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Combat!: The Pillbox (1964)
Best Ep EVER From a Moral Dilemma Standpoint!
And the incomparable Warren Oates don't even get the star billing he deserves! Playing a man (Lt calls him "Kid"!) in mortal pain, "PVT Stark" lets his life's blood tell his sad story. As a "runner", he was probably given non-shooting duties in deference to his wife and young child (although he's relieved of his bayonet by the LT) ... I can only imagine the little details called for by the director to make this the tense, emotional shock of a roller coaster it is: one wild ratcheting! Even the cast looks hand-picked. Weren't Turkel and Morrow in something else together?
The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
Love it!
The Force is with this one, and not an ounce -nay,
nary a drop - of cynical ranting will save the naysayers' misguided criticisms from the ash heaps of evil and darkness ... Monsters, planets, original and new characters, props, costumes, sets, music, animation, THE WILHELM SCREAM(!), hugs, songs, pantomime, Art Carney(!) peace, joy and harmony in a galaxy far, far away and long, long ago... Become a child again. Happy Holidays!
Combat!: The Old Men (1965)
Fifty Years' and Two Wars' Perspective
Second time seeing this (now) deeply moving episode in over FIFTY YEARS. This time I watched, wistfully, as as an old, disabled combat infantryman. Music by Rosenman's is pervasive relentless and moving as always. Kirby spouts the wise-guy rejoinders (watch for his writers'blooper!) . Saunders' pithy,
two-syllable one-liners are in perfect character. Guest star Simon Oakland, a TV face well-known, plays one of The Old Men: a cynical, crusty combat veteran of North Africa hampered by PTSD and a bum knee ... Two other old guys and a young "veteran" round out the stellar cast: Tom Drake as Todd, a politician needing a service record; William "Bill" Phipps is PVT Barnhill, the poor, scared guy just wanting to get home to wife and kids. Arnold Merritt does a fine job in a tough role of the "new-yet-old Vet" whose words and deeds finally carry the meaning of the whole, tense show.
We really get to know these grunts before the wild, firefight finale. Even Kirby is shown firing his BAR in that signature style of his. Caje gets scout duty (AND wounded!) again...
My only complaint is the failure, on-camera, of the cast to collect dogtags and fix the bayonets on the rifles, stab it in the ground, and place the helmets on them.
Combat!: Soldier of Fortune (1965)
Two Words: "William Campbell"!
Major role by a greatly underused and vastly unappreciated actor adds to the drama. Night-for-night moody photography by Emmett Bergholz plus the unrelenting score and music coordination of Mssrs Rosenman, Fresco and Lapham really draw me in to this episode. Director Sutton Riley knows where to place his camera and block his actors. The Germans are getting more sympathetic by 1965 and their speaking parts outnumber the Americans'! Theme?
"Friendly Fire"! Oh, and "Moral Dilemma"!
ABC Album (1953)
Agnes Moorehead, Lee Marvin in...
"Lullaby" catch it on YouTube under "Agnes Moorehead Television Debut"
Co-written and directed by Felix Feist!
Mandy (2018)
Must I?
This flick is so derivative it's pathetic. I have already watched the 1957 black-and-white Igmar Bergman vengeance masterpiece - made with nary a drop of stage blood - THE VIRGIN SPRING several times. I am a combat veteran of Vietnam and Desert Storm. So, yes, it's grindhouse and it's fake and it's Nicolas, but... No.
A Face of War (1968)
Practically Perfect
I was an Army Infantryman in 1971. These 1966 Jirenes are the real deal. The sights and sounds are crudely reproduced on my IHF VHS copy but terribly authentic. Some of the Marines who survived are alive to this day, 2018. Find one and thank him. I wonder if the baby born on camera is still with us at an Age of 52?
The Bold and the Brave (1956)
Movie Up on YouTube
I hadn't seen this since childhood; the moving climax stuck in my mind long after the ballad sung over the credits faded from memory. The crap game is somewhat replicated a few years later in the memorable Mickey Rooney-starring episode of COMBAT!: "Silver Service". Mickey brings the same self-effacing, self-sacrificing ebullience to the role of Harry White as he does to Dooley in The BOLD AND THE BRAVE... Louis Morgan says, on his blog: ''Mickey Rooney is an actor who is commonly derided by modern viewers for his Rooney mannerisms, and tendency to overact his parts. I must personally I have no animosity toward Rooney. Firstly he showed in The Human Comedy he is capable of giving a moving performance, secondly I personally never had a problem with his Rooneyisms. This is not to say that I do not understand people who do hold this animosity, Rooney certainly is an actor that if he rubs you the wrong way he probably really rubs you the wrong way. He simply does not annoy me in that way, although it most certainly is true that his performances tend to be better when they are further away from a typical Rooney performance than closer.''
Highest recommendation!