bkoganbing
For five seasons Gomer Pyle kept us all amused with his bumbling country boy antics to the distress of his sergeant Vince Carter. With the Vietnam War going on one does not have to speculate about why Pyle was kept stateside.Although several other people flirted in and out of Gomer Pyle it was a two person show. Sweet lovable Gomer who managed to keep that innocent naivete through basic training with Frank Sutton and then later on when contrary to all realism Carter and Pyle stayed together even after basic training.Jim Nabors who even got in a song or two over the run of the show with that operatic baritone was in the title role, carrying over from the Andy Griffith Show where he was a gas jockey. Sutton eventually got tired of training him and kind of took him under his wing. Still Pyle would get in and out of trouble each episode and Sgt. Carter's ulcer would grow. After 5 seasons Gomer Pyle came to an end. I suspect with a lot of real Marines coming home in body bags, the antics of a lovable bumbling Marine just weren't cutting it.In real life Pyle would have washed out in two weeks.
Conagher_1880
"Gomer Pyle, USMC" is the quintessential 1960's-era escapist service comedy. Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors) was a naive Marine private (and later PFC) from North Carolina who joins the Marines to see the world. His DI is a tough, decorated (look at the rack of ribbons on his uniform to see just HOW decorated he is) Gunnery Sergeant named Vince Carter (Frank Sutton). Carter is Marine to the core (no pun), and Pyle is a, well....well meaning, shall we say.....but not too swift Marine. Oddly enough, although Pyle is a bumbler, he's apparently a good Marine. He follows orders to the best of his ability, looks out for his buddies, respects NCO's and officers, is a good shot (his marksmanship badge is that of Rifle Expert), and performs extra duties for the Corps. His sole drawback is that he's not exceptionally bright."Gomer Pyle, USMC" never makes mention of Vietnam, and indeed, the utilities worn by the Marines in the series have a very distinct WWII flair about them (they are the pre-McNamara era Marine Corps utilities, not the all-service OG-107s issued post-1962), and no one carries an M-14 or M-16...all rifles shown (except for the parade deck sequences where M-14s are visible) are M-1 Garands. None of the Marines in the series display Vietnam Service or Vietnam Campaign ribbons on either their khakis or their blues....and forest greens are nowhere to be seen. In a sense, it's as if the Vietnam War wasn't even taking place. (My own opinion is this: While I wouldn't mind having Pyle in my platoon if I were in someplace like Hue City or Quang Tri, I'm not so sure I'd want Gunny Carter in my platoon. If he couldn't get Pyle to be a bit more disciplined, I doubt he'd be much good under fire.)As I said, this was escapist comedy, and the shame of it is that it ultimately did a disservice to the Armed Forces. A good service comedy should show the military as being capable of humor, but not as being near incompetent. I could see MSgt. Ernie Bilko fighting the Japanese during WWII, and probably the Chinese in Korea....his wise-ass attitude showed a sergeant who was tough on the inside. Colonel Hogan was believable as a bomber pilot....heck, even "Major Dad" was believable as a Marine....and I could almost see Maj. Nelson on "I Dream of Jeannie" in the cockpit of an operational aircraft! The Marines on "Gomer Pyle," however, struck me as being a Boy Scout troop with M-1s.**SPOILER?** A couple years back, Jim Nabors was honored by the Marine Corps for his part in promoting a generally positive image of the Corps by having PFC Gomer Pyle promoted to Lance Corporal. Although Pyle was a buffoon, he at least tried to be a good Marine. And, he was a decent guy, so what's to complain about? Basically, my own military service wasn't as funny as Pyle's, but then....real life isn't a sitcom.
terry bross
i'm in the service also and the last person was wrong on his commits. after seeing the stuff i've seen in the navy and marine corp (no offence to the marines ) i would totally believe that show the other person was talking about even sergant bilko is more believeable now. if you know anything about gomer pyle they made the show funny but it did have some real points to it the did not intend to make fun of the marines they intended to have fun with the marines.i wish this show would of lasted well into the 70's and possible the 80's 4 star in my book.
reaness46
I been a fan of this show ever since it's debut in 1964, I was ten years old. I sure did laugh at all the things that Gomer got into and even though Sergent Carter yell at Gomer alot, I knew that deep down inside he really like the country boy from Mayberry North Carolina
