Director Robert Altman's final association with Warner Brothers' TV-production unit resulted in this successful 1962 pilot, which featured William Windom in a guest-starring role as an Army private with an interesting past. The episode begins with a beach assault at Salerno and ends as the Allies' drive inland to within striking distance of San Pietro.
Though the action sequences are well-enhanced with stock footage from older war films -- William Wellman's "Darby's Rangers" (1958) and Michael Curtiz's "Force of Arms" (1951) -- the quieter scenes are also handled deftly. Altman skillfully introduces the series' regulars who will figure in future episodes: the crooning Italian-American lover-boy Private D'Angelo (Eddie Fontaine); the stocky, barrel-chested Private Lucavich (Roland LaStarza); wisecracking Private Hanson (Robert Gothie); and the Tennessee mountain-boy radio specialist Private Gibson (Roger Davis)..
Though the action sequences are well-enhanced with stock footage from older war films -- William Wellman's "Darby's Rangers" (1958) and Michael Curtiz's "Force of Arms" (1951) -- the quieter scenes are also handled deftly. Altman skillfully introduces the series' regulars who will figure in future episodes: the crooning Italian-American lover-boy Private D'Angelo (Eddie Fontaine); the stocky, barrel-chested Private Lucavich (Roland LaStarza); wisecracking Private Hanson (Robert Gothie); and the Tennessee mountain-boy radio specialist Private Gibson (Roger Davis)..