The BEST episodes directed by John Peyser
#1 - The Party
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 15
This episode is strictly for laughs. The squad is left in a French village to wait for a ride to meet up with Saunders and Kirby is placed in charge. Three good looking gals smile at our guys as they pass by. Kirby, Caje, and Billy immediately want to delay their ride so they can woo the gals. Three Explosive Ordinance Disposal sergeants already have dates with the gals, and our guys connive to beat the sergeants out of their dates.
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#2 - Thunder from the Hill
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 14
Lt. Hanley and the squad are en route to meet a commander of the Free French Army, but require a guide. Massine (Peter Whitney) is a strong-willed, determined man who has a small band of underground fighters. Before Massine will lead Lt. Hanley to Capt. Boulange, he has an agenda of his own to accomplish, and bends Hanley to his will.
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#3 - The Raider
Combat! - Season 4 - Episode 16
Hanley is captured by the infamous SS Captain Reichhardt. Saunders captures Reichhardt's men but does not learn the location of Hanley.
#4 - The Waxey Gordon Story
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 4
New Jersey, the night of April 16, 1931. Waxey Gordon, the undisputed beer baron of New York, is muscling in on New Jersey, which is run by Frankie Dunn, ""Bugs"" Donovan and Roger Weiden. Waxey is waging a gang war to eliminate rival gangsters for control of the Jersey beer market. Waxey and his boys smash into a brewery owned and run by Frankie Dunn; they blast with their choppers until the large beer vats, Frankie and his workers are filled with holes. Next day, John Carvell, U.S. Attorney for the southern district of New York, sends for Ness and his men. Ness and Lee Hobson drop in at Waxey's live theatre, where beautiful showgirl Flo Ingalls is doing her act in a sequined one-piece swimsuit. Later, Ness and Hobson go to Waxey's office to arrest him, but Flo (still in costume) provides his alibi, saying she was with Waxey all last night. April 18, in a private office at the swank Nest nightclub, there is a council of war: ""Bugs"" Donovan is convinced the N.Y. Syndicate is behind
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#5 - A Distant Drum
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 10
A wounded Lt. Hanley is pursued by a squad of Germans, and takes refuge in a French farmhouse at great peril to the mother and daughter living there.
#6 - Evasion
Combat! - Season 4 - Episode 6
Lieutenant Hanley is a POW in an ancient castle. Because he has strategic information, his fellow prisoners provide him with a fake Albanian uniform and papers for his escape, which begins a long and harrowing trip to the Allied lines.
#7 - A Case of Identity
The Rifleman - Season 2 - Episode 17
Mark finds himself in grave danger when two unscrupulous detectives searching for a man's long-lost son claim that it is Mark.
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#8 - Design for Dying
Mannix - Season 8 - Episode 22
A soft case with plush lining gives Mannix cause for uneasiness.
#9 - The Duel
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 4
The Germans, caught in an allied pincer movement, launch an all-out assault. Sgt. Saunders, alone, encounters an American supply truck and hitches a ride. While a flat tire proves very difficult to change, Saunders plays cat and mouse with an approaching Panzer and its commander.
#10 - The Otto Frick Story
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 10
The night of May 3rd, 1934. A traveling carnival is at the Midway, 35 miles outside of Cleveland. There are half a dozen bellydancers on stage, as the barker goes, ""Hurry, hurry, hurry,"" and a sign reads: ""One dime shows you the best hootchy koochy show in the world!"" Hans Eberhardt, twice convicted for armed robbery and dope peddling, spots Ness and his Untouchables and the local police about to pull a raid; he runs to the office trailer of carny Otto Frick. Hans grabs 2 suitcases, then Otto takes a can of gasoline and torches the trailer; they escape in a speeding car before Ness can catch them. It is a minor setback for Ness, who had spent the last 7 months investigating and making raids, and was finally ready to move in on Otto Frick-- whose 37 traveling enterprises were just a cover for his nationwide dope ring. Ness continues with roundups and raids in the following weeks. Suspecting that Frick might be getting his drugs from legitimate manufacturers, Ness and his men go to
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#11 - Gideon's Army
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 16
Saunders' squad finds a concentration camp occupied by a few starving Poles. In their hurry to flee, the Germans left them behind. The squad has orders to move on, but few of the prisoners are able to walk. A German platoon is approaching. The men's leader begs Saunders to stay and protect them, while their former overseer, also a Pole, wants to walk out with the squad before the prisoners kill him.
