User reviews

This series was a top rated one for ABC. It is easy to see why. Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, & the regular cast were talented actors. The series also got a lot of support from top notch guest stars as well.

The production qualities of this show were better than a lot of series. Somehow the action sequences would always look fresh. We'd always believe our heroes would come out and they always did thanks to so clever script writing. Amazingly, a large battery of script writers would always make things flow somehow.

This show gave us some heroes to look up too when we were kids who were regular GI's instead of wearing capes & flying. The Pvts & Sgts were the heroes, not the brass. The thing I have noticed in reruns I have seen recently is that sometimes the scripts did get a little stretched. This series almost ran as long as the entire World War 2.

The setting is in France & the Germans are always the enemy. If our regulars got wounded, the medics would always have them fixed up for the next episode. I'd also bet more ammunition was used filming this show than any other hit series.

This series glorified war & was prior to efforts to show how horrible war really was. What is interesting is that it doesn't really get into the type of partisan political views shown later in MASH. This show rarely gets preachy letting the actions speak. That is why this show is so good. The US Military served as consultants to the program.

For a series to take on the subject matter of a platoon of fighting men of the U.S. Army during World War II was certainly a most difficult a setting to plan a run of series TV. And when we think about it, most series so set in this Global Conflict, were basically sitcoms; such as McHALE'S NAVY, BROADSIDE and HOGAN'S HEROES. Other than our COMBAT (Selmar Productions/American Broadcasting Company, 1962-69) and RAT PATROL (Mirisch-Rich/Tom Gries/United Artists TV/ABC TV, 1966-68).

Any other dramatic series of that modern type to enjoy any success were NAVY LOG, CITIZEN SOLDIER and THE SILENT SERVICE. These, however, weren't series with continued and recurring characters; but rather Dramatic Anthologies which presented us with stories that were based on true occurrences from the Great War, often featuring a latter post dramatization on screen introduction and commentary by the real Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Coast Guardsman or Airman featured in the evening's story.

In COMBAT, the foundation was laid for a memorable series with the cast. With Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley, we had a guy who was believable as a high class Leader of Men type. He is by necessity aloof, cold even stern. But we see time and again his gentility and proper upbringing. He is good enough to have been a West Point Grad.

The highly talented and tragically prematurely lost, Vic Morrow gave us his signature portrayal in Sgt. Saunders. The good Sergeant is tough, but fair and most knowledgeable.

His is the type who won the War for the good guys. He has the intelligence that the Lieutenant possesses; but lacks the polish and education.

#The composition of Saunders' platoon is also an integral part of the foundation. In characters such as 'Caje' (Pierre Calbert), Littlejohn (Dick Peabody), Kirby (Jack Hogan), 'Doc' the Medic (Colan Carter) and Billy Joe (Skip Homeier) were regulars along with others; who would change from time to time, as we would expect both in real Warfare, as well in series TV of any appreciable length. (Just look at the evolution of casts in LAW & ORDER (Dick Wolf/Universal/NBC, 1990-2008+) or ER (Constant c Prod./Amblin/Warner Bros./John Wells/Hands Down/NBC TV, 1994-2008+).

An awful powerful amount of excellent outdoor location shooting in the most convincing of natural settings went into giving COMBAT a sort of documentary look. The costuming was accurate right down to the buttons and was fitting to the squad of Combat Soldiers, replete with their 2 weeks growth of beard. The Soldiers of the Series most definitely looked the part.

As for opening and closing credits, the folks at Selmur Productions gave us a smooth and natural a combination of visuals and music as we have ever seen (or heard). In an almost Op-Art look, the credits would move over the screen; propelled by the sight of a moving group of Soldiers; who are marching along. But, we do not actually see the Soldiers. Only their rifles and bayonets are illustrated in the Comic Book dotted print style, which may well have been an invention of someone like an Andy Warhol. IT's very moving and has to be seen to be appreciated.

One favourite story that we recall involves the infiltration of the Allied Lines by a Nazi German spy who is dressed as an American Soldier. The German Espionage Agent-Soldier is portrayed by the ever-smooth, Charles Coburn. He trips himself up just a little when he tries to act a little too American. Sgt. Saunders figures it out, but it takes some time.

