The Rat Patrol

This show is escapist entertainment because it is supposed to be escapist entertainment. And that just happens to be why I like this show so much. The plots were short and simple. They HAD to be since the show was only a half hour long (not a full hour like COMBAT or 12 O CLOCK HIGH). So in a nutshell, the Rat Patrol came, they raided and then they were off. In 30 minutes, there was not much more they could do in the time allotted. True, some of the episodes are kind of silly but other episodes are really good.

Unlike most war related features of the time (tv shows, movies, etc), the Germans were not depicted as villains, but as the opposing force. The Germans were lead by Captain Deitrich, who actually respected the Rat Patrol and on more than one occasion, teamed up with the Rat Patrol on a truce. One truce, for example, was declared to rescue an Arab girl who had fallen into a well.

The main selling point of this show was that it was in color! Another selling point was to promote one of the stars (Lawrence Casey) as a sort of teen-zeen idol. It was a tactic that would work until 1968, when the public would quickly lose interest in anything war related and THE RAT PATROL would drop suddenly in the ratings war and get the cancellation ax later that year.

I thought "The Rat Patrol" was pretty implausible. I mean, four guys tooling around the desert in a couple of jeeps with two .50-caliber machine guns taking on troop convoys, armored columns, and anything else the Germans cared to offer. And with all the lead thrown their way, the Rat Patrol always came through unscathed. (Extraordinary. Didn't the German Army teach its men to shoot during basic training?!) This show was essentially escapist stuff, and not based on military reality. I watched the show because of the actors' performances, while discounting its implausible premise. (I thought that Christopher George as Sergeant Troy was pretty good.)

"THE RAT PATROL"-Produced by Rich/Mirisch Productions for UATV. Number of Episodes Produced: 59 episodes in color. Filmed on location in Spain and parts of Europe. Series ran on ABC-TV.

First Telecast Of The Series: September 12,1966. Last Telecast Of The Series: March 18, 1968. Repeated Episodes aired from March 25,1968 until September 16,1968.

Producer: Lee Rich-Executive in charge of production. Executive Producers: Lee Rich and Walter Mirisch,under Mirisch Productions for United Artists Television.

Stars: Christopher George,Gary Raymond,Jack Moffitt,and Eric Braeden.

Synopsis: Filmed on location in Spain where a great deal of war material was left over from filming of the movies "The Great Escape", and "The Battle Of The Bulge". This was an action-adventure series about a group of American and British soldiers fighting for or against the Germans and "The Rommel" in the North African desert during the days of World War II. This was a grand series that had supreme production values and was in full color to boot,which was the selling point of the series. In other words,this was one action-packed show showing the soldiers each week battling it out over the Germans in the sophisticated "jeeps" through the desert and the adventures they face along the way. This was a series that made stars out of not only actor Christopher George,but also made a career boost out of German-born actor Eric Braeden,who would make a name for himself later on in several television shows and also would boost him to the top of the latter in American daytime television(as Victor Newman on the soap-opera,"The Young And The Restless").

Also to point out,when "THE RAT PATROL" premiered in 1966,this was the only ABC show that depicted WWII in color since the network's longest-running WWII series at the time "COMBAT",and not to mention "TWELVE O CLOCK-HIGH",were still in black and white,but would make the transition to color later on,respectfully in their final seasons. Both of the shows mentioned ran for one hour,while this series ran for an half-hour,with some episodes leading up to a cliffhanger until the next installment.

Also if you notice that every episode had the title "RAID" in it. This was basically a prime example of other shows of the 1960's that before THE RAT PATROL did the same thing with the same title. For example,on the spy drama "The Man From UNCLE"(NBC,1964-1968),every episode had the title "AFFAIR" in it,and the western fantasy/adventure-espionage drama,"The Wild Wild West"(CBS,1965-1969),had the title "NIGHT" in it.

Getting back to the series,THE RAT PATROL,this series had some of the best action sequences out there,especially with some of the episodes which were very good and some were passable. In all,compelling drama mixed with high adventure and breathtaking excitement. It held up brilliantly until the show's final episode on September 16,1968 when it went off the air with a whisper,and from there into syndicated repeats during the 1970's and continue onward into cable re-runs of the early to mid 2000's.

I remember watching this show on the air in the 60's as a child. It was a highlight of the week. There are comments made that this show is not very authentic. Of course it is not authentic. It is just for entertainment. It has the same qualities as a Western where the hero shoots all the bad guys using the gun that shoots 100 rounds without reloading. I laughed so hard when I saw the episode when Troy throws a tiny vile of ether at a German truck about half a block and the truck blows up. Or the times that they will karate chop someone with one blow and that person is "out". That is cartoon style but who cares. It is still great entertainment.

I hate it when people take a show like Rat Patrol, and try to show how smart they are when it comes to being a critic. It wasn't intended to win awards, or be a dramatic masterpiece. One of these reviews used the term escapism, like that single fact makes this show a disgrace. Well, that happens to be why I love this show, and many others from the the 50's, 60's, and 70's. This was before the loosely used term "reality TV", was even close to being thought of. I like to turn on the TV and be entertained by a simple show, that knows it's there to entertain me and take me away for awhile.As a kid I used to stay up until mid-night in the late 70's to watch Rat Patrol. I grew up in the D/FW(Texas) area, and this used to come on after the local Saturday Night Wrestling. And I had a little 13in. black&white TV. I loved it. And now I have both sets of DVD's and I'm over joyed that it's in color! So long live the Rat Patrol!!!