#12 - The Enemy
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 16
Hanley reluctantly accepts a captured German lieutenant's offer to disarm the mines his men have hidden.
#13 - The Big Train (1)
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 12
Movie: ""The Alcatraz Express"" (Disclaimer shown on screen) ""The events portrayed in this film are fictitious. The Federal Prison guards portrayed do not represent any actual persons, living or dead. ""Nothing herein is intended to reflect unfavorably on the courageous and responsible prison guards who supervised Capone during his internment in the Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta and during his transfer from Atlanta to Alcatraz."" Chicago, October 17, 1931. The 11-day trial of Al Capone ended, with the judge fining him $56,000 and sentencing him to 11 years in the Federal penitentiaries. On May 3, 1932, Capone is taken from Cook County jail to the Dearborn Station, to take a train to Atlanta. Nitti and his boys are there, as are Ness and his men. There is also a large crowd; to many of them, Al Capone, who had donated a few million dollars (peanuts to him) to support public charities like soup kitchens, he is sort of a hero. One well-wisher yells to Capone (referring to the Atlanta
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#14 - Vendetta
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 2
Lt. Hanley and his men are rescued by Greek Colonel Kapsalis and his squadron of fast moving jeeps with mounted machine guns. Kapsalis is a gung-ho, no-holds-barred soldier fighting a personal vendetta against the Germans. He orders Lt. Hanley and his men to join him in an attack. Between actions, he shares his gonzo life philosophy with Hanley.
#15 - Breakout
Combat! - Season 4 - Episode 14
Facing a German advance, Saunders and squad are ordered to destroy a valley of construction equipment, to keep it out of the hands of the Germans. The owner, Vertrain (Fernando Lamas), is willing to kill to save the equipment.
#16 - What Are the Bugles Blowin' For? (1)
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 25
In the first of a two-episode story, amid an Allied retreat, Saunders and his men must get the retreat order to a British infantry unit behind enemy lines. After they fight through German lines to bring the message, British Captain Johns orders Saunders and his men to help him defend the rail depot. Does Capt. Johns value his reputation over the lives of his men?
#17 - Operation Fly Trap
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 7
Bringing a wounded Doc to safety, Saunders, Caje, and communication Sergeant Meider stumble upon a German unit setting up a command post. Under constant harassment from Meider, Saunders must balance life, death, and the opportunity to capture an infamous German Colonel.
#18 - The Farmer
Combat! - Season 4 - Episode 5
Troubled when the squad forcibly evacuates a French farm family, Iowa-bred Pvt. Noah plants the family's crops. His love for the land and farming overshadow his obligations as a soldier.
#19 - The Do or Die Raid
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 6
A large Panzer unit has a map showing a strategic oasis occupied by the Eighth Armored. U.S. Intelligence wants the map exchanged for a phony one which would show the oasis as empty. Accompanied by a veteran map expert, Sgt. Griffin, Troy and his men start into the German HQ. At midnight, using bows and arrows for weapons, they go into the area but Griffin has a heart attack and the team is trapped in the commander's office. In the end, Troy bullies the ""expert"" into keeping up the effort until they are finally able to finish the mission, whereupon Troy ends up endangering his own life to get Griffin out of the town.
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#20 - Ride a Dark Trail
The Virginian - Season 2 - Episode 1
The Virginian accidentally comes upon, and is held at gunpoint by, young Lon Mortison (Buzz Martin). The boy had been searching for a gambler who he thinks is responsible for his father's suicide and had already shot and wounded a man who interfered. In order to convince the boy to give himself up, the Virginian recounts in flashback how Trampas first came to Shiloh Ranch. He came seeking revenge on Judge Garth who had been forced to kill Trampas' father (Sonny Tufts) in self-defence. This object lesson serves to get Lon to realize the error of his actions and convince him to surrender to the Sheriff.
