The Long Wait

"The Long Wait" is a story about simple arithmetic and cold hard practicality as applied to a difficult war situation.

White Rook is transporting 40 cases of desperately needed ammunition and 4 seriously wounded men toward their battalion aid headquarters. They run into a German barrage which stops them in their tracks; there's no way to continue on. Saunders must figure out a way to get through the German stronghold. He orders up a tank but there's no guarantee as to when it will arrive. In the meantime it's "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, again !"

Ed Lakso wrote this outstanding episode which is the essence of what Combat is all about. During the episode the viewing audience is treated to a gargantuan amount of firefight. Great conflict is created between Vic Morrow and guest star Terry Carter, who is superb as Archie, an extraordinarily naive truck driver with no combat experience. Their dialog is excellent throughout. The Sarge shows great patience in dealing with both Archie and the situation at hand. William Wellman has a cameo appearance as Sergeant Brice and is the epitome of "cool."

John Peyser hooked up with special effects genius A. D. Flowers and did an outstanding job directing "The Long Wait." The action and plot are all very believable, and suspense levels keep the viewer into the story. Close-ups are terrific. Even the German soldiers (especially their pudgy sergeant) are fun to watch. One look at them and you know they mean business.

I enjoyed John Fresco's choice of music with respect to the driving scenes. In the opening scene it appears as though Caje is rocking to the beat.

The ending sequence is terrific and the ever well meaning Archie comes up with a great idea to help the Sarge. All in all this is a great episode! Enjoy!

Vic and his men are thrown in with him in a truck delivering ammo and wounded men, all of them pinned down by a German machine gun installation, but it is the conflict between Carter and Vic that creates the drama here: posing idealism versus realism.

Ed Lakso's screenplay makes it easy to root for both men's arguments: Vic wants to wait for an American tank to eventually arrive and spring his men and the truck to deliver needed ammo to save perhaps 100 soldiers who desperately need it to defend themselves, while Carter is desperately anxious to save the wounded men under his care. Adding to the dilemma is that Carter is not trained as a soldier and cannot do the derring-do of our heroes, as the Army has relegated him to non-combat due to the segregation/racial prejudice of this era (Truman only integrating the armed forces post-war).

Matters get even worse when Kirby is seriously wounded, increasing the necessity of getting the men to medical aid. The decision remains squarely on Vic's shoulders, and Rick phones with an update -the promised tank won't be there on time.

When the tank does arrive, roles are reversed, as it can't hit the Germans without killing Vic too, as he's pinned down alone by the machine gun fire. And the tank commander is antsy: now it's Vic who might have to be sacrificed for the greater good.

It'll take Carter's heroism, unarmed, to save the day (plus the script's handy deus ex machina: the trusty tank).

Saunders, Caje, Kirby, Littlejohn and Doc are traveling in a truck driven by Pvt. Archie with four seriously wounded soldiers and a load of ammunition for one hundred soldiers in the front. When they stumble upon a well-protected German machine gun nest on the top of a rock, they are forced to stop behind a rock. Saunders request a tank to Hanley to destroy the nest, but he is pressed by the driver Archie, who does not have combat experience, since the soldiers need urgent medical assistance. While waiting for the tank, Saunders and his squad unsuccessfully try to destroy the machine gun nest.

"The Long Wait" is an average episode of "Combat!", with many action scenes entwined with the dramatic situation of the wounded soldiers. The tension created by the unexperienced Archie shows Saunders keeping his usual behavior despite the insistence of the rookie soldier. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Longa Espera" ("The Long Wait")