Angel Martin (Stuart Margolin) witnesses the murder of a prostitute in his building and with a little nudging from his friend Jim Rockford--and a guarantee of 24 witness protection (personally watched over by Lt. Chapman) AND unlimited room service, he agrees to testify against mob hit man Del Kane (Madison Arnold). But when the case against Kane goes south, Angel and Jim find themselves without police protection and a mentally unbalanced hit-man on their trail.
If you like the Angel Martin character, you're gonna LOVE this episode. If you don't, you're not. Margolin plays the weasel-like Angel to perfection--always looking for a con, greedy, cowardly, ready to sell out anybody to save his hide, and milking his all-expenses paid police protection for all that its worth. Unlike Chuck McCann in the earlier "Funny Box" episode, even when Angel's being a spineless coward and throws Rockford "under the bus", we still like him.
While in police protection, Angel uses his time to write a book about his experience in this case called "Hotel of Fear" (he wanted to use the title "Witness For the Prosecution") with the help of ghost writer Thompson Wells (Stephen Coit, who played multiple characters on "Maverick"). "Simon and Simon" star Gerald McRaney is back for his third or fourth appearance on the show, but doesn't leave much of an impression as DA John Pleasence. However, it is nice to see character actor Frank DeKova (who did some memorable episodes of "The Untouchables" as mob boss Nova, and out of his Indian makeup he wore as Chief Wild Eagle on "F-Troop".
There's a reference to Steve Landesberg's character Kenny Hollywood in this episode as well as Rocky's friend LJ and a kind of an odd stand alone scene with Barry Atwater as a gun dealer named Roach. It was one of the last appearances for Atwater before his untimely death.
If you like the Angel Martin character, you're gonna LOVE this episode. If you don't, you're not. Margolin plays the weasel-like Angel to perfection--always looking for a con, greedy, cowardly, ready to sell out anybody to save his hide, and milking his all-expenses paid police protection for all that its worth. Unlike Chuck McCann in the earlier "Funny Box" episode, even when Angel's being a spineless coward and throws Rockford "under the bus", we still like him.
While in police protection, Angel uses his time to write a book about his experience in this case called "Hotel of Fear" (he wanted to use the title "Witness For the Prosecution") with the help of ghost writer Thompson Wells (Stephen Coit, who played multiple characters on "Maverick"). "Simon and Simon" star Gerald McRaney is back for his third or fourth appearance on the show, but doesn't leave much of an impression as DA John Pleasence. However, it is nice to see character actor Frank DeKova (who did some memorable episodes of "The Untouchables" as mob boss Nova, and out of his Indian makeup he wore as Chief Wild Eagle on "F-Troop".
There's a reference to Steve Landesberg's character Kenny Hollywood in this episode as well as Rocky's friend LJ and a kind of an odd stand alone scene with Barry Atwater as a gun dealer named Roach. It was one of the last appearances for Atwater before his untimely death.