Jim Rockford quotes from The Rockford Files

Lance White

Maybe we should forget about lunch and follow up a lead or something?

Jim

Which lead did you have in mind, Lance?

Lance White

We don't have one, Jim.

Jim

[laughing] Then I guess it would be hard to follow up then, huh?

Lance White

C'mon, you and I both know that when you need a lead one always shows up. That's the way it works.

Jim

[Frustrated] No, it never just shows up, Lance. Never. Watch my lips: NEV - VER.

Freddie Beamer

Hey guys, look at this.

Jim

What's that?

Freddie Beamer

I found this last night with the Senator. It was in his hand.

Jim

[Disbelievingly] Sure it was.

Freddie Beamer

Yeah, I put it in my pocket and forgot about it.

Lance White

This could be the lead we've been waiting for, Jim.

Jim

Wait, wait, wait a minute, let me get this straight.; ten seconds ago we had no leads - nothing, huh?

Lance White

That's right.

Jim

And now Beamer pulls this picture of a band leader or something out of his pocket and says it was in the dead man's hand, and then he tells us it's been in his coat for 18 hours, and it shows up right now when we need it?

Lance White

That's exactly right, Jim. What's the problem?

Jim

Oh, no problem. No, no problem at all. I just want to get it straight. I may want to tell an analyst.

Jim

A state senator and a bus driver? What's the connection?

Lance White

Some things you just have to accept. You know, this is just a hunch, Jim, but I think the bus driver had something on the senator. Maybe the senator was having an affair with the bus driver's wife?

Jim

And just where did that come from?

Lance White

Hunches don't come from any place, Jim, they're just hunches. That's how we solve our cases. We get hunches, they turn out to be right, and the case gets solved. Gee, I don't know how you survive as a private investigator, Jim. You don't seem to know any of this stuff.

Jim

[on the telephone] Guess where I am now.

Det. Dennis Becker

At the bar?

Jim

Close - they got a lot of bars in here. You wanna try again?

Det. Dennis Becker

In jail?

Jim

Yeah, that's right!

Jim

Say, I just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry Whipple got iced.

Hey, he was a soldier doing a soldier's job and he ended up with his dog tags in his boot like a half million other soldiers. I only hope when I get mine it's in the line of duty.

Jim

Yeah, that's what I'm hoping for too. I mean, who wants to go out looking at a vase of roses when you can get your head blown off in an alley?