Combat! episode reviews by Jo Davidsmeyer
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Episodes are rated from 0 to 4 bayonets
(098) Main Event
RATING: 2-1/2 bayonets
Written by William Fay
Directed by Tom Gries
First aired 14-Sep-1965
Episode 1 of Season 4
Guest star Jack Carter
SYNOPSIS: Saunders' latest green replacements
are a boxer and his cocky fight manager, Murphy, who wants to run both the war and
Saunders. Murphy fights a losing battle to keep himself and his boxer out of action when
the squad is sent on a demolition mission.
REVIEW:
"Main Event" provides nice action sequences and fine performances
in a predictable story about a boxer and his manager. Ben Cooper (who played the
appropriately named Corporal Cross in "Next In
Command ") portrays a likable, All-American contender for the middleweight
championship. Jack Carter, who plays his contrary manager, is perfectly grating in his
efforts to keep his boy out of harm's way.
The best scene shows Cooper engaging the enemy for the first time; his reactions are
beautifully handled. Kirby trades great lines with comic Jack Carter and winds up with the
best punchlines.
NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:
- In the final battle, one of the dead Germans either has a ripped crotch or his fly is
open.
- When Saunders halts the half-track, he is wearing a helmet. In the next shot, he is
bare-headed and is reaching down to pick up his helmet.
- Uses footage from location shooting in Loire, France, including the shots of
"Saunders" searching in the French farmyard and the long shot of the squad
walking down the road past a French country church. Filmed at Chateau Chaumont-sur-Loire.
- Read more about filming Combat! in
France.
CAST:
Vic Morrow as
Sgt. Saunders
Rick Jason as
Lt. Hanley
Guest Star
Jack Carter as Murphy
Jack Hogan as Kirby
Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn
Vic Werber as Ferguson
Hans Difflip as German Sergeant
Todd Lasswell as Driver
and
Ben Cooper as Willy Kleve
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