"12 O'Clock High" (1964)TV-Serie 1964-1967

... Schöpfer:

Sy Bartlett
Beirne Lay Jr.

Staffeln:

1 | 2 | 3

Premierendatum:

18. September 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Kriegsfilm

Plot:

This series chronicles the adventures--in the air and on the ground--of the men of the 918th Bombardment Group of the U.S...

Plot Keywords:

Time For Title | Sergeant | Bomber | Number In Title

Filmpreise:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 2 wins

Nutzerkommentare:

Could Robert Lansing's replacement on "12 O'Clock High" have made the show even better?

Besetzung

Chris Robinson	...	Sgt. Sandy Komansky / ... (47 Folgen, 1965-1967)
Robert Lansing	...	General Frank Savage / ... (32 Folgen, 1964-1965)
Barney Phillips	...	Doc Kaiser / ... (28 Folgen, 1964-1967)
Frank Overton	...	Maj. Harvey Stovall / ... (26 Folgen, 1964-1967)
John Larkin	...	Major General Wiley Crowe (25 Folgen, 1964-1965)
Robert Dornan	...	Capt. Fowler / ... (22 Folgen, 1965-1967)

Länge:

60 Min (78 episodes)

Produktionsland:

USA

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Schwarzweiss | Farbe

Tonverfahren:

Mono

Drehorte:

The Air Museum, Ontario, California, USA

Firma:

20th Century Fox Television

Pannen:

Abfolgefehler: Reconnaissance flights are often shown with a P-51D taking off but a P-51B in flight. Due to their radically altered canopy configurations, these two types are plainly different.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Folgt Twelve O'Clock High (1949)

Could Robert Lansing's replacement on "12 O'Clock High" have made the show even better?

Robert Lansing was brilliant as Brigadier General Frank Savage. Lansing's superb performance elevated a fine war series to classic status.

Executive producer Quinn Martin decided to fire Lansing because he was difficult to work with. Lansing never worked for Quinn Martin again. To Quinn Martin's credit, he told Lansing he was through before the first season was over, and to Lansing's credit his acting continued to be first rate.

The official reason given at the time was that ABC wanted a younger actor, since the show was moving to an earlier time slot. But this was just a smoke screen. Quinn Martin wanted to replace Lansing with an actor as much like Lansing as possible-but one who was easier to work with. Martin basically hoped no one would notice the change. This was similar to what happened when Michael Moriarty left "Law and Order". Sam Waterson was as close as you could get to Michael Moriarty without hiring Moriarty.

Paul Burke was about the same age as Lansing and he had a similar bearing. Like Lansing, Burke was a highly respected dramatic actor and had mature, matinée idol looks. Burke was fine as Colonel Joe Gallagher, but he just wasn't as fascinating to watch as Lansing had been.

Quinn Martin might have been shrewder to hire someone totally unlike Lansing as the replacement, perhaps someone younger and more volatile. Maybe someone a little less pensive and less together. Someone who had to grow to fill Savage's shoes. Nick Adams ("The Rebel") might have been an interesting choice. Adams could have played the new Colonel a little like Steve McQueen in "The War Lover". Or maybe Robert Duvall could have given us a younger version of the great Santini. Or Peter Fonda, who had guest starred the first season, might have been appealing as a decent boy from the farm learning to be a leader of men. Or James Caan or Bruce Dern (also a first season guest star) as a brash young man being mellowed by the responsibilities of command.

People die in war time, so Quinn Martin's decision to kill off Savage could have deepened the show and made it more realistic and exciting. If they killed off Savage, was anybody safe? But whoever tried to make us forget Robert Lansing had an unenviable task in front of them and maybe an impossible one.