I wish Hollywood would make a DC War Stories TV show

[Mister_Comics]

One of my big wishes is to see a TV show on DC war characters. My thought was to have Sgt. Rock as the main subject and have other war characters pop up in episodes here and there. They could have Rock and Company run into Gunner & Sarge. Or Ememy Ace. Or Haunted Tank crew. Unknown Soldier would be another. I just think the the show would be pretty good. DC had some of the greatest war stories in its day and nobody has took advantage of using them on film. It'd be better then a lot of the junk thats on TV now.

[sterlingcomics]

I actually just mentioned this in a recent thread. Great minds think alike!

[Mister_Comics]

Do you know my secret hand signal too? Got it from the Little Rascals.

 

I got to start wearing my tinfoil hat.

[Jeffro.]

I like the idea of a DC war stories show, but focussing on Rock and then having the others pop in from time to time seems a bit unrealistic to me. I would prefer an anthology type show with contained story arcs revolving between separate and distinct groups.

 

[oakman29]

They could make a great major motion picture with Sgt. Rock and Company.

[Jeffro.]

They could make a great major motion picture with Sgt. Rock and Company.

 

It's been talked about since the 80s.

 

From IMDB

 

When Predator was being made

During the closing credits, Shane Black is seen prominently displaying a copy of Sgt. Rock #408 (Feb. 1986). In the DVD commentary, John McTiernan notes that at the time, Arnold Schwarzenegger had an adaptation of Sgt. Rock in production, and that's why the comics were on set, so he could read them. He described the scene where Dutch (Schwarzenegger) walks up to Billy (Sonny Landham), who senses the Predator's presence out in the bush, as a "Sgt. Rock moment".

 

 

[Bookery]

 

They already made it. In the early 1960s they called it "Combat!". Vic Morrow was very Sgt. Rock-ish, and he had his regular "Easy Co" -- Little John, Doc the Medic, the French guy, etc.

 

A customer who was more familiar with both the comics and the series claimed that some stories on "Combat!" were pretty much lifted from the DC comics (or the other way around... I forget which).

 

[MisterX]

First of all, I like war movies.

 

But, I think it would be a hard sell, honestly.

 

Somewhere along the way, WWII stories stopped being popcorn entertainment and became "meaningful." Please note the use of qoutes.

 

Think of how Saving Private Ryan changed the genre. Could you really make a movie about a tank commander who talks to the ghost of Jeb Stuart nowadays?

 

It's a double-edged sword. We are reminded that War is Hell, to remember their sacrifices, and so on...which leaves little room for a light-hearted, comic-book style romp.

 

I think that even a gritty story could backfire. How seriously could an audience take Wild Man, or Little Sure Shot?

 

Hmmm...maybe they could get Tarantino to do one...

[frozentundraguy]

They already made it. In the early 1960s they called it "Combat!". Vic Morrow was very Sgt. Rock-ish, and he had his regular "Easy Co" -- Little John, Doc the Medic, the French guy, etc.

 

A customer who was more familiar with both the comics and the series claimed that some stories on "Combat!" were pretty much lifted from the DC comics (or the other way around... I forget which).

 

+1 on the Combat TV show. I recall two other 60's war shows, The Gallant Men and 12 o'clock High. 12 o'clock High was based on the 1949 movie which starred Gregory Peck. A check on a Wiki article shows Dell Comics created two issues based on the 12 o'clock High show.

 

The Combat TV show did feature quite a cast of guest stars.

 

From the following Wiki article.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat!

 

Guest stars appeared as additional squad members, French citizens or German soldiers. In the first season, the then little-known Ted Knight and Frank Gorshin made appearances. Other notable guest stars included Lee Marvin, James Coburn, Telly Savalas, Luise Rainer, Charles Bronson, Richard Basehart, Eddie Albert, James Caan, Jeffrey Hunter, Leonard Nimoy, Warren Spahn, Frankie Avalon, Sal Mineo, Claude Akins, Mike Farrell, Beau Bridges, John Cassavetes, Robert Duvall, Roddy McDowell, Mickey Rooney, James Whitmore, Dennis Hopper, and Dean Stockwell.

 

 

[sterlingcomics]

I'll definitely check out the Combat show. War movies and shows sure seemed to go well while ago....but looking around on TV there's nothing like that around. Still would love a new show.

[Mister_Comics]

COMBAT is on ME-TV every week. I watched a lot of the shows for a while now. They play very much like the old DC war stories I noticed. Makes me think someone was reading comics that was involved with the show.

[Bookery]

 

More Combat! / comics trivia

 

Vic Morrow played the lead... Sgt. "Chip" Saunders (a "Chip" off the old "Rock"?)

 

Saunders wields the same type machine-gun as Rock (instead of a rifle)

 

One of the regulars on his team is named "Kirby"

 

An actor named Steve Rogers played another regular character, "Doc"