I spotted season one of THE RAT PATROL at Wal-Mart and snagged it for the convenient price of eleven dollars. The four disc set contains thirty-two episodes and stars Christopher George as Sgt. Sam Troy who leads an elite team of commandos in the North African campaign during WWII. Lots of fun, if you are so inclined.
More info on THE RAT PATROL.
Interview with Gary Raymond
29 comments:
Thanks for the vid, David. I used to groove on this show.
I remember The Rat Patrol fondly and never missed an episode. Even had a Aussie hat like Sgt. Troy.
This and Adam-12 were my shows when I was a young 'un. Great stuff. Now I gotta head over to WalMart.
*silence*
(wv: wooloco, where one can pick up the ViewMaster slides among all your crazy five and dime needs).
Evan, Same here and it holds up well. Gritty for a sixties show.
RReynolds, That hat apparently angered some Australians and the Brits (according to the Wiki link) didn't care for the Americans outnumbering the English on the show.
Steve, Adam-12, along with The Rookies, made me want to be a cop until the detective shows of the eighties came along.
Todd, Wha?
Whaaat? I loved this show. But I hate WalMart, gotta look elsewhere.
I'm a nonfan of two aspects of RAT PATROL purchases at WalMart, and the Word Verification of "wooloco" reminded me of WoolCo/Wooworth's and the joy I took in ViewMaster slide packs one could buy at a WoolCo in the 1970s...
WoolCo and loco, for all your crazy five and dime needs. There's only so far a joking referernce to the word verification can take you...
wv: phsahle...fishable for humor, pshaw-able at the faiure to find humor...
Naomi, I'm sure you can purchase it just about anywhere. And you will still love it, the production and acting remain top notch. Plus, fun to see Eric Braeden in a early role.
Todd, I still have a ViewMaster slide of THE LAND OF THE GIANTS buried somewhere. Kids today wouldn't even understand.
I'm still waiting for the verification to spit out a nasty, though they probably protect against that.
I remember being confused when Braeden later turned up on a soap opera with the name of Eric Braeden instead of Hans Gudegast. I knew it was the same guy from Rat Patrol but the name change really confused me at the time.
I'm glad RP holds up well. I saw an episode of Garrison's Guerrillas a couple of years ago and was very disappointed.
Interesting that Wikipedia says Garrison's Guerrillas "managed to gather a cult following in China in the 1980s." Hm.. what the heck was that all about?
Take me BACK!
Aloha from Hawaii
Comfort Spiral
GG had a cult following in China? Amazing. Who'd have thunk it?
Loved this show! Hans Gudegast, who played the German officer, changed his name and ended up on a TV soap.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, David.
Unusually, this is one I know. Fantastic - just off-centre for me - will come back to see again.
Cloudia, You're back!
Naomi, Strange where certain shows catch on.
Barbara, Gudegast is very good as Hans Dietrich and plays the war weary Nazi, similar to Brando in THE YOUNG LIONS.
Dave, its mature pulp if thats the right description. The A-Team from the eighties, with all their violence, never killed anyone. Not so with PATROL. Heck, in the pilot episode one of their own dies.
They just never have to eat or fill up the jeeps with gas nor reload their machine guns nor let them cool down...except maybe when convenient...and they keep letting Wo Fat get away, as they otherwise decimate the Afrika Corps.
I will stop being the wet blanket now (on this topic in these comments, anyway!), but this was my least favored WW2 series till BAA BAA BLACK SHEEP...
In the first six episodes they lost a team member, got stuck in the sand, searched desperately for water and destroyed an axle. So some attention was given to the realities of operating in a desert. And the killing is gritty for a 60’s show.
Still implausible? Without a doubt and on many levels. Fun? Without a doubt. It circles the same road side stop as THE A-TEAM, KNIGHT RIDER, and dozens of other mindless shows. But, now and then, I’m in the mood for straight forward pulp action and PATROL delivers.
I'm happy not to watch them eat or pump gas or sit around playing cards, waiting for the guns to cool. Would have slowed the show down a lot considering the eps were only a half hour long.
I liked this show quite a lot back in the day. I even read one of the novels recently, which didn't capture the excitement of the TV series I thought.
I hope you wore your Faded Glory jeans on your trip to Walmart. ;)
This looks very fun--I like how blase everyone seems--and all the business with headgear and eyewear. Thanks for the tip.
THAT'S GREAT! Love the Rat Patrol. Highly implausible but still fun. Rommel would've squashed them like a bug.
Charles, Didn't realize there were books.
Alyssa, Ha. You remember my favorite brand. :)
Kieran, Yeah, probably so. The Desert Fox was a badass.
Funny how dated it seems now. Takes me back.
Hard to believe its been forty-four years since its debut.
I caught a few re-runs in the eighties but this is the first I've watched it in-depth.
Looks like fun to me. Haven't seen a WW2 series in a spell. Liked the Brad Pitt film.
Yeah, Inglourious Basterds was very deserving of all the accolades it got.
Was always one of my favorites when young. There was a paperback series, the first by Norman Daniels I believe, and a Dave-David? King did five more. I just recently read one by I. G. Edmonds, one of those hardcover Whitman books, titled The Iron Monster Raid.
Randy, "Dave-David? King." I'm betting its not the same one from above. Anyway, I'm intrigued by these PATROL paperbacks. I read the Gary Raymond interview that there was talk about the team and what happened to them after the war. Apparently,there was talk of turning them into an A-TEAM sorta crew. I wonder if any of the books reflect that? Either way, I will check it out.
Post a Comment