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

Guest Star: Terry Carter

  SYNOPSIS:

In "The Long Wait," a German machine gun pins down Saunders and company, along with four seriously wounded G.I.s, a truckful of desperately needed munitions, and a truck driver more interested in saving lives than playing soldier. The driver, Archie Masters, cannot bear the suffering of the wounded soldiers in his care. He wants to fight. But Saunders insists on waiting until an American tank can move in and destroy the German guns.

REVIEW:

This story by Edward J. Lakso lets the audience inside the psyche of Saunders the soldier. His view of war — as bloody mathematics — is at odds with the needs of the truck driver, and at odds with Saunders' own emotions.

In "The Long Wait," director John Peyser does his best to stretch out this story that really cannot fill the hour. He pads it with stock footage, with shots of the tank moving in and moving out, and with close-ups of tank treads. But the premise is established early in the episode — that nothing much is going to happen until the tank comes — and all the padding of pretty shots cannot hide the fact that nothing really does happen until the tank arrives. This episode is a long wait, not just for the soldiers, but also for the viewers.

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:

• Fletcher Fist (Brockmeyer in season one) appears in this episode, hidden behind face-covering bandages and flat on his back.
   
• The opening sequence re-uses shots from "Bridgehead."
   
• The long shots of the truck on the road are lifted from "The Duel."
   
• Early in the episode, one of the wounded soldiers dies in the truck. The body is not shown again, with no explanation of what happened to it.
   
• In five seasons, this is the only episode to feature a black actor. For further information, see our page about black soldiers in WWII
   
• William Wellman (Sgt. Brice) appeared in "Anatomy of a Patrol."

CAST:

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

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