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#21 - The Dare-Devil Rescue Raid
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 14
German artillery traps 2000 Allied soldiers and their only chance of rescue is an Allied armored attack. The necessary equipment, though, can only reach them in time via an ancient road which is now hidden by sand, a road only Moffitt's father can find. On the way to the landing site, Moffitt's father's plane crashes. Moffitt wants to go find him but Troy insists their first priority is to find the road themselves. Moffitt breaks away and goes to find his father but finds only the burned-out plane. Troy thinks the elder Moffitt must be dead. Moffitt says he was captured. Again Moffitt escapes the team and goes after his father -- finally rescuing him.
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#22 - ... And They Painted Daisies on His Coffin
Hawaii Five-O - Season 1 - Episode 7
Danny Williams is accused of shooting an apparently unarmed young boy. Meanwhile, in his investigation, McGarrett comes up against Big Chicken, a nasty dope dealer.
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#23 - The Mockingbird
Combat! - Season 4 - Episode 17
Lt. Hanley, Caje, Kirby, and Pvt. Banning are sent behind German lines to find an American intelligence officer, Capt. Thorpe, who has important intelligence to get back to American G2. Three days before a big German advance, a German spy poses as a downed American flyer, Lt. Asher, to secure information on the French underground.
#24 - Birthday Cake
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 15
Littlejohn receives a birthday cake from his mother with the explicit instructions not to open it until the 21st. He carries it on a dangerous patrol into enemy territory.
#25 - 6,000 Deadly Tickets
Hawaii Five-O - Season 7 - Episode 24
Five-O works with a air traffic investigator in order to put a stop to illegal ticket sales which have already cost several lives.
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#26 - The Lady from Baltimore
Bonanza - Season 3 - Episode 17
An overbearing friend of the family tries to force her daughter into marrying Joe, though she does not love him. The situation grows more complex when Adam stumbles onto the scheme.
#27 - The Moment of Truce Raid
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 10
Fanatical Arabs -- wanting to end the war on their land -- attack both the Rat Patrol and the German convoy that Dietrich leads, trapping both in a small desert fortress. This forces the two teams into a truce. One of the Germans -- a liasion to the Arabs -- tries to talk Dietrich into betraying the Rat Patrol to the Arabs but he refuses. In the end the liasion tries to go over to the Arabs himself. He ends up killed, and Dietrich and Troy are able to construct a trap of their own -- killing most of the Arabs and escaping.
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#28 - The Green Opal Affair
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Season 1 - Episode 6
In the Yucatan, THRUSH agent Walter Brach (Carroll O'Connor) brainwashes important people from many nations to be "time bombs" who will return to their jobs and do THRUSH's bidding. After eluding Brach's henchmen Chuke (Shuji J. Nozawa) and his leopards, Solo and housewife Chris Linnel (Joan O'Brien) enlist the aid of Mrs. Karda (Dovima), Brach's numerologist, to help them escape.
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#29 - The Fatal Chase Raid
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 8
The Patrol manages to ambush a German unit that is carrying US POWs. Three of these POWs are apparently out to kill each other. Sgt. Gribs -- whose cowardliness caused his men to become captured -- is fighting against Tex and Eddie -- who want revenge. Gribs bargains with Troy for protection, telling Troy that he has information vital to US Command. They start back to HQ, but one of the unit's jeeps breaks down. They continue to travel slowly across the desert until they can capture a German vehicle. Gribs parcels out small hints of his ""vital"" information to keep himself safe. It all ends in heroism -- or something close.
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#30 - Light Fingers
Tales of the Unexpected - Season 5 - Episode 11
Joan Stackpole wants a quiet life. Even talking to her husband Ralph is an ordeal she prefers to avoid. Meanwhile, Ralph has a big problem - someone is stealing the gloves from his glove factory, and the pilfering is throwing all his staff under suspicion, including Cotter, his designer. When Ralph can take no more, he hires a private eye, who forms an ingenious plan to catch the thief, and Ralph tells Joan about it over breakfast. Ralph swears he will get rid of the culprit - but then traces of the thief start turning up in unexpected places...
