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''The Rat Patrol'' is an American action and adventure television series that aired on ABC between 1966 and 1968. The show follows the exploits of four Allied soldiers — three Americans and one British — who are part of a long-range desert patrol group in the North African campaign during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. Their mission: "to attack, harass and wreak havoc on Field Marshal Rommel's vaunted
Afrika Korps The Afrika Korps or German Africa Corps (, }; DAK) was the German expeditionary force in Africa during the North African Campaign of World War II. First sent as a holding force to shore up the Italian defense of its African colonies, the ...
".


Background

The show was inspired by and loosely modeled on
David Stirling Sir Archibald David Stirling (15 November 1915 – 4 November 1990) was a Scottish officer in the British army, a mountaineer, and the founder and creator of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War. ...
's British
Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-te ...
(SAS), which used modified Jeeps armed with
machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles ...
s as their transport through the treacherous desert terrain, and
Popski's Private Army Popski's Private Army, officially No. 1 Demolition Squadron, PPA, was a unit of British Special Forces set up in Cairo in October 1942 by Major Vladimir Peniakoff. Popski's Private Army was one of several raiding units formed in the Western Dese ...
. Such units did not exist as part of the American military until after the Second World War. The title of the program refers to the nicknames given to some of the
British Commonwealth The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...
forces in the North African campaign (
Rats of Tobruk The Rats of Tobruk were soldiers of the Australian-led Allied garrison that held the Libyan port of Tobruk against the Afrika Corps, during the Siege of Tobruk in World War II. The siege started on 11 April 1941 and was relieved on 10 December.< ...
, the primarily Australian defenders of the city of Tobruk or the British Desert Rats). At the time of the original telecast, many British, Australian, and New Zealand viewers took offense at the majority of American characters on the program, resulting in the show's being pulled from the BBC after six episodes. In Australia, the show was quickly relegated to a Saturday afternoon timeslot, when most people were out. The main audience became children who didn't know the history of WWII. (The series was later shown on British satellite television in the 1990s.) In addition, the opening episode presented the trio of American actors outnumbering the token British member, Sergeant Jack Moffitt.Tony Williams, ''Larry Cohen: The Radical Allegories of an Independent Filmmaker,'
pp. 60–61.
/ref> While the premise for the show might have been the SAS, the show itself modeled parts of the movie ''The Desert Rats'' (1953). The 30-minute time constraint limited the show's storyline to a formulaic plot: a regular contest between the characters Troy, the American, and Dietrich, the German, mirroring "cowboys" and "Indians". The show first aired on 12 September 1966; its final season began 16 September 1967. Despite its many historical inconsistencies, the show achieved successful ratings at a time when military shows were in decline because of public disaffection with the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.


Ratings

In its first season, ''The Rat Patrol'' was an instant success, siphoning about a million viewers from ''
The Lucy Show ''The Lucy Show'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from 1962 to 1968. It was Lucille Ball's follow-up to '' I Love Lucy''. A significant change in cast and premise for the fourth season (1965–1966) divides the program into two distin ...
'', placing it in the top 30 for the season and making a strong enough showing to be renewed for a second season. During the 1967–68 season, it faced competition in ''
Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (often simply referred to as ''Laugh-In'') is an American sketch comedy television program that ran for 140 episodes from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network, hosted by comedians Da ...
'' and '' The Man from U.N.C.L.E,'' which were shown in the same time slot, bookended by ''
The Monkees The Monkees were an American rock and pop band, formed in Los Angeles in 1966, whose lineup consisted of the American actor/musicians Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork alongside English actor/singer Davy Jones. The group was con ...
'' and the '' Danny Thomas Show''. ABC's other night with 30-minute time slots, Thursday, was decidedly family-oriented: ''
Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on March 30, 1939. I ...
'', ''
Flying Nun ''The Flying Nun'' is an American sitcom about a community of nuns which included one who could fly when the wind caught her cornette. It was produced by Screen Gems for ABC based on the 1965 book '' The Fifteenth Pelican,'' written by Tere ...
'', ''
Bewitched ''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typ ...
'', and ''
That Girl ''That Girl'' is an American sitcom that ran on ABC from September 8, 1966 to March 19, 1971. It starred Marlo Thomas as the title character Ann Marie, an aspiring (but only sporadically employed) actress, who moves from her hometown of Brewster ...
''. Although running only two seasons, ''The Rat Patrol'' remains a highly popular and iconic series to this day. As of December 2020, the
Heroes & Icons Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network airs classic television series fr ...
channel broadcasts the series as part of its Saturday night lineup.


