Somebody kidnapped Houston.
PETER: It's my granddaughter.
He had about $8 in pennies in a piggy bank,
exactly $13.42 in a passbook account,
and this is a guy somebody hit for ransom?
If he was broke, he sure put on a good act.
Don't make me resort to primitive methods of persuasion.
Stuff it.
(PHONE RINGING)
ROCKFORD: (ON ANSWERING MACHINE) This is Jim Rockford.
At the tone, leave your name and message.
I'll get back to you.
(BEEPS)
Jim, Madame O'Connor at the Zodiac Restaurant.
You don't pay that dinner tab,
we're gonna repo your birthday.
There he goes.
Sure don't waste no time.
Knock it off, Rocky.
Knock what off?
The pacing. He'll be here.
Oh.
You know, he sounded different to me.
He... Well, he sounded scared, sort of.
I've known old Pete all my life,
and I never knowed him to be scared of nothing.
There's a first time for everything.
Oh, not for Pete, there ain't.
Would you believe one time down in Beaumont, Texas,
well, this is before you were born,
him and me cleaned out a bar together, all by ourselves.
There had to be at least 20 guys.
Come on, Rocky. Twenty guys?
Well, 15.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Hi, Pete. Come on in.
Rocky.
You remember Jimmy.
Yeah. Hi, Pete. Sit down. Sit down.
Thank you.
Listen, Rocky,
I'm in a little bit of trouble. I need some help.
Well, you got it. Anything you need.
Well, actually, I remember you telling me
that your son, Jim, was a private investigator.
I was kind of really calling him more than you.
Well, it's natural you'd come to me.
What's the problem?
Well, I don't have much time.
They told me to stay by the phone.
I took a real chance coming here,
but I didn't wanna trust the phone,
and, well, I figure they're gonna sweat me for a couple of hours, anyway.
What's going on, Pete?
Somebody kidnapped Houston.
It's my granddaughter, Houston Preli.
And I gotta tell you, Jim,
she's just about the only reason I've got to live.
I have to come up with... Now, hold it a minute.
All right. Go ahead.
Well, I'm supposed to come up with ransom money,
but they won't tell me how much.
How much can you scrape together?
Well, don't you worry about the money none...
Look, I'll get the money together somehow,
but what I really wanna do is I wanna get Houston back,
and then I wanna lynch those guys from a tall tree.
Let's just hold off on the lynching for the moment
and get down to the particulars.
Now, does Houston live with you?
No. She's got her own spread
up at the end of one of those canyons here in LA.
Well, did you check out her house?
Yeah, I called up there.
There's no answer. She's not there.
I figured that I'd better get help
and then get back to my place and wait for that next phone call.
Now, Pete, I think the first thing you ought to do
is call the police in on this.
No police. The man said that.
Well, of course he said that. They all say that.
I wouldn't let the cops in if they were certified, notarized,
and dressed for choir practice.
Old Pete, he's been in more jails than you have, sonny,
mostly for brawling and disorderly conduct.
Yeah, well, I know a police detective
who won't botch it. He's... No cops!
The guy said no cops, and I'm saying no cops.
I gotta go.
Hey, wait.
Look, if they call before I get there, you record it, okay?
And give me Houston's address.
So, who is he?
The registration on the car is James Rockford.
Now, how long does it take to look that up?
Here it is. "James Rockford, private investigations."
A rent-a-cop. How about that?
Well, that's better than the law.
Yeah.
By the way, how much do you charge?
Oh, I can settle up later.
Now, you go on over there.
I'll check out Houston's place.
I'll be at your place in about a half an hour. Later.
(DOOR CLOSING)
What are we gonna do about this Rockford?
Rockford will be taken care of.
Hold it. Don't move.
I'm not moving.
Get out of the car.
Will you two guys get together?
Get out.
CHARLIE: Careful. Don't mark him.
That's enough.
Now forget it, Rockford. Stay away from here.
Stay away from Preli. Forget the whole thing.
Just make like it never was.
It don't exist.
Peter?
Peter.
He's all yours.
