I have this year bought the entire five seasons of this terrific series on DVD and am now just finishing series three. I was living in Cyprus when i first Combat on T.V as my father was stationed there with the British army and we used to watch it every week without fail. As stated in some of the other reviews, the characters were people who we would look up to as kids, but were also role models unlike today.In the sixties there were a lot of good T.V series with characters for kids to look up to such as Bonanza, Laredo, Star Trek and these programs were suitable for children. So i find it disturbing to find that kids of seven, which i was when i first watched Combat in 1964, looking up to people like Sylvester Stallone in Rambo or Arnold Swartzenegger in Total Recall. These films were certainly not fit for kids of that age to watch. It's nice to see some of the old Hollywood greats in supporting roles, for example Charles Bronson in a passive role James Coburn, Roddy McDowell. Also watching Richard Baseheart, James Caan and William Smith from Rich Man Poor Man and Richard Jaekel playing Germans and speaking German. In the case of James Caan in the entire episode. Also i liked it that not all the time the Germans were portrayed as the brutal Hun for example the episode A Cry In The Ruins from season three where after an American barrage on a village, German soldiers are seen trying to rescue a baby trapped under the rubble. The one thing i could never understand was after Combat the main actors with the exception of Vick Morrow, namely Rick Jason, Piere Jalbert, Jack Hogan, Dick Peabody etc etc were hardly seen again and regarding Vic Morrow, why such a terrific actor kept being given these cheap rubbishy bad guy roles in movies like Bronx Warriors and Monster with another good actor The Virginians Doug Maclure. Also it was a big tragedy the way Vic Morrow died in that terrible accident while making his last movie The Twilight Zone. So you now know that the complete series of Combat is out on DVD and therefore to all the fans please by it. Kevin Thomas.
