The Lieutenant

This early 60s series was, for the most part, a sober and thoughtful exploration of the life and responsibilities of a U. S. Marine Corps junior officer starting off his career in the postwar period of U. S. history. It addressed the struggles of a peacetime American military confronting the complicated demands of a Cold War world, at the time less than two decades removed from the transformative trauma of World War II. It was also one of the first series to deal with issues of race with what at the time could be considered unusual honestly. In the end, the series failed to attract a sufficient audience and only lasted one season. But what it led to, as well as what it COULD have led to, are more significant to TV history than most people might realize.

For one thing, it's most prominent co-star, Robert Vaughn (playing Lt. Rice's immediate superior. Capt. Rambridge), quickly came under scrutiny to play another Cold War hero...Napoleon Solo, The Man From U. N. C. L. E. In fact, both The Man From U. N. C. L. E. Book and Vaughn's own autobiography, A Fortunate Life, credit Vaughn's work in The Lieutenant as a primary reason why Vaughn was considered for and ultimately won his signature role as Solo in a TV series that became a hugely influential part of 60s culture. Vaughn actually found out he had been cast as Solo while still working on The Lieutenant.

Second, the failure of The Lieutenant to renew for a second season actually freed up primary producer Gene Roddenberry for his future success. The series was considered a quality production, which enabled Roddenberry additional leverage to create his next, and seminal production: Star Trek. Actors from The Lieutenant such as Leonard Nimoy, Majel Barrett, Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig became major cast members of Star Trek, and even the lead of The Lieutenant, Gary Lockwood, had a memorable guest star role in Star Trek's second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before". There was talk of Lockwood being considered for the lead role of the captain of the Starship Enterprise, a possibility that became rather moot when Lockwood was cast in another science fiction project that became a legendary motion picture: 2001: A Space Odyssey.

But another intriguing possibility for The Lieutenant's future, while never realized, is worth considering. The series was cancelled in the spring of 1964, mere months before the Gulf of Tonkin incident which drew the United States fully into the Vietnam War. Several episodes had already referenced the Vietnam War, and the last episode had Lockwood's Lieutenant Rice actually serving in Vietnam. So the question is, if the series had been renewed for a second 1964-1965 season, would it have become the first true American TV series about the Vietnam War? Would a peacetime military series that was often rather honest about U. S. military life have made the transition into a series about a real-life war? After all, in 1964 few fully understood the ramifications of the war, and what it would lead to in American society. What would such a series have become? It's a question that will never be answered, but it certainly is an intriguing aspect of this series to consider.

Gary Lockwood ("Follow the Sun") played Marine Second Lieutenant William Tiberius Rice. Rice was a recent graduate of Annapolis, who has been assigned his first command-a rifle platoon. His company commander is Captain Raymond Rambridge (Robert Vaughn), an up from the ranks officer. Richard Anderson (without toupee) had a recurring role as Lt. Colonel Steve Hiland. Linda Evans was in a couple of early episodes as Colonel Hiland's daughter, who flirts with Rice. Don Penny added a lot to the show in a small role as Rice's roommate, advisor and best friend Lt. Stanley Harris.

This fine if forgotten 60-minute MGM drama about the peace time Marine Corps was created and produced by Gene Roddenberry ("Star Trek"). MGM was making "Dr. Kildare" (with Richard Chamberlain) and "Mr. Novak" (with James Franciscus as a high school teacher) at the same time as "The Lieutenant" (1963-64). Bill Rice was not unlike Jim Kildare and John Novak: a young, attractive, educated, idealistic professional man, who still has a lot to learn from an older mentor. All these men were in the Kennedy mold. John Kennedy was murdered two months after this series started. Vietnam would soon escalate.

Twenty-six year old Gary Lockwood was still an apprentice actor when the series started. Lockwood got his last name from early mentor Joshua Logan ("Mister Roberts", "Picnic"), whose middle name was Lockwood. Gary Lockwood had played football at UCLA. He could be violent and quick tempered. Lockwood had seriously hurt a man in a brawl at a party. Lockwood was a guy with a high opinion of his own intelligence and attractiveness. He tried to get out of this series at the last moment, hoping instead to concentrate on films. But the producers and network executives convinced him that there would be unpleasant payback if he backed out of his commitment. Lockwood said being a series star was like being a jet pilot: lots of experts do work behind the scenes and then the pilot gets in the hot seat and makes it all work.

Lockwood told TV Guide that he eventually wanted to be the whole chessboard: actor-writer-producer-director. Warren Beatty (who Lockwood worked with in "Spendor in the Grass") would achieve that ambition, but, alas, not Lockwood. Lockwood, during that interview, was also contemptuous of "insecure" women. He later married the very secure Stephanie Powers.

Thirty year old Robert Vaughn got the same salary per episode as Gary Lockwood, even though Vaughn was usually in only one scene per episode. Vaughn had already been one of "The Magnificent Seven" and had received an Oscar nomination for "The Young Philadelphians", so he may not have been crazy about playing second fiddle to Lockwood. Vaughn was an extremely talented and ambitious man with political aspirations. (He was working on his Ph. D. dissertation at the time.) Vaughn asked MGM and "Lieutenant" executive producer Norman Felton for his own series. The result was "The Man from UNCLE", which began the next season.

