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Author's note: Having written an in-depth review of The Rat Patrol: The Complete Second Season last June (if that's possible, frankly, with this slight series), I was curious to see if anything new had been added to The Rat Patrol: The Complete Series in the way of bonuses or supplemental material. As well, I was hopeful that re-watching the First Season might bump up my estimation of the series, in conjunction with the Second Season. Alas, neither anticipation was successfully met. There are no additional bonuses for this newly boxed complete series set (so no need to double-dip). And if ever a network TV show remained resolutely fixed both stylistically and aesthetically between seasons, it's The Rat Patrol. There is no difference between the first and second seasons of this mildly entertaining comic book - in character development (there's little if any), in script construction (each week it's the same: an impossible mission carried out with much violence but little if any actual bloodshed), or in the acting department (everyone is competent...and rather anonymous). So, I've rewritten my original review of Season Two ever so slightly to cover this complete series release, with one or two new takes on the show thrown about. ![]() MGM and 20th Century-Fox have released The Rat Patrol: The Complete Series, a seven-disc, 58-episode collection of the briefly popular WWII combat series. Running only a half-hour long each, these noisy, surprisingly violent little WWII action/adventure stories play rather like those old Rover Boys novels: plenty of action, and little if any complexity. Repetitious perhaps after watching episode after episode (which may be an unfair way to view them, considering they were meant to be seen once a week), you have to admit that The Rat Patrol episodes are professionally done, with a big-screen look to the action that's indicative of the 1960s glossier TV production values. Set in the WWII North African desert, where Hitler's elite Afrika Korps prowl the sand dunes, The Rat Patrol consists of an unattached, four-man Allied fighting unit led by stalwart American Army officer Sergeant Sam Troy (Christopher George). Second-in-command is Sergeant Jack Moffitt (Gary Raymond), a British demolitions expert who joins up with the team much to the initial consternation of Troy (who isn't sure he can trust the college-educated, but not-battle tested Moffitt). American Privates Mark Hitchcock (Lawrence Casey) and Tully Pettigrew (Justin Tarr) round out the team. Racing around the desert combat zones in Jeeps outfitted with .50mm machine guns, the "Rat Patrol" are relatively autonomous in their selection of, and discretion in, executing commando operations because they belong to no regular unit. Their frequent nemesis is Captain Hauptman Hans Dietrich (Hans Gudegast, later known as Eric Braeden for you Colossus: The Forbin Project, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, and of course, The Young and the Restless fans out there), a cold, calculating Afrika Korps C.O. of a heavily armored, mobilized German unit (who nonetheless displays frequent regard for the niceties of war while battling the professionals of The Rat Patrol, whom he respects...while trying to kill them). Playing cat and mouse games amidst the searing arid expanses, Sgt. Troy and Capt. Dietrich match wits week after week as they battle for supremacy in the African wasteland. The Rat Patrol premiered in September of 1966 on perennially third-placed network ABC. Playing Monday nights at 8:30PM, featuring ABC's mish-mash selection of fading (Peyton Place) or marginal (The Big Valley, Felony Squad, The Iron Horse) series, The Rat Patrol turned out to be one of the few bright spots in ABC's dismal 1966 performance, ranking 23rd for the year (tied with CBS' Petticoat Junction), thus being only one of five ABC series to make it into the Nielsen Top Thirty (along with Bewitched, The Lawrence Welk Show, The ABC Sunday Night Movie, and The F.B.I.). The fact that The Rat Patrol aired directly opposite CBS' The Lucy Show, the third-highest rated show for the year, only made its performance seem that much more impressive. Expectations were high from executives that this trim little successor to ABC's earlier WWII hit Combat would continue its successful ranking. Unfortunately, ratings faded for The Rat Patrol's second 1967-1968 season. It's always tough to ascertain why a series suddenly drops off in the ratings; so many variables are at work. The Rat Patrol didn't face any tougher competition this year than it had the previous season. It still ran directly against The Lucy Show on CBS, while over on NBC, it now faced the second half hour of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a once wildly popular show that was quickly winding down. It's possible that the direct kids' appeal of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. took a bite out of The Rat Patrol's numbers, considering the fact that The Rat Patrol's simplified, almost cartoonish "mow 'em down" production largely appealed to young boys and their fathers. But I suspect a certain number of viewers tired of the show, forcing ABC to cancel the relatively expensive series. ![]() It's not that the second season is any worse or better than the first (and thus causing the ratings' decline), and that's just the point: they're exactly the same. There's absolutely no growth in either the characterizations or in the