This film - The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda (1997) is entitled on the DVD collection; "Murder and Misdemeanors".
Even though Pete Carpenter, who co-composed themes and many episode scores for Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974) and other TV series with Mike Post, passed away in 1987, he is still credited with Post on this and the rest of the Rockford Files TV movies.
Because James Garner's original production company, Cherokee Productions ceased operations after1980, due to Garner's lawsuit with Universal Studios, Garner formed a new production company to produce the 1990's Rockford movies. The name of the new production company was MGB Productions. MGB was a British-made sports coupé, manufactured by MG, fitting in with Mr Garners love of automobiles, and also fit in nicely with the names the initials stand for; "M" for Meta Rosenberg, "G" for James Garner,, and "B" for Juanita Bartlett. Meta Rosenberg was his long-time agent/producer, who also directed a few episodes of the original series. Juanita Bartlett was also a long time writer, producer during production of Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974), who started writing for Garner shows all the way back during Nichols (1971).
While dining at the Sandcastle, Harvey is seen reading the novel "King Con" by Stephen J. Cannell; co-creator and series ' producer of Deux cent dollars plus les frais (1974).
The script was originally written to feature the character of Gandolph Fitch, portrayed by Isaac Hayes in three episodes of The Rockford Files. Once the project was greenlit, Hayes was unavailable during the proposed shooting schedule. The character was then rewritten to become Booker Hutch, and was played by John Amos.