The Rockford Files (TV Series) Charlie Harris at Large (1975) User Reviews

Mystery Woman

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 27 October 2006]

Rockford's former prison cell mate, Charlie Harris is suspected of murdering his rich wife. Harris calls in an old marker to get Rockford to find his alibi witness a mystery woman (Diana Muldaur) with whom he was having an affair.

This episode begins really slowly and never really picks up much steam. It is pretty much a straight episode involving yet another one of Jim's old prison buddies or adversaries (Angel, Gandy, Monk, etc.) that needs help.

The two comedy scenes include one with the fetching Beth Davenport (Gretchen Corbett) and Jim at a hot dog stand. They agree to go dutch, but then Jim absent mindedly eats both their hot dogs and drinks Beth's coffee. This scene is played very well. The other comedy scene is the way Rockford meets Linda Bannister (Muldaur) by basically conning her into thinking he's a commercial photographer for a pickle company. There's also a running gag about Rockford getting awakened at all hours, but it seems a bit forced.

Long time Rockford fans will note Luis Delgado , who usually plays a patrolman or Dennis' assistant in most episodes as the counterman at the hot dog stand. The writer of this episode, Zekial Marko makes an appearance as Dr. Gabriel in the opening scene. It was to be his last appearance and last script.

Interesting,busy episode

[ronnybee2112 · 9/10 · 2 July 2022]

The series had really picked-up and it was starting to hit it's stride by the time this episode was made. The entire show,from the actors,writers,directors, camera crew,and so forth all seemed to be working very-well together. This episode is a complicated,busy and it has enough twists and turns to keep you interested and wondering what is next. Now,you may ask, is the entire episode completely,100% logical,plausable and completely believable? To be honest,no,not really. There are indeed a few inconsistencies and weak spots,but they fade into the background as the show moves along like a runaway train,picking-up speed steadily. This is a very good episode,I say check it out and tell us what YOU think !

9/10.

Bunky Files

[stones78 · 11 September 2012]

This is a very good episode which revolves around an old prison buddy of Rockford, who's accused of murdering his wife, as he asks Jim for a favor which he owed him, and he agrees to listen to the man's story. The man is Charlie Harris(Tony Musante), as he calls Jim, "Bunky" quite a few times, and he needs Jim to help find a married woman named Linda(Diane Muldaur)with whom he's had several affairs with, in order to be his alibi. Rockford indeed locates her, although at first she's very reluctant to help Charlie, mainly because of her very wealthy and powerful husband Alfred(Warner Anderson's final appearance), who warns Jim to stay away from his wife or he'll hire someone to put a bullet in his head. Look for a few familiar faces in David Spielberg(Sgt. Garvey)and a very surprising cameo by Mel Stewart(All in the Family's Henry Jefferson); Dennis and Rocky probably weren't needed here, although Beth and Jim shared an interesting scene at a hot dog stand. A funny twist is how Rockford's constantly awakened throughout the episode by various people either banging on the door or calling him on the phone. I thought the ending wasn't as solid as most of the episode, as Linda finally agrees to help, but takes Rockford at gunpoint, and leads him to a barren road where her husband attempts to run him off the road, although Alfred fails miserably. It turns out that Alfred either killed Charlie's wife or had her killed in order to keep her quiet about the affair, which Alfred was aware of, and he easily confesses to Rockford, which is unrealistic to me, considering how powerful he is. This doesn't detract from this fine episode, plus we get to see several shots of the Firebird and the beach, and some of the trailer too.

Find the mystery lady

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 16 April 2015]

With a libido that Tony Musante is described as having one wonders what prison was like for James Garner having to share a cell for two years with this gent. Apparently nothing so bad as is described that Musante couldn't call on Jim Rockford when he gets into a jackpot.

It's quite a jackpot he's in, accused of murdering his rich older wife and his alibi witness is a mystery lady. So the Rockford assignment is find the mystery lady he met on a beach.

So with the police on his back in the form of Sgt.David Spielberg, Garner goes on the hunt and comes up with an even richer other woman in Diana Muldaur married to international businessman Warner Anderson. Let's just say these two have a lot of secrets to keep, even from each other.

I had some problems with this one. A guy as rich and as powerful as Anderson is made out to be would have pushed a few buttons and had his problems more discreetly taken care of.

Still series fans should like this one.