War correspondent Conley Wright (Robert McQueeney) tags along with a squad of G.I’s in Italy under the command of determined young Captain Jim Benedict (William Reynolds) during WWII, beginning with the amphibious landing at Salerno.
The Gallant Men was structured to split its focus between dual leading men to reduce the actors’ workload and multiply the possibility of launching a breakout heartthrob. But McQueeney and Reynolds (pictured below) were so dull that the supporting cast carried the series to an unprecedented degree.
Robert Ridgely played the tough-as-nails second-in-command, Lt. Frank Kimbro, but jut-jawed Richard X. Slattery, as the free-swinging platoon sergeant McKenna, and boxer Roland La Starza, as comic relief hustler Private Ernie Lucavich, occasionally dominated the storylines, as did singer Eddie Fontaine as the charismatic guitar-playing ladies’ man Private Pete D’Angelo.
The Gallant Men offered action, heroics, and a kind of gritty realism, plus plenty of sexy Italian girls along the way, but it failed to establish a beachhead against either Rawhide on Friday night or Jackie Gleason on Saturday. In February 1963, ABC announced that it would not extend the series beyond the initial 26 episodes.
Although the show’s ratings were not disastrous, ABC was also home to Combat! and McHale’s Navy, and it’s likely that the three military-themed shows were always seen as competing with each other.
Conley Wright
Robert McQueeney Capt. Jim Benedict
William Reynolds Lt. Frank Kimbro
Robert Ridgely 1st Sgt. John McKenna
Richard X. Slattery Pvt. Pete D’Angelo
Eddie Fontaine Pvt. Ernie Lucavich
Roland La Starza Sam Hanson
Robert Gothie Roger Gibson
Roger Davis
Video
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Robert Ridgely played the tough-as-nails second-in-command, Lt. Frank Kimbro, but jut-jawed Richard X. Slattery, as the free-swinging platoon sergeant McKenna, and boxer Roland La Starza, as comic relief hustler Private Ernie Lucavich, occasionally dominated the storylines, as did singer Eddie Fontaine as the charismatic guitar-playing ladies’ man Private Pete D’Angelo.
