Rocky is driving a semi full of Charlie Strayhorn's Breakfast Sausages for a friend when he is run off the road and his load set on fire. Jim has to find out what happened so Rocky won't lose his license, his pension and his medical insurance when he finds out the truck was a non-union truck. This episode has a lot of great twists and turns in it. As a special added attraction for country music fans, two Willie Nelson songs are used in the episode as examples of Charlie Strayhorn's singing. This show also features a good mix of comedy (Rockford and Strayhorn have a good knock down, drag out fight) and action.A good start to season #5.
7 Reviews
One of the better episodes!
mm-3918 March 2019
Warning: Spoilers
Heartaches of a Fool is one the better season 5 episodes. Caught up in the Somkie and the Bandit/Dukes of Hazzard old south craze Heartaches of a Fool has Country and Western good ol boy caught up in a mystery when Rocky does a run with an illegal load of Mexican sausages. (this was before free trade) Heartaches of a Fool is a character driven episode where the loud, big mouth country stars with a soft side who works with Jimmy, and tries to find the good ol boy the singer once was. Their is Chinese mob, and other trucking mob involved, while Jim gets Rocky off the hook. With a Willie Nelson background music Heartaches of a Fool has a Old South mixed with the Sopranos feel. Entertaining 8 stars.
Rockford goes country (and western)
safenoe27 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
What a moving episode to start season 5! Firstly, the ending was quite touching with the drive into the sunset with Willie Nelson crooning. There are various interweaving subplots here, and whilst contrived at times, it was worth seeing James Shigeta, who a decade later gained prominence in Die Hard.
A terrific country-flavoured Rockford kicks off the fifth season
UNOhwen27 August 2015
As has been said in other reviews - Rockford goes country, and he sure does, in this first episode of The 5th Rockford Files series.
Rocky does a haul for a friend - hauling country singer Charlie Strayhorm's 'Hickory smoked sausages, from Cripple Creek, Arkansas.'
Only thing is, Rocky picked them up up in San Diego - manufactured in Sonoma, Mexico, by non-union drivers.'
A big part of this episodes likability is in large part due to Tayler Lachter's 'good ole' boy' performance of country singer 'Charlie Strayhorn,' who is red-hot, on the charts, but, he's turned his financial management over to some very disreputable people.
Charlie Strayhorn's introduction to Jim is in a knock-down brawl on his front lawn, which reminded me of nothing less than two dogs playfully wrestling with each other.
Strayhorn's whooping and hollerin' during this, endears him to Jim, and then Rocky, who he comes to deeply like and feel a kinship for - something he missed out on as a youngster.
Another great performance is Strayhorn's girlfriend, Lynne Marta as his (soon-to-be) wife, Carrie, who - to me, anyway, bears a striking similarity to Sherree North, but, with a country feel.
I wish these two actors had been better exposed, as their appearances here, are terrific.
As Charlie's nefarious financial man, we have the terrific James Shigeta, an actor who's appearance here - even as the bad guy - is very welcome.
Also appearing is Rockford perennial, Joe E. Tata - who's got one of the best names an actor can have.
Many people don't understand how supporting actors are the backbone of the industry, and The Rockford Files was a wonderful showcase for so many years for these wonderful actors.
The writing here, is top-notch, full of wonderful limes.
All-in-all, as we begin the second-to-last season of this terrific show, The Rockford Files is firing beautifully on all cylinders, and this episode wonderfully demonstrates how well-oiled this series had become.
Rocky does a haul for a friend - hauling country singer Charlie Strayhorm's 'Hickory smoked sausages, from Cripple Creek, Arkansas.'
Only thing is, Rocky picked them up up in San Diego - manufactured in Sonoma, Mexico, by non-union drivers.'
A big part of this episodes likability is in large part due to Tayler Lachter's 'good ole' boy' performance of country singer 'Charlie Strayhorn,' who is red-hot, on the charts, but, he's turned his financial management over to some very disreputable people.