Come on, Rocky. Let's get out of here.
How much cash did you say Preli had in his money clip?
I didn't say, but, I'd say, oh, a couple of hundred dollars.
That's just a guess.
Rocky?
Yeah.
That'd be about right, I guess.
As far as we can make out,
Preli's only source of income
was $172 a month from social security.
He cashed a check yesterday. That's probably what you saw in the clip.
The money's gone, by the way.
He had about $8 in pennies in a piggy bank,
exactly $13.42 in a passbook account,
and this is a guy somebody hit for ransom?
What they could have got out of him couldn't have paid for the gags
and the ropes to tie his granddaughter up with.
If he was broke, he sure put on a good act.
ROCKY: It wasn't no act.
Pete always thought of himself as a rich man.
He was, too, off and on.
What do you mean?
Well, Pete was always cooking up some big deal,
and before you knew it, he'd make himself a million bucks.
Then he'd take a flyer on something else
and he'd lose the whole thing.
Now he's gone,
and it don't look like there's even enough left to bury him.
That still doesn't explain why somebody would hit him up for ransom.
I thought he had money.
If he could fool me, he could sure fool a kidnapper.
Come on, Rockford.
Would you snatch somebody without making sure how much is in the kitty?
No, I wouldn't, but then again, that's not my line of work.
Did Preli have any enemies you knew of, Rocky?
Oh, no. Everybody loved Pete.
Yeah. Yeah, well, I don't think we're gonna get anything more here.
Where did you say Houston Preli lives?
Oh, not far from here.
And you say the place was all torn apart?
Yeah. Looks like she put up a pretty good fight.
The door was broken down, the lock shattered.
I suppose you prowled around in there,
messed up all the evidence, smudged all the prints?
No, I don't think so.
All I did was wash it down with a garden hose.
One of these days, Rockford, you're gonna realize
it doesn't do you a whole lot of good to wise off at me.
I don't think it makes a lot of difference what I say to you, Lieutenant.
Come on. I want you to take me on a tour of Miss Preli's house.
I'm going with you.
No, Mr. Rockford, we don't need you up there.
Why don't you just go on home, watch it on TV, huh?
Come on.
Rocky, listen, I'll go up there,
and I'll call you when I get back.
Pete and me cleaned out a lot of bars together when we was young.
Rocky, go home, huh?
I thought you said the door was ripped off its hinges.
It was. I was here a couple of hours ago,
and the whole thing was just torn up.
If you're pulling my leg,
you're not gonna like the way this is gonna come out, Rockford.
I don't like the way it's coming out anyway.
The back door was open.
Hey, I don't understand it. Now, this place was a wreck.
Uh-huh.
It's the truth, Diehl. So help me.
Somebody must've come back here and fixed it.
I mean, this bench was overturned,
that vase over there was on the floor in a million pieces.
That vase?
Yeah, that vase, and that lamp, too.
It looked like a tornado had been through here.
And this was two hours ago?
Yes, just before I went over to Preli's.
Look, I know it isn't reasonable, but that's what happened.
Yeah.
What do you think, Dennis?
Well, it does seem strange, Jim.
Yeah, let me tell you just how strange it is, okay, Sergeant?
If that door was busted up and the lock shattered,
and if somebody come back to fix it,
why isn't the paint still wet?
I didn't say I could explain it.
That's enamel on that door.
Takes two days to dry completely.
It isn't tacky. It isn't wet.
It's been on there a hell of a lot longer than two hours.
All right, Diehl. You're a genius.
Where do we go from here?
Like to take a crazy, haphazard guess?
Jail?
You think?
Okay. Why not?
Get him.
What's going on, Jim?
When I find out, Dennis, I'll send you a memo.
ROCKY: Here's your coat, sonny.
Oh, hey, Rocky, thank you.
Gonna need it.
Come on, we'll walk you to your car.
I wanna get you out of here before they change their minds.
It's that bad, huh?
Yeah, it's that bad.
The DA could swing either way.
Diehl is convinced you're lying.
He swears he's gonna nail you.
