(020) The Volunteer

Review

In "The Volunteer," written by Gene Levitt, a young French orphan tries to join the squad as a soldier, but ultimately finds the game of war not to his liking. Serge Prieur plays thirteen-year-old Gilbert Barole with angelic earnestness. A strikingly beautiful young boy with soulful eyes, Prieur conveys the hopes, fears, and desires of a boy left alone in the world--all without speaking a word of English.

Robert Altman directed and produced this engaging story. The episode has all the visual hallmarks of the Altman Combat! style: cluttered foregrounds, hand-held camera work, a lot of play with sunlight and shadow, excruciating close-ups, scenes obscured by dust and smoke. It's interesting watching "The Volunteer" back-to-back with "Survival," also directed by Altman. Directorially, "The Volunteer" is a dry-run for "Survival". The sharp-eyed viewer will note many filming locations repeated from one episode to the next. Prieur in "The Volunteer" and Morrow in "Survival" travel the same roads, climb the same hills. Prieur wanders through charred woods that are still smoking after a barrage. A week later Saunders finds his "brother" in the same charred forest (freshly smoking). But more than just locations, Altman repeats camera shots between the two episodes: closeups of shadows of running feet, dappled sunlight streaming through overhanging trees, the same spinning point-of-view as both Morrow and Prieuer run through the woods.

Other interesting Altman moments include the drunken, near-orgy with the town women as the squad "liberates" the village. Portions of this street party footage are used in "The Sniper" and "Ambush," though the racier moments are not reused. In later episodes we're not treated to repeated views of Lt. Hanley, surrounded by his carousing men, carrying a babe in his arms through the streets of the village; or of Saunders also carrying off a young woman and later familiarly slapping her on the rear as he leaves town. (For those who read credits, it's interesting to note that two women are billed in this episode, though no women have any dialog or featured roles. It makes my salacious little mind wonder what Veronique and Nadine Arlyn did to earn their on-screen credits.)

Rick Jason has some wonderful moments as Lt. Hanley in this episode. His relationship with his "volunteer" are delightful as Jason alternately treats this boy with sympathy, frustration, anger, and finally desperation as he must entrust the lives of the advance force of the American army into the hands of a child. Hanley doesn't get to behave often as an officer in the series, Usually we see that side of him in brief flashes, and less of that as the series progressed. But in this episode (when he's not copping a feel on the streets of the village), he's definitely the officer struggling to keep his men alive and accomplish his mission, even after being seriously wounded.

Notes, Oddities, and Bloopers

Cast Credits

Rick Jason
as Lt. Hanley

Vic Morrow
as Sgt. Saunders

introducing Serge Prieur

Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Steven Rogers as Doc
Jack Hogan as Kirby
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn

Ted Knight ..... Kurt
Kurt Levin ..... Karl
Ed Gilbert ..... Herman
Veronique ..... Hilda
Nadine Arlyn ..... Ilsa

Dialog Excerpts