Bridgehead (24 Sep. 1963)

The Squad is ordered to take and hold a strategic bridge. The bridge however is near an abandoned house that a squad of Germans have sought refuge in. The Germans are armed with an anti ... See full summary »

Director:

Bernard McEveety

Writer:

Edward J. Lakso

Stars:

Vic Morrow, Rick Jason, Nick Adams

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Vic Morrow	...	Sgt. Saunders
Rick Jason	...	Lt. Hanley
Nick Adams	...	Pvt. Mick Hellar
Jack Hogan	...	Kirby
Tom Lowell	...	Billy Nelson
Dick Peabody	...	Littlejohn
Conlan Carter	...	Doc
Noam Pitlik	...	Pvt. Gene Scott
Paul Busch	...	German Sergeant
Joseph Walsh	...	Pvt. Jack Johnson (as Joey Walsh)
Richard Jury	...	Pvt. Wayne Shrope
Fred Harris II	...	Cole (as Fred Harris)

Storyline

The Squad is ordered to take and hold a strategic bridge. The bridge however is near an abandoned house that a squad of Germans have sought refuge in. The Germans are armed with an anti tank weapon and take out the American tank. The only thing left for Saunders and the men to do is a frontal assault on the house...under heavy enemy fire. Morale for this particular mission is low and the men question whether this bridge is worth the risk.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | War

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 1963 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Selmur Productions, ABC Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

In the foreground of a wide shot, Doc is seen patching up a wounded Kirby, who is sitting on the church floor. Minutes later, Kirby is at his position by the window. When he sees Sarge go down, Kirby rushes outside and gets shot. A couple of GIs drag him back inside the church where Doc begins patching him up.

User Reviews

Too Much

Kind of an unsatisfying episode that maybe tried to pack too much into one episode to make it all work. The squad is ordered to take a bridge, but the Germans are well dug in at a house next to the bridge. They use an anti-tank weapon against a tank that strangely gets too close to the house (why it didn't use its cannon to blast the house to pieces a block or more away is unexplained) leaving the men to take it on their own. I thought they'd try the old western trick of setting the roof on fire, but Saunders instead decides to outflank the Germans.

In the middle of this is Nick Adams as Heller, a reluctant PFC who just wants to get through the war alive so he can go back to drumming. In a smaller part, Joseph Walsh plays PFC Jack Johnson, who takes a house with Billy Nelson while scared into uselessness. Unfortunately this is never really explored in the episode. Perhaps its because there's no time. In addition to the usual Saunders heroics, Doc (Conlon Carter) finally gets a good scene when Little John is wounded, and Little John (Dick Peabody) also gets a good scene as he grieves over a man he feels he killed with a badly thrown grenade. It's all really good, but you just wish they'd let one or two of these story lines play out fully rather than giving us tiny pieces of s many and then letting the Johnson thing go kind of unaddressed.

Interestingly, Walsh who played Johnson was nominated years later for a WGA award for his writing of "California Suite".