Combat! (TV Series) Gideon's Army (1963) User Reviews

Creepy, Impressive and Graphic

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 4 September 2017]

While in a recon mission, Sgt. Saunders, Caje, Kirby, Nelson, Littlejohn and Doc stumble upon a Pole concentration camp with starving survivors. Doc tries to share the squad ration but is attacked by the prisoners. Saunders is ordered to return with the squad to their base but the Pole leader and former mayor asks the American to help them. Saunders lies to Hanley to buy time that understand the situation and agrees that they wait for the transport to bring the prisoners to the safe zone. But a German battalion is coming to the camp and Saunders has only five soldiers in his squad. What will he do?

"Gideon's Army" is a creepy, impressive and graphic episode of "Combat!" where the makeup crew shines. The scene when Saunders arrives at the room where the Poles are hidden is heartbreaking and even scary. The way he negotiates with Hanley is fantastic. The redemption of the Pole henchman in the end of the episode follows the cold and never corny style of experienced Saunders. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "O Exército de Gideão" ("The Gideon's Army")

Witness to Pure Evil

[jmarchese · 9/10 · 16 July 2014]

Gideon's Army is a story of Poles in a concentration camp who are left over after the Germans kill the vast majority and take only the most able bodied with them. Saunders and White Rook stumble upon them by accident while on patrol. Director John Peyser did an excellent job as the scenes are very graphic and make one think about the pure evil involved.

Most of the concentration camp victims are not able bodied and are terrified the Germans will return to eliminate them. They beg Saunders to not leave them alone. S 2 has other ideas and gives the order for Saunders and White Rook to return to base.

It's beautiful how Saunders deals with the issue; and Lieutenant Hanley goes along out of decency.

Along the way, a German is captured and it's fun to see his countenance and demeanor when his reality sinks in.

With large numbers of advancing Germans, the Sarge must portray great strength to hold the camp while awaiting trucks and aid for the victims. Hence, Saunders employs the Gideon Biblical strategy.

Gideon's Army should make us think about what dictatorship can lead to especially when a madman is at the helm. And the Fuhrer was not the only one throughout history.

Sensitive portrayal, that misses stating the obvious.

[emsfoleyart-1 · 8/10 · 3 July 2020]

Saunders and the squad stumble across a Concentration camp of poles, and effort to protect, rescue, and transfer them from their circumstances. The music is evocative of a Jewish tradition in an indirect way; the producers of the show, and many others involved, have a Jewish background; yet, no mention of the prisoners being Jewish, no insignia on the prisoners uniforms, and never once in the show is the word Jews or Jewish ever mentioned. The only term used to describe these unfortunate men is D.P.s. (displaced persons, which I believe became a pejorative later) Historically, not all concentration camp victims were Jews, but a vast majority were. The implication is heavily geared in that direction, but never acknowledged verbally. It makes one wonder how uptight the network must have been about the implications of this episode, and the steps the writers and producers felt, or were instructed, to undertake to imply the obvious, without stating it. Shows how far we have come since 1963.

Too many subplots

[lor_ · 22 July 2023]

Vic is placed under a lot of pressure when his men arrive at an abandoned concentration camp containing Polish prisoners who could not walk. Morrow has his own mission order, plus the problem of how to help and save the liberated Poles.

The prisoners include a sympathetic Polish mayor and a detestable Polish kapo who was working the camp for the Germans.

Vic goes to bat for the hapless Poles, going out on a limb for them. When a German squad arrives, Vic pretends to have greater forces and convince them to flee, with Doc relating the Biblical story of Gideon attempting a similar tactic.

Richard Jaekel pops up as a surrendering German soldier, adding to the plot's mix of issues, as the surviving Poles want to take out their revenge against the Germans on him.

Too many story threads complicate the episode, diluting its power, and the sentimental music score during scenes of the poor prisoners is maudlin.