Combat! reviews by Jo Davidsmeyer • Episodes rated from 0 to 4 bayonets

(Sal Mineo and Fernando Lamas)

(134) The Brothers

RATING: 3.5 bayonets

Written by Irve Tunick
Directed by Bernard McEveety

First aired 04-Oct-1966
Episode 4 of Season 5

SYNOPSIS:

Marcel, the younger brother of a French partisan, freezes when confronted with danger. His older brother, Leo, refuses to acknowledge those fears, forcing his brother on a mission. Marcel comes because he does not want his brother to be ashamed of him. Marcel kills a German on patrol but cannot deal with it, saying he can go no further. They are captured by Germans and tortured. All are afraid the youngest brother will talk, including the youngest brother.

REVIEW:

In this tightly crafted script by Irve Turnick, the moral dilemma is faced by the guest stars, not the regulars. Lamas struggles with decisions about his younger brother. How interesting, though, would it have been, if the same plot could have been adapted to one of the regulars? What would Saunders have done in that situation if it was his brother Chris about to betray them?

Both Mineo and Lamas are excellent as the dis-similar brothers. Ted Knight, who returns for the third time to Combat!, plays a German officer shocked at the Frenchman's fanaticism. With disgust, the German orders the execution of this madman who would murder his own brother

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:

When the squad ambushes the Germans, Caje throws himself backwards to attack a German.

Hanley has an extra seven in his serial number.

Typical fifth-season blood bath at the end: four unarmed Americans slaughter fourteen Germans.

ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:

Dick Peabody said in his column in the Mountain Democrat, "The most entertaining guest we ever had was the late Fernando Lamas. Fernando was both erudite and earthy. From a wealthy family in the Argentine Republic and educated in Europe, he had the manner and the manners of the manor. But not always. Sometimes he was as funky as we were. He enjoyed doing our show so much that he would badger his agent to put him up for any role he could possibly play — mostly Frenchman or Germans. Besides English, Fernando spoke French, German, Italian and Spanish. His stories about his days as an MGM contract player should have been a book (X-rated), but Fernando was a talker not a writer."

CAST:

Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley
Vic Morrow as Saunders [does not appear]

Guest Star

Fernando Lamas as Leon Paulon

Jack Hogan as Kirby
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn
Pierre Jalbert as Caje

Special Guest Sal Mineo as Marcel Paulon

Kurt Landen as 1st German Sergeant
Paul Busch as 2nd German Sergeant
and

Ted Knight as Lt. Herlmoch