I first saw this yesterday and found out this is the episode I saw filmed, back in fall 1977. This episode is in Venice, LA, where I lived at the time, on Rose Ave. I went for a walk one afternoon and noticed some cameras: Rockford Files was filming a scene. But I did not watch television much in those days, so I never knew what episode the scene was in -- until yesterday.
The part I saw was the car-crash and capture of the bad guys. Rockford tells the bad guys to meet him at "Navy and Lincoln," a real intersection, and there is park "Ozone Park" practically right next to that intersection, and also near Rose Ave. I think it was shot at Ozone Park.
First: the scene as shown is late at night, but it was filmed in a slight overcast afternoon.
Second: James Garner was there, and there was an incident that showed he really is a nice guy. The cameras were set up at Ruth & Dewey, looking northeast up Dewey. The hot-dog stand that the car crashes through was in the park, where google maps street view shows a sandy enclosed play area for little kids, which was not at the filming site. The car was going to speed down Dewey toward the cameras and veer off into the hot-dog stand. Dewey was all cleared and they were about to shoot the action when, on the right, just about where Bernard dead-ends into Dewey, a homeless guy rolled out from under a bush where he had been sleeping all this time, stood up right in the middle of Dewey, and mumbled "Say, wha's going on?"
James Garner, standing beside the camera, happened to be the closest person. Rather than expect somebody else to deal with this, he casually walked over to the guy, put his hand on the guy's shoulder to gently turn him around, and said, with no irritation at all, something like "hey buddy, we're shooting a scene here, could you head off over there," and aimed him down Bernard Ave. The homeless guy sort of wobbled away in that direction, and Garner just walked back to beside the cameras.
While I was there I wandered over to the hot-dog stand and noticed that it was all pre-cut into pieces, like a giant three-dimensional jig-saw puzzle. This was to ensure that pieces would fly everywhere when the car hit it. I also noticed that along the curb, where the car was going to jump the curb and hit the hog-dog stand, they had put a long triangular insert, so that the wheels of the car would have a smooth path, rather than crash hard-on into the curb, and maybe bounce off, or blow-out the tire.
They got the car-crash-into-the-hot-dog stand in one take, and the car screeched to a halt on its mark. Now it was time to shoot the bit where the guy in the hot-dog-stand costume runs over, and Rockford gets out, and they have an exchange over the top of the car while cuffing the bad-guys. Since I knew nothing about the episode, I always assumed that the hot-dog-guy had been working in the stand that got smashed, and that they had already filmed a scene where he jumps clear. Now I know he was working in a fast-food place across the street from the hot-dog stand (but on the real filming site, there was no such place).
Somehow I knew that the hot-dog guy was an undercover friend of Rockford -- maybe somebody mentioned it while we were standing around. But I didn't know he was a cop, and I didn't know he was a regular character in the series. I couldn't figure out how or why Rockford would have a friend, with a gun, disguised and operating a hot-dog stand in Venice. I assumed he was a character just in that episode, played by an actor hired just for that episode.
The hot-dog-stand guy ran over to the far side of the car, Rockford (Garner) got out on the near side of the car, and the hot-dog guy was supposed to say a short line once Garner stood up and turned to look at him across the roof of the car. First take -- the actor blew the line. Cut! Re-set. Garner gets back in the car. Take two: hot-dog-guy runs to the car, Garner gets out -- hot-dog guy blows the line again. Cut! Re-set. Something like five more times, this happens. I felt so sorry for the hot-dog-guy actor. I was thinking, "This poor guy, his career in Hollywood is over. Word's going to get around, he's never going to be hired again." And poor James Garner -- the number of times he had to get out of the car, stand up, turn, and then: blown line from the other actor, Cut, back in the car -- Garner was so patient, he never got angry. Finally the hot-dog guy got it right and they finished the scene. I had no idea, until yesterday, that the hot-dog-guy actor was actually one of the vitally-important series regular actors, Joe Santos, who has had an excellent and long career. I must have just caught him on a bad day.
The Venice scenes in the episode are all real Venice Beach locations; I could have been in the background of any of the outdoor scenes. When they showed the front of an apartment building I thought: I think that's my apartment building (I checked google street view, no it wasn't). The dingy interior hall of the apartment building was a bit worse than my place, but the apartment where the witness lived was a bit bigger and better than mine -- except that my apartment did not come with a dead body in it ....
