sykespj With 'Combat!' becoming increasingly expensive to produce and WWII dramas in general on the wane, the ABC network decided to try a makeover. Ostensibly inspired by the film 'The Dirty Dozen', 'Garrison's Gorillas' has much more in common with the 1960s series 'Mission: Impossible' than anything else.Within the limitations of the time, 'Combat!' was known for its gritty realism, with most of its stars WWII vets themselves. ABC's historically inept 'Rat Patrol', not surprisingly, showed the network was more interested in ratings than realism. It ran for two seasons... 'Garrison's Gorillas' was lucky to make it through one.From a 2000-Teenies point of view, the series isn't that bad. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be that many good prints of the show getting around. 'Garrison's Gorillas' has good production values, decent acting, and relatively entertaining scripts (and it was shot in colour). Fans of '60s WWII dramas should find it more than passable.

svgarvin7 I was 11 when I watched this series and was an instant fan, I haven't seen or heard of it since. I too loved Combat! and felt Garrison's Gorillas was a perfect follow-up because of it's sense of humor which was welcomed at that time. I loved Goniff's irreverence, Actor's suaveness and I had a crush on Chief. It's true Ron Harper was a little wooden and I viewed him almost as background support, but make no mistake, he had control of his men and I think the others respected him. I recall the first few episodes included Telly Sevales (cashing in on his Dirty Dozen character), but I didn't feel he quite fit in and was glad he left in short order. Bottom line, these were fun and action packed. I even remember having a Garrison's Gorillas coloring book!

SavhCaro I watched the show when it was first on TV when I was 12 & fell in love with the characters. My favorite was Chief & he became a teen idol during that time. The stories were good, the humor I loved! Even my parents enjoyed it. The TV show was shown on GoodTime TV about 4 years ago and I tried to tape all the episodes. For the time period that the show was made the sets were OK. The costumes/uniforms were great. Loved the give and take between the characters. I would recommend this to anybody! It was a take-off from the movies but it was still well done. Comparing it to today's TV shows is not fair. Acting, special effects and such have come along way in 40 plus years. The main story was that people could change and improve themselves especially when working for the greater good. Many times the guys could have escaped but chose to do their job and honor their commitment and the Warden. It had a great theme running through the entire show.

Lonixcap Combat! went off the air in 1967 after a successful, five year run. Garrison's Gorillas, also from Selmur Productions, took over Combat's same time period on Tuesday nights on ABC. Where Combat had a great character actor in Vic Morrow leading a strong supporting cast, Garrison had Ron Harper in the lead, and by time he got to the Planet of the Apes TV series some years later, he was still just as wooden and one dimensional as he is here. Only Christopher Cary and Cesare Danova(you know him as the mayor in Animal House) are any good acting-wise, and the writing wasn't nearly good enough for a show that was TV's attempt to cash in on the success of The Dirty Dozen, released the same year. CBS's take on the genre, Jericho(1967) was slightly better but was also filmed on the same MGM back lot just like Combat and Garrison's Gorillas were. By now you would see the same sets and backgrounds on three different war shows. And by the late 60's war was a little too real on the evening news and these type of WWII shows looked unrealistic and had run their course. Garrison's Gorillas was canceled and replaced by The Mod Squad in 1968.