ROCKFORD FILES, THE: THE PAPER PALACE (TV)

Summary

One in this series of dramas about the cases of private detective Jim Rockford, an ex-convict who was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit and who gets involved in cases his self-protective instincts tell him to avoid.

Rita Capkovich, a prostitute and police informant, is released from prison by Becker, although she is unhappy that she seems to be treated with disregard or disdain by the police, who constantly mock her due to her background. Jim comes around to the police station looking for Becker, but he sends him away. Rita confides in Becker that she feels intense loneliness, and Becker offers to alleviate that by trying to befriend her. However, she feels that the nature of their interactions precludes such a possibility. She offers to come over and meet his family, although Becker seems nervous at the prospect. He takes the opportunity to invite her over to a small party thrown by his wife Peggy, although she is furious at Becker when she learns about Rita’s line of work. Becker convinces her to conceal her anger for the time being, and Rita sits next to Jim at the party. Rita ends up unintentionally making other party guests, Sid and Eleanor Loft, uncomfortable with inappropriate conversation. She claims that she is a model, and the other guests imply that Rita is a prostitute in an indirect way before departing. Jim, however, stays to keep Rita company.

After the party, Jim drives Rita home. She recounts a recent incident in which she was chased to her apartment by two unknown French-speaking men. She and Jim seem to genuinely like each other, and they promise to see each other again. As Jim leaves, he notices a car pulling up to Rita’s apartment building in a hurry and turns around to investigate. He rushes in to her apartment to find her being accosted by two men, and he tries to rescue her. He is knocked unconscious and the two men flee when Rita screams for the police. She helps him recover and says that she has no idea why she is being attacked. The next morning Jim and Rita go to the police station to report the incident to Becker. He is dismissive of their complaint due to the lack of specific identifications for the suspects, but promises to investigate and advises her not to return to her apartment for the time being. He asks Jim to make sure she gets safely checked in to a hotel. While exiting the police station, Rita offers to hire Jim to discover the identity of her attackers. Jim tries to decline due to Rita’s insufficient funds and his belief that Becker will be able to follow through on his investigation. However, Rita is afraid for her life and feels as though Becker will be too mired in red tape to be of any assistance. Jim reluctantly takes on her case.

They first visit Rita’s acquaintance, an old woman named Maggie, in order to stay with her for a few days. She and Jim meet Maggie’s friends Burton Woodruff and Dr. Henry Helpern. Burton and Dr. Halpern leave as Rita and Jim inform Maggie that she intends to hide out there while Jim stakes out her apartment. Jim fends off various men seeking out Rita. The two French-speaking men infiltrate Maggie’s house while Rita is out and shoot Maggie dead before driving off. Rita finds her and calls in Jim and the police; Woodruff comes as well to identify Maggie’s body. Rita blames herself for Maggie’s death despite Jim’s assertions to the contrary. He believes Rita’s life is put in further danger by this incident and promises to keep her safe. He takes her to stay with Rocky and calls Becker about the investigation, but finds that no progress has been made. The next day, Becker tells Jim and Rita that the suspects’ car was reported stolen not long beforehand. Becker’s boss, the irate Lieutenant Doug Chapman, calls Jim, Rita, and Becker into his office. They try to explain to him that Maggie’s husband once owned the Ottawa Otters, a French Canadian hockey team, and this might provide some sort of clue to the attackers’ identities. However, Chapman is too preoccupied with Rita’s prior arrest record and work as a prostitute to pay attention to them. He blames Rita for Maggie’s death and in retaliation takes Becker off the case and throws Jim and Rita out of the police station.

Rita tells Jim that Woodruff was once Maggie’s husband’s business partner and remained close with the family even after his death. Jim becomes curious when he learns that Woodruff was a furrier, and finds a listing for his company in the phone book. They visit and discover that the furrier business is a subsidiary of a larger corporate conglomerate, the Canadian-American Trading Company. Rita ponders why Maggie was living in a poor neighborhood if her husband was involved in the lucrative business, and hypothesizes that he sold out before he died. Further research reveals that Woodruff and Maggie’s husband divested themselves of controlling interest in the Otters ten years beforehand. They stake out Burton and follow his car, ending up at a restaurant where a private party is being thrown in honor of the Otters. They infiltrate the party posing as journalists and confront Woodruff, accusing him of killing Maggie in order to cut her out of her late husband’s estate. He denies this and has them leave the restaurant.

Jim takes Rita’s suggestion and they return to her apartment as he hides, awaiting another attack. While waiting, Rita fields a telephone call from a potential customer and manages to dissuade him. The stakeout is complicated when Sid arrives, and Jim is forced to conceal him when they hear another party ascending the stairs. The French-speaking men burst in and Jim manages to subdue them with the help of the police. Becker orders that Woodruff be arrested and notices Sid’s presence and feels as though he will have to inform Eleanor of his presence. Later, at a party hosted by Rocky and Rita, Becker explains to Jim that Woodruff had been manipulating Maggie’s financial statements for years in order to make her believe she was worth much less than the actual value of her estate, slowly siphoning funds to his own accounts; he was motivated when he discovered that Maggie left most of her money to various charity organizations in her will. Rita discovers that Maggie willed her a sizeable sum of money, and she reveals that she has used some of it to purchase a vintage automobile for Jim, flustering him somewhat. Commercials deleted.

Details

• NETWORK: NBC
• DATE: January 20, 1978 9:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:49:31
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: B:56998
• GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
• SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
• SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1974-1980
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Meta Rosenberg … Executive Producer
• Stephen J. Cannell … Supervising Producer, Created by
• David Chase … Producer
• Chas. Floyd Johnson … Producer
• Richard Crenna … Director
• Roy Huggins … Created by
• Mike Post … Music by
• Pete Carpenter … Music by
• James Garner … Cast, Jim Rockford
• Noah Beery … Cast, Joseph "Rocky" Rockford
• Joe Santos … Cast, Sergeant Dennis Becker
• James Luisi … Cast, Lt. Doug Chapman
• Bruce Kirby … Cast, Sid Loft
• Pat Finley … Cast, Peggy Becker
• Rita Moreno … Cast, Rita Capkovic
• David Lewis … Cast, Burton Woodruff
• Patricia Donohue … Cast, Eleanor Loft
• Rena Assa … Cast, Jeannot Tunier
• Shirley O'Hara … Cast, Maggie Gibson
• James Jeter … Cast, Officer McRainey
• Norwood Smith … Cast, Henry Helpern
• Gene Scherer … Cast, Rudy Ganse
• Jack Garner … Cast, Restaurant Manager
• Luis Delgado … Cast, Officer Billings