Combat!

I was a grade schooler during the years that Combat showed on Tuesday nights. My father was wounded and captured in the Battle of the Bulge and served four months as a POW, before being liberated on April 14, 1945. He always said the show was very realistic and now that I am in my mid-forties and a WWII buff virtually my entire life, I fully agree with him. The men in the squad are very similar to those in Saving Private Ryan. They are scared, weary, and somewhat disillusioned, but nevertheless determined to carry out their roles in the great World War II. Uniforms, equipment, and the sets all look authentic. I have a question for those who enjoyed this series. Where does it show on television these days? I have access to many tv channels but cannot find Combat anywhere. Please advise.

I was all of 4 years old when Combat first aired and 9 when it went off the air. But to this day, I still fondly remember that show. The Combat theme and most of the music for the show is hard to forget. I remember wanting to be like Sergent Saunders---tough but compassionate. And even though, I later started to realize that the squad probably went through a division (ok....maybe not a division.....but at least a regiment) all by itself in the 150 plus episodes, that never detracted from the tension, thrills, and emotion the shows provided. All the regulars did such a great job portraying their characters, I sometimes had a hard time remembering it was only a show and that they were actors. When an ensemble cast can do that, you know they have to be good. And all the great guest stars...too many to mention. This was what TV was meant to be. I just bought the first seasons' dvds and I will definitely continue to purchase the rest of the seasons.

Combat!--A hard hitting WWII adventure series that featured top flight writing and character development. Frequently "guest stars" appeared in single episodes, for example Tab Hunter appears as a major league baseball player who eventually proves himself as a combat infantryman. Another guest star was James Coburn as an English speaking German soldier, disguised as an American corporal, whose mission is to infiltrate the American lines. The two lead roles of Lieutenant Hanley and Sergeant Saunders portray realistic combat leaders of World War II. This series represents the zenith in the careers of Rick Jason and Vic Morrow.

From its pixellated artillery airbursts above fixed bayonets title sequence, that seguéd into its rousing march theme, to the end of each show I was one fascinated child. Of course the core of Sgt. Saunders's squad lived through more combat than most WWII infantrymen (casualty figures for the period tell that it was extremely unusual for a unit to have made from Normandy to the Siegfied Line with all its members in combat-ready mental & physical health). And you knew that nearly every guest actor (fresh from the repo depot) would be the casualty in nearly every episode.

I used to think that Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley was soooo handsome! But I best loved Pierre Jalbert as Caje - ruggedly handsome, stoical, lethal to Germans in a firefight. "Caje, take the point," said it all: when Chip Saunders's chips were down he put Caje out front. (Jalbert is a Québecois, not a Louisiana Cajun, which explains his squad-saving fluency in French.)

There was another WWII TV series, 'The Gallant Men', that debuted the same season as 'Combat!' Even as a child I picked up on the rifle fire sound effects paradox between the two shows: in 'Combat!' the M-1 Garands made the the sound of the German Mausers in 'The Gallant Men', but in 'The Gallant Men' the sound effects swapped weapons & armies! I always liked 'Combat!' better than 'The Gallant Men' so that when 'The Gallant Men' was cancelled after one season I thought the better show had survived.

'Combat!'s' writers & directors did well for their time. This was long before gore was shown graphically on TV or in cinema, but the scripts tried hard, and often succeeded, in conveying the privation, filth, & stress of infantry fighting. My uncle is a veteran of Omaha Beach & he didn't think 'Combat!' was realistic, though he never said a word about his own wartime experiences: I suspect they were more like those of the first thirty minutes of 'Saving Private Ryan' & that he wasn't eager to revisit those times even though it's certain they never left him.

'Combat!' often made the German soldiers look like robotic dolts - which they most certainly were not (stats tell grimly that German soldiers inflicted more casulaties per man than any other WWII army). But it's important to be mindful that 'Combat! is Hollywood, not the European Theater of Operations.

For now, gang: "Checkmate King Two to White Rook: Out." (Not bad for a girl, huh?!)

Cineastes, just listen to Robert Altman's commentary on "Survival," one of the several early episodes of 'Combat!' that he directed. "If this is not one of the best things I've ever done, I don't know what is," he says (I'm paraphrasing). And he's right. This sixties WW II series is remarkable for its consistently good writing, direction, and acting -- especially acting. Vic Morrow is, in my book, one of the great, underrated, Method-trained actors of his generation. If his career had been on the large screen, he'd be celebrated in the company of Brando, Dean, Clift. With one look Morrow was able to convey exhaustion, disgust, concern, love for his men, and the burdens of duty. There's no one on television today with his subtlety and range. Somebody get that man his star on the Walk of Fame! Or how about a posthumous Emmy award (do they exist?).