The part I saw was the car-crash and capture of the bad guys. Rockford tells the bad guys to meet him at "Navy and Lincoln," a real intersection, and there is park "Ozone Park" practically right next to that intersection, and also near Rose Ave. I think it was shot at Ozone Park.
First: the scene as shown is late at night, but it was filmed in a slight overcast afternoon.
Second: James Garner was there, and there was an incident that showed he really is a nice guy. The cameras were set up at Ruth & Dewey, looking northeast up Dewey. The hot-dog stand that the car crashes through was in the park, where google maps street view shows a sandy enclosed play area for little kids, which was not at the filming site. The car was going to speed down Dewey toward the cameras and veer off into the hot-dog stand. Dewey was all cleared and they were about to shoot the action when, on the right, just about where Bernard dead-ends into Dewey, a homeless guy rolled out from under a bush where he had been sleeping all this time, stood up right in the middle of Dewey, and mumbled "Say, wha's going on?"
James Garner, standing beside the camera, happened to be the closest person. Rather than expect somebody else to deal with this, he casually walked over to the guy, put his hand on the guy's shoulder to gently turn him around, and said, with no irritation at all, something like "hey buddy, we're shooting a scene here, could you head off over there," and aimed him down Bernard Ave. The homeless guy sort of wobbled away in that direction, and Garner just walked back to beside the cameras.
While I was there I wandered over to the hot-dog stand and noticed that it was all pre-cut into pieces, like a giant three-dimensional jig-saw puzzle. This was to ensure that pieces would fly everywhere when the car hit it. I also noticed that along the curb, where the car was going to jump the curb and hit the hog-dog stand, they had put a long triangular insert, so that the wheels of the car would have a smooth path, rather than crash hard-on into the curb, and maybe bounce off, or blow-out the tire.
They got the car-crash-into-the-hot-dog stand in one take, and the car screeched to a halt on its mark. Now it was time to shoot the bit where the guy in the hot-dog-stand costume runs over, and Rockford gets out, and they have an exchange over the top of the car while cuffing the bad-guys. Since I knew nothing about the episode, I always assumed that the hot-dog-guy had been working in the stand that got smashed, and that they had already filmed a scene where he jumps clear. Now I know he was working in a fast-food place across the street from the hot-dog stand (but on the real filming site, there was no such place).
Somehow I knew that the hot-dog guy was an undercover friend of Rockford -- maybe somebody mentioned it while we were standing around. But I didn't know he was a cop, and I didn't know he was a regular character in the series. I couldn't figure out how or why Rockford would have a friend, with a gun, disguised and operating a hot-dog stand in Venice. I assumed he was a character just in that episode, played by an actor hired just for that episode.
The hot-dog-stand guy ran over to the far side of the car, Rockford (Garner) got out on the near side of the car, and the hot-dog guy was supposed to say a short line once Garner stood up and turned to look at him across the roof of the car. First take -- the actor blew the line. Cut! Re-set. Garner gets back in the car. Take two: hot-dog-guy runs to the car, Garner gets out -- hot-dog guy blows the line again. Cut! Re-set. Something like five more times, this happens. I felt so sorry for the hot-dog-guy actor. I was thinking, "This poor guy, his career in Hollywood is over. Word's going to get around, he's never going to be hired again." And poor James Garner -- the number of times he had to get out of the car, stand up, turn, and then: blown line from the other actor, Cut, back in the car -- Garner was so patient, he never got angry. Finally the hot-dog guy got it right and they finished the scene. I had no idea, until yesterday, that the hot-dog-guy actor was actually one of the vitally-important series regular actors, Joe Santos, who has had an excellent and long career. I must have just caught him on a bad day.
The Venice scenes in the episode are all real Venice Beach locations; I could have been in the background of any of the outdoor scenes. When they showed the front of an apartment building I thought: I think that's my apartment building (I checked google street view, no it wasn't). The dingy interior hall of the apartment building was a bit worse than my place, but the apartment where the witness lived was a bit bigger and better than mine -- except that my apartment did not come with a dead body in it ....