So, COMBAT goes to the Head of the Class in a very exclusive school of War Series; yet, some say that COMBAT was in a classification of stories all by itself. We find ourselves hard pressed to disagree.

"Combat!" was the most realistic, exciting and emotional show in television history. This gem about a squad of soldiers battling it out in WWII after D-Day did not glorify war, though there were lots and lots of actions scenes and firefights, but instead focused on the individual soldier and how he dealt with the war personally and as part of a brotherhood. Terrific writing, superb direction, believable characters and slam band action were the trademarks of this true TV classic. Big name directors and actors lined up to become part of the show which ran for 5 seasons and 152 episodes on ABC and has developed a huge following to this day. The series regulars were superb and believeable. Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, Jack Hogan, Piere Jalbert, Dick Peabody and Conlan Carter all shone on thier own unique ways. The characters of Saunders, Hanley, Kirby, Caje, Littlejohn and Doc have become etched in our minds forever. "Caje, take the point" was a phrase uttered quite often as myself and my childhood friends would act out the episode of Combat! we just watched and now as adults we see the show in all it's glory we may have overlooked as children. My only "complaint" about the show as in any show with recurring characters, we knew our heroes would not perish. We knew they would get the job done because there was another to do next week. As an adult, it lessens the tension a wee bit but who really cares? These are our heroes and we want them to succeed, not die and the characters and actors pull it off so well, it really becomes a mute point. I loved that the Germans actually spoke German. so what if we didn't know what they were saying? Whatever it was, it had to be bad and something that could hurt our beloved squad. My biggest disappointment through all this praise, and I feel it is important, is the lack of respect Combat! gets in the mainstream. Fine, it can stay our "little secret" but please, let's give credit where credit is due! this was the finest example of dramatic television in the mediums history! Let's recognize that! Let's not forget about it! When classic TV is discussed, let's not forget Combat! Please don't push it aside and bury it like the mainstream has! It is an important show and one that should be seen again and never forgotten. And how about giving Vic Morrow a star on the hollywood walk of fame!

My favorite TV series is a child and I consider it the greatest TV show ever made. Vic Morrow was the greatest physical actor in history. I've never seen an actor go through what he goes through on every episode crawling in mud crossing rivers explosions going off all around, ru ning, clinbing hills. Diving into ditches, soot falling on him, running, jumping getting snagged o. Wire. Lumber falling on him. It used to make me laugh out loud when Garry Shandling said he was burned-out from the Larry Sanders Show when he was on screen 7 minutes and episode in a suit sitting in a chair.... he couldn't do 10 minutes of what Vic Morrow did in one episode. The show was great, the episodes were great, the acting was superb... despite all my love for the show, I do have three complaints which I had all the way back to my childhood. I cannot understand why they did not have subtitles when the Germans were talking. The viewer needed to know what they were saying. it's maddening to hear them speaking German and you're sitting there Clueless. also they played way way way way too much music during the episodes... there's barely 10 seconds at any point where there's not blaring mood music. sometimes you just like to have the normal sounds that people would hear instead of loud mood music every second and third I cant understand why they did not always have the same Squad together; Kirby, Littlejohn, Cage and Saunders...many episodes will have little John missing two episodes in a row or cage is missing or Kirby's missing for two episodes I still can't comprehend why they didn't have everybody's favorite unit together all the time

When I was young boy in the sixties two things used to puzzle me imn my favorite tv serie Combat! 1) why the german rifles had that strange sound. 2) how come the soldiers didnt worry about leaving their weapons behind in so many situations and why they never get the dead enemies weapons ? Other than that, I must admit that sergeant Saunders, together with Admiral Nelson and Capitain Kirk helped to build my personality.

Combat! is one of the best shows ever on TV. Vic Morrow is terrific every time. Rick Jason is also great and the writing and directing are superior. The sets are very authentic, especially for TV. I was a fan from the first episode I saw as a kid and even then was amazed at the sets and acting. Take a look at this show if you like good TV.

