Rating: 
Summary: Finally, my childhood has come full circle
Review: It's about time. Combat! was the neighborhood standard for war-playing. Anyone remember the boardgame? This DVD set brings back a lot of memories. Most every episode has a good message and leaves one with that tingly feeling at their conclusion (especially the 1st season). More than a few episodes during the 5 year run, were filmed outside of the Hollywood studio set near Sebastopol, California (West of Santa Rosa). The terrain there resembles the French wine country where a lot of the battle scenes are portrayed. In fact, one winery in particular has photos on their walls of various Combat! cast members.
Rating: 
Summary: First Season Jitters for a Great Series
Review: It's easy to slap 5 stars on a Combat review, but one must be careful and realize that this series was 5 seasons long with over 150 total episodes...In fact, if I could give this first season 3 1/2 stars I would....the show was trying to find its' bearings in this first season, and would face many bumps as directors and writers came and went....these are valuable episodes though in setting up what will become the best television series which covered the WWII theater....Some of the Highlights: Lost Sheep Lost Shepherd....Jeffery Hunter is the guest star as a priest who fell from grace and is now a tanker...when he blows up the church steeple, you cannot help but think of his role in King of Kings. Forgotten Front...guest star Albert Paulsen (who recently passed away) portrays a very sympathetic German who is captured by Saunders...the writers had to add the final scene between Caje and Saunders because the producers did not like the final outcome of Paulsen's character... Cat and Mouse...a very exciting and tense story with Albert Salmi as a Seargent equal to Saunders in grit and determination. Reunion....what does one do, when you find out your long lost father is a collaborator for the Germans? The Medal....Frank Gorshin reluctantly, then aggressively, takes credit for a heroic act that he didn't do... No Time for Pity....one of the many episodes which shows the war's effect on children.... The Sniper....German sniper picks off US soldiers in French town. No Trumpets No Drums...Caje suffers through a period of angst after killing a little girl's father.... These epsisodes, and others are the high points of the first season...but since the characters have not yet fully evolved, there are some episodes that they are secondary to, at times, rather mundane characters: Any Second Now....Hanley is caught under some rubble in a church with an unexploded bomb for company...a rather boring subplot between the British demo man and his love interest... Missing in Action....Howard Duff as a downed pilot is again center stage to a romantic plot line The Chateau...Doc #1 is given the star treatment in this episode..the problem is that he is not a very good actor The Prisoner....Shecky Greene's comedic talents are on display but the episode is too "Hogans Heroes-ish" to be any good... The Walking Wounded...this time we have too much Gary Merrill.. Off Limits....William Windom and Peggy Ann Garner are lovers and guess what?...Garner is married to one of Saunders men!...yawn Well, I could go on but I will spare you....as I said, for the first season, there are highs and lows, but they do set up what is to come, and if you have some patience, there are many rewards in this first season.... So by all means, pick up this first season because the price is right and there is much to enjoy....as the seasons progressed, the show just got better, culminating in the 2 part masterpiece, "Hills are for Heroes" from season 4.... Recommended with some reservations....
Rating:
Summary: A Real Classic
Review: Like most I first saw COMBAT in my early teens. For 5 years Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m. was reserved for ABC and this series. As a kid of course the shoot'em ups are what grabbed you. Having not seen the series for over 30 years I was pleasantly surprised that not only was it as good as I remembered it but even better. Some really excellent scripts that put most of the dreck shown today in the trash heap where they belong. Selmur Productions spared nothing in turning the show out. They budgeted around $125,000 per episode which was quite high for the early 1960's. Vic Morrow and Rick Jason were officially the stars but this was truly an ensemble cast most of whom are sadly gone. When it came to directors the show also struck gold with the likes of Richard Donner and Robert Altman in their early days. The production values were also quite high with the company having access to acres of European type villages and buildings on MGM's back lot and the U.S. Army providing quite a few vehicles and tanks.
There is a minor controversy among some reviewers as to the order of the shows on the DVDs. They are not in order of when they were first broadcast but the order in which they were produced. So the 1st episode broadcast was "Forgotten Front" but it was the 6th episode produced."A Day In June" which is first on the first DVD , was the 11th show broadcast but the 1st produced. You can go to "www.tvtome.com" by the way to find a listing of all episodes.It has listings by order of first broadcast as well as order of production. In the end a minor quibble. What matters is that a real classic is finally available
in excellent transfers. Tuesday nights are once again reserved.
Rating:
Summary: This program has unique introductory music
Review: 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 "staring 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 in 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.
Rating:
Summary: It was good then and it is better now
Review: When I was a kid the men of King Company were my heroes. The me and the other kids in my Detroit neighborhood always fought over who would be Saunders, or Hanley, or Cage, or Little John, or even Kirby. We were faithful fans. We had the toys, the plastic Thompsons, camouflaged helmets, plastic grenades, everything. When I showed my Season 1 DVD pack to my mother and asked her if she remembered me watching this show, her only comment was "Oh Yeah!" Later in life I would occasional catch a show on a cable station and remember. My wife, who had never seen the show before, watched the entire recently purchased DVD set with me. She enjoyed it! Last night when rocking my granddaughter to sleep humming a tune I realized it was the Combat! theme song - and she liked. My youngest son, now 19, even enjoys it. Maybe I have started two new generations of fans - who knows. Anyway - for this 50+-year-old fan I am happy. On a scale from 1 to 10 (with 10 being the highest), the Season 1 Combat! DVD set gets a very huge 10.
Rating:
Summary: Now, THIS is TV!
Review: WOW! On a lark over the last couple of years I've been searching for Combat! It became a habit and I just kept doing it not ever expecting to see it come up...but, last night when I saw it I was thrilled to death! For those who haven't seen the show before, I highly suggest getting this series. I recall the acting was excellent and the themes of each of the shows was outstanding. The show centers around SGT Saunders (Vic Morrow) and his squad of men patrolling against the Germans. You'll see ambushes, movements to contact, and practically the entire array of actions small units experienced in WWII. Great stuff! I'll be viewing this over and over. I just hope I don't over analyze the episodes based on my 20 year career in the Army many years after the show aired. Either way...it will be a blast to see the characters again!
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