Combat! (TV Series) Hills Are for Heroes: Part 1 (1966) User Reviews

One of the Best Episodes

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 25 April 2019]

Lt. Hanley is assigned to take a strategic hill with a platoon. However they find that the hill is protected by two German nests of machine guns in two bunkers. Without any support of the artillery, he is ordered to send his men to be slaughtered while trying to take the hill.

Divided in two parts and directed by Vic Morrow, "Hills Are for Heroes: Part 1" is one of the best episodes of "Combat!". The faces of the American soldiers and Lt. Hanley that is forced to follow orders is heartbreaking. Kirby has also an important role in this dramatic and full of action episode. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Colinas São para Heróis; Parte 1" ("Hills Are for Heroes: Part 1")

The best of the best

[nickenchuggets · 10/10 · 12 May 2023]

Every TV show has that one episode which everyone will point to when it comes to simply being the best. In the case of Combat, there are two (technically). Hills Are For Heroes is by far and without a doubt the best episode of this show for a few different reasons. For one thing, it's way more violent than basically every other episode, and it really feels like World War 2 this time around, which is the point of the show in the first place. Second, Vic Morrow directed it, and while he also did one which was in my view mediocre, he once again proves to be the overall best director this show ever had. Hills Are For Heroes starts with Hanley, Saunders and the others attempting to attack a pair of German bunkers positioned on a hillside. A road runs between them, and American forces need to secure it. Each bunker has a vision slit through which a machine gun with a seemingly limitless supply of ammunition is inserted. As they start firing at the americans, Saunders is wounded and everyone has to retreat to a nearby fortification for cover. As Saunders is being tended to, Hanley gets on the radio with his company commander, who says he needs to take the road by any means necessary. Hanley knows it's suicide to try and attack the bunkers with just soldiers, so he wants the Captain to lend him artillery guns to blast them to pieces. The captain says there's already a fire mission in progress, so all he can spare for now are mortars. While better than nothing, they're nowhere near powerful enough to destroy the german positions. Under covering fire from the mortars, Hanley and the others once again try to attack the bunkers, and are again pushed off the hillside. Hanley radios the captain again, explaining they can't push up without some kind of overwhelming firepower to tip the odds. Hanley requests a tank, and while the captain doesn't say that's out of the question, he orders Hanley to go up and attack again, with or without backup, since the road needs to be taken. With other nearby american battalions taking their objectives, everything rests on Hanley's ability to succeed. Hanley knows he has to make the best of what limited resources and men he has, so he instructs Caje and some others to shoot at the vision slits of the bunkers in order to suppress the german machine guns. Meanwhile, Kirby and two other squad members, Morgan and Kleinschmidt, will try to swing around from a different angle and set up a machine gun of their own. During the firefight, a german inside the bunker is killed, but is immediately replaced and the meat grinder starts all over again. Morgan is killed while trying to hit one of the bunkers, and Hanley tells everyone to fall back. For the third time, his forces are pushed off the hill, and everything appears totally hopeless. This is just the first part of a bloodbath that will carry over into the following installment. If they don't get reinforced soon, Hanley and the others are done for.

Terrific Vic Morrow Directing in Combat

[jmarchese · 10/10 · 1 November 2014]

"Hills Are For Heroes" is a story about realities of the military and how incompetence at the top can prove fatal to many below. King 2 must knock out two firmly entrenched pillboxes containing brutal German Maschinengewehr 42 machine guns while running uphill with virtually no cover. And King 6 has no back up for them with respect to needed artillery or tanks to get the job done. As Alanis Morisette said in her hit "Isn't It Ironic," "It's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife." The "old man" referred to by Company Commander could be any of many high ranking big shots who've been promoted to their level of incompetence.

Gene Coon wrote an outstanding screenplay in which dialog is phenomenal across the board. Lieutenant Gil Hanley is at his very best playing the boss. He has outstanding comebacks for all of King 2's ails & concerns and even a wise remark for the "old man." Character development amongst the squad is excellent and Littlejohn's exchange with The Sarge is priceless. Kirby is vintage Kirby when dealing with Hanley. And for a 41 year old, Caje can really pick em' up and lay em' down.

