I first saw the Rat Patrol when I borrowed season 2 from my Uncle. To put it in plane words, I don't really like the show at all. Why don't I like it? Most of the plots are weak. They are resolved way to easily. Even though they are often assigned challenging missions 90% of the time they pull through quite easily. The acting is OK, Troy however bothers me. His character isn't consistent. He'll lay down hard on his men but when it comes to himself he often does what he tells his men not too. I think his sternness or tough guy attitude is somewhat fake. And I am just personally annoyed by him too some extent. Well then there's Moffitt, he is much better then Troy, in my opinion a much better actor. The only flaw I have with him is his bad jokes get annoying at times. Tully and Hitch are OK. Dietrich is in my opinion the best part of the show. His character amuses me. He is perfect for the, bad guy who is not so bad, character he plays. The one thing that really ruins the show is; Captain Dietrich, who seems to be an intelligent man, is defeated again and again by the Rat Patrol. The show would be much more amusing if The two enemies had more challenging battles, where both would have to use there heads instead of the Rat Patrol super-manning through all their challenges and slaughtering their stupid Nazi counterparts. As for authenticity well it is poor. The uniforms have the WWII Look and are OK for most people but as a Reenactor I can pick them apart. First off the tan uniforms they wear in each episode would not be worn in combat. They look like Summer Khaki Dress Fatigues. The proper uniform would be Olive Drab Wool pants and shirts. Troy wears some kind of tall jack boot. Tully and Hitch wear German Low Quarter boots, with British Gators, and Moffitt wear US rough outs. Well all the US guys should be wearing low boots and leggings and Moffitt should be wearing low boots and gators. The worst thing of all is the bazaar guns they carry in the First season. They seem to be some kind of MP40 or MP41 with a custom wooden stock, and with a weird looking barrel added on. I think the Rat Patrol would be much better if they had done these three things: Made them into 45 minute episodes so the Plot could develop more. Strengthen the tension between Troy and Dietrich. Get rid of most of the Jeep battles and have more Guerrilla, Sabator type fighting. Yes I know a big part of the Show was the Jeep battles but they are just a bit corny. The German bullets just seem to completely miss the Rat Patrol's jeeps completely every time. Also I don't think a 50 cal machine gun can blow up a Half Track. My little brothers like it but it just doesn't take it for me.

I watched The Rat Patrol a bit during the late seventies and early eighties when it was run on AFN Television Germany. It was definitely not an award winning show plot wise but it was entertaining nevertheless. What got me rolling around laughing however was Sgt. Moffit moving behind enemy lines because he was speaking fluent German. Being German myself I know that after no more than three words he would have been arrested every single time because of his broad English accent. I also remember the reuse of (expensive) action scenes but that was done in other shows as well. Watching it on DVD now this will probably look annoying but back then watching one show a week on TV it wasn't as bad.

I recently watched the Rat Patrol. Its maybe the most ridiculous war related series ever shown. The 4 men occupy two regular issue jeeps with 50 caliber machine guns mounted. As part of there "missions" they regularly destroy Nazi tanks, armored troop carriers and other difficult targets or roll with impunity into Nazi camps to destroy a target. Like a jeep with a 50 caliber machine gun was going to destroy a heavily armored German tank. In every episode except the first (where an unknown gunner was killed)the rat patrol members are NEVER killed.The Nazis are lead by a bumbling idiot called Capt. Detrich who had to be a reject in any army. In reality Rommels Afrika Korps was one of the best fighting units in World War II. If Rommel was still alive I am sure he would die laughing at this show. I wish that a more realistic series could have been produced such as Combat or 12 Oclock high where at least battles were portrayed somewhat accurately.

To disagree with a previous post, The Rat Patrol was filmed in color. As a mater of fact, the tag before the show aired showed a background of the two jeeps roaring through the desert with The Rat Patrol -- In Color superimposed on the shot. Being that it was filmed in 1966-1968, color was one of the selling points of the series -- hence all those wonderful shots of military half tracks and trucks blowing up in huge fireballs. (Combat was aired in black and white. ) As for the show itself, it wasn't so bad. Sure, some of the scripts were kind of escapist. However, there were several episodes that were well done. One involved Sergeant Jack Moffitt (Gary Raymond) coming to grips with the death of his brother; other episode teamed the Rat Patrol up with the Germans a couple of times. Once they had to save a little girl who fell into a well, and another time Americans and Germans had to fend off an Arab tribe attacking them in some kind of old ruins in the middle of the desert.Anyway, point being the show was escapist, but is still on the air today. WGN in Chicago airs the show sometimes and other outlets air it, too.