The Rat Patrol
The Rat Patrol
NR | 12 September 1966 (USA)
SEASON & EPISODES
  • 2
  • 1
  • Reviews
    Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
    Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
    Helloturia I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.
    Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.
    moonrazer-487-184393 As a child I couldn't wait for the Rat Patrol to come on each week. I think this was ABC Tuesday night at 8:30pm. It was awesome, a couple jeeps would come across a sand dune in the air and then proceed to destroy a heavily armed German convoy and disappear into the desert unscathed. There was nothing else like it. Sgt Troy obviously took his tactical training at the General Robert E Lee school of small unit tactics. Never has a commander since Lee been able to divide a smaller force in the face of larger force and achieve as much success. The General would be proud. As a kid I had no idea that wasn't how a unit like this would operate. When I got to ROTC in college, I often found myself asking "what would Sgt Troy do in this situation". Sometimes those antics worked not because they were sound tactics but because the opposing force would never think anyone be that stupid to try them. The show was a half hour so serious character development was out. It was a good thing everyone had a different hat so it was easy to see who was who. The Germans were pretty generic, except for Capt Detrich, who was a man of honor but one has to wonder how long he would keep his command and life given all the setbacks the Rat Patrol gave him. My wife finds the whole dynamic rather cartoonish and has given the good captain the honorary radio call sign of "Coyote" in reference to the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons when he calls his minions to arms against a Rat raid. For me the jeeps were the stars of that show and thus the biggest issue. Enzo Ferrari is reported to have said that the jeep was the only sports car ever made in America. The image of an airborne Willys at the show's opening is permanently etched into my mind. As an adult when I got a chance to look at some of the shows I began to see some problems. Like the person standing in the back of the jeep may not be real or if he is, he has rubber arms. Other times they show a reverse image with the jeep being right hand drive. This summer I became a proud WW II Willys MB jeep owner (still working through those issues) and after some work getting it road worthy (the first test drive was done humming the Rat Patrol theme) I not sure this vehicle is capable of a jump like this in with a sand unless it was getting full traction like on hard dirt or a ramp. Anyway trips in the jeep are referred to as raids, like the "Get the Christmas Tree Raid" or the "Drive down to the Subdivision Pool Raid". These are all done with the windshield down in all but the coldest weather. Anyway I'm digressing. I have a WW II veteran friend who was assigned a Willys with a .50 caliber mounted on it. He used the machine gun on the beach at Normandy during a Luftwaffe attack and said that this was lot of gun for that small of a platform and it's wonder that he didn't cause some friendly fire casualties during the event. Of course this flies in the face of the precise marksmanship Troy and Moffitt were able to achieve. If you want realism,sleep through a documentary on the History Channel, if you want entertainment then look no further.
    sgttom I first saw the Rat Patrol when I borrowed season 2 from my Uncle. To put it in plane words, I don't really like the show at all. Why don't I like it? Most of the plots are weak. They are resolved way to easily. Even though they are often assigned challenging missions 90% of the time they pull through quite easily. The acting is OK, Troy however bothers me. His character isn't consistent. He'll lay down hard on his men but when it comes to himself he often does what he tells his men not too. I think his sternness or tough guy attitude is somewhat fake. And I am just personally annoyed by him too some extent. Well then there's Moffitt, he is much better then Troy, in my opinion a much better actor. The only flaw I have with him is his bad jokes get annoying at times. Tully and Hitch are OK. Dietrich is in my opinion the best part of the show. His character amuses me. He is perfect for the, bad guy who is not so bad, character he plays. The one thing that really ruins the show is; Captain Dietrich, who seems to be an intelligent man, is defeated again and again by the Rat Patrol. The show would be much more amusing if The two enemies had more challenging battles, where both would have to use there heads instead of the Rat Patrol super-manning through all their challenges and slaughtering their stupid Nazi counterparts. As for authenticity well it is poor. The uniforms have the WWII Look and are OK for most people but as a Reenactor I can pick them apart. First off the tan uniforms they wear in each episode would not be worn in combat. They look like Summer Khaki Dress Fatigues. The proper uniform would be Olive Drab Wool pants and shirts. Troy wears some kind of tall jack boot. Tully and Hitch wear German Low Quarter boots, with British Gators, and Moffitt wear US rough outs. Well all the US guys should be wearing low boots and leggings and Moffitt should be wearing low boots and gators. The worst thing of all is the bazaar guns they carry in the First season. They seem to be some kind of MP40 or MP41 with a custom wooden stock, and with a weird looking barrel added on. I think the Rat Patrol would be much better if they had done these three things: Made them into 45 minute episodes so the Plot could develop more. Strengthen the tension between Troy and Dietrich. Get rid of most of the Jeep battles and have more Guerrilla, Sabator type fighting. Yes I know a big part of the Show was the Jeep battles but they are just a bit corny. The German bullets just seem to completely miss the Rat Patrol's jeeps completely every time. Also I don't think a 50 cal machine gun can blow up a Half Track. My little brothers like it but it just doesn't take it for me.
    DKosty123 The concept for this series came from a World War 2 saga titled THE DESERT RATS. It was expanded upon & fictionalized on ABC television.This color series was filmed in Spain for ABC in Color. Visually, the DVD set of season 1 that I have looked at is great.There are several things to note which make the series not as good as it looks. ABC had an extremely limited budget shooting these & if you watch the first season a lot, you will find that many of the action shots are re-used in several episodes. No matter what plot is being followed, the same action sequence used in an earlier episode pops in.The half hour format this series follows does not allow enough time for character development. COMBAT , the Vic Morrow series which was also on ABC, always had an hour to develop it's plots. There are some multiple parters to try & make up for this problem during the first season, but not enough. The main cast is quite good. Christopher George is a good actor & brings Sgt. Troy as close to being real as you can imagine. His three comrades in support are fine also. Hans Guidecast (now Eric Braden or Victor on THE YOUNG & THE RESTLESS) does well as the German Captain in pursuit of our heroes. often though, the scripts are limp & sometimes the re-use of the action sequences does detract from the quality of the series overall.If you pick up the DVD set, watch for Ed Asner (Lou Grant) & Gavin McCloud (Captian Steubing of the LOVE BOAT Murray on Mary Tyler Moore series) in guest roles. The three parter features Claudine Longet several years before her lover Spider Savage died in mystery circumstances. This series is watchable & the DVD pictures are so good you can see the characters sun tans. Overall though, not as good as you remember when you were a child as the plots look a little limp to a grown up.Sometimes, the jeeps suddenly get new equipment when our heroes are nowhere near their own lines. Amazing how they can do that & always get what they need & never run out of ammo. The action theme and fine camera work make this watchable. When I was a child, I picked up & read a series of 7 paper back books based upon the series characters. The books developed the plots & characters in much more depth than the show. This makes my view of the series a little more negative than it should be.
    desertisland1999 RAT PATROL was a story of a jeep patrol in WW2 used for commando raids against a "rommel like" officer in north africa. Much more escapist than COMBAT, RAT PATROL was a action adventure commando show which featured notable guest stars and a different adventure each week. The thrust of the series was story but also stunts and desert jeep combat scenes. The show also encorporated the 1960's rage of espionage. This series paved the way for later efforts like the DUKES OF HAZARD. A cast of respected actors was used for the show.