Season four of this WWII drama stands out with several intense episodes such as "The Steeple," on which a paratrooper is stuck on a church. A Nazi officer leaves his body hanging to gloat to the French villagers. Vic Morrow makes many attempts to save the very alive airborne officer. In "The Odyssey" Morrow feigns to be in shellshock and wears a German uniform to fool the Nazis in to believing he is one of their own. In "Hellbeast" he and Frank Groshin (the Riddler from Batman) command a disabled German tank in a desperate attempt to get to friendly lines. All are nail biting episodes today as well as 45 years ago. I never heard of this show until recent years. Well worth the wait.

One of the absolutely BEST series on TV for 5 years !!!!

Although Combat lasted longer than the war itself of even greater interest is that Combat which began on D-Day certainly lasted longer than the campaign to retake France and invade Germany. I suppose if you calculate the episodes it might work out to twice a week stories for the theater of war that Lt. Rick Jason and Sergeant Vic Morrow's squad operated in.

Jason and Morrow were the stars and the story emphasis alternated between the two of them. Kind of like the way it was with Ward Bond and Robert Horton on Wagon Train. Both these guys were the model of professional, but citizen soldiers.

Morrow's casting was interesting. I'm sure he was happy to be a good guy for a change. Mostly Morrow was cast in a nice variety of psychotic and/or thuggish roles. But here he was the dependable leader of men.

Combat debuted at the same time as another World War II based series did The Gallant Men. But it was set in the Italian Theater and only lasted a season.

Combat was jettisoned by NBC due to Vietnam as more people saw real war reported to them in their living rooms and didn't like it. Still it was a good show. I'd love to see one of the nostalgia channels bring it back.

I never missed a show for the first three or so seasons. I knew all about the men of the squadron, but I had questions the show didn't answer, like how come Lt. Hanley wasn't on every week? Did he have obligations elsewhere that occasionally kept him from leading his men into combat? This meant that, once again, most of the grunt work was done by the sergeant and the other non-coms. Also, why did every French town they went into have a river with a step bridge over it? It's like that TV executive I saw in a movie once who said that the audience wasn't smart enough to notice little things like the above. An eight-year-old noticed it. So much for the intelligence of TV executives, whose IQs haven't risen much some 50 years hence.

The end of "Combat" came as a result, I guess, of the media's turning on the soldiers fighting in Vietnam. The news readers' anti-war stance suddenly made the depiction of fighting men on TV unfashionable. While it was on, it gave me an idea of what it was like for my father to do battle in little French towns like the ones Sgt. Saunders and his men fought in.

Recently I began viewing the episodes of "Combat!" in sequence. I had loved this series as a kid, but was concerned that my return would result in serious disappointment. However, I've been really surprised at how strong the show really is, even after all these years!

The early episodes are a bit shaky because the show is still trying to find its feet. The use of Shecky Greene for comedy relief was an interesting idea, but those situations don't really seem to fit the rest of the show. But as I progress, the shows keep getting stronger, more confident. Yes, more happens to this platoon than would happen to any other unit that size. But, it's TV after all and they keep trying to mix up the scenario to add different plot lines.

Some of the themes considered in what I've seen so far: -The struggle of a new man replacing an old vet. -Challenging a collaborationist to help the resistance (with a good ending!) -How the constant stress of war can break men (a popular theme). -A child trying to join the war, then finding out what that really means.

I also beg to differ with one of the comments made by another reviewer. The platoon doesn't always have what they need. On the contrary, many of the episodes have, at the their heart, the platoon struggling with what they don't have or can't do. I applaud the folks who put this show together. I especially applaud the fact that Germans regularly speak German and French characters regularly speak French and there are no subtitles. Yes, these characters speak English when needed. However, the show often has the men struggling with basic communication and "Caje" is always being asked to translate. A nice touch.

So, if you rent this show, you'll get a pretty decent experience. These episodes will not have the graphic violence of today's military pictures. But the show was perfectly ready to grapple with some pretty complex and tough questions. An admirable effort for its time!