emotional or intellectual content of the episodes. Now, I'm not demanding that The Rat Patrol be as complex or as "truthful" as a comparable series like Combat. The Rat Patrol can be just as simplistic as it likes, as long as it's entertaining and competently done. Even if The Rat Patrol's goals are set much lower, meeting them still gets a nod from me. But I imagine enough viewers noted the fact that watching Season Two of The Rat Patrol was almost like watching reruns of Season One, and decided maybe they should check out The Man from U.N.C.L.E. one more time, or see what crazy Lucy was up to that week (often times, a strong sense of déjà vu will enter into your mind when watching the second go-around, as if you're wondering what exactly was recycled: stock action footage, or portions of whole scripts). Taken individually, and forgetting the fact that one episode looks and plays pretty much like any other, The Rat Patrol shows are quite straightforward little combat vignettes. The half-hour format doesn't allow for a whole lot of exposition or shadings to the characterizations, so we're treated to plenty of gunplay, nicely mounted in the Spanish deserts where the series was partially filmed. I had forgotten how relatively violent The Rat Patrol was, with frequent knifings and machine gun blasts interspersed with more creative ways of killing people (a sling-shot bullet to the head stands out in memory) - all of course presented quite bloodlessly to satisfy the network censors. In fact, that might also have been a factor in ABC's decision to cancel the program, too; quite a few advocacy groups were gearing up in the mid-to-late 60s, expressing concern over the levels of violence depicted in network TV shows. And certainly it didn't help matters that so many viewers were experiencing the real-life violence of Vietnam footage televised on their local and national news each night. A case could probably be made that the comic-strip violence of The Rat Patrol violated in some way the sensibilities of the viewing audience who had real-life wars to worry about each night. But I think perhaps The Rat Patrol's relative innocence (no blood, no major characters getting killed, no grinding boredom often associated with military life, and impossibly perfect commando raids, always flawlessly executed) didn't offend viewers so much as it eventually bored them. Each individual episode of The Rat Patrol is more than competently produced and directed, and they're enjoyable, too; it's rather like reading a Sgt. Rock comic book - but without the social commentary. However, there's so little lateral movement for the characters or for the situations in The Rat Patrol that eventually, they all tend to blend together. Christopher George, a talented actor who had to be used very carefully to make him stand out (he never got the big break that put him past the recognizable "B" list), has so little to do here that his disconnect with the various shenanigans is obvious. As for Eric Braeden, this was the first big break for the naturalized actor from Germany (stardom would eventually come from his role on a network soap), and he's quite good in what was already a pretty familiar character by this point in WWII feature films: the tough, efficient, but essentially fair-minded professional German soldier. While Braeden is fine in the role, the role itself is no more original nor any more interesting than the familiar little battles that litter The Rat Patrol episodes. So it's a tough call for The Rat Patrol: The Complete Series: the total effect is much less than the sum of its competent parts. ![]() Here are the 58 (!), one-half hour episodes of seven-disc boxed set, The Rat Patrol: The Complete Series, as described on their slimcases:
SEASON ONE DISC ONE: The Chase of Fire Raid The Life Against Death Raid The Wildest Raid of All Kill or Be Killed Raid The Chain of Death Raid The Do or Die Raid The Blind Man's Bluff Raid The Fatal Chase Raid DISC TWO: The Blow Sky High Raid The Moment of Truce Raid The Deadly Double Raid The Gun Runner Raid The Lighthouse Raid The Dare-Devil Raid The Last Harbor Raid - Episode I The Last Harbor Raid - Episode II DISC THREE: The Last Harbor Raid - Episode III The One That Got Away Raid Two For One Raid The Last Chance Raid The B Negative Raid The Exhibit A Raid The Holy War Raid The Two Against Time Raid DISC FOUR: The Wild Goose Raid Bring 'Em Back Alive Raid The Take Me To Your Leader Raid The Double or Nothing Raid The Hour Glass Raid Mask-a-Raid The Fire and Brimstone Raid The Delilah Raid ![]() SEASON TWO DISC ONE: The Truce at Aburah Raid The David and Goliath Raid The Trial By Fire Raid The Darers Go First Raid The Love Thine Enemy Raid The Darkest Raid The Death Do Us Part Raid The Do-Re-Mi Raid DISC TWO: The Kingdom Come Raid The Hide and Go Seek Raid The Violent Truce Raid The Life for a Life Raid The Fifth Wheel Raid The Two if By Sea Raid The Street Urchin Raid The Pipeline to Disaster Raid DISC THREE: The Boomerang Raid The Fatal Reunion Raid The Decoy Raid The Touch and Go Raid The Field of Death Raid The Double Jeopardy Raid The Hickory Dickory Dock Raid The Tug of War Raid The Never Say Die Raid The Kill at Koorlea Raid ![]() The DVD: The Video: The Audio: The Extras: Final Thoughts: Paul Mavis is an internationally published film and television historian, a member of the Online Film Critics Society, and the author of The Espionage Filmography.
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