Charlie Strayhorn's introduction to Jim is in a knock-down brawl on his front lawn, which reminded me of nothing less than two dogs playfully wrestling with each other.
Strayhorn's whooping and hollerin' during this, endears him to Jim, and then Rocky, who he comes to deeply like and feel a kinship for - something he missed out on as a youngster.
Another great performance is Strayhorn's girlfriend, Lynne Marta as his (soon-to-be) wife, Carrie, who - to me, anyway, bears a striking similarity to Sherree North, but, with a country feel.
I wish these two actors had been better exposed, as their appearances here, are terrific.
As Charlie's nefarious financial man, we have the terrific James Shigeta, an actor who's appearance here - even as the bad guy - is very welcome.
Also appearing is Rockford perennial, Joe E. Tata - who's got one of the best names an actor can have.
Many people don't understand how supporting actors are the backbone of the industry, and The Rockford Files was a wonderful showcase for so many years for these wonderful actors.
The writing here, is top-notch, full of wonderful limes.
All-in-all, as we begin the second-to-last season of this terrific show, The Rockford Files is firing beautifully on all cylinders, and this episode wonderfully demonstrates how well-oiled this series had become.
A different Rockford episode
scottfotos19 October 2023
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is unique as it has the recognizable music of Willie Nelson heavy in the episode. In fact there's no other TRF episode that has this much soundtrack and long periods of soundtrack. This gives a rather mundane episode it's uniqueness. The story and dialogue itself seems a bit phoned in and the episode almost has the feel a story cooked up just to allow the music to get into the episode where sometimes the musical montages works and other times they does not. The whole sausage conspiracy is almost laughable in it's goofiness. I really love the closing sequence, which is another long musical section, where we get a long slow aerial view of the 101 that slowly leads up the canyon to the Hollywood Reservoir. Perfect ending.
Was this show getting tired?
hmoika12 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
After reading all of the glowing reviews, I had expected to really enjoy this episode.
Frankly, I found it to be tedious, stupid in places, and just not all that interesting.
It didn't help that the actor playing Charlie Strayhorn was just not up to the task. His wide-eyed depiction of being drunk was embarrassing......and that's when I began tuning out. There was way too much Charlie and not enough Rockford-with quality actors.
I hope the balance of the 5th season is better.
Frankly, I found it to be tedious, stupid in places, and just not all that interesting.
It didn't help that the actor playing Charlie Strayhorn was just not up to the task. His wide-eyed depiction of being drunk was embarrassing......and that's when I began tuning out. There was way too much Charlie and not enough Rockford-with quality actors.
I hope the balance of the 5th season is better.
Rockford n' roll
stones784 April 2011
This episode started season 5 of the Rockford Files and it's a strong entry about macho country music star Charlie Strayhorn(played by the late Taylor Lacher)whose life and business is spiraling out of control as he's on a hectic schedule. One of his problems revolves around his sausage company(that's right, his picture's on the package), and it directly involves Rocky, who was forced off the road by a couple of cars; Rocky was driving a non-unionized truck, and the men from the other cars stole the contents of the truck. Jim investigates while his father's recovering in a hospital, and he discovers the sausage has a connection to Mexico of which I'm not 100% sure why; I think the meat was either being shipped or manufactured there unbeknownst to Strayhorn, who gets an impolite visit by Rockford, and soon after, they come to blows on the front lawn in a very funny scene. Add a dead manager in an isolated trailer, and a Chinese triad(hard to believe they got involved)led by a familiar face in James Shigeta, and what we get is another well written episode to start out the new season. Rocky gets a decent amount of face time and some scenes, and it seems that Strayhorn is very fond of him, and pays for the hospital bills. Rockford and the singer play well together, and seem to have nice chemistry; they save the day with rifles and help from the cops. A few Willie Nelson songs provide the soundtrack, and although I'm not a big fan, the opening song during Rocky's accident added a nice touch. Lastly, James Garner seems to have aged quite a bit between the last episode of season 4 and the opener of season 5, as his health concerns could've been mounting.
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