It doesn't matter that I passed a lie detector test?
Well, that's why you're out, but it's not admissible in court.
If Diehl decides to press charges,
our only defense is that you've got no motive.
If he finds a motive, I'd begin to worry.
Well, what about what I told them? I backed Jimmy up.
Yeah, what about that?
Jim, just behave.
Don't do anything, don't talk to anybody, don't go anywhere.
Just go home and read a book or something.
Okay. Here.
I'll see that he does.
Just veer off to your right here.
I wish you'd been there to see that Beth handle Diehl.
She was terrific.
When you get up there, two signals, I want you to turn left.
All right. Where we going?
To Houston's house.
You know what Beth told you to do, Jim.
Yeah. Yeah, I know.
But I know if I don't find out a little more information,
I'm gonna have my butt in a sling
and no lawyer's gonna get it out.
But you promised.
Yeah, well, I just promised Beth so she wouldn't worry.
But what about me? I worry, too.
I figure you're gonna worry no matter what I do.
Besides, I got this thing pegged as a two-man job.
I'll check out the house, and you're gonna make sure I'm not disturbed.
You are doing this for me, ain't you, son?
You're afraid if I do get to messing around,
I'm gonna end up in a bind myself.
No, Rocky, I just don't like to get flaked, that's all.
And when I do, I like to know why.
You are doing it for me, ain't you, son?
Shut up and turn left at the signal.
(DOOR CLOSING)
What the hell are you doing in my house?
Oh. You must be Houston.
Okay, mister, I'd like to hear what you're doing in my house.
Houston. Rocky!
You know this man?
Well, it's Jim.
Jim?
Well, sure. It's my son, Jim Rockford.
Nice to see you. Hi.
Your daddy's told me all about you.
You're in investment banking or something.
Or something, yeah.
Okay.
What's an investment banker doing prowling around in my living room?
I'm sure there must be a very good explanation.
Well, Houston...
Houston, I'm afraid we've got some bad news for you.
Your grandfather...
He's dead, Houston. He was murdered.
I'm sorry, what?
I said he's dead.
I heard you.
Oh, man.
I guess I hit her with it too hard, huh?
Oh, you did just fine, Rocky.
No matter how you tell it, it sounds terrible.
Where do you suppose she was?
Well, maybe when her grandfather was killed,
the kidnappers let her go.
I guess it wouldn't be such a good idea
to just walk in and ask her where she was.
No, no, no. Let's give her a little time.
They killed Granddad. They're gonna be sorry they ever heard of me.
Well, why don't we just let the police handle that, okay?
We will. When do we go to the police?
Yeah, well, I called Sergeant Becker downtown.
He's a friend of mine.
He said if we brought you down in an hour or so, that'd be good enough.
You don't have any idea why he was killed?
Just what we told you. He thought you were kidnapped and came to us for help.
Houston, where were you?
I've been dealing with the Mexican Government over a field in Baja.
I flew down there, and I've been out in the middle of nowhere
punching sand samples with a 10-man crew.
Granddad put me through school to become a geologist.
He had this big dream that one day we'd have our own drilling company.
I'd find it, and he'd drill it.
So nobody knew you were down there? Not even your granddad?
No, especially not Granddad.
I was sort of trying to keep it a secret until the field was locked up,
'cause it was a complex deal and it involved some Mexican partners.
It was gonna be Granddad's big comeback, and...
Well, forget it.
Y'all gonna eat your stew, or what?
Look, Houston, if you wanna let down a little, it's okay.
I mean, we can go outside and wait,
or leave, or, you know, help or whatever.
Damn!
(CAR HORN HONKING)
JERRY: Houston.
I saw it in the papers, and I wanted to tell you.
Who are these guys?
Yeah, we're friends of the family.
I'm Jim Rockford. This is my father, Joseph.
Jerry Specht. Houston's boyfriend.
HOUSTON: Friend.
Where you going?
The police want to talk to her.
We were driving her downtown.
Well, that won't be necessary. I can take you, huh?
It's okay. I'll go with him.
