James Garner in The Rockford Files (Episode 1.01: “The Kirkoff Case”)
Vitals
James Garner as Jim Rockford, wisecracking private detective and ex-convict
Los Angeles, Summer 1974
Series: The Rockford Files
Episode: “The Kirkoff Case” (Episode 1.01)
Air Date: September 13, 1974
Director: Lou Antonio
Creator: Roy Huggins & Stephen J. Cannell
Costume Designer: Charles Waldo
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
This is Jim Rockford. At the tone, leave your name and number. I’ll get back to you…
Following the TV movie “Backlash of the Hunter” that served as the pilot when it aired six months earlier, The Rockford Files officially premiered 50 years ago tonight when NBC aired the first canonical episode “The Kirkoff Case” at 9 p.m. on Friday, September 13, 1974.
Despite originating on Friday the 13th and James Garner’s own description that “Rockford has a bad back and worse luck,” fortune favored The Rockford Files as viewers embraced Garner’s dynamic, Emmy-winning performance as the sarcastic yet sincere private eye Jim Rockford, a falsely imprisoned former ex-con frequently down on his luck as clients regularly failed to pay his usual rate of $200 a day plus expenses. Before segueing into Mike Post and Pete Carpenter’s iconic theme song, each episode began with a tongue-in-cheek message left on Rockford’s answering machine, typically recording the complaints of gilted dates, persistent sales reps, and collection agencies—though, luckily, Jim never lost custody of his prized Pontiac Firebird Esprit.
“The Kirkoff Case” refers to Rockford’s smug young client, Larry Kirkoff (a unsettlingly young James Woods), who hired Jim to follow cowboy Travis (Roger Davis). The surveillance sends Rockford running into a cave, where he only encounters a solitary woman in a yellow bikini. Feeling bad for her glib responses to his questions, the woman—Tawnia (Julie Sommars)—later pulls her red Mercedes convertible alongside Rockford to invite him back to her apartment for a drink… which is, of course, drugged. Rockford awakens to find himself pantless and opposite Tawnia sitting with an armed Travis, aiming his Colt six-shooter at Rockford’s face.
What’d He Wear?
Jim Rockford’s regular wardrobe of off-the-rack sport jackets and open-neck shirts serves him well in L.A., but its hardly a believable cover when he pretends to be fishing, merely taking off his jacket and rolling up his shirt sleeves to look the part.
The jacket is a navy-and-beige houndstooth two-button sports coat that Rockford would wear many more times through early in The Rockford Files‘ third season, though we’ll limit the focus of today’s post to its appearance in “The Kirkoff Case”.
Rockford’s sports coat is woven in a neat alternating navy-and-beige tessellated checks that characterize the classic houndstooth pattern, so named for its resemblance to dog’s teeth.
Shaped with front darts, the jacket has straight padded shoulders and four-button cuffs. In addition to the welted breast pocket, the straight set-in hip pockets are covered with flaps that are fashionably wide for the era—consistent with the jacket’s broad notch lapels and the long single vent.
The following episode, “The Dark and Bloody Ground” (Episode 1.02), introduced Rockford’s lawyer and occasional girlfriend Beth Davenport, who would be portrayed by Gretchen Corbett in 33 episodes from the first through fourth seasons. Note that Rockford wears the same sport jacket, shirt, trousers, and belt as he did in “The Kirkoff Case”.
Across the approximately 16 episodes that featured this jacket, only once did Rockford wear it with a non-blue shirt—sporting a cream shirt in “Tall Woman in Red Wagon” (Episode 1.05). He would wear at least a half-dozen shades of blue from lighter chambrays and iridescent denim to this navy-blue shirt that he debuted in “The Kirkoff Case” and would continue to wear at least three more times with this jacket in “The Dark and Bloody Ground” (Episode 1.02), “Find Me If You Can” (Episode 1.09), and “Profit and Loss: Part 2” (Episode 1.14).
This navy shirt is likely the same that he had worn with his gun club check sports coat in the pilot TV movie. The silky fabric looks like Qiana nylon, a stretchy polyamide developed by DuPont in the early 1960s and subsequently used for men’s shirts through the following decade as a less expensive and easily to maintain “faux-silk”. The shirt has the long point collar expected for the era as well as stacked two-button barrel cuffs and a front placket that Rockford wears with the top two buttons undone for his typically insouciant open-neck appearance.
