Combat!

Did You Know?

• The exclamation point in Combat! was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet.
• Lancer Books released three original paperback novels based on the series by Harold Calin: Combat! (1963), Combat!: Men Not Heroes (1963), and Combat!: No Rest for Heroes (1965).
• As of February 2023, the Heroes & Icons channel broadcasts the series as part of its Saturday night lineup.

Development

Robert Pirosh, whose early film career focused on comedy, shifted to telling stories of lower-rank soldiers after his World War II service. He won an Academy Award for his 1949 screenplay Battleground and directed 1951's Go for Broke!, both noted for realistic depictions of war. In 1961, Pirosh approached producer Selig Seligman with an idea for an hour-long drama called Men in Combat, following a squad from D-Day to the liberation of Paris. Selmur Productions and ABC ordered a pilot.

The pilot, "A Day in June", was shot over six days in December 1961, with one day at Trancas Beach in Malibu standing in for Omaha Beach. Rick Jason and Vic Morrow were unimpressed by the pilot, and Morrow considered quitting. After the pilot, Seligman and ABC made changes, dropping some characters and altering others. Seligman dismissed Pirosh and brought in Robert Blees as series producer; Robert Altman was hired to direct every other episode of the first season. In April 1962, ABC announced it had picked up the series, now called Combat!, for a thirty-episode fall season.

Production

Production began on June 2, 1962, with filming starting June 11. Episodes typically took six days to film, using soundstages and the MGM backlot for outdoor scenes, though many scenes shot in the Hollywood Hills with parched grasses and eucalyptus trees were unlike northern Europe. The first broadcast episode was "Forgotten Front" on October 2, 1962, though it was sixth in production order; the pilot aired as the eleventh episode in December. Rick Jason stated that the budget per episode in the first year was $127,500, rising to $183,000 in the fifth year when the show was in color.

Jason noted that in the first year, he and Morrow had dressing room suites in an unrenovated building and no dressing rooms on outdoor sets; Morrow went on strike at the start of the second year, leading to improvements. Wesley Britton observed that producers and directors, including Robert Altman, aimed for credibility and realism, with motion picture quality photography, military advisors, and the cast not shaving during five-day shoots for beard continuity.

German characters spoke German except for occasional dialogue. Actor Robert Winston Mercy, who wrote one script and played German officers, said the uniforms were so accurate that they caused a stir among Jewish cafeteria workers when he wore them at lunch.

Military accuracy and authenticity

Authenticity was important to the show from its inception. Most cast members were veterans: Dick Peabody and Shecky Greene served in the U.S. Navy, Rick Jason in the Army Air Corps, Vic Morrow in the Navy in 1947, Pierre Jalbert in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets, Jack Hogan in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, Conlan Carter in the U.S. Air Force after Korea, Steven Rogers in the U.S. Army, and William Bryant in the Army during World War II.

Director Robert Altman served in the Army Air Corps, flying over 50 bombing missions as a B-24 crewman. Morrow's character often displays what appears to be a USMC cover on his helmet, but it is actually a scrap from a camouflage parachute used on D-Day. In May 1962, Seligman had the principal cast undergo a week of basic training at Fort Ord, including crawling under live machine-gun fire and throwing live grenades. Morrow noted that the instructors asked the cast not to act like John Wayne. Jones reviewed scripts, conferred with producers and directors, and arranged for the show to borrow Army equipment.

Other media

In 1963, Saalfield Publishing released a 144-page coloring book based on the show, with a second coloring book the following year. The Ideal Toy Company released a board game in 1963 featuring Lt. Hanley and Sgt. Saunders on the cover, but the game itself was a World War II strategy game unrelated to the series. A Super Famicom game, Sgt. Saunders' Combat!, was released only in Japan, allowing players to re-enact World War II battles and using names of real and fictional officers for historical accuracy.

In the 1990s, a film version was attempted by Savoy Pictures and later by Todman/Simon Productions for Paramount Pictures, with a script by Bill Wisher and Bruce Willis in talks to star, but it was not produced. Image Entertainment released the entire series on DVD in 2004 and 2005 in two-volume sets per season, using time-compressed versions of 46 to 47 minutes. A 20-episode collection called Combat! – 50th Anniversary Fan Favorites was released on October 9, 2012, and The Complete Series, a 40-disc set with all 152 episodes, on November 12, 2013.