The very successful and highly acclaimed series which first aired on TV in 1962. It's main star, Vic Morrow, plays the part of Sgt. Chip Saunders. The other main character, Lt. Hanley, is played by Rick Jason. The Saunders character is somewhat unbelievable in his constant devotion to duty under ALL conditions. The Hanley character is cast a little more believable in that although he is more a "rules" type, like all officers are, he shows a more HUMAN side than Saunders. What really was the success of this series was the involvement of the human kind in various combat conditions and situations. Watching the tactics apllied by both the allies and the Germans is rather ridiculous. It seemed that the Americans were out manuvering the Germans for some reason and Saunders was always sticking out his squads "NECK" by taking unnecessary risks. As a combat veteran myself I would have questioned these leaders tactics as borderline suicide or just plain idiocy although one really sleeps with the other.

The show was really about humanity and drama which was aptly displayed. They must have been doing things right or people would not have tuned in every season from 1962 to 1967. My own observation is that when they changed over to color filming 2 things happened. The tactics became more unbelievable and the missions as well.

Strangely enough both the lead characters died untimely deaths.

Combat ! It came on late on WFIL-TV in Philly. I'd sit there with a pint glass of milk and ten Ivan spiced wafers and pace myself through the four acts of every Combat episode week in and week out. It was great because after Combat were re-runs of the Untouchables. Enough of that. Combat was realistic and well put together. There was no better infantry squad portrayed that I've ever seen in the movies or TV than Chip Saunders squad (with the R/T call-sign "King two".) When I went in the Army in '68 I had to relearn military phonetics.... Baker was Bravo, King was Kilo, Nancy was November....I had watched Combat and Twelve-o'clock High so often. Let me tell you something: having my last name called by a Sargeant and being put on the 'point' or the 'flank' for the first time in the real Army was almost a familiar situation! You learn right away whats Hollywood and whats reality however. The first lesson is helmet etiquette; chin straps never hang loose. You never 'one-arm- hang' your weapon, (sling or port-arms or you are using it.) ad infinitum.....but there was a ton of believability in Combat regardless.

All the actors knew how to salute. This is unbelievably critical to convey a sense of reality. Just look at Cuba Gooding playing a military guy if you want a real laugh. I believe two of the actors were ex-military Navy. The actors knew their weapons...so much so that you identified each weapon with the soldier. M-1 Garand with Littlejohn, Saunders with the Thompson, and Kirby with the BAR....Caje with a knife... Kirby, by the way, lugged an authentic Browning Automatic Rifle through every episode. The Radio Operator ALWAYS "got-it" but the R/T traffic was authentic and the unit itself seemed to be as ubiquitous as the weaponry. This crew used to go on-location frequently too. Korbel Winery was one location. To this day I buy their champagne because of it. And there was the back lot at MGM where they shared the set with 'Man from Uncle" and some westerns.

Vic Morrow was to Combat and all military movies (both screens) as William Shatner is to James T Kirk: unassailable. The shame of Vic Morrows death is that he was put in a dangerous situation by a movie director later in his career and died because of negligence: plain and simple. Hence Vic Morrow as Sgt Chip Saunders stands forever in my mind, looking over the barrel of the Thompson perched on his hip....as the hard-bitten squad leader: best NCO in the European Theater bar none.

The actor who portrayed Littlejohn was an accomplished writer. His recollections of those days are priceless and recommended for any fan of 'Combat!"

I have all 5 seasons and wouldn't trade them for love or money. These shows gave what my Dad and Brothers said a close look at the horror of war any war. Weather called 1,2 or 100 yrs war, civil, where people died ,old, young, babies ,kids. people just trying to do a days work on their land to feed their families are killed for just being their and each war is to be the one to end all wars but the next one is in line like in a bating cage one after the other. Important people say nice things about the dead and about their bravery all true but then when all go home glad it wasn't their son or daughter the family of the one just buried goes home to cry and cry and cry and I could go on forever couldn't I. Then things go back to what's normal for those who still smile until the next WAR the next speech the next banner to be waved and the new Graveyard services and the circle rolls over more who serve and those who Love them. But if you watch Combat you will see just what I've been saying in each episode. They were very well written and I will keep watching them because war never changes only the faces of its DEAD.Sincerely; Big Mike H.,Ivanhoe,Ca.

