1. THE NO-CUT CONTRACT
    Original Air Date:     January 16, 1976
    Synopsis. Larry “King” Sturtevant, starting quarterback for the Southern Illinois Warriors—a second-rate team in a third-rate pro football league—knows that team owner Dale Fontaine has ties with the Chicago underworld, so he had Fontaine’s conference room bugged to gain leverage in case he ever needed any. Sturtevant recorded a conversation in which Fontaine sold mob information to federal agents; when he learns that Fontaine planned to replace him with another quarterback, Sturtevant threatens to turn over the tapes unless Fontaine cancels the deal. However, when word of the tapes leaks out, Sturtevant finds himself on the run from both sides of the law. The weaselly Sturtevant, who claims he’d stashed the tapes with a private detective, supplies the mob and the FBI with a name he’d randomly plucked
    from the Yellow Pages: Jim Rockford    .

    The fourth of five episodes directed by Lou Antonio, “The No-Cut Contract” features Emmy Award-winning actor and Academy Award-winning director Rob Reiner, the Emmy Award-winning actor and future Academy Award-winning director who was starring on All in the Family (CBS, 1971-1983) at the time he appeared in this episode.  Reiner’s father, the legendary writer/director and comic genius Carl Reiner, wrote the screenplay for The Thrill of It All, the 1963 comedy starring Doris Day and James Garner.

    LEARN MORE about this episode in the revised third edition of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES, featuring more than sixty new pages of never before published information about both the original Rockford Files and the CBS reunion movies, including twenty new interviews and six new appendices. 25 percent of the net proceeds from the sales of 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES will be donated to The James Garner Animal Rescue Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising funds to help rescue organizations, shelters, individuals, fosters, and veterans with emergencies, evacuations, medical care, adoptions, training, pet supplies, shelter, rehabilitation, boarding, transportation, food, and other pressing needs. JGARF is one way for Garner fans to honor Jim’s memory and extend his legacy. Plus… if you order 45 YEARS OF THE ROCKFORD FILES directly from Black Pawn Press, you will receive an exclusive bonus gift. Go to Rockford45.com for more details.