The Rockford Files, Season 3

The Rockford Files (1974-1980, with many subsequent made-for-TV movies) is an American detective (private investigator) television drama created and often written by Stephen J. Cannell. It stars James Garner as a charming ex-convict who lives in (and works out of) a seaside mobile home, drives a Pontiac Firebird, and struggles to make ends meet while serving a rogue's gallery of clients and friends, who often rope him into untenable situations. Each episode begins with Rockford's answering machine receiving a different humorous call placing more burdens on the hapless P.I.

Beth:
[about the Fifth Amendment] It doesn't apply!

Jim:
What do you mean, it doesn't apply? It's in the Constitution!

Beth:
It doesn't apply in this case, Jim. I told you the judge wouldn't buy your privileged argument! He read the questions the grand jury asked you, and he read your answers, and he said you waived your rights.

Jim:
You want to know what I think?

Beth:
I know what you think and I agree with you, only there's nothing I can do about it.

Jim:
I don't even know Frank Sorvino, I don't even know what they're trying to prove, whether I kidnapped him or snuck him out of the country? The federal prosecutor is playing Clarence Darrow like he's got a whip and a chair!

Beth:
Gary Bevins, he's bucking for the Attorney General.

Jim:
And he'll probably make it too. It's his show all the way, no attorney for the defense, you gotta go take a hike to find a judge, it's just Bevins and his merry band of men!

Beth:
Now look, Jim...

Jim:
Oh yeah, yeah, and the jury foreman? He has a gavel! Now since when do they give gavels to jury foremen?

Beth:
They don't, only it's not unusual for the average citizen to sort of get caught up in the role and...

Jim:
And then ask for one.

Beth:
No, I think they buy their own.

Jim:
Oh, come on. Beth, how soon can you get me out of here?

Beth:
I don't think I ought to try.

Jim:
Try? Hey, even murder's bailable!

Beth:
So is civil contempt, if I can convince the judge you got grounds for appeal.

Jim:
Then convince him!

Beth:
It's not that simple, Jim! You can go out one day and come back the next, you can't take this thing all the way to the Supreme Court!

Jim:
You mean I'm going to be eating cream chip beef on toast till they decide to let me out of here?

Beth:
Not exactly, you stay in jail until you agree to testify.

Jim:
Well, I'm not going to testify! Bevins is a one-man lynch mob!

Beth:
Or until the expiration of the current grand jury term.

Jim:
When is that?

Beth:
About nine months.

Jim:
Nine months? Oh, that's a pretty stiff sentence!

Beth:
That's why they made it civil contempt. If they'd made it criminal contempt, and asked for a sentence of more than six months, you'd have had a right to a trial by jury.

Jim:
Nine months...

Beth:
But, when the new grand jury is impaneled, if you're called again and you refuse to testify, again...

Jim:
Then it's back to the old slammer.

Beth:
Until their term expires, eighteen months. Then...

Jim:
And then they impanel another jury and the whole thing starts all over again. I haven't been charged with anything, I haven't been convicted of anything, you know, with a deal like that, do you realize how long I could be in here?

Beth:
Theoretically? The rest of your life.

Jim:
Yeah.

Bevins:
Now, then, Mr. Rockford, what was the nature of your relationship with Frank Sorvino?

Jim:
I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might tend to incriminate me.

Bevins:
Of all the constitutional amendments, that seems to be your favorite. Isn't that correct, Mr. Rockford?

Jim:
I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might tend to incriminate me.

Bevins:
Not the First, not the Sixteenth, but the Fifth. It seems to be a universaI favorite among felons.

Foreman:
Mr. Bevins, we're all interested in the truth, but is it necessary to badger Mr. Rockford?

Bevins:
I'm sorry, Mr. Foreman, but this witness has steadfastly sought to withhold evidence that is vital to this inquiry.

Jim:
Mr. Foreman...