“Whaddya been doin’, anyway?” Rockford asks when he wakes up and realizes Travis and Tawnia have taken his trousers, with his follow-up question “could I have my pants, please?” even used in the episode’s pre-credits promo. He’s given back the dark-navy slacks he had been wearing, fastening the zip-fly and the hidden double-hook closure on the waistband. These flat-front trousers have gently slanted full-top front pockets and button-through back pockets.
Rockford holds the trousers up with a unique variation of a surcingle belt that unifies the colors in his jacket, with a navy web body framed by tan leather edges around the top and bottom that continue into the tan leather ends that fasten through a large gold-toned single-prong buckle.
The plain-hemmed bottoms of Rockford’s trousers have a fashionable flare, breaking over the tops of his black leather shoes. Tawnia mocks that she doubts he was out fishing in “wingtip shoes”, though I can’t clearly discern if the pointed toes of Rockford’s black loafers are indeed full-brogue wingtips.
Rather unusually for BAMF Style, we get a clearer look at Rockford’s black mid-calf crew socks and white cotton boxer shorts after Travis and Tawnia take his trousers from him.
A constant feature of Rockford’s outfits—and James Garner’s personal style—is his watch. Garner first acquired his steel Heuer Carrera 3647N racing watch in the mid-1960s, around the time he starred in the motorsport epic Grand Prix (1966). It’s fitting that this durable, racing-inspired timepiece would adorn the wrist of Jim Rockford, a character whose Pontiac Firebird—and signature “J-turn” maneuver—became as iconic as the man himself.
The Heuer Carrera was also favored by racing legend Mario Andretti, whose gold 1967 Carrera Pilot 1158CH is highlighted in Matt Hranek’s A Man and His Watch, alongside a steel Heuer Autavia gifted to Andretti by Motor Age magazine after the 1967 Indianapolis 500. You can read more about Garner’s watch in this excellent 2017 article on Calibre 11, featuring exclusive photos that reveal the inscription “JAMES GARNER” on the black two-register dial.
Just a guy out fishing! Doesn’t he look like it?
Consistent with the trend toward aviator-style sunglasses during the 1970s, Rockford wears a stylized evolution of the squared Type HGU-4/P standard issued by the U.S. Air Force since the late 1950s, popularized by manufacturers like Randolph Engineering and their original designer, American Optical. Rockford’s gold-framed sunglasses have rectangular amber-tinted lenses and the traditional double bridge characteristic of aviator sunglasses.
The Car
Throughout The Rockford Files, Jim almost always drove the latest model Pontiac Firebird Esprit, painted a unique bronze “Sierra gold” shade inspired by the “Denver gold” paint of the ’74 Firebird he drove in the first season. As the series coincided with the second generation Firebird that Pontiac launched in 1970, all of Rockford’s Firebirds were nearly identical aside from the small changes made for each model year.
The second generation Firebird debuted in February 1970, introducing a swooped redesign that contrasted with the “Coke bottle” body of the initial Firebirds produced by Pontiac in the late ’60s. In addition to the base model Firebird and performance-oriented Trans Am, the second generation also debuted the luxury-informed Esprit and performance-based Formula trim options.
The 1974 Firebird was slightly heavier than its predecessors due to safety-related additions that included the now requisite 5-mph bumpers. A range of engines were available for the ’74 Firebird, though the Esprit was only offered with a 350 or 400 cubic-inch V8. While the former could be mated to three- or four-speed manual transmissions as well as GM’s Turbo Hydra-matic automatic transmission, the 400 V8 Esprit was only paired with the Turbo Hydra-matic for 1974. This configuration generated a total of 175 horsepower and 315 ft-lb of torque, pushing the 3,671-pound sport coupe from 0-60 mph in about 9 seconds and topping out around 112 mph.