Hi, Rock.
What'd Dennis say?
Oh, not much. Everything Houston said checked out.
She was down in Baja with a geology team.
She just left the police station about 15 minutes ago
on her way home.
Who's gonna take care of Houston now that Pete's gone?
Well, I got a feeling that Houston needs less taking care of
than you and me put together.
Well, underneath all that spirit and guts
is just one frightened little old gal.
You think?
I've known Houston since she was a baby.
Now, Pete, he never would stand for no fussing and fretting.
Always said he wasn't raising no woolly lamb.
No, Houston had to pull her freight just like a man.
Did it ever occur to Pete that she was just a little girl?
Well, if it did, it sure never made no difference
in the way he dealt with her.
You know, Rocky,
one thing I've learned is that nothing makes absolutely no sense.
Yeah?
Yeah. You get a set of circumstances that don't add up,
it's usually because there's an important piece missing.
Well, what do you figure the piece is here?
Oh, logic tells me it's money.
Pete, he didn't have none.
Somebody went to a lot of trouble.
They found out when Houston was leaving town
without telling her grandfather.
They rigged the house to look like a kidnapping,
and then they tried to shake down the old man for money,
only it seems he didn't have any.
That doesn't make much sense, right?
What, do you figure he had some stashed?
Yeah.
Where?
Well, under the floorboards,
back of a closet, fruit jar buried in the back yard.
I don't know, where would he hide it?
You know, old Pete made and lost a fortune at least three or four times.
It wouldn't be no trick for him
to have a couple of hundred thousand stashed.
Especially if it was money he was hiding from the government.
Oh, no. Pete, he wouldn't cheat on his taxes.
Sure he would.
You're right. I guess he would.
Then someone found out about it
and tried to shake him down for his nest egg.
Well,
that'd make the other pieces of the puzzle seem more intelligent.
I'm a son of a gun!
Yeah, those are my feelings exactly.
ROCKY: This is crazy, Jimmy!
No, it's not. We're gonna try the house first.
Man, I never would've agreed to help you
if I'd known we was gonna bust in.
It's gonna be okay.
Look, supposing they catch us.
What'll they do to us if they find us with all these burglar tools?
They're not burglar tools.
Well, glass cutters and lock picks, passkeys and a crowbar.
What are we gonna tell them we're doing, weeding the front lawn?
Look, Rocky, I really didn't wanna bring you along in the first place.
Anybody comes along, you whistle, huh?
Jim! Hey, Jim!
What's the matter?
Listen, I was just thinking.
If them guys knew where that money was and they couldn't find it,
what makes you think we're gonna find it?
We're smarter than they are.
Oh.
I don't know, sonny. Maybe it just ain't there, huh?
It's there.
It's there, we just missed it, that's all.
More coffee? No, thank you.
Yeah, you can heat mine up a little, please.
It's on the house.
I just served my last cup of coffee after 30 years.
What, did you sell out?
Yeah. I bought myself a little vineyard up north.
The neighborhood's changing.
Everybody's shutting up and moving away.
Well, that's progress for you.
Progress. The whole world's going to the dogs.
How can you stay in business
when all your customers are moving away?
Yeah, well, thanks for the pie and the coffee, and good luck to you.
Thank you. Come on, Rocky.
Hey, wait a minute. I didn't finish my pie yet.
Jimmy?
Yeah, just a minute, Rock.
What is it?
Hold on a minute.
Rock, I got it. He had a fortune.
He did?
Yeah. He sure did.
She went inside.
Looks like they're getting ready to leave.
Let's go. We don't wanna lose them.
ROCKFORD: Houston, I don't want to alarm you,
but I'm gonna have to stash you somewhere until it's safe.
I'm gonna check you into the Belle Vue Hotel in Bel Air.
It's quiet, and it's out of the way.
But I want you to stay in your room,
and don't answer the door for anybody but me.
You're pretty good at snapping out orders.
Almost as good as Granddad.
It shows you're a man who knows his mind and his business.
I don't much like the idea of hiding out, though.