Bevins:
However, rather than burden the grand jury with another appeaI to Mr. Rockford's sense of civic duty and responsibility, Mr. Foreman, I will, instead, ask that the witness be excused, and file an appeal with the Department of Justice for a grant of immunity. When such grant is forthcoming, this witness will be recalled.

Jim:
Mr. Foreman, may I make a statement?

Foreman:
To what purpose, Mr. Rockford?

Jim:
To clarify a situation that could use some clarification.

Foreman:
All right, Mr. Rockford, a brief statement.

Jim:
There's an old saying, you never buy a pig in a poke. Well, I bought one when I walked into this courtroom the other day. I thought I was walking into a court of law, not an inquisition.

Bevins:
Mr. Foreman, I protest.

Jim:
No, Mr. Bevins, I protest. I'm a citizen of the United States. And, as a citizen, I'm guaranteed certain rights under the constitution. When I try to avail myself of those rights, I'm jailed, I'm threatened, I'm subjected to the worst kind of intimidation...

Bevins:
Mr. Foreman, this witness is trying to impugn the character and reputation...

Jim:
What character?

Foreman:
Mr. Rockford, I must warn you that you can be held in contempt for such statements.

Bevins:
The character of decent citizens who have been impaneled for the purpose...

Jim:
I'm not indicting the grand jury, I'm indicting Mr. Bevins. For misusing and manipulating...

Foreman:
(bangs gavel) Mr. Rockford, I warn you.

Jim:
I told you the truth, and you called me a liar. You paraded my prison record before these jurors, and ignored the fact that I was pardoned. Well, Mr. Bevins, you have less respect for the law than any of the men I ever did time with.

Bevins:
Mr. Foreman!

Jim:
I haven't done a damned thing. I have been subjected to harassment, character assassination, and your presence. Let me tell you, Mr. Bevins, you go ahead and get your grant of immunity, and you stick it in your ear!

Jim:
I've testified before this grand jury on two prior occasions. As a result, I've been imprisoned twice, I've been very nearly killed, and I've been subjected to the most flagrant abuse of power...

Bevins:
Mr. Rockford, You are coming dangerously close to contempt of court again.

Foreman:
Mr. Bevins, can't Mr. Rockford finish? We are interested in what he has to say.

Jim:
Thank you, Mr. Foreman. See, it's been quite an education, Mr. Bevins. I've not only been cited with contempt, but I've been treated with contempt. And with a total disregard for my rights guaranteed to me under the constitution. I've been guilty of nothing except ignorance of the fact that the man that I knew as George Catman was in fact Frank Sorvino. And with the ignorance that in a proceeding of law you could slander and threaten and try to intimidate me with impunity. Well, Mr. Bevins, I want an apology. And I want it now.

Bevins:
The grand jury has no apology to make. You've been treated with scrupulous regard to your rights. The abuse of power to which you refer is the power conferred upon this body.

Jim:
I wasn't referring to the grand jury, Mr. Bevins.

Bevins:
The witness is excused.

Jim:
I read an article in a recent legal publication. I'd like to introduce it into the record, if that's all right? (Foreman nods) Thank you. It said, "There is no such thing as a small injustice. There is no such thing as a minor abridgement of rights. That if even one citizen is so deprived, make no mistake, we all suffer."

Bevins:
Stirring, Mr. Rockford.

Jim:
Thank you very much. That was part of a summation of a case that attracted quite a bit of attention a few years back. The client had been subjected to harassment, illegal search and seizure, a series of injustices in the name of justice.

Bevins:
Mr. Rockford, would it be too much to hope that there's a point to this rather lengthy reminiscence? The term of the current grand jury expires in nine months.

Jim:
Oh, I think you'll want to hear how it ended. It's a real Cinderella story. You see, the defense attorney not only won an acquittaI for his client with this impassioned outcry, but that very attorney was plucked from private practice by no less than the Attorney GeneraI of the United States, and appointed as an Assistant Federal Prosecutor.

Bevins:
And, I trust, lived happily ever after.

