The Rockford Files (TV Series) The Trees, the Bees and T.T. Flowers: Part 1 (1977) User Reviews

Where Have All the T.T. Flowers Gone?

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 21 December 2006]

With all the westerns James Garner did, I find it kind of amazing to discover this was the only time he worked with veteran character actor Strother Martin.

Martin plays a cranky old friend of Rocky's named T.T. Flowers who has a 10 acre spread he calls "Freedom". Jack Mullerd (Scott Brady, who was last seen as a corrupt union boss in "Gearjammers") is a land developer who's ready to do anything to get control of Freedom and works with T.T.'s son in law Sherm (Alex Rocco) to have him drugged up and pronounced incompetent.

The entire show is told as a flashback as Rocky delivers the eulogy at T.T.'s funeral. Other than a few amusing moments as Jim tries to sneak into the sanitarium where T.T. is being held (the car horn bit is priceless)this is an episode that mostly takes itself pretty seriously.

Strother Martin shines as the cranky old T.T. but the script lets us down just a little there as it fails to give us a scene or a moment that makes us feel like he and Rocky are really friends. They're friends because the script tells us so--it fails to really show us.

Scott Brady is probably my favorite Rockford bad guy outside of Robert Webber and James Woods. He's powerful, devious and quite believable in every one of his appearances on the show (though again the script lets us down a little--he tries to kill Jim by leaving a bottle of nitrous oxide in the Firebird so Jim will crash--something that will surely show up in the wreck).

Gretchen Corbett makes an ever so brief appearance as Beth Davenport in this first half of the two parter as Jim goes to her apartment to hide out (we should all be so lucky to have such a hideout!) and "Mchale's Navy" star Bob Hastings (the weaselly Lt. Carpenter) makes another appearance, this time as a construction foreman.

All in all, a good episode thanks to good casting, but not as much comedy as in some of the best "Rockfords".

memorable!

[mm-39 · 8/10 · 20 January 2019]

Memorable episode! What works: The old man character gets set up for the farm is likable and creates empathy for the audience. The elder stuck in a psych ward sets into motion a great story line. One of the sadist episodes ever. Rocky needs Jim's help for and old friend. Memorable scenes with the laughing gas and Jimmy's jail break for the old man. Jimmy has some smooth moves. Uncovering the horrid scam being played at the P C H make for a great second half! The Trees, the Bees and T.T. Flowers keep the viewer laughing and wanting to find out what will happen next as Jim does his magic. 8 stars.

Rockford Battles a 'Cuckoo's Nest' Situation...

[atomicis · 9/10 · 18 May 2024]

I suspect this episode was inspired by "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", one of the best films ever made. Evocative in that the empathetic viewer could be totally sane, yet evil powers-that-be could take away literally everything - terrifying! Strother Martin plays the part of the put-upon citizen admirably. The thugs sure appear to have the upper hand in this part one of two! Regarding the trivia items which mention the car horn: The car involved in the horn incident, a Ferrari Dino, had a two-tone air horn with mechanical compressor dedicated to horn air; true that the freon-powered horn that they pulled out after being planted by Rocky wouldn't sound as depicted, but it WOULD have sounded exactly like the Dino's horn with one trumpet not functioning. The freon-powered horn would NOT have lasted more than two or three minutes before freezing up and would have died at the most five minutes after being activated; that little can of propellant only holds so much. Great episode, nice to see "Braless Beth"in her nightie - so sexy!

The Ultimate Rockford Files!

[neeemo-757-690091 · 10/10 · 7 August 2022]

Corrupt stockbroker, doctor, lawyer, and a mind-bogglingly evil land developer all conspire to take away the land from a beekeeper. American elites are corrupt, evil, ruthless and will crush anyone in the way of their fast buck.

An episode of Rockford is better than none at all

[safenoe · 6/10 · 27 July 2020]

I grew up watching The Rockford Files and revisiting it again is one of life's pleasures. The theme song is one of the best ever. Here we wonder if Jim Rockford is really dead, and we'll find out in part 2. In my humble opinion, this could have been done in one episode, but I guess the writers know much better.

One of my least favorite episodes.

[NirvanaWi · 3/10 · 3 May 2019]

I love The Rockford Files, I'm a huge fan, I have the complete series (along with the movies from the 90's) on dvd. That being said, this is one of my least favorite episodes, and the fact that it's a two-parter makes it more unfortunate for me. Firstly, I never felt the friendship between Rocky and T.T. was solid or genuine, and the fact that they had supposedly been friends for quite a while made it harder to believe, I just didn't sense that great of chemisty between either the characters, or possibly between the two actors (Noah Beery Jr. & Strother Martin).

The plot, for me, was just a little much. I'm used to the stretching of reality that comes with most episodes of The Rockford Files, it's a fun show, and even if it's farfetched in storyline sometimes, that's what makes it more carefree and easy to enjoy. However, with this episode, it was ridiculous that this guy's chunk of land was so valuable that the absurdly extreme measures that happened were warranted or realistic. It seems for all the plotting, conspiracy, trickery, and evil that had to be concocted was way too much for getting some land to build apartment buildings on, heck, the proportion of what was cooked up in this episode seems closer to something rival countries would try to do to each other to rule over a disputed piece of territory.

But this biggest reason I don't enjoy this episode is that there is nothing, in my opinion at least, that makes T.T. likeable as a character. He's a loudmouth, cranky, whiny old geezer, and by the end of the first part of the two part episode I didn't care what the outcome would be, as long as T.T. would shut the hell up. This character just grated on me and I quickly stopped caring about him being taken advantage of and getting ripped off just because he was so damn annoying.

With all that being said, I have to say this could be my the least liked episode of the whole series. This is rare for me, as I'd rate almost all episodes of The Rockford Files from 7-10 (with the exception of a few clunkers in the 4-6 range). If you like this episode, great, to each their own, but for me it just didn't work.

Probably the worst 2-part episode...

[ronnybee2112 · 3/10 · 9 January 2021]

As much as it pains me,I must say this episode stinks. Worse yet,this is a 2-part episode,which makes it all the worse. As others before me have pointed-out,the main story behind this episode is not very plausible. The guest character is not particularly likable,and there is not much chemistry between him and anyone else. It is implied that this character is a saintly lover of nature that is living a 'Waldon pond' type of life. Which may indeed be the case. The thing is,the man is an old crabass and is very abrasive and annoying. Dragging this weak story out over 2 episodes is a strange anomaly for this usually awesome show. As much as I hate to even say it,this has to be the worst 2-part episode in the series. By all means watch it and see what you think,if you are skeptical of my opinion.

Trees, Bees, Flowers, Jeez!

[hectorsector · 3/10 · 7 October 2014]

Not often that "Rockford" falls on its face but this appalling two- parter is one such occasion. The script is a preposterous mishmash of sentimental melodrama right from the start and the second half is worse than the first. In the story's one ironic touch, Rockford's police buddy Dennis Becker recaps for him early on just how idiotic the plot is. It seems every hand is turned against geezer Strother Martin in an attempt to further urban sprawl and convert his small suburban holding into apartments. The evil mastermind, a real estate developer, is built up into such a monster he'd give Simon LeGree a run for his money, and he's given a lot of help by a chorus line of corrupt doctors, bankers, lawyers, pharmacists, police and sundry other parties. Then there's some maudlin interplay between Martin and Garner and Noah Beery and an attempted suicide, and a dragged out eulogy, and on and on. Rockford fans can skip this fiasco with a clear conscience.