Gary Lockwood's performance as Bill Rice got stronger from episode to episode. The best episodes had a strongly written and cast guest star role that Lockwood had to stand up to.

Paul Burke ("Naked City") played an ineffectual Marine captain who would have to leave the Corps for "too long in rank", if he wasn't promoted to major. Rip Torn played a tough drill sergeant, who may be so tough he is killing his trainees. Neville Brand played a brilliant, arrogant brigadier general who is assigned Bill Rice as an aide. Bill Bixby played an old high school friend of Rice assigned to his platoon, who tries to use the relationship to get out of work. Patricia Crowley played the ex-wife of Captain Rambridge. Dennis Hopper played a bigot giving a tough time to a black man in his squad. Andrew Duggan played the hero commander of Rice's platoon during WWII, who may not really have been a hero. (Leonard Nimoy had a showy role as a megalomaniac film director in the Duggan episode). Kathryn Hayes played a school teacher who accuses Rice of attacking her.

In one episode Rice goes back to his home town after his father suffers a heart attack. Rice has a dalliance with a young woman (Sherry Jackson) who he used "to toss the ball around with". Rice's father is the editor/owner of the local paper who thinks Rice is wasting his life as a peace time Marine. The father wants Rice to come back and help run the paper. Rice tells his father that as long as there is a need for the cop on the beat there will be a need for what he does.

In another episode, Andrew Prine played a friend of Rice who is also a young Marine officer. Prine is accused of hit and run driving. Prine asks Rice to defend him at a Marine hearing. Rice suspects Prine's fiancé Katherine Ross is not as sweet as she looks.

In the last episode, Bill Rice is sent on a mission to a Vietnam-like country. Rice kills his first man. At the end of the episode, Rice learns he has been promoted to first lieutenant.

Gary Lockwood never had another series, but he was very solid in many guest star roles through the years. He was particularly good as Major Gus Denver, an orphan, on two episodes of "12 O'Clock High" the next season. Gus Denver got his name because he was left on the steps of an orphanage in Denver in August. Lockwood might have been a more interesting replacement for Robert Lansing on "12 O'Clock High" than Paul Burke.

Producer Gene Roddenberry used Lockwood one more time, in the second pilot for "Star Trek", as Lt. Commander Gary Mitchell.

Lockwood starred in Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey" in 1968. Kubrick might well have watched a few episodes of "The Lieutenant" when he was deciding whether to cast Lockwood. Maybe Kubrick watched the Rip Torn drill sergeant episode and got the germ of the idea for "Full Metal Jacket".

Many years later TV fan James Cagney said Lockwood was one of his favorite tough guy villains.

I remember watching this show when I was 13 years old and I really enjoyed it. Now I'm seeing it again on the local HDTV over-the-air station. I wondered how it would hold up for me over the years and I'm very surprised after watching the show again that it really was quite a good show. I had some limited military experience not too long after the show originally aired, so now I'm watching the show for authenticity of the military, and it seems to be pretty much spot-on. Seeing how this is a Gene Roddenberry was the creator and producer of the show, I wonder if Gary Lockwood was ever under consideration for the role of Captain Kirk in Star Trek. I think he would have been great and wouldn't have "hammed it up" as much as William Shatner. But then of course, "The Lieutenant" lasted only one season so who knows what may have happened?

I recently caught this on getTV when they showed it for their April 2016 line up of re-runs.

I was a Marine Officer some thirty-five years after the premiere of this show. While the show may be dated, I thought this was an accurate portrayal of a young Marine officer at his first assignment.

The good, the bad and the ugly of being a fresh new lieutenant were in my opinion captured dead on. All that blended well with the themes of the episodes (which I am about to explain).

Now as (most of) you know, this was created by Gene Roddenberry of "Star Trek" fame. "The Lieutenant" had many players who would go on to star in the latter (whether as a guest or regular cast). In addition to the future Trek players, several episodes seemed like Star Trek in a modern day (albeit 1963 - 64) U.S. Marine Corps setting: stories with (real) social issues and problems.

So, instead of tackling social issues light years away and three hundred years into the future, Roddenberry had us in a modern day Marine Corps Base (Camp Pendleton, CA) and the surrounding towns (San Diego to the south and L.A. to the north).

Artistic license taken in the portrayal of the USMC? Of course! What show or movie doesn't have that?

If you like Marine Corps stories (but not the over-exemplified ones put out by Hollywood at the time), and you enjoyed Star Trek, not just for its technology or "utopia," this pre-Trek, rarely seen or known early work of Roddenberry maybe an enjoyable fare for you.

If you want to be an officer in the military, let alone the Marine Corps, this in my opinion, should be viewed for that future officer as it doesn't show the exaggerated John Wayne and (later on) Tom Cruise (and others') Hollywood portrayals of military officers.

Just found out through Ancestry Dot Com that my father's platoon was on the 1963 TV Show called the "The Lieutenant". He was among the Marine Recruits positioned in the front row during the initial 5 minutes of episode 3 in Season 1. The show was about the trials of a young U. S. Marine Lieutenant and his comrades at Camp Pendleton in San Diego. A Marine platoon is a subdivision of a company soldiers, usually forming a tactical unit that is commanded by a lieutenant and divided into several sections. The Louisiana recruits were featured with Gary Lockwood and Robert Vaughn in the episode titled "The Proud and Angry".