Ripcord

So many films and TV shows today are made that make money off the merchandising end. This was an early TV show that did that. Two guys run a parachute center and help out the police, forest rangers and so on fight crime, rescue people etc. But the best part of this show was that it produced a neat toy. For $1.98 you could get your very own toy parachute made of a heavy plastic with a little toy Army man attached who would come floating down to earth after you packed the chute and tucked it into the opening on his back and threw it into the air. For kids of the late 50's early 60's this was great. The show on the other hand was pretty much the same week to week. The sky diving scenes however were authentic. Considering the difficulty in filming something like this during this time period it would have to be considered a little ahead of it's time. The late Ken Curtis who is best remembered as Festus on Gunsmoke starred in this action series.

That's the whole point of the show. Every week something happens, these two skydivers take flight and take out the bad guys.

I remember first seeing this show and the 4 year old me and my friends that saw it on syndication would practice jumping off the stairs to "practice" our skydiving for when we were older. 1 stair was for babies. 2 stars were where "big kids" started. 3 stairs were for the really advanced ones. And 4 stairs was the equivalent of a double black diamond run in other words it was too high and we never got enough lift to make it so that was the eventual goal to determine if we graduated. We never did.

But yeah, it's an interesting little bit of forgotten 60's nostalgia that introduced the country to the new found sport of skydiving. It's kinda cheesy in a 60's way. There's elements of adventure, action, drama, comedy and whatever else they felt they could use to fit in some skydiving scenes. Nobody ever said the show was very deep.

I watched this show in reruns when I was a kid. Along with Lloyd Bridges "Sea Hunt" and the desert war show "Rat Patrol". These shows seemed to be perfect for young boys to watch to stir up their love of action and adventure. You'd watch them and then go outside and try to emulate them. Back when kids would go outside to play, and their parents didn't know where they were, or what they were doing. You were fine as long as you were back home in time for the next meal. Simpler times? Or just simpler kids? These shows were high quality, if you were 10 years old!

These guys were the coolest for a seven-year-old kid! My Ripcord parachute man was one of the coolest toys too, until it floated off on an air current. At the time I had no idea the main characters were 'Festus' and 'Dash Riprock'. I've had fun looking back at these old shows and seeing who played in them, and trying to think where MY mind was in 1962.

Rod Serling and one of the actors were former Rangers. I was inspired to become a paratrooper by them. Went to jump school at Fort Benning in 1966, at 17. Paratroops still sing "Gory, Gory". Some of the story lines were pretty bad but I waited for the jump scenes.

The camera work was superb and I often think about how u mainly cameras were then. Compared to a go pro. Imagine something weighing 25 pounds or so and no special attachment or perhaps a jury-rigged set up.

It was a good idea that needed better story lines. Could be rebooted now that we have such advanced technology. It would take someone with the vision of Rod Serling.