(013) Far from the Brave

SYNOPSIS:

Private Dulaney, fresh from his assignment as Army cook, is the latest green replacement for the Squad. Saunders’ assigns him to take the Browning Automatic Rifle (B.A.R.), replacing Saunders’ recently slain friend, Grady Long. As Saunders’ squad is left behind to cover the main force’s retreat, the soldiers look over the elderly replacement with uncertainty and hostility. Alone in a personal grief that he will not let anyone breach, Saunders’ faces the meaning of loss and how you measure the value of life and friendship.

REVIEW:

In his second Combat! script, Burt Kennedy again nails the show’s characters and the emotions of fighting men in a tightly crafted script. Unfortunatley, this is the episode that sent Shecky Greene off the show. A shame, because he only got better and better with each episode. His scene with Delaney over the chicken are tender, realistic, and rises above the obvious humor of a soldier and a chicken.

Vic Morrow and Rick Jason both excell at acting "between the lines." Their scene after the funeral is an excellent example. More is said in the silences about what they are thinking and what they are feeling that is said in the dialogue. Combat! always told stories cinematically. It is a series that really requires "viewers." This is not radio with pictures. So much of the story is in the visuals. Combat! dared to go long stretches without a single line of English dialogue, and sometimes without any dialogue at all.

Burt Kennedy scripts provided both great dialogue and great silences. All the actors took advantage of both in this four-bayonet episode. Whether it is a quiet scene between Billy and Littlejohn or a brazen outburst by Kirby, this episode hits all the right marks.

As in so many of his stories, this Burt Kennedy episode celebrates the glory within the most humble person, and shows the wisdom and strength that comes from adversity. Saunders, the soldier who sets himself up as the pillar of strength to all those around him, discovers his own feet of clay and in the end, girds them in steel armor and in the fragile memories of two B.A.R. men who passed briefly through his command.

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:

ABOUT FILMING THE EPISODE:

Tom Lowell remembers filming the escape sequence: "We were running down this street with pots blowing off, it was my first experience with that stuff. Those things were really scary, because you were right next to them when they went off. I was in fear of stepping in the wrong place and stepping on one of those things. But we had one of the best special effects crews in the business. [...] So we were running from that French town clock, down the street toward that bridge that is in just about every episode. And, just to the right, was this giant bay where they had the Bounty, because they were shooting Mutiny on the Bounty at the same time. So they had to position the cameras so they didn’t hit the Bounty. We always tried to sneak down and watch Marlon Brando work. But he was always having a temper tantrum that day, so we never saw him."

CAST:

Vic Morrow as Sgt. Saunders

Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley

Joe Mantell as Delaney

Jack Hogan as Kirby
Shecky Greene as Braddock
Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Tom Lowell as Billy Nelson
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn
Fletcher Fist as Radio Operator

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