There was one scene I remember occurring with slight variations in many episodes of The Rockford Files. I may be mentally exaggerating how often they did this but I liked it and I can't quite explain why.
Jim Rockford, as you may recall, lived in a trailer which I believe was located in Paradise Cove in Malibu, a few yards from what is now one of my favorite restaurants. He would go back to his trailer and he'd have to use a key to get in but he was the only person who did because thugs would be waiting inside for him.
Looking very menacing, one of the thugs would say, "Give us the letter or we break your legs."
And Jim Rockford/Garner would in an instant say, "Here's the letter" and hand it over. No fight. No macho posturing. He somehow had a way of still being a heroic figure as he said, "I'll give you whatever you want. Just please don't hurt me."
I can't think of too many other TV detectives who could or would have done that. Can you imagine Steve McGarrett handing over the letter? Frank Cannon? Joe Mannix? Never. Maybe Banacek but he was only allowed one fight scene per 90 minute episode. Garner was the guy who could go chicken on you and not lose an ounce of testosterone.
I liked him a lot on The Rockford Files and also in several movies like The Americanization of Emily and The Thrill Of It All and Murphy's Romance and…oh, just look over his whole filmography. Even when the movie wasn't great, he was.
And I haven't seen it in a while but I remember liking him a lot in a lightweight comedy that Carl Reiner co-wrote called The Art of Love. It was not a big hit and when I told his co-star, Dick Van Dyke, that I liked that movie, he gave me one of those "Okay, if that's how you feel" looks. The movie doesn't seem to be available on DVD and I haven't seen it on TV for a long time. Maybe I wouldn't like it if I saw him again but I bet I'd like Jim Garner in it. And Dick Van Dyke, for that matter.