Well, you can't fight what you can't see.
High Noon only works if you know who's getting off the train.
Did your grandfather get any offers to sell his house?
Half a dozen.
How long ago?
Six or eight months.
Last one was just a couple of weeks ago.
Who made the offer?
I don't know. Granddad didn't say.
Was it a good one?
Yeah, $20,000,
which is more than it was worth.
What's that got to do with anything?
Well, I'm not sure yet.
Why didn't your grandfather sell?
Well, Granddad's lived in that house on and off for a long time.
I reckon he...
He figured somewhere along the line he was gonna die in it.
I think we picked up somebody.
Don't look.
Look, there are some cigarettes in that glove compartment.
Take them out, crumple them up,
and throw the package out the window.
How come?
Just do it.
I better go in after her.
Wait. Be patient.
How do you know she's not going out the back?
Because I saw her throw out an empty cigarette pack just before they stopped.
When are you gonna learn to keep your eyes open?
Come on, lady, it's only 60 cents.
What about the girl?
Forget it, she's gone. Stick with him.
Hiya, fellas.
Thank you.
What do you think you're doing?
I beg your pardon?
Can't you read the sign?
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Sure.
You're not supposed to take notes.
Yeah, I know.
I know, but, you see, I can't remember all this without taking note.
But it's not allowed.
Yeah, I know, you didn't make the rule.
I'm gonna call the police.
Well, I suppose you have to.
Sorry I'm gonna miss them. I'm almost through here.
Could you tell me where I could find the corporate records, please?
It's down the hall, the third door on the right.
Third door to the right? Thank you.
(PHONE RINGING)
Hello?
Houston? Yeah, this is Jim Rockford.
Do you have Jerry Specht's address?
Yeah. 1200 North King's Road. What do you need it for?
I'd like to have a little talk with Mr. Specht.
How well do you know him?
Oh, pretty well. I met him a couple of months ago. He seems like a nice man.
Well, that's not what I get.
Every piece of property in your grandfather's block
has changed hands in the last six months, the whole block.
There've been nine different buyers,
and five of them are corporations
listing Jerry Specht as one of the officers.
Well, what does that mean?
Well, he may just be a name on some articles of incorporation,
but I get the feeling that he knows who was pressuring your grandfather.
Now, you take care of yourself, and I'll see you later.
Okay. Bye-bye.
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)
Hi, Houston.
I just needed a little air. Nobody saw me.
Oh, it's all right.
It's a good place to do some thinking.
I'd like to know something.
Do you always walk away from what you don't want to face?
I never walked away from anything in my life.
What do you want from me, anyway?
Oh, a little emotion.
I'd just like you better
if you stopped acting like a gunslinger in a B Western.
There's nothing wrong with letting some emotion show, you know?
What did your grandfather do when your dad died?
Well, he didn't cry. Men don't cry.
Oh, sure they do.
Oh, I've seen them bawl like babies.
I've done it a couple of times myself.
He had a son. He wanted a grandson.
You did the best you could.
You know,
some of the old-timers didn't have any use for scientific progress.
They'd rather spend their lives
bringing in saltwater than hire a geologist,
but Granddad wasn't like that.
He knew. He understood.
And he was proud of you.
Did you see Jerry?
Yeah.
Yeah, I did.
Jerry's dead. Someone killed him.
Why?
He never hurt anybody.
I think he may have killed your grandfather.
Hey, come on, Jerry was out for whatever he could get.
Hey, he tried a double-cross and got killed for his trouble.
What are we gonna do? We don't even know who's involved.
Well, we will when we open negotiations.
Of course, the first thing we gotta do
is convince them you own title to the house.
I do.
Granddad sold it to me for $1, two weeks ago, for tax reasons.
Well, that's gonna make the whole thing a lot simpler.
I'll do the negotiating, but for protection,
well, we'll set it up
so it takes both our signatures to sell it, all right?
Mmm-hmm.
Just tell him if he's interested in making a bid on the Preli house,
that I'll be home at 7:00 sharp.
How did you know which of those companies to call?
