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ABC-TV's Combat , World War II, and the Enduring Image of the Combat Cold Warrior

2001; Volume: 31; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/flm.2001.a400698

1548-9922

David Pierson,

Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis

Pierson | Special In-Depth Section ABC-TV s Combat, World War M7 and the Enduring Image of the Combat Cold Warrior David Pierson University of Southern Maine Although certainly not the first war drama on American television (it was preceded by Navy Log, 1955 and Combat Sergeant, 1956), the ABC-TV series Combatbecame television's longestrunning war drama with 152 hour-long episodes beginning with the 1962-63 television season and ending on August 29, 1967. Combat followed the exploits of the U.S. Army 2nd Platoon, K Company , fighting its way across France during World War II following the D-Day invasion (Brooks 160-61). The concept for the series was developed by veteran Hollywood screenwriter-director, Robert Pirosh. Pirosh was a screenwriter with experience in two categories of films: comedy films (A Day at the Races, Up inArms, IMarrieda Witch) and war films (Battleground, Gofor Broke, Hell isfor Heroes). It was in the latter category that Pirosh seemed to excel. His first war film, the 1949 Battleground about the U.S. Army lOlstAirborne Division defending a small town in Belgium during the Battle ofthe Bulge, not only won him anAcademyAwardforhis screenplay but the success of the film helped rekindle interest in the war film genre (Rubin 173, 24-25). Unlike most war film screenwriters of his day, Pirosh had served as a combat infantryman in the European campaign during WW-II. Through his first-hand experience, he was able to write convincingly from the point ofview ofthe individualArmy squad member. In late 1957 Pirosh began developing an idea for a television series based on his wartime diary (Rubin 173). After developing Combat, Pirosh took it to Selig Seligman, an ABC-TVVice-President, In-Charge-Of-Productions. The Combat series was to be shot on MGM's California backlots and produced by Selmur Productions, an independent telefilm production company associated with ABC-TV To orient the cast members to the grueling life of a combat infantryman they were all sent through a mock "boot camp" (Brooks 161). Emergence and Popularity of 1960s TV War Dramas Sgt. Chip Saunders (Vic Morrow), the hard-boiled and experienced leader in ABC's long-running series Combat (1962-67). The specific social, cultural, and institutional contexts underlying the emergence andpopularity ofCombat and other military dramas (The GallantMen, Rat Patrol) of the period depend on a number ofdiffering factors. One ofthese is that by the 1958-59 television season, the number of westerns on television had increased to an all-time high of 31 with 7 out of the 10 top shows being westerns . By the early 1960's, the flood of westerns began to fade as the genre started to lose some of its popularity (Brooks xv-xvii). As a result, networks began looking for new action genres to fill the void and war dramas seemed the best answer. Another programming factor was that in the early 1960s, the ABC-TV network, which gained its popularity and high-ratings from its action-adventure tele-film series like Cheyenne and 77SunsetStrip, came increasingly under attack for its more violence-oriented series such as The Untouchables . The number-one rated ABC-TV gangster-busting series, along with several westerns, became subjects of a special Congressional inquiry concerning television violence and juvenile delinquency. The Untouchables also began receiving increased threats of sponsorship withdrawal because ofits perceived negative portrayal ofItalian-Americans. As a possible programming alternative, the World War-II war dramas, such as Combat with their inherent wartime settings on conflicted international turf, lent some level of justification for televised moments of externalized violence (Harris 153). Still another factor is that, in the early 1960s, the Hollywood war film was experiencing its own nostalgic resurgence with the release of expensive blockbuster epics like The Guns of Navarone (1961) and The LongestDay (1962). Jeanine Basinger, Vol. 31.2 (2001) I 25 Pierson | ABC-TV s Combat, World War II, and the Enduring Image of the Combat Cold Warrior who wrote the definitive account of the World War-II combat film genre, describes this period as the "fourth wave" of the evolving genre lasting from 1960 to 1970.' Other films from this period include the Battle of the...