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#31 - High Jinx
Black Sheep Squadron - Season 1 - Episode 4
Greg and Larry go to Espritos for a special briefing. Greg learns that the Japanese have a new kind of zero that is more difficult to shoot down. He and other squadron leaders are advised to not engage the enemy until a viable defense can be found. Greg can't believe that they are being told not to fight. After the meeting he goes to find Larry. He is in the middle of a poker game with several other officers. Greg watches them finish one hand then tells Casey that it is time to go. Before they leave one of the other players stands up and introduces himself to Greg as Doug Rafferty. When they are alone Larry tells Greg that Doug is Admiral Rafferty's son, and Boyington quickly deducts that Doug would come in handy as a contact if he was to be in the 214th. Pulling a few strings he has Rafferty assigned to the Black Sheep Squadron. When Doug arrives at Vella La Cava and deplanes, a mechanic tells Jim Gutterman that he won't believe who got off the transport...Doug Rafferty. Jim l
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#32 - Masquerade
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 3
Cpl. Arnold Kanger (James Coburn) and a lieutenant have a captive German colonel when their jeep hits a land mine. Saunders and his squad bring them to their Company HQ for first aid. Saunders slowly begins to suspect there is something wrong when Kanger makes slight mistakes while speaking and interacting with the other men.
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#33 - The Last Harbor Raid (3)
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 17
The plan is for the fishing fleet to bring out the prisoners, Dunkirk-fashion. However, a Nazi patrol boat has intercepted the boats. The fishermen believe that Marinanne is a collaborator. Sgt. Troy, though, disagrees and he's right. Marianne talks the fishermen into cooperating, and the prisoners make good their escape.
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#34 - In the Cards
Tales of the Unexpected - Season 8 - Episode 2
Madame Myra is a third-rate fortune teller who foresees a dim future for herself. And then she meets a stranger in town who shows her a way to do a whole lot better. What, though, is in it for him?
#35 - I Like it Here in Wilmington
Tales of the Unexpected - Season 7 - Episode 11
Wilmington, Delaware, business man Harry Elton is a man on the verge of bankruptcy, as Marvin Castlemore, his partner in the rag trade, has made a disastrous guess on next season's fashions. Harry and his wife have a luxury lifestyle, and he has to decide whether to put his marriage or his business first. So he plans to murder his wife and collect her life insurance money.
#36 - Counter-Punch
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 22
As the Germans make a breakthrough, rear-echelon troops are ordered to prepare for battle. Never able to form into a fighting force, they become stragglers separated from any cohesive unit. Saunders and Caje are also separated and pick up several of the rear-echelon stragglers, now deep in German territory. While the rear-echelon troops have no combat experience, they each contribute in their own way in the effort to punch back and return to their lines.
#37 - Heritage
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 30
Hanley and Kirby escort Corporal Velásquez (Charles Bronson), an artsy demolition expert, on a dangerous mission to destroy a heavily fortified and guarded observation post so that the Americans can advance through the valley below.
#38 - The Case of the Misguided Missile
Perry Mason - Season 4 - Episode 25
Jerry Reynolds, an old war buddy of Perry's, is accused of killing an officer at Vandenburg Air Force Base during the investigation into some mysterious missile crashes.
#39 - The Lighthouse Raid
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 13
Tully and Moffitt transport a liberated French underground general to a rendezvous in a deserted lighthouse. Hitchcock stands lookout, disguised as a German guard. Troy, though, is held captive inside the lighthouse -- betrayed by Mathias. Moffitt tries to reach him but ends up unconscious. In the ensuing fight, Mathias is killed and Troy manages to signal the trawler into the area to take the general to safety.
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#40 - The Little Jewel
Combat! - Season 2 - Episode 9
Saunders' squad encounters orphan boy Bijou (Michel Petit) gobbling rotted food in a bombed-out village. The squad gives him K-rations and chocolate, but Kirby distrusts him and suspects he is feeding information to the Germans. The squad races to bomb an oil depot. When Caje is captured, they begin to think Kirby may be right.
#41 - The Dove Affair
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. - Season 1 - Episode 12
When a minor European leader is assassinated, Solo steals a medallion from his body containing a microdot listing the THRUSH agents in the country, but must elude the secret police and outwit intelligence agent Satine (Ricardo Montalban), who also wants the medal. Teacher and tour guide Sara Taub (June Lockhart) and her high school students are used by Solo to try and sneak the medal over the border.
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#42 - The Case of the Difficult Detour
Perry Mason - Season 4 - Episode 21
Contactor Pete Mallory is charged with the murder of a vacation resort developer.