Jim:
I hope not, Mr. Bevins. I sincerely hope not. You don't remember the words, do you, Mr. Bevins? Because they're your words. As you said before, the grand jury has another nine months to serve here. I'd like to think that the grand jury will remember your words. Thank you, Mr. Foreman.

Lt. Chapman:
Bobby Boyajian's brothers tell us that you two guys took the kid apart in the wedding chapel in La Jolla, and now he's dead. So don't sit there like butter wouldn't melt in your mouths!

Jim:
I don't care what they say, we didn't start anything, it was Boyajian himself.

Angel:
That's right, they're a bunch of liars, if you've ever dealt with the Boyajians, you'd know what creeps they are!

Chapman:
Mr. Martin, Bobby's sister Regine said that you telephoned her at Azie Boyajian's house last night, you tried to arrange a meeting with her brother so you could iron out some problems, is that right?

Jim:
Wait a minute, Angel, you did what?

Angel:
Regine can't testify against me, she's my legal wife.

Chapman:
Regine hung up on you, Mr. Martin, so maybe you telephoned Bobby at his home and he agreed to meet you.

Dennis:
Bobby's wound was point-blank. It had to be somebody who knew him, somebody who could walk right up to him.

Chapman:
Right. So what I'm saying is this: you (points at Angel), or you (points at Jim) or both of you met Bobby and got what you really wanted, which wasn't to iron out any problems, but to fill the kid's face with double-aught buckshot!

Dennis:
It was birdshot, Lieutenant!

Beth:
[Slams her purse on table] Birdshot, buckshot, how much speculation do we have to listen to?! You may have a motive, maybe opportunity, but do you have an eyewitness, a weapon, anything that's at all solid?

Jim:
Well, I think that ought to take care of that. I don't think the District Attorney's office is gonna file on loose charges, will they?

Chapman:
Sit down, Rockford!

Jim:
What for, you can't file a charge?

Chapman:
Not on the homicide, not yet. But I've got you on fraud, grand theft! Complaint signed by the Boyajian brothers. Sergeant, get somebody from the Bunko Squad up here, book these guys for the Red Barn Con. [Dennis leaves. Chapman removes the visitors' passes from Rockford and Angel's chests] Like I said, sit down, gentlemen.

[Jim angrily glares at Angel]

[Jim and Beth walk out of the police station]

Angel:
Hey, Jimmy, how you're doing? [Jim and Beth glare at him angrily] What are you cheesing me about, I got you off the bunko rap!

Jim:
Angel, you get too close to me, I'm gonna pull out your beard hair by hair!

Angel:
Hey, it ain't like you're the one who got the chargin', no, I mean it wasn't your partner that got beaten to death. You're not the one who's got somebody going to hit you over the head with a lead pipe. For you, it's over with!

[They encounter the Boyajian brothers]

Azie Boyajian:
Hey! Hey, what are you two guys doing out on the street?

Angel:
Hey Azie, how are you? I'm so terribly sorry to hear about Bobby.

Beth:
[Leads Jim away] Jim, just keep walking. Don't say anything, I mean it!

Azie:
Rockford, you scumbag, don't you turn your back on me!

Hank Boyajian:
Azie, don't get into it, not here!

Azie:
Yeah, we gotta pick up Bobby's belongings, then I guess we're gonna give them to the Goodwill, cause he ain't never gonna use them no more. His whole face is gone! Then the police lets sleaze like you go free, huh? Okay, so be it! We know where to find both of you!

Beth:
I'm Mr. Rockford's attorney, should I interpret that as a threat?

Hank:
Come on, come on! [The Boyajians leave]

Jim:
[Glares at Angel] It's over, huh?

Beth:
Jim, I think the thing for you to do is just lay low until the cops nab Bobby's killer. These guys will cool off.

Angel:
But they ain't gonna make that call if they're set on sticking me and Jimmy with the killing. I'm talking about survival now, you're gonna have to try and find that murderer!

Beth:
Oh no, no, absolutely not. I don't want--

Jim:
[Interjects] Beth. Beth, he's right. It's either that or we wait to join the melon rinds in the back of some garbage truck.


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