Many programs of the era had their own introductory music and this program was no exception; the music was by Leonard Rosseman.

They always start out with "starring Rick Jason and Vic Morrow." Instead of great sweeping epics, this program focuses on a single squad with their trials and tribulation with confronting the Germans in WWII. Each episode is one hour and has to oppose a problem and a solution at that time. This was back in the time of professional privates.

In 1967-1968 Vietnam if you were lucky certain areas actually had TV broadcasting at 1600 hrs. You guessed it; this was one of the programs. I wonderer what the locals thought of the episode?

This would be a good series to own. Not just for the nostalgia, but the personal conflicts portrait in the program are still with us today.

[[ASIN:B0002A2W2C Combat - Season 1, Campaign 1 ~ Vic Morrow]]

I was not a fan of the show in its original run as a kid, though my father never missed it. I came to discover it on cable TV after my father passed away, and I quickly grew to appreciate it, along with "12 O'Clock High" (which as an Air Force vet I liked better...).

Like many others, I preferred the episodes in which Vic Morrow had the lead role, as I got to know Sgt. Saunders and the individuals who composed his squad: Kirby, the constantly complaining goldbrick; Littlejohn, the gentle giant; the tough Caje whose fluency in French helped build bridges with Maquis resistance fighters in the French villages where they fought; and Doc the sanguine medic.

But there was a piece of trivia that added more realism to the show's portrayals of both the American and German fighters that I recently learned: Selig Seligman, creator and executive producer, was an Army lawyer who moved into television production in the early days of TV. In his final Army days, he served as an attorney for the prosecution...at the Nuremburg war trials!

Initial intros always eliminate stars like Jeanette Nolan or Leonard Nimoy etc. why I wonder. Would they have to pay them more to headline them?

Of course it is a good war TV series, showing the most accurate vision of war and its tragedy, especially from the human point of view. We can't deny that. The only thing I regret is that the enemy - Germans - are ALWAYS shown as the "bad guys" and sometimes idiots.....Always the same clichés....Does that mean the US soldiers won over idiots? Where is the glory to triumph over an idiot? Germans were the enemies, yes, of course, but that doesn't mean they were necessarily the "bad guys", despite the fact that they fought for a criminal regime which wiped Europe out, for four years, I agree. But here I speak of the troops, the soldiers, not the ideology. On the front, you have no good vs bad guys, never, only winners and losers. Period. Every one fights to survive, to defend his brother of arms, to kill the enemy; so please forget this idiocy to always show the Germans as a bunch of jerks. THEY WERE NOT; If there had not been the Russian army to fight against the two third of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front, the German army would have never let the US troops get further than the Beach hotel in Normandy. Believe me. Germans had not planes to cover them in France, in 1944. No planes at all !!!! Germans fought like lions. And if I had to choose between being in the place of the GI landing at Omaha in the first wave of assault, or being in the place of the German soldier waiting in his beach bunker for this first wave, I don't know which place I would prefer? And you?

Wow, good for the guest stars though New York swagger Vic is always impressive and the coward Rick Jason. But the Nazis woo, talk about easy on the eyes. Many of them i never knew until i watched this. Got it for Easter 2015. Horst Ebersberg, Paul Busch, Sasha Harden, Tomislaw Popovich, Mike Masters, Hank Brandt, Peter Haskell, George Sawaya, Nimoy, Ross Sturlin, Peter Church, Lou Robb, Lee Millar, Felix Reinsch, Mike Kellin, Edward Kemmer, Jan Merlin, Roger Perry, Jan Malmsjo, Gunnar Hellstrom, and on and on.

