''Garrison's Gorillas'' is an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

originally broadcast from 1967 to 1968; a total of 26 hour-long episodes were produced. It was inspired by the 1967 film ''

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin, with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph Meeker, ...

'', which featured a similar scenario of training Allied prisoners for

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

military missions. ''Garrison's Gorillas'' was canceled at the close of its first season and replaced by ''

The Mod Squad ''The Mod Squad'' is an American crime drama series, originally broadcast for five seasons on ABC from September 24, 1968, to March 1, 1973. It starred Michael Cole as Peter "Pete" Cochran, Clarence Williams III as Lincoln "Linc" Hayes, Pegg ...

'' in 1968. It managed to gather a cult following in China in the 1980s.

Plot

This action series focused on a group of commandos recruited from stateside prisons to use their special skills against the Germans in

. They had been promised a

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

at the end of the war if they worked out (and if they lived). The alternative was an immediate return to prison; if they ran, they could expect execution for desertion. The four were: "Actor" ( Cesare' Danova), a handsome, resonant-voiced con man; "Casino" (Rudy Solari), a tough, wiry safe-cracker and mechanic; "Goniff" (Christopher Cary), a slender, likable cat burglar; and "Chief" (Brendon Boone), a rugged, somber American Indian who handled a

switchblade A switchblade (also known as switch knife, automatic knife, pushbutton knife, ejector knife, flick knife, gravity knife, flick blade, or spring knife) is a pocketknife with a sliding or pivoting blade contained in the handle which is extended ...

like he was born to it. No real names were ever used, only their "monikers" or aliases. Led by West Pointer First Lt. Craig Garrison (

Ron Harper Ronald Harper Sr. (born January 20, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for four teams in the National Basketball Association (NBA) between 1986 and 2001 and is a five-time NBA champion. Early life Ronald Har ...

) and headquartered in a secluded mansion in London, this slippery group ranged all over

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

in exploits that often took them behind enemy lines. Other recruits were sometimes brought in where special skills were required. In the episode "Banker's Hours",

Jack Klugman Jack Klugman (April 27, 1922 – December 24, 2012) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. He began his career in 1949 and started television and film work with roles in ''12 Angry Men (1957 film), 12 Angry Men'' (1957) and ...

's character is recruited to help loot a vault. In "The Magnificent Forger", comedian

Larry Storch Lawrence Samuel Storch (January 8, 1923 – July 8, 2022) was an American actor and comedian known for his comic television roles, including voice-over work for cartoon shows such as Mr. Whoopee on '' Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' and his li ...

plays a con brought in to help 'doctor' a

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

list of American agents. And in the two-parter "War And Crime/Plot to Kill", a con played by

Richard Kiley Richard Paul Kiley (March 31, 1922 – March 5, 1999) was an American stage, film, and television actor and singer. He is best-known for his distinguished theatrical career in which he twice won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Kile ...

is recruited because he is a dead ringer for a German

field marshal Field marshal (or field-marshal, abbreviated as FM) is the most senior military rank, senior to the general officer ranks. Usually, it is the highest rank in an army (in countries without the rank of Generalissimo), and as such, few persons a ...

who was part of a plot to assassinate

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

. The episodes are set in 1941, 1942, 1943 and 1944.

Cast

as Lt. Craig "Warden" Garrison *

Cesare Danova Cesare Danova (March 1, 1926 – March 19, 1992) was an Italian television and screen actor. He was best known for his roles in '' The Captain's Daughter'' (1947), ''Viva Las Vegas'' (1964), '' Chamber of Horrors'' (1966), ''Mean Streets'' (1973 ...

as Actor * Brendon Boone as Chief *

Rudy Solari Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

as Casino *Christopher Cary as Goniff

Episodes

Reviews

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' reviewer

Cleveland Amory Cleveland Amory (September 2, 1917 – October 14, 1998) was an American author, reporter, television critic, commentator and animal rights activist. He wrote a series of popular books poking fun at the pretensions and customs of society, start ...

said of the show in 1968 that, despite it being ludicrously one-sided, a second-hand idea, and third degree violence, that it was a first-rate show. Because it was one of the first U.S. television shows exported to China, ''Garrison's Gorillas'' (《加里森敢死队》 ''Jiālǐ sēn gǎnsǐduì'', or "Garrison's Death Squad") developed a certain cult status in the 1980s; supposedly, high-level meetings of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

were rescheduled so the members could watch the program. ''Garrison's Gorillas'' was even awarded a Public Security Award in Shanghai, as many Chinese people (even criminals) stayed home to watch it.

Spin-offs and tie-ins

Dell Comics Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...

published a short-lived five issue

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

based on the series lasting from January 1968 to October 1969) Two spin-off novels were written by Jack Pearl: the first a mass-market adult paperback published by Dell, called, simply ''Garrison's Gorillas''; the second aimed at the young adult (YA) market and published by Whitman, titled ''Garrison's Gorillas and the Fear Formula''. Both are long out of print. In 1967,

Leaf A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the plant stem, stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leav ...

produced a

trading card A trading card (or collectible card) is a small card, usually made out of paperboard or thick paper, which usually contains an image of a certain person, place or thing (fictional or real) and a short description of the picture, along with other t ...

set consisting of 72 black and white photographs from the series.
/ref>

References

External links

* * * * {{IMDb title, id=0061254, title=Garrison's Gorillas American Broadcasting Company television dramas World War II television drama series Dell Comics titles Television shows adapted into comics 1967 American television series debuts 1968 American television series endings American military television series American English-language television shows Television series by Selmur Productions