# Combat! Great series or REALLY great series? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716 "2009-09-03T02:36:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/1 "2009-09-03T02:36:04Z")
I almost posted a comment on [Combat!](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat!) in the “nice, little touches” thread but realized that the whole series was filled with nice, little touches. And interesting camera work. And great directing. Sure, the squad took five years to cross France when the real guys did it in about nine months, but I’ve seen the films taken by combat photographers and they are grainy and jumpy while the guys who filmed _Combat!_ took their time. 😉 I loved the series when I was a kid but assumed that was youthful enthusiasm. I tuned in for the last couple hours of a local stations Combat! marathon, which happened to be a two-parter directed by Vic Morrow, “Hills Are For Heroes.” My jaw fell because some crappy 60s drama that aired on (snicker) ABC couldn’t be this good. Further searching showed that many people not only considered that a breakthrough episode but that, even when making “Saving Private Ryan,” Spielberg, his military advisor, and others found the series, and that episode in particular, to be a common language. Since then I learned that little touches, like how you knew who was going to get killed by whether he was a guest star, had a basis in fact–newbies had a better chance of getting killed than seasoned troops, often before the guys in their squad leaned their names. And, though I grew up surrounded by WWII vets, they rarely said anything against its realism, though it was also a bit of a melodrama. They usually got shit right. ETA: For me, it was “Why Uncle Jerry is crazy” while _Memphis Belle_ was “Why Daddy is crazy.” ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/2 "2009-09-03T03:02:41Z")
Just added Season 1, Conflict 1 to my Netflix queue. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/3 "2009-09-03T03:19:03Z")
I’ve been watching it on C-Band, American Life TV. Remembrance of youth. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/4 "2009-09-03T03:47:12Z")
Robert Altman produced, directed, and wrote several, especially early on. Goes to show the basis for its _cinéma vérité_ look. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2009, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/5 "2009-09-03T04:50:19Z")
REALLY great series. Well worth watching all the way through. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/6 "2009-09-04T02:10:28Z")
**lissener** , I know I’m asking this just to bump the thread, but what do you think of the decision to go color in the fifth season. Most everybody associated with it seems to have been against it. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2009, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/combat-great-series-or-really-great-series/508716/7 "2009-09-04T05:25:20Z")
It’s fun to watch as Vic Morrow slowly replaces Rick Jason as lead.😃