FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

sykespj With 'Combat!' becoming increasingly expensive to produce and WWII dramas in general on the wane, the ABC network decided to try a makeover. Ostensibly inspired by the film 'The Dirty Dozen', 'Garrison's Gorillas' has much more in common with the 1960s series 'Mission: Impossible' than anything else.Within the limitations of the time, 'Combat!' was known for its gritty realism, with most of its stars WWII vets themselves. ABC's historically inept 'Rat Patrol', not surprisingly, showed the network was more interested in ratings than realism. It ran for two seasons... 'Garrison's Gorillas' was lucky to make it through one.From a 2000-Teenies point of view, the series isn't that bad. Unfortunately, there don't seem to be that many good prints of the show getting around. 'Garrison's Gorillas' has good production values, decent acting, and relatively entertaining scripts (and it was shot in colour). Fans of '60s WWII dramas should find it more than passable.

rcj5365 The year of 1967,ushered in a new wave of violence not only on the big screen,but made its way through the media of television as well. In the summer of 1967,two major motion pictures were playing in theaters throughout the country....one was Robert Aldrich's "The Dirty Dozen",and the other was the sixth film in the James Bond 007 series "You Only Live Twice" starring Sean Connery. In the upset that followed, Aldrich's "The Dirty Dozen" overtook the summer's biggest Bond film "You Only Live Twice" as not only the top box office draw at the movies,but became one of the highest grossing films of that year. Along with Arthur Penn's "Bonnie and Clyde"(which didn't come out until later that year),and Norman Jewison's "In The Heat Of The Night"(which was released later on that year) ushered into a new wave of violent cinema. Things will never be the same way again.In the fall of 1967,the television series "Garrison's Gorillas" premiered on ABC. After the Emmy-winning World War II drama "Combat!" ended its successful five-year run,"Garrison's Gorillas" took over in the same time slot as "Combat!" was on Tuesday nights. Produced by the same company that brought you "Combat!"...Selmur Productions in association with the ABC Television Network. "Garrison's Gorillas" was inspired by the 1967 film "The Dirty Dozen" which featured a similar scenario of training Allied prisoners for various military missions during World War II. The leader was Lt. Craig Garrison(Ron Harper),who basically acted just like Lee Marvin's 'Major Reisman'. Garrison was in charge of a band of convicted criminals(all of them were a motley group of commandoes recruited from stateside prisons)that were recruited for a variety of special skills against the Germans in World War II. They had been promised a parole at the end of the war of they worked out. That is,if they lived. The alternative was an immediate return to prison. If they tried to run,they could be executed for desertion. They were given a choice.....Fight for Uncle Sam or face a firing squad.The four were Actor(Cesare'Danova) the handsome con-man;Casino(Rudy Solari)the safe cracker and mechanic;Goniff(Christopher Cary)the Cockney cat burglar;and Chief(Brendan Boone),the native American who handled a switchblade like he was born to it. Each week,the Gorillas would go on various missions as daring as they were with high suspense and breathtaking excitement. "Garrison's Gorillas" was like the "A-Team" of its day,with a dollop of "Mission:Impossible" thrown in for good measure not to mention a hint of another WWII show "The Rat Patrol"(which by the way was on the same network). The slippery group ranged all over Europe in various exploits that took them behind enemy lines. Some of the episodes were very good included the pilot episode "The Big Con". Other excellent episodes included "The Magnificent Forger","Banker's Hours","48 Hours to Doomsday",the two-part episode "War and Crime",and "A Plot To Kill",along with the final episode of the series "Time Bomb". The guest stars ranged from Jack Klugman, Telly Savalas,to Roddy McDowell, Richard Kiley, Malachi Throne, to Jeff Corey and Will Geer and to an lesser extent Gena Rowlands.Airing on ABC-TV,in full color from September 6, 1967 until March 12, 1968. Only 26 episodes were produced. "Garrison's Gorillas" had a strong viewer presence,but the ratings for this show became its downfall and it was gone after one season. The show that replaced it on the ABC-TV schedule for the 1968-1969 was "The Mod Squad"(that was produced by Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas),that lasted more than five seasons on the network.

ShadeGrenade Whenever a successful movie appears, you can be sure television will capitalise on it somehow. In 1967, Robert Aldrich's 'The Dirty Dozen' overtook that year's Bond movie - 'You Only Live Twice' - to be top box office draw, and ( along with Arthur Penn's 'Bonnie & Clyde' ) ushered in a new wave of violent cinema. Things would never be the same again. 'Garrisons Gorillas' was on air within months of the Dozen firing their first shots. It starred Ron Harper as 'Lt.Craig Garrison', who like Lee Marvin's 'Major Reisman', is put in charge of a band of convicted criminals recruited to fight the Nazis; they are the handsome 'Actor' ( Cesare Danova ), chirpy Cockney 'Goniff' ( Christopher Cary ), gambling-mad 'Casino' ( Rudy Solari ) and native American 'Chief' ( Brendon Boone ). They are given a choice - fight for Uncle Sam or go up before a firing squad. Each week, the Gorillas went on missions as daring as stealing a new German aeroplane engine, substituting counterfeit printing plates for real ones, kidnapping a German Colonel's son, recovering important microfilm hidden in a painting in a Dutch museum, and helping Americans escape from an Italian prison camp. It was the 'A-Team' of its day, with a dollop of 'Mission: Impossible' thrown in for good measure.Characterisation was sparse, though in fairness there was chemistry between the cast. Though Garrison was their 'keeper', the Gorillas grew to like him, bestowing him with the nickname 'Warden'. When, in one episode, he was suspected of crimes, they went out of their way to clear him. Had Alistair Maclean been hired to write a series, it probably would have looked a lot like 'Garrison's Gorillas'.The team often found themselves behind enemy lines, and their favourite escape method was impersonating Germans. I used to marvel at how they managed to find perfectly fitting uniforms without any difficulty whatever! 'The Dirty Dozen' connection was reinforced by the presence of Telly Savalas in the premiere episode as the argumentative 'Wheeler' - he was religious fanatic 'Archer Maggot' in the Aldrich movie.The combat scenes were unusually violent by then-television standards; each episode had a body count worthy of 'Rambo' with Nazis machine-gunned to death at a rate of knots. As an 8 year-old, I loved it!But the Gorillas' war was to be short-lived. Though popular, an anti-violence crusade sweeping the networks in the aftermath of Bobby Kennedy's assassination led to the show's unexpected cancellation after only 26 episodes. It was last shown in the U.K. in a late-night slot on I.T.V. in the early '90's. Since then, nothing. Despite the formulaic 'Boys Own'-style plots, it was an entertaining and exciting show, and should it ever appear on D.V.D. I'll be ready with my pre-order!

Lindy-11 I watched this series when it premiered a long time ago. I liked it a lot. Since I was a teen then, it's sort of dream-like to try to remember all of it. I loved the play between the characters. Especially between "The Warden" and the "Con's". This is a much better series to watch than that movie they made with Lee Marvin. In the "Garrison's Gorillas" series, the characters and the play between them was more human and more humane with the convicts trying to win Pardons for working with the Allies against the Germans. I hope one day one of the television stations will re-run this series so I can re-watch and enjoy it again!!!