I always heard about and saw clips for this 1980s show on various clip shows and documentaries, including Bring Back... The A-Team with Justin Lee Collins, and I watched the 2010 movie based on the show with Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper. I was really happy when a TV channel started repeating the show from the beginning, so I could finally have the opportunity to watch it and see why it was so popular, created by Stephen J. Cannell (21 Jump Street, The Rockford Filmes) and Frank Lupo. In the words of the opening monologue: "In 1972, a crack commando unit was sent to prison by a military court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum-security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire The A-Team." Basically, the show revolves around the adventures of a team of four characters, a United States Army Special Forces unit who were court-martialled and escaped, who stay in hiding until they are found and hired, or until they come out themselves. These men are: cigar-smoking leader and master of disguise Lieutenant Colonel/Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard), smooth-talking conman and ladies' man Lieutenant Templeton Peck aka "Face" or "Faceman" (Dirk Benedict) (Tim Dunigan in the pilot), skilled pilot and certified nutter Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Dwight Schultz), and gold chain wearing, mohawked, bad-tempered strong man and mechanic Sergeant First Class Bosco Albert Baracus, better known as "B.A." Baracus, or "Bad Attitude" Baracus (Mr. T). In the first four seasons, episodes mostly consisted of characters in trouble, often being terrorised by bad guys, who need help. They somehow contact The A-Team, and Hannibal often meets them in disguise, to make sure they are not the military after them. The team often have to break out Murdock from his Veterans' Affairs mental institution, as he is declared insane. Face often has to blag his way to getting things to help the team complete their mission, whether it be vehicles, parts, money or whatever else. Murdock can fly absolutely anything, but B.A. has a fear of flying and always refuses to get into a plane or helicopter, especially with Murdock piloting, so he is always knocked out with drugs or a bash to the head. The team always manage to go against the villains, with many guns, bombs and grenades firing and blasting all over the place, as well as hand-made weapons, vehicles and gadgets to assist them. The running joke throughout the show is that no-one ever died (being a kid's show), none of the bad guys or other characters are ever seen hurt, injured or dying, even when vehicles and everything else are seen blowing up. For the first two seasons, the team also had assistance from female characters, reporter Amy Amanda Allen (Melinda Culea) was a tough character who liked to get involved in the action, and reporter Tawnia Baker (Marla Heasley) was their informer who sometimes joined in, but otherwise it was a very masculine show. Throughout the series, the team are also often on the run from the U.S. military trying to catch them, with MPs Colonel Francis Lynch (William Lucking), Colonel Roderick Decker (Lance LeGault), and General Harlan "Bull" Fulbright (Jack Ging) often leading squads to chase after and capture the team, always without success. By the fourth or fifth season (following falling ratings), after years of being on the run, the team were finally apprehended by the military. Mysterious CIA operative General Hunt Stockwell (Robert Vaughn) made them a deal to give them full pardons if they worked for the military to carry out suicide missions, along with help from Frankie "Dishpan Man" Santana (Eddie Velez), and sometimes Stockwell himself. It is during one mission, on the same side as General Fullbright, that after a mission to rescue Fullbright's daughter Tia (Tia Carrere), Fullbright becomes the only character in the show to die, when he is shot in the back by a bad guy and dies in his daughter's arms. In the end, the A-Team were supposedly close to being pardoned, but it implied that the missions would continue. Also starring Carl Franklin as Captain Crane, Bill Dyer as various characters, Red West as various characters, Hulk Hogan as himself, June Chadwick as Carla Singer, Andrew Robinson as Jackson / Deputy Rance, John Saxon as Martin James / Kalem, Dennis Franz as Sam Friendly / Brooks, Charles Napier as Burt Cross / Army Colonel Briggs, Geoffrey Lewis as Kale Sykes / Colonel Mack Stoddard, Barry Van Dyke (Dick Van Dyke's son) as Dr. Brian Lefcourt, The Fifth Element's Brion James as Ryder / David Plout, Live and Let Die's Clifton James as Warden Beale / Sheriff Jake Dawson, The Breakfast Club's Paul Gleason as Roy Kelsey / Harry Sullivan, Bill McKinney as Clint / Royko, Licence to Kill's Don Stroud as Deke Watkins / Walter Tyler, Ed Lauter as Sheriff Hank Thompson / Major Douglas Kyle, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's Daphne Reid as Nurse Lewis / Kamora Kaboko, Xander Berkeley as Baker / Sergeant Wilson, Batman: The Animated Series' Richard Moll as Churlisco, Andrew Divoff as various characters, Robert Davi as Boyle, Elisha Cook Jr. as Jim Beam, Isaac Hayes as C.J. Mack, David Hedison as David Vaughn, Ray Wise as Phillip Chadway, Boy George as himself, David White as Rudy / Charles Winston, Michael Ironside as Miler Crane, Yaphet Kotto as Charles 'East-Side Charlie' F. Struthers, John Amos as Reverend Taylor, Kurtwood Smith as Mr. Carson, Diamonds Are Forever's Bruce Glover as Tepper, Licence to Kill's Christopher Neame as Jack Scarett, All Quiet on the Western Front's Lew Ayres as Bernie Greene, Ghostbusters' Ernie Hudson as Cal Freeman, Rocky's Tony Burton as Burke, Walter Gotell as Ramon DeJarro, House of 1000 Corpses' Sid Haig as Sonny Jenko, Airplane's Al White as Police Officer Steven Meadows, Michael Cavanaugh as Joseph King, Lance Henriksen as Mack Dalton, Dr. No's Joseph Wiseman as Zeke Westerland, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's James Avery as Quint, Police Academy's Art Metrano as Nick Gretsch, Liar Liar's Mitchell Ryan as Ike Hagen, Mars Attacks' Jim Brown as Steamroller, Terminator 2: Judgement Day's Castulo Guerra as Martien, The Bird's Lonny Chapman as Henderson, Flash Gordon's Melody Anderson as Avon, Dawn of the Dead's Ken Foree as Dirkson, Lost's M.C. Gainey as C.W. Watkins, Far from Heaven's Dennis Haysbert as Psych Ward Staff, and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure's Al Leong as various characters. Peppard is good as the leader with his catchphrase "I love it when a plan comes together!", Benedict is likeable as the charming scammer, and Schultz is often entertaining being crazy and over-the-top. But Mr. T became the huge star all over the world, being tough and grouchy, but he did have a softer side, and some catchphrases, including "I ain't getting' on no plane" and "crazy fool" ("I pity the fool" was in Rocky III). The first two series are the most fun, seeing how the team will help those in need and defeat their foes, the later series got repetitive, and the final series is a bit of a let-down. There are also the rumours about the tensions between Peppard, who was known for his bad-boy reputation, and Mr. T; they did not get on in later series as Mr. T became more popular and made more money, old Hollywood star Peppard did not accept it. When I watched it, I was expecting it to be dated or daft, in fact it is indeed good 80s entertainment, with great characters, good storylines in most episodes, funny and interesting subplots, and plenty of guns blazing and explosive moments, a most watchable action-adventure show. B.A. Baracus was number on The 100 Greatest TV Characters. Good!
Review of The A-Team