Cast

The four members of the Allied patrol were: Notable enemies included: For four episodes during the second season, Justin Tarr was unavailable to play Tully, so he is not in the opening credits. Three different characters took turns rounding out the Patrol until Tully returned: * Andy in Episodes 18 & 22 (Mac McLaughlin) * Peterson in Episode 21 (
Darwin Joston Francis Darwin Solomon (December 9, 1937 – June 1, 1998) was an American actor known professionally as Darwin Joston (sometimes credited as Darwin Jostin during the early years of his career). Joston began his career as a New York stage acto ...
) * Bo Randall in Episode 24 (
Bo Hopkins William Mauldin "Bo" Hopkins (February 2, 1938 – May 28, 2022) Issucover/ref> was an American actor. He was known for playing supporting roles in a number of major studio films between 1969 and 1979, and appeared in many television shows and ...
) A Rat Patrol soldier named Cotter (played by Whitey Christy) is shown being hit by enemy fire and slumping over his machine gun during the opening action sequence of the pilot episode, "The Chase of Fire Raid". The resulting vacancy allowed for the addition of Moffitt to the team.


Production

A total of fifty-eight 30-minute episodes were produced by Mirisch-Rich Television Productions (when
Lee Rich Lee Rich (December 19, 1918 – May 24, 2012) was an American film and television producer, who won the 1973 Outstanding Drama Series Emmy award for '' The Waltons'' as the producer. He is also known as the co-founder and former chairman ...
left the partnership during the second season, the company name changed to Mirisch T.V. Inc.), a subsidiary of
United Artists Television United Artists Television (UATV) was an American television production/distribution studio of United Artists Corporation that was formed on New Year's Day (January 1), 1958. The company is remembered for producing series such as ''This Man Dawso ...
, in association with Tom Gries Productions Inc. (Tom Gries, Inc. in season two). Just as with ''
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...
'', in which episode titles included the word "Affair", all Rat Patrol episodes titles had "Raid" e.g. "The Do or Die Raid", "The Lighthouse Raid", or "Mask-A-Raid". Part of the show's first season was filmed in
Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city g ...
, Spain, with the rest in the United States. The three-part story arc "The Last Harbor Raid" was released theatrically in some venues under the title "Massacre Harbor". Christopher George suffered multiple injuries, including a heart contusion, and Gary Raymond suffered a broken ankle when a jeep, with the
M2 Browning The M2 machine gun or Browning .50 caliber machine gun (informally, "Ma Deuce") is a heavy machine gun that was designed towards the end of World War I by John Browning. Its design is similar to Browning's earlier M1919 Browning machine gun, ...
, overturned on them during filming of episode 27, "Take Me To Your Leader Raid", in January 1967. George's injury contributed to his 1983 death. As was usual for productions of the era, other equipment was substituted for original ones, though a number of the soft-skinned vehicles used by the Germans in the Spanish-filmed episodes are German or Italian Axis vehicles. The German armoured vehicles were actually American
Patton tank Patton tank may refer to any of a series of tanks used by the United States military from the 1950s to the 1990s, named for General George S. Patton. Tanks in the series include: * M46 Patton, a medium tank model operational during the Korean ...
s,
M7 Priest The 105 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M7 was an American self-propelled gun vehicle produced during World War II. It was given the official service name 105 mm Self Propelled Gun, Priest by the British Army, due to the pulpit-like machine ...
self-propelled guns, and
M3 Half-track The M3 half-track was an American armored personnel carrier half-track widely used by the Allies during World War II and in the Cold War. Derived from the M2 half-track car, the M3 was extensively produced, with about 15,000 standard M3s and mo ...
s painted in desert sand colors. In the US-filmed episodes,
M35 2-1/2 ton cargo truck M35, M.35 or M-35 may refer to: Military * M35 series 2½-ton 6×6 cargo truck, a US Army truck * , a Royal Navy mine countermeasures vessel launched in 1982 * ADGZ or ''M35 Mittlere Panzerwagen'', a 1930s Austrian Army heavy armored car * Cannone ...
s replaced the more convincing vehicles used in Spain. Some of the US jeeps used by secondary characters are clearly post-war. Perhaps the most-remembered visual was a jeep jumping over a
sand dune A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, f ...
, seen in the opening credits and other scenes in the series. The
submachine gun A submachine gun (SMG) is a magazine-fed, automatic carbine designed to fire handgun cartridges. The term "submachine gun" was coined by John T. Thompson, the inventor of the Thompson submachine gun, to describe its design concept as an autom ...
s used by the squad were unusual. Because the first season had been filmed in Spain, the producers obtained several fixed wood-stock versions of the Spanish Star Z-45 ( 9x23mm Largo) submachine gun from the
Spanish Army The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century. The ...
, in an apparent attempt to imitate the look of the WWII .45
Thompson submachine gun The Thompson submachine gun (also known as the "Tommy Gun", "Chicago Typewriter", "Chicago Piano", “Trench Sweeper” or "Trench Broom") is a blowback-operated, air-cooled, Magazine-fed rifle, magazine-fed Selective fire, selective-fire subm ...
. This was changed in later first-season episodes when Thompsons were finally made available. During the series, Sgt. Troy wore a bush hat typical of Australian troops. When the show aired in Australia, veterans of both World Wars there were critical of an American actor wearing such an important symbol of Australian courage and sacrifice. It was seen by some to cheapen and sensationalize the memory and spirit of those
ANZAC The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was a First World War army corps of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. It was formed in Egypt in December 1914, and operated during the Gallipoli campaign. General William Birdwood comm ...
s who died fighting fascism. George, a U.S. Marine
Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top:{ ...
veteran, and of Greek extraction, said he insisted his character wear the slouch hat to honor the Australians who fought in Greece. Larry Casey stated in an interview that Tom Gries' original idea was that each of the characters would be from a different country and wear a different hat. However this was changed, and with Christopher George wishing to wear the slouch hat, his American helmet was given to Justin Tarr.


