The Rockford Files (TV Series) Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs (1979) User Reviews

One bizarre motive

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 18 March 2015]

Picking up where the first part left off, the man who tried to kill Lauren Bacall is killed himself falling from a terrace quite accidentally. Accident it may be, but it doesn't stop Lt.Chapman from trying to pin a homicide on Jim Rockford. The influence of society lady and princess Dana Wynter frustrates him no end.

Through some Rockford type conning aided and abetted by Lauren Bacall, Garner learns the deceased was a connected guy to mobster Carmine Caridi. Garner gets a mob like warning, but later in he and Bacall find Caridi dead while shadowing him. In fact they see him die quite violently from a poison.

In the end we find out just who and why someone wants Lauren Bacall dead. It is a motive that is incredibly bizarre, but think about the famous Raymond Chandler novel Farewell My Lovely and why someone wants poor dumb Moose Malloy dead. Something along the same lines.

More than most you want to see Lauren Bacall come back as for more episodes. She and Wynter make some more indelible characters that The Rockford Files gave for its viewers.

Fast tracked to a case

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 18 March 2015]

Poor Jim Rockford. As this two part episode begins James Garner has a dinner date and a reservation at a really snooty place. But he's left in line as a bunch of elegant snobs that include movie queens Dana Wynter and Lauren Bacall get fast tracked to a table. But during the course of conversation with the maitre'd it is dropped that Rockford is a well known private detective.

He gets hired by Dana Wynter the next day and for once doesn't have to dog a client about a bill. Garner's mission is to protect Lauren Bacall because someone is trying to kill her.

Someone does, something Garner successfully prevents and then spends the rest of the episode trying to track him down. That only leads to questions answered in the second part.

Wynter and Bacall are an interesting pair. Wynter is a princess, she's got money oozing from every pore and influence that makes even James Luisi cower when dealing with Garner.

As for Bacall she and Garner get sufficiently friendly to let it drop that she's quite the fraud. She's a woman who is schooled in the arts of societal behavior and protocol and as such she's a valuable hanger on with the beautiful people. Lauren is a lot like Florence Bates in Saratoga trunk, broke but with connections that keep her in the societal mix.

As we know two years after this episode Bacall and Garner co-starred in The Fan. A lot of that chemistry is found here and in the second part.

The Big Sleep

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 23 September 2006]

Even though its a pleasure seeing Lauren Bacall back in action in a detective film, stretching this story into a two parter killed the pace of both these episodes. It would have made a much better story if they'd managed to keep it to one.

Bacall puts in fine performance though, tough, sassy and sexy in a hard boiled way. The scene where she joins Garner in conning some information out of a florist is reminiscent of one of her old scenes with Bogie. Even though she's four years older than Garner (and sorry to say, looks it) they still have a lot of chemistry together.

As an added bonus, Jim's hapless bodyguard friend Charlie Mantel ("Maverick" veteran Leo Gordon) apparently has recovered from the last time Rockford hired him to guard his blind psychiatrist girlfriend--just in time to get beat up and sent back to the hospital again. It's a wonderful running joke that only devoted fans of the series would even pick up.

One of the most intriguing Rockford Files episodes

[movielover1913 · 14 September 2015]

The Rockford Files was exceptional television. I studied Mass Media Studies when I was in college, and this was one of the TV shows we discussed. It stood out because it took a well-known genre and then subverted it in clever, touching and insightful ways.

The hard-boiled detective is a well-known stock character but, as played here by James Garner, he is a very human individual, more known for his vulnerability than his being hard-boiled. He has a loving relationship with his father, he has money problems, he is not necessarily always confident or has all the answers, & he often displays gentleness. His relationships with women tend to be complex, respectful and affectionate. His approach to life resembles what you and I probably evince -- a degree of bewilderment, frustration, surprise, etc. This is a very human character.

This particular episode always stood out for me because, as a two-parter where Garner plays opposite the great Lauren Bacall, he has more of a chance to really develop his character within the arc of a specific story. This episode also stood out for me because of the interesting motivation behind the attempted killing.

The plot, in a nutshell, is that a princess hires Rockford to find out who's trying to kill her best friend. The princess and the best friend are both from lower middle class America who "did good." Dana Wynter married a European prince, and Lauren Bacall became something of a high society hostess/socialite, albeit one who's had financial ups & downs. The two women are extremely close, but very different. Dana left her middle class background behind her to become completely immersed in being royalty; Lauren never lost sight of who she was and has no problem reconciling this with the person she's since become.

The princess has a love/hate complex for her friend; they're sisters in terms of their emotional bond, but the princess cannot forgive Lauren for never letting her forget where she came from. Dana Wynter plays this "madness" beautifully because that, in fact, is what it is. So she hires somebody to assassinate Lauren Bacall. As a motivation for murder, this is unusual and, admittedly, fragile but no less fascinating for all that. As a matter of fact, it's a very realistic motive for murder (just read some crime cases and you'll see the extent to which people commit murder for subtle, psychological reasons).

There are some who don't like this episode, saying it drags on too long (it's a 2 parter) and that the motivation is weak, but I disagree. The acting is great -- Garner, Bacall & Wynter all hail from the Golden Era of Hollywood and they're a class act. Saw this when it first aired on TV well over 30 years ago, and it's stayed with me ever since!