Vic Morrow directed this hugely successful episode and it must have been fun watching him busting the studio's chops going way over budget. Extremely graphic machine gun scenes, close-ups of the soldiers' terrorized faces, and coordination of mortar fire and its effects on the pillboxes give the viewing audience a sense of being there. Vic had a fine collusion with A. D. Flowers on this one. It's a wonder no one was injured making this episode.

"Hills Are For Heroes Part 1" is extremely entertaining and gives one a sense of empathy for anyone mixed up in a war, especially when the top commanding officer is incompetent. German Maschinengewehr 42 machine guns were capable of firing between 900 & 1500 rounds per minute depending on the bolt used. Just listening to two of these fine weapons going at it get's one's undivided attention.

Sit back and enjoy!

Great anti-war themed episode

[desertvisionsart · 14 April 2006]

Directed by actor Vic Morrow (Sergeant Saunders) this episode contained some fairly modern themes of anti-war sentiment used still in war movies today like "Saving Private Ryan". The camera angles and styles used a lot of hand-held to simulate the chaos of battle that may have even influenced Spielberg's style a little. The opening scene was inspired as well, a long distance shot of a hill where you first see one head come over the rise which quickly fills out to a platoon of men spread out in a line. Quite unlike the majority of the series staid and tripod held cameras, this style gave the episode an edge of nervousness that added well to the storyline. Longtime classic Star Trek fans will recognize Gene Coon in the producer credits ( he was 'the other Gene' of Trek creation fame) and 4 recognizable faces in the guest cast were also classic Trek alumni. I won't spoil who, see if you can identify them yourself.

The plot follows that our heroes must take a certain hill overlooking a road. They run into two MG42 machine gun bunkers that quickly kills several and puts our heroes into a retreat. The unit commanders won't take no for an answer and insist throughout the episode that the hill must be taken at all costs and without aid. Lt. Hanley is put in the position between command and his troops, mainly in conflict with Kirby who keeps getting sent out to place a machine gun base-of-fire. Kirby keeps losing men and ultimately refuses to go out after several tries. The episode continues in part 2 after a mild cliff-hanger.

VIC MORROW incredible talent

[etz1699 · 2 October 2013]

"Combat" perhaps the best Dramatic television show ever? Anti-War but the fighting must go on. VIC MORROW,not just a Sourpuss character actor wearing a baseball cap as a Juvenile Delinquent in "Blackboard Jungle". This man as a director and in THIS Terrific 2-Part episode that reads more like a Mini War movie is sensational. Saunders,always puts "The Mission" ahead of personal feelings,is caught in the Nonsense which we don't see until the end,of the price of War real estate and it's cost,with Hanley calling the reluctant plays. As a director of many "Combat" episodes,VIC MORROW made it a point to step aside as a Character to concentrate on directing,and emerged sparsely. VIC MORROW a WAY ahead of his time director,creates shots,camera angles and actor movement that are JUST starting to be used in film. This 2-parter is the BEST "Combat" episode(s)ever made. Don't miss it.VIC MORROW:Great Actor/Director. He at times directing "Combat" went over-budget but by NO means ever wasted the producers money nor displease them with his final product.

Superlative war drama

[lor_ · 19 September 2023]

Vic is severely injured, as Rick (with a large group of troops under his command) is ordered to take a hill that is heavily guarded by German machine guns protected in bunkers.

It's an extremely tense situation because there's no place to hide when approaching the fun emplacements, but it's vital to take that hill as part of an Allied advance.

Subsequent battles are realistic, especially the mortar explosions, as the troops use daring tactics to assault the machine guns. Rick's cold resolve to take the hill at all costs is impressive in an unrelentingly grim situation.

After some extraordinary first-person photography capturing a gung-ho soldier's point of death, Part 1 ends in futility, as Rick calls his men to retreat after yet another failure to take the hill.