(116) Retribution

RATING: 3 bayonets

Written by Edward J. Lakso

Directed by Bernard McEveety

First aired 18-Jan-1966

Episode 19 of Season 4

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:

ˇ 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.

ˇ Paulsen pilfers a rifle and helmet from an American corpse, then he pilfers the same helmet a second time.

ˇ American uniforms, like German, are one-size-fits-all.

ˇ Script action takes place around Avignon. Actual filming was at Franklin Canyon and the MGM backlot.

ˇ 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