1. THE GREAT BLUE LAKE LAND AND DEVELOPMENT COMPANY
    Original Air Date:     October 17, 1975

    Synopsis. En route to Los Angeles to deliver a client’s $10,000 bail money, Rockford becomes stranded in the small desert town of Great Blue Lake after his car breaks down. Needing a place to store the money overnight, he deposits the cash with Murray Johnson, a salesman at the Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company (the only building in town with a safe). But when Jim arrives to pick up the money in the morning, he finds that the money is gone—and that nobody named Johnson works for the company. With the help of Rocky and con artis Harry Danova, Rockford plots a sting to recover his money, but drops his plans when company president Walter Hart suddenly returns the $10,000. However, when the phantom Murray Johnson is found murdered, Rockford becomes the prime suspect.

    A variation of the classic Maverick episode “Shady Deal at Sunny Acres,” “The Great Blue Lake Land and Development Company” also marks the first instance in which The Rockford Files used the Jim Rockford character to address certain social inequities. This is a characteristic for which Rockford would become particularly known beginning in the third season.

    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