The Girl in the Bay City Boys’ Club
The Rockford Files

“The Girl in the Bay City Boys’ Club” is about a crooked card game. The thousand eyes of Dr. Mabuse fill the innocuous card room after hours, supplied by an unwonted expenditure of voltage ferreted out by Rockford and a lady in the District Attorney’s office.

That’s what you call grand, a grand scheme. Bartlett gets to it by every stage of Marlowedom, starting with the rube who doesn’t even know he’s been dealt a winner’s hands to bring him back for more, the client who turns out to be nonexistent and then someone else met by chance, the tables turned on a pursuer by night, the real deal. etc.

Garner’s direction is naturally strong and skillful. He begins with the actors, takes realism in stride, and responds cinematically to the requirements of the teleplay.