Combat!

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Paul Reed, Sep 15, 2007.

  1. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

    Thanks to some members of Otto's ww2f, I became aware of this TV series from the 1960s, which I had never heard of before. There are quite a few clips from it on Youtube and more details here:

    "Combat!" (1962)

    I ordered series 1 on DVD from eBay-US and am just watching it now - it's excellent!!

    Can thoroughly recommend it if you are looking for something to put on your Christmas list!

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Paul Reed

    Paul Reed Ubique

  3. scott 64

    scott 64 Junior Member

    Hi Paul
    Thanks for the memories - i have not seen Combat (not even on Aussie tv ) for many a year.A good series.
    Regards Scott
     
  4. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Posted this in May in a thread you were in Paul - Great Series.

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/barracks/10649-band-brothers-sequel-2.html

    Quote:


    Concentrating on one group makes it personal and allows the audience to get closer to each member.

    http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/attachments/barracks/5311d1177806968t-band-brothers-sequel-bayonets-jpg

    The series "Combat" followed one American squad (1962 -1967) as they made their way through France in WW2.

    I never missed an episode.

    In 2005 they released the entire 152 episodes on a 40 DVD set in region 1 for the very first time. Robert Altman (M*A*S*H) directed some of the first episodes.

    Combat TV Series
     
  5. scott 64

    scott 64 Junior Member

    Talk about coincidenses - the wife was just flicking thru the channels and came across Combat on Fox Classics. Its on 8.30am Sunday mornings Aussie time!
     
  6. spidge

    spidge RAAF RESEARCHER

    Talk about coincidenses - the wife was just flicking thru the channels and came across Combat on Fox Classics. Its on 8.30am Sunday mornings Aussie time!

    Noticed it on a promo last night! Watching it at the moment.
     
  7. machine shop tom

    machine shop tom Senior Member

    Man, does this thread bring back memories.....

    We used to play Combat as kids. Of course everyone wanted to be Sarge. Kirby was cool, too. We killed a lot of Jerries in my back yard.

    Then the Vietnam war came along and made things a little too real........

    tom
     
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  8. 51highland

    51highland Very Senior Member

    Remember watching that in my early teens. I thought it was great, Dad thought it was typical American crap and would laugh at it!!!
     
  9. 15thScottishDiv

    15thScottishDiv Junior Member

    Combat was pretty slick for it's time. All shot on private land near Hollywood, I believe, and on the back lot at MGM (?).

    Lt. Handley passed away recently, he lived a troubled life after Combat. I don't think those fellows are much around anymore.

    "Hills are for Heros" was among the few 2 part episodes that were produced for prime time broadcast. THAT was about my favorite episode(s) !!!

    Cheers, Johnnie, 1 Mx MG Bn, 15 Scottish Div.
     
  10. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    Here's a classic.
    mac.jpg
    With Gavin MacLeod (Loveboat) as a British Sergeant, with a Sten gun no less. I liked him much better as Moriarty in Kelly's Heroes.




    Later, he changed sides.
    mac1.jpg
     
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  11. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Gestapo agent Zolle:

    [​IMG]
     
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  12. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    I've watched a fair few episodes of series 1 since catching Canuck's post of 27 September and find it entertaining. I'd never seen this series before.

    Qualification is that some of the viewing is irritating. The same set gets used over and over again. But worst of all for a series that follows men that are continually in action from D-Day onwards, soldiers are killed in action yet appear in later episodes and others get badly wounded and then are fully fit for the next episode; so the continuity is poor. Examples, being Lt. Hanley (Rick Jason) breaks a leg in one episode and is then back in action in the next (no plaster cast). Sgt Saunders (Vic Morrow) has his hands burned very badly in one episode and is then back in action in the next (no burns visible).

    Like 51 Highland's earlier post, my dad would have said it was typical American crap. To me though, it is strangely enjoyable.
     
  13. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    A note on the two stars of the show, Vic Morrow (Sgt Saunders) and Rick Jason (Lt. Hanley), who both died in tragic circmstances.

    Vic Morow was killed (aged 53) on set whilst filming Twilight Zone: The Movie, on 23 July 1982. Morrow and two children, 7-year-old Myca Dinh Le, and 6-year-old Renee Shin-Yi Chen, were filming a scene for the Vietnam sequence, in which their characters attempt to escape from a pursuing US Army helicopter out of a deserted Vietnamese village. The helicopter was hovering at about 24 feet above them when pyotechnic explosions damaged it and caused it to crash on top of them, killing all three instantly. Morrow and Le were decapitated by the helicopter rotor, while Chen was crushed by a helicopter strut.

    Rick Jason died (aged 77) from a self inflicted gun shot wound one week after the Combat reunion, on 16 October 2000. He left no suicide note. Authorities said the actor was "despondent" over "unspecified personal matters."

    Note: Both sourced from Wiki.

    I recall a news item from years ago about the helicopter incident and thinking how awful it was, but didn't know then the actors involved.
     
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  14. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    The series ended when I was ten years old. Very flawed when I watch it now but I was on the edge of my seat as a boy.
     
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  15. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    [​IMG]

    Don't know how I missed this game. I had the trading cards though. They were black and white.

    No drawings or pictures of guns of any kind are permitted in American schools now so if a kid brought this game to school today they would be suspended. They can't even make a play gun with their fingers without being punished.
     
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  16. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

    To think that we used to play in the street with our real but de-activated Sten guns. No one raised an eyebrow then. Today it would bring a swat team.
     
  17. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    I remember many WWII souvenirs such as bayonets being brought to school for "Show and Tell" We had a real Chauchat to play with. Don't know if it was in working condition, but that is a relative term for Chauchats :)

    I remember it seemed impossibly heavy but I was only seven or eight at the time.
     
  18. Steve Mac

    Steve Mac Very Senior Member

    IMG_0060.JPG

    Enjoying viewing the Combat series despite some flaws...
     
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  19. Dave55

    Dave55 Atlanta, USA

    Wow, where did you find that statue?
     
  20. canuck

    canuck Closed Account

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