Episode guide

''The Rat Patrol'' appeared on television from 1966 to 1968. The 58 episodes are split up into two seasons; 1966-1967 (32 episodes) and 1967-1968 (26 episodes).


Home media

MGM Home Entertainment Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC ( d/b/a MGM Home Entertainment and formerly known as MGM Home Video, MGM/CBS Home Video and MGM/UA Home Video) is the home video division of the American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. History ...
has released both seasons of ''The Rat Patrol'' on DVD in Region 1. The First Season is also available on Region 2 DVD. On May 13, 2008, MGM released a seven-disc boxset of the complete series.
Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...
acquired the rights to the series and re-released ''The Rat Patrol - The Complete Series'' on DVD in Region 1 on November 28, 2017.


Comic book

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark" ...
published a comic book series that lasted six issues (1967; one issue in 1969). These had photo covers taken from the television series.


Books

*Five books were released by Paperback Library. # The Rat Patrol by Norman Daniels # The Rat Patrol #2 in ''Desert Danger,'' by David King # The Rat Patrol #3 in ''The Trojan Tank Affair,'' by David King # The Rat Patrol #4 in ''The Two Faced Enemy,'' by David King # The Rat Patrol #5 in ''Target For Tonight,'' by David King # The Rat Patrol #6 in ''Desert Masquerade,'' by David King *One book released by Whitman # The Rat Patrol, ''The Iron Monster Raid'', by I G Edmonds A coloring book was issued by Saalfield, 1966, based on the series. A series of trading cards were published in 1966 by Topps Chewing Gum for Mirisch-Rich Television Productions. A total set included 66 cards, with still shots from the series on the fronts and text about the stills on the back (as part of a full story about having to blow a buried fuel dump), along with parts of 9 different picture puzzles which could be assembled to show the main characters from the show: Troy, Moffitt, Tully, Hitchcock, Dietrich, as well as several other stills, including a shot of the four Rat Patrol members on one jeep.


Soundtrack

Like '' The Fugitive'', ''The Rat Patrol'' was one of the few primetime dramatic series of the era to use a library of music instead of having specific episodes scored.
Dominic Frontiere Dominic Carmen Frontiere (June 17, 1931 – December 21, 2017) was an American composer, arranger, and jazz accordionist. He composed the theme and much of the music for the first season of the television series '' The Outer Limits'', as we ...
, who replaced
Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...
when he was fired during post-production of the pilot (along with series creator Tom Gries when the pilot went over-budget),Burlingame, Jon, liner notes for ''The Rat Patrol'' soundtrack, La-La Land Records LLLCD 1155 wrote the series theme and music library, conducting the Graunke Symphony Orchestra. La-La Land Records issued a limited edition album of Frontiere's music in 2011, and a second volume in 2014 featuring more Frontiere music and North's unused score for the pilot. A number of tracks from the library were first composed & recorded by Frontiere as the director of music for the science fiction series ''The Outer Limits'' (1963 TV series), which ran from 1963 - 1965.


''The Rat Patrol'' soundtrack album

# The Rat Patrol Main Title 1:00 # Another Day, Another Mission 1:11 # Convoy 1:31 # Desert Action 2:00 # After That Man 1:15 # Lost And Found 3:35 # Desert Romance 2:49 # Rats Sneak About 2:03 # A Tight Spot 2:17 # Do You Smell Something? 0:43 # Time To Go 0:48 # Night Maneuvers 3:02 # Firefight 2:16 # Desert Sun 0:29 # Farewell/Ambushed 1:07 # Burning Sun/Sniper 1:01 # The Massacre 1:36 # Germans On The Move 1:33 # Rats On The Move 2:25 # Breaking In And Searching 1:46 # Rats On Patrol 1:25 # Rats In Action 1:30 # A Friend's Death 1:38 # We Have A Job To Do! 1:15 # Serious Discussion 2:22 # Hand To Hand 1:14 # Dirge 2:03 # Rat Mission 1:47 # Cat And Mouse 2:03 # The Traitor 0:51 # Tricked Into A Trap 0:26 # Stalemate 1:47 # Cut Off 0:34 # Rats Have Some Fun 1:19 # Floating Down 0:52 # Foot Chase 1:13 # Plans For Rats 1:15 # In And Out Of Enemy Camp 1:53 # We've Still Got A Job To Do 1:15 # Planning The Attack 1:36 # Getting Ready 5:10 # Big Battle 2:58 # Mission Accomplished 1:53 # The Rat Patrol End Credits 1:37 # Theme from The Rat Patrol 2:30