The Firebird shared GM’s F-body platform with its sister “pony car”, the Chevrolet Camaro. A motorsports enthusiast in real life, James Garner reportedly had a hand in selecting the Firebird Esprit as Rockford’s primary wheels. As he writes in his autobiography, The Garner Files:
Rockford’s Firebird was also a character in the show. I’ve been asked why he didn’t have a Trans Am instead. Well, he would’ve liked one—it’s much sexier—but I didn’t think he could afford it. The Firebird was more of a blue-collar car, a stripped-down version of the Trans Am, with a sticker price of about $3,000 for the 1970 model. And I thought it handled better than the Trans Am.
We got a new car every season, actually three—two backups in case of breakdowns or damage—until the last two seasons, when we stayed with the ’78 model. The official color was Sierra Gold and the interior was Camel Tan. Standard equipment on the Firebird Esprit was a 400-cubic-inch, 6.6-liter V-8 engine, with dual exhausts and an automatic transmission., Which was fine for our purposes. The only modification we made was to stouten up the suspension to handle all the stunts.
I’ve heard different stories about the significance of the license plate number, 853 OKG. I think the OKG standards for “Oklahoma Garner,” but I don’t know about the 853.
Car chases and car action were a big part of the series, and I did most of the driving myself. That was my fun. I’d driven race cars a little in Grand Prix and gotten the bug. One maneuver became a kind of signature of the show. People thought I invented it and began calling it a “Rockford,” but it was really just a reverse 180, also known as a “moonshiner’s turn” or “J-turn”. When you’re going straight in reverse at about 35 miles an hour, you come off the gas pedal, go hard left, and pull on the emergency brake. That locks the wheels and throws the front end around. Then you release everything, hit the gas, and off you go in the opposite direction.
While Rockford drove a true 1974 Pontiac Firebird Esprit for the first season, the production sourced sturdier Firebird Formula coupes for the second season onward, repainting them gold and rebadging them to resemble the more understated Esprit. Garner’s distaste for the handling and front-end appearance of the 1979 Firebird kept Rockford driving a ’78 model for the sixth and final season.
In addition to Garner’s great memoir, you can find considerably more details about the Rockford-used Firebirds at Rob’s Movie Muscle and The Suva Files.
Private Eye Tricks
Aware that he’s passing out from Tawnia’s drugged drink, Rockford secretly slips his wallet under a carpet so it won’t be easily discovered on him, allowing him to presumably maintain his cover as a greeting card salesman who overdresses to go fishing. Rockford eventually shares his identity after waking, but at least he’s able to maintain the upper hand and share what he wants them to know when he wants them to know it.
While Travis continues subduing him at gunpoint, Rockford flicks his cigarette in his face, punches him, and leaves after commenting to Tawnia: “You know, I fell for that trick once myself… works pretty good, doesn’t it?”
How to Get the Look
James Garner in The Rockford Files (Episode 1.01: “The Kirkoff Case”)
Aside from the fashionably excessive influence of the ’70s visible from his collars to his flared trousers, Jim Rockford maintains a sensible style template that rarely deviates from classic sports coats like this houndstooth jacket worn with dark-blue shirt and trousers that correspond to the jacket’s navy-and-beige check—all sportily accessorized with cool sunglasses and James Garner’s own racing-oriented wristwatch.
- Navy-and-beige houndstooth single-breasted 2-button sport jacket with wide notch lapels, welted breast pocket, wide-flapped straight hip pockets, 4-button cuffs, and long single vent
- Navy-blue rayon shirt with long point collar, front placket, and 2-button cuffs
- Dark-navy flat front trousers with belt loops, full-top front pockets, button-through back pockets, and flared plain-hemmed bottoms
- Navy web surcingle belt with tan leather frame/ends and gold-toned single-prong buckle
- Black leather pointed-toe loafers
- Black crew socks
- White cotton boxer shorts
- Heuer Carrera 3647N racing chronograph watch with steel case, black dial (with two registers), and black leather strap
- Gold-framed aviator-style sunglasses with amber-tinted rectangular lenses
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the series. I also recommend James Garner’s memoir, The Garner Files, co-written with Jon Winokur.
The Quote
Now I have been sitting here, answering questions in my shorts, for a reasonable length of time! Now I want my pants, and I wanna get outta here, alright?
The post The Rockford Files: Jim’s Navy-and-Beige Houndstooth Jacket for “The Kirkoff Case” appeared first on BAMF Style.