Combat! Season 1
Combat! Season 2
Combat! Season 3
Combat! Season 4
Combat! Season 5


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Season 3 COMBAT! episodes:
[Season 3: Overview]
[Silver Service]
[The Long Walk]
[Mountain Man]
[The Duel]
[Vendetta]
[Operation Fly Trap]
[The Impostor]
[Losers Cry Deal]
[Point of View]
[Dateline]
[Brother, Brother]
[The Hard Way Back]
[The Little Carousel]
[Fly Away Home]
[A Rare Vintage]
[The Enemy]
[A Gift of Hope]
[A Walk with an Eagle]
[Birthday Cake]
[The Cassock]
[The Town that Went Away]
[The Convict]
[The Steeple]
[More than a Soldier]
[The Long Wait]
[The Tree of Moray]
[Cry in the Ruins]
[Heritage]
[The Hell Machine]
[Billy the Kid]
[Beneath the Ashes]
[Odyssey]

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

(086) The Convict

RATING: half bayonet 1/2 bayonet

Written by Kay Lenard and Jess Carneol
Directed by Bernard McEveety
First aired 16-Feb-65
Episode 22 of Season 3

View fan comments about this Episode - add your own!


SYNOPSIS:

A German bombardment strikes a prison, releasing convicted criminals into the countryside. One unscrupulous convict, Boulanger, assumes the identity of a French resistance fighter and teams up with Hanley's squad. Boulanger uses the squad to travel safely to a rendezvous with his son. The son believes in the father, thinking him guiltless of any crime.

REVIEW:

This light-weight story benefits from the presence of veteran screen actor Gilbert Roland. He instills passion and energy in this slight story of a hard-bitten convict and his devoted son.

Hanley starts out with the squad, but after a convenient wounding, hitches a ride to the rear on a steam locomotive. In reality, Rick Jason had received an invitation to go hunting on the Korbel winery property and wanted out of that episode. His exit provided some magnificent shots of the Lieutenant riding MGM's grand old steam engine.

Director McEveety shoots some entertaining sequences at the mine and provides a well-choreographed battle. The predictable plot, though, is uncompelling.

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:

  • Action takes place near Avignon.
  • The trainman uses an American Colt .45 revolver to shoot Hanley.

ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:

Jack Hogan remembers working with Gilbert Roland, that he was not "the warmest guy in the world" but a fine actor. "He had been around since silents. He was a legend and was supposed to be a health-food addict. He was getting on and he looked better than we did."

CAST:

Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley
Vic Morrow as Sgt. Saunders

Guest star
Gilbert Roland as Boulanger
Jack Hogan as Kirby
Pierre Jalbert as Caje

Clive Clerk as Pierre
Peter Camlin as French Engineer
Benito Prezia as Andre
Sheldon Jacobs as German Major
Chris Anders as German
and
Robert Carricart as Lambrelle


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Related Reading about the French Resistance:

Convoy to Auschwitz: Women of the French Resistance
by Charlotte Delbo, et al (Hardcover - May 1997)
Translated into English from French.
List price $28.95, check Amazon.com price

Agents for Escape: Inside the French Resistance, 1939-1945
by Andre Rougeyron, et al (Hardcover - January 1996)
Autobiography of a French resistance fighter who worked in Normandy to help with the Allied invasion. He was captured and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Well written and provides a unique perspective of both the resistance and the high price they paid when caught.
List price $24.95. Check price at Amazon.com

Love in the Tempest of History: A French Resistance Story
by Aude Yung-De Prevaux, et al (Hardcover - April 2001)
At 23 the author discovered the people who raised her were not her parents. Her real parents were executed by the Nazis when she was just an infant. This story is a daughter's tribute to brave parents she never knew, documenting their remarkable story as they resisted the Nazis in France, and gave their lives for liberty.
List price $23.00. Check price at Amazon.com

Resistance and Betrayal: The Death and Life of the Greatest Hero of the French Resistance
by Patrick Marnham (Hardcover - March 2002)
List price $25.95, check Amazon.com price.

Hitting Back : An Austrian Jew in the French Resistance
by Dolly Steindling, et al (Hardcover)
List price $20.00, check Amazon.com price.

Code Name Christine Clouet: A Woman in the French Resistance
by Claire Chevrillon (Hardcover - June 1995)
Superb Autobiography!
Out of Print--Check Availability at Amazon.com by clicking links below.
Editions: Hardcover | Paperback

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