One's as good as another.
They're all dummies. They all go back to the same place.
How you doing?
I'm done.
"Without which consent, said transfer shall be null and void,
"as consideration for which Mr. Rockford shall receive
"10% of that portion of the sale price in excess of $20,000."
That's not too bad for a geologist.
I'll make a copy of this and put the original in the safe.
Insurance?
No. Security blanket.
(KNOCKING ON DOOR)
Okay, gentlemen. I guess we can go now.
Now, let's go.
Good evening, Mr. Rockford.
I'm Charles Blackhorn.
Would you care for a drink?
I'd just as soon get down to business, if you don't mind.
Very well.
What are your credentials?
I negotiate for Miss Preli for a percentage of the take.
It takes both our signatures to transfer title.
Where is Miss Preli? Will she be joining us?
We'll go to her if we need her signature.
I see.
Well, then, I suppose it's my move.
$20,000.
That's not quite what I had in mind.
What is your counter-proposal?
$100,000.
That puts me $80,000 short.
That's ridiculous, Mr. Rockford. The offer is $20,000.
Well, then, I guess negotiations are over.
Just a minute.
What makes you think that I would be willing to spend $100,000
for a piece of property that is worth $20,000?
It's indispensable.
You have plans for that block.
You've bought it all up, bit by bit,
everything except Peter Preli's land, and without it,
whatever you have in mind is gonna stay on the drawing board.
I have a sizeable investment.
All right, I'll increase the offer.
$20,000 plus your health.
You're a big disappointment to me, Mr. Blackhorn.
I really thought we could do business.
We will.
$100,000. Take it or leave it.
$20,000.
Don't make me resort to primitive methods of persuasion.
I have staff members who are literally overqualified in that area.
Those the ones you turned loose on Jerry Specht?
$20,000.
Stuff it.
Mr. Rockford,
you're taking a big gamble.
So are you.
$100,000.
Call the girl and get her over here.
Oh, no, no. I think this transaction would be better
if we don't have any staff members around.
We'll pick up Miss Preli, you deliver the $100,000,
we turn over the deed, signed and notarized.
Will you take a check?
Of course.
You'll have to make it a personal one.
We'll set it so the deed is final when the check clears.
Do you have to do it that way?
I've agreed to all your other terms.
You have my word.
You're not a man who inspires confidence, Mr. Blackhorn.
ROCKFORD: Look, so you don't think this is a trap,
when we get to the hotel, I'll go in, get the girl, and bring her out to the car.
All right, you can sign the check now.
You didn't really expect me to give you a check for $100,000,
did you, Mr. Rockford?
(POLICE SIREN WAILING)
No, Mr. Blackhorn, I didn't really expect you to.
All right, keep your hands where we can see them and get out of the car.
I still can't figure out how the police knew just when to move in.
I was watching from the window.
I saw the limousine drive up, I called them,
I described the car and reported a kidnapping.
They got a lot more to answer for than that, including murder.
Jerry Specht should have kept a tighter rein on his greed.
He was in on it from the very beginning, wasn't he?
Oh, yeah, yeah. He set the whole thing up.
He measured your door, had a new one built, painted, ready to hang.
Just slipped out the old frame and slip in the new.
How did they fix the broken lamp and the broken vase?
He gave me those.
He probably bought two each so he'd have duplicates to replace the broken ones.
HOUSTON: But why'd they kill him?
Well, Blackhorn had a multi-million dollar entertainment complex
planned for that block, and Jerry wanted a bigger piece of the action.
He tried to get your grandfather's property and bungled it,
and then tried to make it look like a burglary.
Cops bought it. Blackhorn didn't.
All that grief for money.
You know,
Granddad didn't care much for money.
Oh, he liked making it and he liked spending it,
but he didn't really care about it.
You knew him a long time, didn't you, Rocky?
Oh, since I was half Jim's age.
He was a good man.
Finest I ever knew.
You want some more sweet potato pie?
Oh, I sure do.
What's wrong? What'd I say?
It's all right.
(SOBBING)