  
Combat! reviews by Jo Davidsmeyer
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Episodes rated from 0 to 4 bayonets
(116) Retribution
RATING:
3 bayonets
Written by Edward J. Lakso
Directed by Bernard McEveety
First aired 18-Jan-1966
Episode 19 of Season 4
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SYNOPSIS:
Hanley sends Saunders' squad after a
wounded intelligence officer. Kirby is excited about this mission when he learns the
intelligence officer is Eddie Kopachek, a childhood friend and his sister's fiancé. When
Kirby finds Eddie beaten to death, he launches a personal vendetta against the S.S.
Colonel he holds responsible.
REVIEW:
This episode starts with a light scene
of Hanley and Saunders needling Kirby. It gives little hint of the grimness to follow.
Jack Hogan provides an outstanding performance in "Retribution." It is his best
work in the series, after "Hills Are for Heroes." The moment where Kirby decides to exact his own
vengeance on the German is thoroughly chilling.
Argentinean-born Albert Paulsen returns to Combat! in his fourth guest
appearance. Paulsen played a wide variety of Germans for Combat!: the endearing
deserter in "Forgotten Front,"
the manipulative prisoner in "The Pillbox," the tragically noble officer in "Escape
to Nowhere," and now the cold,
sadistic killer. In "Retribution," for the third time he is a prisoner whose
life is in the hands of a squad member.
The script by Edward J. Lakso drags slightly after Kirby's escape from the German
Colonel, but director McEveety moves the action along. He provides some wonderful
foreground/background action sequences in the French village as Saunders searches among a
battling American platoon for one German trying to sneak out in an American uniform.
NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:
· As Paulsen escapes, in the background several Germans are
slaughtered by the river. In the next cut, the same slaughter repeats, just in a closer
view.
· Paulsen pilfers a rifle and
helmet from an American corpse, then he pilfers the same helmet a second time.
· American uniforms, like
German, are one-size-fits-all.
· Script action takes place
around Avignon. Actual filming was at Franklin Canyon and the MGM backlot.
· In 1964, Paulsen won the Emmy
for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actor, beating Conlan Carter.
ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:
The opening has a rare shot of Hanley
arriving in jeep and getting out. Rick Jason says they avoided shots of him climbing
into/out of a jeep, usually cutting as one foot was about to make the move. It took too
long for him to fold his long legs into the tiny vehicle.
CAST:
Vic Morrow as
Sgt. Saunders
Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley
Guest Star
Albert Paulsen as Col. Bruener
Jack Hogan as Kirby
Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn
Conlan Carter as Doc
King Moody as Andre
Rachel Rosenthal as Micheline
Frank Koomen as Capt. Klaus
Ulf Balkmoller as German Sergeant
Paul Huston as G.I. #1
William Harlow as G.I. #2
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