The Rat Patrol

I remember watching this show on the air in the 60's as a child. It was a highlight of the week. There are comments made that this show is not very authentic. Of course it is not authentic. It is just for entertainment. It has the same qualities as a Western where the hero shoots all the bad guys using the gun that shoots 100 rounds without reloading. I laughed so hard when I saw the episode when Troy throws a tiny vile of ether at a German truck about half a block and the truck blows up. Or the times that they will karate chop someone with one blow and that person is "out". That is cartoon style but who cares. It is still great entertainment.

If you're like me and really enjoy watching rugged, masculine, man-to-man combat that features plenty of high-powered explosions, rapid gunfire showdowns, and "in-your-face" confrontations, then, believe me, The Rat Patrol is definitely your #1 ticket to some truly awesome TV entertainment.

Set in the vast North African desert, during WW2, The Rat Patrol is an elite Allied commando team of experts whose mission is to attack, harass, and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted Afrika Korps.

Join this fearless, four-man army of rough'n'tough dudes, headed by Sgt. Sam Troy (played by Christopher George), as they fearlessly wage war against Nazis, traitors, and wild-eyed fanatics.

Filmed in living color, The Rat Patrol, from 1966, is a fast-paced, action-packed collection of 32 explosive episodes that are pure dynamite from start to finish. This was no low-budget production here!

With its episodes all being only 30 minutes in length, The Rat Patrol's no-nonsense, clearly-defined stories were always direct and to the point.

I am a child of the seventies having grown up in and around the time and as a kid I can remember this being on in the afternoon and played on Saturday afternoon's. Two of my earliest best friends in this world were named Korey and Coy and we would watch this with great enthusiasm being only age 7 to 9 years old. My father at the time owned a jeep and after the show aired we would go outside and play the Rat Patrol. I always seemed to pick Tully to play because he always drove the jeep and we would spend an hour or two just making up our own adventures as we went along. My memories of this are quite strong when I still watch this series as it reflects a time when I had no worries in the world. I am not a violent person because of this series even for all the explosions and gun play it just makes feel good to watch it and because of that it truly is one of my favorite series of all time.

This show is escapist entertainment because it is supposed to be escapist entertainment. And that just happens to be why I like this show so much. The plots were short and simple. They HAD to be since the show was only a half hour long (not a full hour like COMBAT or 12 O CLOCK HIGH). So in a nutshell, the Rat Patrol came, they raided and then they were off. In 30 minutes, there was not much more they could do in the time allotted. True, some of the episodes are kind of silly but other episodes are really good.

Unlike most war related features of the time (tv shows, movies, etc), the Germans were not depicted as villains, but as the opposing force. The Germans were lead by Captain Deitrich, who actually respected the Rat Patrol and on more than one occasion, teamed up with the Rat Patrol on a truce. One truce, for example, was declared to rescue an Arab girl who had fallen into a well.

The main selling point of this show was that it was in color! Another selling point was to promote one of the stars (Lawrence Casey) as a sort of teen-zeen idol. It was a tactic that would work until 1968, when the public would quickly lose interest in anything war related and THE RAT PATROL would drop suddenly in the ratings war and get the cancellation ax later that year.

When one thinks of the chaotic whirlwind that was the 1960s, the mind usually drifts toward the psychedelic kaleidoscope of Haight-Ashbury or the smoky dives of Greenwich Village. But in 1966, while the rest of the world was busy getting high and railing against The Man, a renegade quartet of war-hardened ruffians burst onto our television screens in The Rat Patrol.

This wasn't just another WWII drama. No, it was a blazing, gas-guzzling, Nazi-smashing fever dream that could only come from the minds of TV producers high on the fumes of gasoline and heroism. Each episode a manic burst of courage, camaraderie, and pure unadulterated action. Picture this: four men in jeeps, tearing through the North African desert like a band of berserk jackrabbits, with every dune concealing danger, death, and the occasional explosive twist.

The lead man, Sergeant Sam Troy, with his chiseled jaw and unflinching eyes, became a beacon of rugged American masculinity. This wasn't your clean-cut war hero - Troy was gritty, raw, and ready to bite the head off a snake if it meant getting his men through the next firefight. His compatriots - Moffitt, Tully, and Hitchcock - each brought their own flavor of madness to the mix. Together, they were less a squad and more a sandstorm of vengeance, hell-bent on dismantling the Nazi war machine one ambush at a time.

Cinematography? Don't get me started. The desert landscapes were captured in such stark, unflinching detail that you could almost feel the grit in your teeth. Every explosion rattled the screen, and the chase scenes - oh, those magnificent chases - were pure, adrenaline-soaked poetry.

And the sound design, a symphony of gunfire, roaring engines, and the occasional witty quip, was the perfect backdrop for this visual assault. You didn't just watch The Rat Patrol; you were thrust into the chaos, with bullets whizzing past your ears and the hot desert wind stinging your face.

The Rat Patrol wasn't just a TV series; it was a cultural bullet, a reminder that in the face of tyranny, a handful of determined men could wreak absolute havoc. In a time when the world seemed to be losing its mind, this show was a glorious, unabashed celebration of courage and tenacity.

Here's to The Rat Patrol, a series that didn't just march to the beat of its own drum - it drove a jeep over it, guns blazing, middle fingers raised. An absolute must-watch for anyone who appreciates the beautiful, chaotic mess that is guerilla warfare on primetime TV.

**9/10 - A rollicking ride through the sands of time, with a shot of adrenaline and a chaser of gunpowder.**