Combat! reviews by Jo Davidsmeyer * Episodes are rated from 0 to 4 bayonets

(120) Counterplay

RATING: 1/2 bayonet

First aired 25-Jan-1966
Episode 20 of Season 4

Written by Edward J. Lakso
Directed by Alan Crosland Jr.

SYNOPSIS:
An impostor masquerades as a French resistance fighter to lead Saunders' squad on a mission. They are escorting a radar expert to evaluate and destroy a German radar installation. The impostor leads them through an elaborate ruse, including a staged raid on a fake radar setup. When two resistance fighters stumble into the German's lair, the plot is revealed.

REVIEW:
Mark Richman stars in "Counterplay," his second guest appearance on Combat! He leads the squad through an intricate plot in a sloppy suspense story. The episode is padded with footage of B52s and planes in flight, making the show look more like an episode of "Twelve O'Clock High" than Combat!
Both the script and direction are weak. The Germans have devised a detailed ruse and constantly watch the squad throughout their mission — but they foolishly establish their base in a room formerly occupied by the resistance and do not take the precaution of keeping strangers from entering.

Elements of a coming-of-age story are tossed in, along with a Frenchman making the noble sacrifice. The story is a hodge-podge of plot elements and stock footage.

NOTES, ODDITIES, AND BLOOPERS:
· As the squad is in the sniper's sights, they are wet before they enter the stream.

· The town is part of the MGM backlot that Combat! never blew up. The same streets were used for Annette's home in "Just for the Record" and Anne's orphanage in "The Furlough," among others.

· A bloodless episode: Caje and Kirby kill Germans by striking their faces with rifle butts. Saunders dispatches one by breaking his back on a rock.

· The squad avoids gunfire to silently kill the radar technicians, then they set off noisy grenades and Saunders uses the Thompson on the equipment. Why take the trouble to be quiet in the beginning?

CAST:

Vic Morrow as Sgt. Saunders
Rick Jason as Lt. Hanley

Guest Star
Mark Richman as Marchand/German Lt.

Jack Hogan as Kirby
Pierre Jalbert as Caje
Dick Peabody as Littlejohn

Robert Crawford as Pierre DuBois
Louis Mercier as Paul DuBois
Gary Lasdun as Marchand/French

Paul Busch as German Officer
Walter Davis as German #1
Gerd Rein as German #2
Chris Anders as German #3
H.M. Wynant as Sgt. Rawlings

and

Robert Ellenstein as DuBois