I don't know whether it was Universal with all the pull but week after week the guest stars on Rockford Files were amazing.
This week we get the smokin' hot (and still going as of this writing) Rita Moreno as the high-class call girl caught up in a murder wrap. Robert Loggia is one of the surgeons on a high-profile case. Abe Vigoda is the mob boss whose hip replacement surgery went terribly wrong. He wants to wack everyone who was in that operating room.
It sounds grim. But this is The Rockford Files. Where James Garner's unparalleled charm plus the writing room's ability not to scare middle America can sell any plot.
Moreno is the deservedly decorated actress of Broadway, television and movies. Loggia is an under-rated character actor who could sell just about any role. But the revelation is Vigoda, who many people remember as the befuddled Fish on Barney Miller or, for you kids out there, as Conan O'Brien's latenight comedy foil. But just as Vigoda darn near steals The Godfather with his sympathetic and doomed Tessio, he swoops in and steals this episode of Rockford, too. The man had range.
If that weren't enough we get some excellent stunt driving, with Rockford pulling a classic 180 in the Firechicken to get away from a couple of hitmen before leading them on a high-speed chase through the streets and ending with a slick move to pull into a used car dealership and come to a halt while the thugs drive by. Sweet, sweet, driving.