a florist is reminiscent of one of her old scenes with Bogie. Even though she's four years older than Garner (and sorry to say, looks it) they still have a lot of chemistry together.
As an added bonus, Jim's hapless bodyguard friend Charlie Mantel ("Maverick" veteran Leo Gordon) apparently has recovered from the last time Rockford hired him to guard his blind psychiatrist girlfriend--just in time to get beat up and sent back to the hospital again. It's a wonderful running joke that only devoted fans of the series would even pick up.
Bacall puts in fine performance though, tough, sassy and sexy in a hard boiled way. The scene where she joins Garner in conning some information out of a florist is reminiscent of one of her old scenes with Bogie. Even though she's four years older than Garner (and sorry to say, looks it) they still have a lot of chemistry together.
As an added bonus, Jim's hapless bodyguard friend Charlie Mantel ("Maverick" veteran Leo Gordon) apparently has recovered from the last time Rockford hired him to guard his blind psychiatrist girlfriend--just in time to get beat up and sent back to the hospital again. It's a wonderful running joke that only devoted fans of the series would even pick up.