User Reviews

The allied artillery is not able to destroy an important German observation post and a recon patrol is completely destroyed, returning only Pvt. Burgess bringing his wounded Sgt. Maury Calder to the American base. Calder advises Sgt, Saunders to keep his eyes on Burgess but he does not explain why. Burgess guides Saunders and his squad to the German pillbox and along their journey, they learn more about his personality. Will they succeed in their mission?

"The Eyes of the Hunter" is a strange "Combat!" episode. Burgess' attitudes may be questionable in 1945 or 1962, but he seems to be a dangerous but effective soldier. His assignment is to guide and destroy the American squad to the German observation post and he effectively does. While Saunders does not know what to do to destroy the bunker, Burgess forgets his connections and friendship with Caje and Billy and proposes to do what is necessary to destroy the pillbox. The cost of two lives would save the lives of many others. It is hard to say that Burgess is a psychopath or a military oriented to his objective. In times of war, people sometimes need to stay in the gray area between the good and the evil. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Olhos de Caçador" ("Eyes of Hunter")

Eyes of the Hunter did absolutely nothing for me as a viewer. The screen writing was weak and Burgess (played by Ed Nelson) spoke to softly and rapidly to carry a complete episode by himself. The first several minutes are painfully boring and Burgess' interaction with each of the squad members is weak. He's supposed to be leading the squad to a German observation post in order to destroy it.

The early mystery begins to unfold when the squad comes across dead soldiers from both Burgess' and the German squad they fought with. Burgess has had his ups and downs in the Army and is proving to be a dangerous rebel to be around. He's definitely a hunter but a psychopathic one.

Fate sends a German artillery shell at exactly the right time and the squad is able to carry out its mission.

The German Sergeant (played by William Smith) questioning our men comes across far more like apple pie than sour kraut. He's as American as can be when they needed a more "German like" actor. You think casting and directing would have spotted this one immediately.

With a script as weak as this one, even the usual excellent directing of Bernard McEveety cannot get it off the ground.

Ed Nelson guest stars as a soldier guiding Vic and his men to a German observation post, but Vic is suspicious about the soldier, and his odd behavior soon arouses Little John's distrust as well, especially when Nelson proves to be trigger-happy and also he's the only member of his squad who remains alive.

Because the mission is dangerous, the question hovering over Nelson's reliability is a strong builder of tension. Things get really serious when Billy and Caje are captured by Germans. A very young William Smith is the German interrogator - his strong screen presence is evident even in this early role.

Unfortunately, the segment bogs down midway through, stretching its "is he or isn't he" premise regarding Nelson's character too far. When it's finally revealed what makes him tick, it's an anticlimax.