Bogie's Baby

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 23 September 2006]

Bacall's back and Rockford has got her! James Garner played detective Phillip Marlowe in "Marlowe" in the 1960's and Lauren Bacall played opposite Hunphrey Bogart who played Marlowe in "The Big Sleep". In addition, apparently Garner and Bacall had been seeing each other around this time (she also co-starred with Garner in Robert Altman's ill-fated "HealtH") so its no wonder they have a good amount of chemistry in this two parter.

Unfortunately, the story is a bit of a mess as Bacall plays Kendall Warren,the friend of a Princess (Dana Wynter from "Sink the Bismark")who appears to have had a attempt on her life. The resolution is pretty good, but in stretching the story out to fill two full episodes, it just kills the pace despite the chemistry between Bacall and Garner and the welcome presence of regulars like Angel, Dennis and Lt. Chapman. If they'd have boiled this down to one show or kept it tighter in a 90 minute episode, this would have been much better.

I'm only sorry Kendall never met Rockford's old lawyer Beth Davenport. The fur would have been flying!

Lauren Bacall guest stars

[safenoe · 7/10 · 14 October 2020]

Impressively for the times, Lauren Bacall guest stars in this Rockford Files two-parter. Sadly season 6 ended abruptly mid-way due to James Garner's back injury, and it took 14 years for Rockford to return on screen. I'd say the first part was more compelling than the second part. Still, any Rockford Files is better than none at all.

memorable episode.

[mm-39 · 7/10 · 8 December 2018]

There is a spark between Jim and Royalty. Lions, Tigers, Monkeys and Dogs gives a human side to Jim who has to investigate an attempted murder case. What I like is how every day Jim does not fit in with the elite. There is some snobbery, social circles etc, mixed in with Jim's blue collar contrast with Jim's father and Angel. Good humor by the informant Angel. What one experience with all the pomp, hype, and snobbery the elite are hiding the same insecurities, tribalism, and rage of elite society. Same human condition but different worries. The old saying the Devil just changes his tactics when life changes. There is a few story twists, but a surprise ending. A human tragic ending. One can have everything, but nothing. A memorable episode. 7 out of 10 stars. Can watch this episode over and over.

I'm one of the unimpressed

[hmoika · 6/10 · 22 July 2020]

As much as I liked seeing Lauren Bacall and Dana Wynter ( I was excited about those stars being on the episode I was ready to sit down and enjoy), I came away unimpressed with this 2-parter.

The first half held my attention easily, and yes, I did enjoy it. But the second half was just tedious......drab.....what happened to this episode in the second half?

And I'm sorry but Dana Wynter's meltdown at the end was just silly.

Falls down just before the finish line

[feindlicheubernahme · 4/10 · 2 February 2024]

This two-parter has some things going for it. It was great to see Dana Wynter, who I really like as an actress. It was also great to see Lauren Bacall - for the first time, I'll shamefully admit. Angel's appearance was kept mercifully brief and Rocky once again made it clear how much he loathes him. I feel you, Rocky!

But despite the positives, it all ended up being a damp squib because of the incredibly weak ending. My money was already on princess Irene being responsible for the attempts on Kendall's life by the end of the first part, just because there were so few other credible suspects and I know the genre. So I spent the second part running through possible motives, all of which turned out to be better than what we were actually given.

Irene wanted Kendall dead so her humble origins wouldn't become known, although most people who'd ever known her were presumably fully aware of her background. Especially since she'd recently been libelled in Fairfield's newspaper and was now conducting a huge lawsuit against him, surely earning her even more press coverage. I know the answer is that her troubled mind didn't realise the futility of her plan. But to arrive at the end of a 90-odd-minute mystery only to discover that the reason behind everything is essentially nothing more than "she's mad" is incredibly unsatisfying. Well, for me, at least.

Rockford's royalty

[stones78 · 20 November 2012]

This is a very solid episode from the final season of this great show, and the most notable aspect is the appearance of Lauren Bacall, who portrays Kendall(who names their daughter Kendall?), and she happens to be best friends with a princess named Irene(Dana Wynter), as they were classmates in high school years ago. Their friendship is slightly odd, as Kendall travels everywhere with her friend and pretends to be rich, although she is broke. This episode also has all the players involved, including several scenes with Rocky, Jack Garner(James Garner's brother), Chapman, Dennis, and the weasel Angel, who's pleasantly surprised his buddy Jim is involved with the princess; she hired him to find out who's trying to kill Kendall. Rockford has to integrate himself with the rich, pretentious snobs to dig deeper into who's out to kill her, including dressing up at a silly costume party aboard a yacht; in another scene, the guy he chases stupidly jumps off a roof and gets himself killed, and another hood who threatened Rockford gets killed by wine poisoning. As much as I enjoyed this episode and most others, the ending here has to be one of the most unfulfilling in the entire series, as it becomes known that the princess is the one trying kill her friend Kendall, although the motive seems rather weak, and I can't even recall the reason, but I think it has something to do with their old school. It left a bad taste in my mouth, considering the rest of the episode was very good. There's something else that bothered me; the princess can have the hood Tommy Manette(Carmine Caridi)easily killed, but she can't have Kendall killed, even though she's around her all the time? Those details just don't seem plausible, and a better ending could've made this an excellent episode, rather than a good one, although I still recommend watching this.

Star power doesn't overcome a weak story

[ronnybee2112 · 7/10 · 28 May 2022]

This episode is interesting because of the appearance of Lauren Bacall. It is indeed a treat to see her on Rockford Files.

The story itself is rather fuzzy and pretty weak,and stretched across 2-episodes it squanders the talents of the talented cast. The basic story just doesn't ring true,in my opinion. By all means,check it out yourself and see what YOU think! 7/10.