Whenever a successful movie appears, you can be sure television will capitalise on it somehow. In 1967, Robert Aldrich's 'The Dirty Dozen' overtook that year's Bond movie - 'You Only Live Twice' - to be top box office draw, and ( along with Arthur Penn's 'Bonnie & Clyde' ) ushered in a new wave of violent cinema. Things would never be the same again. 'Garrisons Gorillas' was on air within months of the Dozen firing their first shots. It starred Ron Harper as 'Lt.Craig Garrison', who like Lee Marvin's 'Major Reisman', is put in charge of a band of convicted criminals recruited to fight the Nazis; they are the handsome 'Actor' ( Cesare Danova ), chirpy Cockney 'Goniff' ( Christopher Cary ), gambling-mad 'Casino' ( Rudy Solari ) and native American 'Chief' ( Brendon Boone ). They are given a choice - fight for Uncle Sam or go up before a firing squad. Each week, the Gorillas went on missions as daring as stealing a new German aeroplane engine, substituting counterfeit printing plates for real ones, kidnapping a German Colonel's son, recovering important microfilm hidden in a painting in a Dutch museum, and helping Americans escape from an Italian prison camp. It was the 'A-Team' of its day, with a dollop of 'Mission: Impossible' thrown in for good measure.
Characterisation was sparse, though in fairness there was chemistry between the cast. Though Garrison was their 'keeper', the Gorillas grew to like him, bestowing him with the nickname 'Warden'. When, in one episode, he was suspected of crimes, they went out of their way to clear him. Had Alistair Maclean been hired to write a series, it probably would have looked a lot like 'Garrison's Gorillas'.
The team often found themselves behind enemy lines, and their favourite escape method was impersonating Germans. I used to marvel at how they managed to find perfectly fitting uniforms without any difficulty whatever!
'The Dirty Dozen' connection was reinforced by the presence of Telly Savalas in the premiere episode as the argumentative 'Wheeler' - he was religious fanatic 'Archer Maggot' in the Aldrich movie.
The combat scenes were unusually violent by then-television standards; each episode had a body count worthy of 'Rambo' with Nazis machine-gunned to death at a rate of knots. As an 8 year-old, I loved it!
But the Gorillas' war was to be short-lived. Though popular, an anti-violence crusade sweeping the networks in the aftermath of Bobby Kennedy's assassination led to the show's unexpected cancellation after only 26 episodes. It was last shown in the U.K. in a late-night slot on I.T.V. in the early '90's. Since then, nothing. Despite the formulaic 'Boys Own'-style plots, it was an entertaining and exciting show, and should it ever appear on D.V.D. I'll be ready with my pre-order!
Characterisation was sparse, though in fairness there was chemistry between the cast. Though Garrison was their 'keeper', the Gorillas grew to like him, bestowing him with the nickname 'Warden'. When, in one episode, he was suspected of crimes, they went out of their way to clear him. Had Alistair Maclean been hired to write a series, it probably would have looked a lot like 'Garrison's Gorillas'.
The team often found themselves behind enemy lines, and their favourite escape method was impersonating Germans. I used to marvel at how they managed to find perfectly fitting uniforms without any difficulty whatever!
'The Dirty Dozen' connection was reinforced by the presence of Telly Savalas in the premiere episode as the argumentative 'Wheeler' - he was religious fanatic 'Archer Maggot' in the Aldrich movie.
The combat scenes were unusually violent by then-television standards; each episode had a body count worthy of 'Rambo' with Nazis machine-gunned to death at a rate of knots. As an 8 year-old, I loved it!
But the Gorillas' war was to be short-lived. Though popular, an anti-violence crusade sweeping the networks in the aftermath of Bobby Kennedy's assassination led to the show's unexpected cancellation after only 26 episodes. It was last shown in the U.K. in a late-night slot on I.T.V. in the early '90's. Since then, nothing. Despite the formulaic 'Boys Own'-style plots, it was an entertaining and exciting show, and should it ever appear on D.V.D. I'll be ready with my pre-order!