#43 - The Last Harbor Raid (2)
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 16
Moffitt and Hitch (dressed as Germans) find Bertaine's daughter and tell her of her father's death. Then they take her home - after they tell her who they really are. They also tell her that they need to use the fishing fleet to accomplish their mission. Meanwhile, Troy secretly meets with American POW liaison officer Indrus. Troy then joins Moffitt at the house of El Gamil. Informed of the plan, El Gamil dispatches his men to the various harbor areas to alert the fishermen. Troy sets the action to begin at dawn.
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#44 - Nothin' Short of Highway Robbery
Tales of the Unexpected - Season 8 - Episode 3
A husband and wife, Newt and Marcie, plan to drive home across the desert. They pull into a remote garage to fill their tank, and Harry the mechanic tells them their car urgently needs expensive repairs. He suggests they have a meal in his wife's eating house while he gets on with the work. But are Marcie and Newt being taken for a ride?
#45 - The Wildest Raid of All
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 3
As a prequel to capturing General Ernest von Helmreich, the Rat Patrol gets itself captured. They plan to use the general to stop an upcoming attack. However the general manages to attract the attention of a distant Nazi search party and the Rat Patrol ends up trapped in a ravine, cut off. To escape they construct a ""fake panzer unit"" of their own -- tricking the Germans into a retreat. They then make it to the largest of the Germans' ammo dumps which they proceed to blow up.
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#46 - Jack 'Legs' Diamond
The Untouchables - Season 2 - Episode 2
New York, 1931. While many people were unemployed and poor during the Depression, gangster-owned speakeasies and nightclubs created a new mobster aristocracy. One top mobster is Jack ""Legs"" Diamond -- known to the Underworld as ""the Clay Pigeon"" because of the many times he'd been shot at, and survived. Although he's married, Jack Diamond carries on openly with lovely canary Dawn Dolan, who sings at the Hotsey Totsey Club, a nightclub Jack owns; his philandering is in the newspapers all the time. The mob hates all the publicity he is drawing to himself-- and therefore might draw to them. When Jack gets his picture taken for the newspapers once too often, there's another rubout attempt on Jack; again, he survives, but the 19-year-old parking valet standing next to him gets hit by the shotgun blasts.
#47 - The Hell Machine
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 28
When their jeep hits a land mine, Saunders, a tank captain, and private Gavin attempt to maneuver an abandoned German tank through enemy territory.
#48 - Beneath the Ashes
Combat! - Season 3 - Episode 32
Lt. Hanley gets word that the wife of one of his men, Steve Kovac (Chad Everett), is dying. Hanley decides not to bring him in from patrol until they get confirmation from Red Cross, but the patrol soon becomes trapped in the basement of a German command post.
#49 - New Blood
Quincy, M.E. - Season 5 - Episode 18
Asten forces Quincy to take some unwanted vacation time and brings in a temporary replacement, Dr. McCracken, a pathologist rather than a Medical Examiner. That very same day the body of a controversial Congressman, Laurence Bridges, is found at the bottom of a flight of stairs in his office. With the press and police wanting a quick answer to what happened to Brideges Quincy is convinced that McCracken will not do a thorough enough job. A personality clash occurs between him and McCracken as he tries to get himself involved in her case.
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#50 - The Chain of Death Raid
The Rat Patrol - Season 1 - Episode 5
The Patrol captures a German truck at the end of a partially destroyed convoy. In the process, though, Troy and Dietrich end up alone in the desert -- a stand-off until Arab slave traders arrive and capture both, hauling them deeper into the southern desert on the first leg of the slave trail. Troy and Dietrich escape but are chained together and must make their way back to ""civilization"" through the heat, the sand, and the enemy -- both enemies. They agree, after both are nearly dead with exposure, to cooperate. The truce ends when they arrive at Dietrich's column, but before they get down to the convoy, Troy trips and Dietrich ends up unconscious. Troy frees himself and Dietrich is picked up by his people. Troy rejoins Hitch, who has been driving along at the end of the column. They reach an oasis and Troy is able to place the explosives which were the purpose of this farce in the first place. The oasis blows up and the Rat Patrol, again, escapes.