TV Review: Rat Patrol

In Color! Filmed on location, in Spain! Copyright, MCMLXV!

They showed this on WTTG Channel 5 when I was a kid one summer. Repeats, natch. Standard 1960s cheese fest with a Desert Fox theme. It was a lotta fun then, as now.

If you've never seen it, it follows a pair of Jeeps, commanded by a US Army Sergeant. They raid behind German lines in North Africa armed with a few grenades, occasional explosives, and the .50 caliber machine gun. So 4 guys, 2 drivers, 2 gunners. Because they are light and quick, they dart in an out of German Convoys and positions, destroying light targets like trucks and easily evading several tanks. They rarely get a scratch of damage in return, and when they do it always a plot point helping an injured crewmember. Like, they'll sneak him into a German field hospital, and make a daring escape after forcing the doc to patch him up. The injured guy, close to death, is fine by the end of the episode.

US tanks are usually 1960s version tanks like the M-60 Pershing, or maybe the , and the Germans get the more odd looking tanks to look different. In reality they sorta looked like the M3 Medium tank, with an offset turret. A true WWII history or armor geek would know the model, instantly. But you can't expect a lot of reality in a TV war show from the 1960's, filmed in Spain. They were probably spare Spanish Army stuff that they painted. So that's fine.

In every episode, there was a formula. It starts with a convoy raid, then the real mission that was a little more difficult, the final shoot out, and then the "back home" fade out with a funny or poignant quip. One thing they did in the opening credits and in most episodes is both Jeeps come flying over a dune to commence the attack. That looked PAINFUL. The gunner at the back was usually thrown around pretty good, standing and leaning back, holding only onto the Ma Deuce handles. M2 handles to the gut region. Oooof.

And of course, this unit was based on the real thing. But the real thing was British Commandos in a vehicle NOT a Jeep doing the same sort of mission. But a show where the hero's are all British wouldn't have sold well to US audiences, so only one of the four team members was a Brits. Hollywood does that often. Look at the movie U-571. All US Navy portrayed in the filmed, based on something the Royal Navy actually did with that submarine. And it annoys Mother Country a bit.