Review

  • The most obvious and memorable scenes deal with both Isaac Hayes and Lou Gossett Jr., who team up to locate a missing accordion player who may have buried $600,000 in an unknown location. This case also interests Rockord, or Rockfish, who's hired by a probate officer to find this guy as well. As solid as an episode as this is, and as much as I enjoyed Hayes' portrayal of Gandy, I got the odd impression that he had little chemistry with the other two men; maybe it's just me being cynical though. Garner and Gossett, on the other hand, work very well together and their scenes are enjoyable as two con men try to outdo each other. Fans of Salem's Lot(1979)should be able to recognize Barney McFadden, who plays Fred Koska and has only a few scenes here, but it's always nice seeing some character actors from other films I'm fond of. I also enjoyed the scene between Marcus and Rocky in Jim's trailer, and how personable the two men were to each other, when Rocky accidentally informed him that Jim was in San Diego looking for the missing man and his fortune. One scene which was interesting although unrealistic, was when Gabby and Gandy enter a Nazi bar to locate the missing man; Gandy proceeds to beat up close to 15 angry men while Gandy informs them how their politics are out of touch. I personally enjoyed Gandy's performance better in the other 2 episodes he was in, mainly because we got to see a serious side of Hayes' acting, and in this segment, he's more of a take-no-prisoners type of guy. I try to be an honest critic on here, and even though I mentioned a few negative aspects of this episode and many others, that doesn't detract from this fine show, including this solid episode. The last moments have Gandy knocking out Gabby, on Rockford's insistence to "put him to sleep." Lastly, it was a cool scene with the trio in the back of a police car, each enjoying each other's company, and the show ends with Rockford laughing. I highly recommend not only this particular episode, but rather the entire 1976-77 season, which has many episodes of great writing and quality.