Commando du désert

To disagree with a previous post, The Rat Patrol was filmed in color. As a mater of fact, the tag before the show aired showed a background of the two jeeps roaring through the desert with The Rat Patrol -- In Color superimposed on the shot. Being that it was filmed in 1966-1968, color was one of the selling points of the series -- hence all those wonderful shots of military half tracks and trucks blowing up in huge fireballs. (Combat was aired in black and white. ) As for the show itself, it wasn't so bad. Sure, some of the scripts were kind of escapist. However, there were several episodes that were well done. One involved Sergeant Jack Moffitt (Gary Raymond) coming to grips with the death of his brother; other episode teamed the Rat Patrol up with the Germans a couple of times. Once they had to save a little girl who fell into a well, and another time Americans and Germans had to fend off an Arab tribe attacking them in some kind of old ruins in the middle of the desert.

Anyway, point being the show was escapist, but is still on the air today. WGN in Chicago airs the show sometimes and other outlets air it, too.

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.

"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 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!!!

Rarely shown today in syndication, Rat Patrol was a pretty entertaining series, focusing on a small group of British and US soldiers in North Africa during the Second World War. Most episodes dealt with a raid of some kind the patrol would undertake, though often the small raids became larger battles against the Germans (particularly Captain Dietrich and his unit). While you could tell it was produced by Hollywood, the desert environment as well as the great uniforms, vehicles, weapons, and sets gave the series an air of authenticity. While the writing level may have been low in a number of episodes, the action definitely makes up for it, and the actors do well with their limited dramatic scenes. Well worth seeing for anyone interested in World War Two.