The "Rat Patrol" (2 Viewers)

PanzerAce1944

PanzerAce1944

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how many remember watching the Rat Patrol here in the U.S. back in the late 60's and early 70's ? I have the season I DVD set and have been watching again some of the old episodes.
 
I used to watch it on light night TV on Friday or Saturday nights when I was a kid. Cool show.^&cool
 
Watched it also, but it was no "Combat". I always liked the German officer in the halftrack. I think his name was Hans Gudegast, before he became famous on soap operas under the name of Eric Braedon. -- Al
 
I also have the DVDs, It's great to see actors like Ed Asner in miner roles.
 
The amusing part of this series is how the 2 gun jeeps run about shooting at all of the armored vehicles of the Africa Korps but never seem to lose any of the 4 "Rat Patrol" members !!!! {sm2}
 
lancer said:
Watched it also, but it was no "Combat". I always liked the German officer in the halftrack. I think his name was Hans Gudegast, before he became famous on soap operas under the name of Eric Braedon. -- Al
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Nobody in the world should know that bit of info {eek3}{eek3}
 
PanzerAce1944 said:
The amusing part of this series is how the 2 gun jeeps run about shooting at all of the armored vehicles of the Africa Korps but never seem to lose any of the 4 "Rat Patrol" members !!!! {sm2}
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An inherent weakness of a show with a regular cast. In "Combat" the six regulars might get wounded but it was always the guest star or the new squad members that got KIA, just as in "Star Trek" it was always the un-named crewman in red who bought it.:wink2: -- Al
 
My sons and I watched season 1 on DVD (I watched it as a kid). We groaned at the kidney damage to the stuntman on the .50 as the jeep came crashing down over the sand dune in the opening credits.

Laughed at the end of the missions when the stars would go back to the club and have a few with the WACs and mixture of allied officers.

Agree with the consensus, "it was no Combat." :wink2:
 
I have two serie's on dvd regio 1 I like the serie's
It was never on TV in the netherlands .
richard .
 
hoogri said:
I have two serie's on dvd regio 1 I like the serie's
It was never on TV in the netherlands .
richard .
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Richard

The first few episodes were shown here in the UK on the BBC during the mid-60's and then suddenly taken off never to be seen again. Reason was a number of ex- British LRDG and Desert Rats took extreme umbrage that the series depicted a bunch of Yanks in a jeep instead of Brits or Aussies. The complaints of which there were a great number (including my Dad) went as far as 10 Downing Street so the BBC discreetly removed it from the schedules just in case the desert veterans laid siege to the BBC building.

Personally I loved what few episodes I saw but must agree with the other comments it was no "Combat"

Bob
 
Welcome back, Bob, you have been missed. By the way, you are now on a 252 for being AWOL. Trooper
 
UKReb said:
Richard

The first few episodes were shown here in the UK on the BBC during the mid-60's and then suddenly taken off never to be seen again. Reason was a number of ex- British LRDG and Desert Rats took extreme umbrage that the series depicted a bunch of Yanks in a jeep instead of Brits or Aussies. The complaints of which there were a great number (including my Dad) went as far as 10 Downing Street so the BBC discreetly removed it from the schedules just in case the desert veterans laid siege to the BBC building.

Personally I loved what few episodes I saw but must agree with the other comments it was no "Combat"

Bob
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Dear UKReb,

Thank you for the background information on the Rat Patrol series. Prior to your post, I was not aware of the umbrage taken by Allied veterans of the Desert War to this series. Please accept my apologies if my post and video clip piqued you in any way.

Sincerely Yours, Raymond.
 
glossman said:
Dear UKReb,

Thank you for the background information on the Rat Patrol series. Prior to your post, I was not aware of the umbrage taken by Allied veterans of the Desert War to this series. Please accept my apologies if my post and video clip piqued you in any way.

Sincerely Yours, Raymond.
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Raymond

No apologies needed I assure you in fact quite the opposite. I only added my post to the topic as an anecdote to the series that other forum members may have found interesting. Being a bit of a youngblood during the 60's I had practically weaned myself on American war movies and was a very keen fan of Combat which aired on only the Anglia channel in the UK on Wednesday evenings-depending on the weather determined whether or not we received a good reception-so it was a bit of hit and miss during those black and white TV days.

My keeness for all American war movies during those formative years did not endear me to my military father but as I said to him at the time "Dad one can only watch so many B/W movies of John Mills trying to escape from German POW camps".

Now my good friend Rob will tell me off :) Rob believe it or not I was very young then-honestly

Alan not a 252 please -I'll serve my time in the bar next June:)

Bob
 
OK Reb, 252 lifted on account of previous good record. Now, what were you saying about Custer? Trooper
 
I have the DVD sets of seasons 1 & 2. Many hokey episodes but some good ones too. Being a "gun nut" I'm always watching for the weapon and vehicle changes. One season they used mostly aircraft type .50 cals (full length cooling jacket) and some episodes the used "proper" M2HBs. Early episodes had a Spanish or Italian SMG, later they had Thompsons. Some episodes had the Germans equipped with M7 "Priests", some with M47 tanks. The halftracks and armored cars varied some also. The Rat Patrol were often in post-WW2 M38 jeeps, sometimes in WW2 Jeeps (watch for the fuel filler cap on the body side behind the driver - a post WW2 feature).

Still kind of a fun show to watch for the heck of it.
 
Was I the only one to actually buy the official model kits for this show? I do not remember how many mg's I mounted on plastic or rubber jeeps when I was a younger, just to mimic these guys..Michael
 
It would been nice to have owned and not damaged some merchandise. This unused 1967 lunchbox and thermos is on sale at eBay for $799.99

rat ptrol lunchbox and thermos.jpg
 
It looks like those guys are sitting on a picnic blanket!

Yes, I loved it and my friends and I played 'Rat Patrol' in Primary school in the 70s. One would run in front doing the 'driving' while another would run just behind doing the shooting while making appropriate sounds. The space between the two could stretch quite a bit. I wonder what people watching us thought we were doing?
 
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