Three classic episodes of Combat! (Complete videos!)

By RM
tuesday, november 11, 2025 at 6:43:00 p.m. est

Don't know where to post this, and the hour is getting late...

https://archive.org/details/combat-s-04-e-02-the-first-day

Not quite the Complete Series as advertised, but most of Combat! is here, for Veterans' Day. My recommendations: S. 3 ep. 30-"Heritage"- Probably my co-favorite, along with Altman's 1st-season "Survival." Charles Bronson has one of his best roles as a demolition expert assigned to blow up a mountain-then he discovers a cave filled with priceless art treasures. It's a takeoff on Frankenheimer's The Train, which is a great movie, but this is better (Lancaster was Superman, Bronson is, unusually, sensitive and human). Absolutely incredible.





S. 3-17-"The Cassock"-James Whitmore, who is always great, as a Nazi who disguises himself as a priest. Suspense, action, compassion.





S. 3-20-"Brother, Brother"-Tour de force. The editing and photography are stunning, especially in a night-time truck-chase sequence that outdoes most movies. In the service of another great human-interest story. This was the most kinetic show ever on TV, with the actors and the camera in near-constant motion. Also the most violent and action-packed-since it's OK to shoot Nazis! Leonard Rosenman's music is the crowning touch, melodic themes alternating with his eerie 12-tone style (his specialty).





And yet, except for an occasional nod to Vic Morrow, the series received little acclaim in the five years it was on the air!

-RM


N.S.: Sorry, RM! RM posted this during the night of Veteran's Day, but I accidentally buried it.

I used to say that Combat! was the greatest dramatic series in TV history, but forgot about a little show produced by Rod Serling from the late 1950s through the mid-1960s. Thus, it was one of the two greatest dramatic series in TV history.
Other episodes of Combat! previously re-broadcast at WEJB/NSU:

Season 1, Episode 1: “Forgotten Front” (1962);

S1E2: “Rear Echelon Commandos”

S1E3: “Lost Sheep, Lost Shepherd” (1962); Jeffrey Hunter as “a spoiled priest” (four different languages spoken, with no subtitles or dubbing, but never just for show);

S1E9: “Cat and Mouse” 1962; Albert Salmi (“Nazi shoe clerks!”);

S1E11: “A Day in June” 1962;

S1E16: “The Volunteer” (1963); Serge Prieur and Ted Knight (“ein Jünger soll Tschokolade jede Woche haben” “A boy should have chocolate every week”);

S2E1: “The Bridge at Chalons” (1963); Lee Marvin, “You’re like a mother hen with your chicks”;

S2E4: “The Long Way Home”, Part 1 (1963); Richard Basehart, Woodrow Parfrey;

S2E5: “The Long Way Home,” Part 2 (1963);

S2E24: “The Hunter” (1964); Alfred Ryder (“We are going to play a new game, Herr Sergeant, a hunting game!” The Most Dangerous Game); and

S3E22: “The Convict” (1965); Gilbert Roland plays a career criminal who has just broken out of prison, and who impersonates a dead resistance fighter;

S4E25 & 26: “Hills are for Heroes,” Parts I & II (1966).