I used to love watching re-runs of this with my dad, who was a veteran himself. However, we did get quite a few laughs from the tactics used. I don't know why so many people are praising the realism of the combat situations. Some were credible, but there were more than a few errors or WTF moments and ideas done to death. For instance, they were ALWAYS unlucky enough to be laying somewhere that the entire German army needed to stop by, and would get trapped. I don't think anyone in the whole squad knew how to flank anything, except for the Sarge. They would just run straight at the Germans until all guest stars were dead. They all got wounded so many times that each would have had 200 purple hearts LOL. There were so many episodes where the guest star guys would just run out in the open to attack a MG nest, or the Germans would suddenly stand up so they could get hit easily. The "squad" was more of a fire team, at best. They were on recon missions, usually, but really? Only 3-4 men out that deep in enemy territory? They were always talking loudly on patrols, for the sake of the script. However, overall, it was a great show for the time, and did show a lot of other real things that happened. It still remains a classic, just funny at times.

On October 2,1962,one of the most realistic,exciting,and one of the most realistic dramas in television history premiered on the ABC Network. "Combat!" was that show and under it's creator and producer Robert Pirosh under executive producer Selig J. Seligman under his production company,Selmar Productions produced a show about the grim lives of a squad of American soldiers fighting the Germans in France during World War II. The squad lead by Platoon leader Second Lieutenant Gil Hanley(Rick Jason),and Sergeant Richard "Chip" Saunders(Vic Morrow). "Combat!" was more that just a combination of drama,it was a show loaded with action. Each week,these soldiers and their Platoon Leaders take on the Germans with lots and lots of spectacular action sequences and astounding firefights and sometimes daring rescue missions where not only the squad fights to stay alive against impossible odds,but the replacements that were assigned to the squad always ended up being captured by the enemy or killed. The squad in some cases find themselves in a tough situation only to find a way to get out of the predicament they're in and destroy the enemy against the perils they faced,only to come out of them victorious. But instead "Combat!" focused on the individual soldier and how he dealt with the war on a personal level not to mention the mental and physical fatigue these men faced each week. There was a brotherhood of sorts between the characters whether the situation they were in.One had the others back in case of trouble and to help each other out whenever the squad was in a tight situation. This was a show that had some of the best writing,spectacular direction,believable characters and some of the best hardcore action sequences ever produced for television were the hallmarks of this television classic which today had the same impact as when television audiences first saw this show and eventually blew them away back in 1962. "Combat!" became the longest-running World War II drama in the history of television that became a staple on ABC's schedule,lasting five seasons. Out of the 152 episodes that were produced,the first four seasons of the show(which were in classic black-and-white)spanning 126 episodes aired from October 2,1962 until April 12,1966. It's final season(the color episodes)produced 26 episodes that aired from September 13,1966 until the show's final episode on March 14,1967. The repeats from Season Five aired from March 21,1967 until August 29,1967.

"Combat!" was one of ABC's most successful show and went on to develop a huge following of loyal fans which remains to this day. The series regulars were superb and believable especially with the main characters of Vic Morrow,Rick Jason,along with Jack Hogan(Kirby),Conlan Carter(Doc),Dick Peabody(Littlejohn),Pierre Jalbert(Caje)were in some aspects lifelong brothers in the fight,depending on each other each week to get through some of the tightest situations even when they were assigned to dangerous missions. Not to mention a line-up of guest stars that came on board each week ranging from additional squad members or playing evil Nazi villains. The guest stars ranged from Frank Gorshin,to Lee Marvin,Charles Bronson,Sal Mineo,Roddy McDowell,Terry Carter,Frankie Avalon,Dennis Weaver,to Claude Akins,James Whitmore to Robert Duvall and Richard Basehart among others. Even after 50 years,this was the show that had non stop action and incredible drama,and it shows in the number of Emmy nominations and wins this show received. Don't miss the best episodes of "Combat!" from the premiere episode "A Day In June" to "The Long Walk Home"(Season 2), "The Hostages"(Season 2),"The Hard Way Back"(Season 3), "Hills Are For Heroes"(Season 4),to "Ollie Joe"(Season 5),and the final episode of the series "The Partisian"(Season 5).

Happy Anniversary....for now "Checkmate King Two To White Rook:Out"