''The Rat Patrol: Volume 2''

Tracks 21-28 comprise
Alex North Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), '' Viva Zapata!'', '' S ...
's unused score for "The Chase Of Fire Raid." # The Rat Patrol Overture 2:30 # The Germans on the Move 1:51 # Before the War 3:48 # Our Man Hans/Rats on the Prowl 1:32 # Belly Dancer Muzak 1:23 # After the War 3:42 # In and Out 1:23 # Hans Checks for Rats/German Fall Out 1:41 # That Tiny World (no strings) - vocal:
Jack Jones Jack Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *Jack Jones (American singer) (born 1938), American jazz and pop singer *Jack Jones, stage name of Australian singer Irwin Thomas (born 1971) *Jack Jones (Welsh musician) (born 1992), Welsh mu ...
2:44 # Quick Getaway From the Germans 1:32 # Tank Column 1:56 # In Love With a Rat 2:58 # In and Out of Trouble 0:30 # Lili Marlene -
Norbert Schultze Norbert Arnold Wilhelm Richard Schultze (26 January 1911 in Brunswick – 14 October 2002 in Bad Tölz) was a prolific German composer of film music and a member of the NSDAP and of Joseph Goebbels' staff during World War II. He is best remem ...
1:54 # Big Mean Germans 1:46 # Here Comes Hans 0:45 # The Showdown 1:40 # Rats on Parade 2:01 # Remembering an Old Friend 2:52 # Rat Patrol Main Title (alt. take) 1:46 # The Original Rat Patrol Theme 0:51 # Our Heroes on Duty 0:36 # Entering the Bar 0:27 # Rat Chat 2:30 # Honor and Duty 2:40 # Germans Arrive/Let's Get Out of Here 1:14 # Until Next Time/Finale 1:48 # The Original Rat Patrol End Credits 0:55 # Slow and Sexy Belly Dance 3:36 # Fast Belly Dance 0:47 # That Tiny World (record with strings) - vocal: Jack Jones 2:44 # The Rat Patrol End Credits (Alt. Take) 0:38


Toys

Marx Toys produced a Rat Patrol set consisting of a Jeep with Troy and Moffitt action figures that resembled George and Raymond. Aurora model company made a 1/87 scale model Rat Patrol
diorama A diorama is a replica of a scene, typically a three-dimensional full-size or miniature model, sometimes enclosed in a glass showcase for a museum. Dioramas are often built by hobbyists as part of related hobbies such as military vehicle mode ...
in 1967.


Other cultural references

Punk rock band Naked Raygun led off their album ''
Throb Throb ''Throb Throb'' is an album by American punk rock band Naked Raygun, released on Homestead Records in 1985. It was the first of the band's releases to feature the musicianship of John Haggerty whose guitar playing distinguished the band's sound d ...
'' with a song called "Rat Patrol"—the lyrics of which clearly refer to the show. The 2012 novel by
Elizabeth Bevarly Elizabeth Bevarly (born 1961 in Louisville, Kentucky, United States) is an American writer of over 70 romance novels since 1989. She is a ''New York Times'' bestselling author. Biography Bevarly was born in 1961 and raised in Louisville, Ke ...
, ''The House on Butterfly Way'', includes a vignette about the metal lunchbox produced by
Aladdin Aladdin ( ; ar, علاء الدين, ', , ATU 561, ‘Aladdin') is a Middle-Eastern folk tale. It is one of the best-known tales associated with ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (''The Arabian Nights''), despite not being part o ...
during the show's original run. The passage refers to George and Sam Troy's hat, as well as Braeden and his character, Dietrich. A version of
The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
album
Combat Rock ''Combat Rock'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Clash. It was released on 14 May 1982 through CBS Records. In the United Kingdom, the album charted at number 2, spending 23 weeks in the UK charts and peaked at number 7 i ...
, mixed by guitarist Mick Jones, was released under the title of 'Rat Patrol from Fort Bragg.'


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rat Patrol, The American Broadcasting Company original programming 1960s American drama television series 1966 American television series debuts 1968 American television series endings Television series about Nazis World War II television drama series Television series based on actual events Television series by United Artists Television American military television series English-language television shows Period television series Films shot in Almería