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

(114) The Casket

RATING: 2.0 bayonets

Written by Ed Waters and Paul David Moessinger
Directed by Bernard McEveety
First aired 30-Nov-1965
Episode 12 of Season 4

SYNOPSIS:

In "The Casket," an irresistible force meets an immovable object. Saunders (the irresistible force), trying to get a wounded Kirby to a hospital, crosses an elderly mother (the immovable object) determined to give her son proper burial. She has the truck that Saunders and Caje need to transport Kirby. But the widow has no love for Americans. Saunders confiscates the trunk, with the casket, and forces her and her surviving son to come with him.

REVIEW:

Though not a sterling episode, "The Casket" provides an interesting diversion. Nina Foch, as the old French woman driven to extremes by grief, is a joy to watch, especially when she gets the upper hand with Saunders. The script by Ed Waters and Paul David Moesinger has her going over-the-top a little too often, but Foch and director McEveety do their best to reign in the cliches. But where does an old woman in a war-torn France get a truck, gasoline, and a semi-automatic pistol? Vehicles were routinely confiscated and gas was rationed.

This episode has my favorite Kirby line: when Saunders helps the wounded Kirby into the back of the truck, and he nearly falls into the open (empty) casket, Kirby says "Gee, Sarge, you think of everything."

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:

• Saunders effortlessly lifts a five-gallon can of gasoline.
• Flashlights used by the Germans are not Wehrmacht issue.
• The son, Raymond Cavaleri, also plays the young boy in "A Silent Cry."

CAST:

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

Raymond Cavaleri as Michel
Henry Brandt as German NCO