... If You Can Find Them, Maybe You Can Hire "The A-Team"

Tomorrow, June 11th, will see the release of the big budget, big screen remake of the classic TV series, The A-Team. If you've seen the trailers, you might notice that much of the focus is on the characters, as each individual member of the titular team is spotlighted, allowing any appraisal of a probable storyline to fall by the wayside. This is likely the best way in which to market the film. The original series, created by Frank Lupo and Stephen J. Cannell, thrived on the characters, their nuances, their peculiarities, and their sometimes predictable behavior. Every week, a voice-over would reintroduce audiences to these four men, telling their back story of how they were imprisoned for a crime they did not commit. After their escape, they took jobs to help the everyday man, those less fortunate who can find support nowhere else. Each actor receives his credit, but this was really just another way to showcase the characters, with clips displaying their abilities and mannerisms. The title said it all: it was about the A-Team. If you've never made their acquaintances, here they are:

Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith (George Peppard): He is the highest ranking officer of the team, and the leader. With an ever-present cigar, Hannibal devises the team's plans, most of which either fail miserably or don't quite turn out as one would hope. However, the colonel excels under pressure, and his backup plans -- typically created out of sheer necessity and/or threat of incarceration or death -- are more often than not solid strategies with favorable conclusions, leading to Hannibal's catchphrase, "I love it when a plan comes together." Hannibal is also a master of disguise, and he will frequently meet with clients masquerading as someone else, to ensure that the person's story and situation is legitimate. The colonel's second "job," if you will, is related to his disguises, with appearances in low budget horror films, hiding inside the costume of a monster.

Lieutenant Templeton "Faceman" Peck (Dirk Benedict): Faceman, most often called "Face," earned his nickname for a basic reason: he's the conman, the "face" that most people -- usually the ladies -- prefer to see. Face could supply the team with all types of things, including vehicles, weaponry, equipment, or simply information. And Peck was able to obtain such supplies with his conning finesse, such as literally talking a particular person into letting him take three or four large trucks. It's perhaps quite apparent that Face's most important asset to the team is his good looks. This leads to many amusing sequences of scuffles, as Face -- although a skilled fighter -- tries desperately to avoid getting hit in his namesake. (Tim Dunigan played Face in the show's pilot, but he was replaced in the second episode by Benedict, who retained the role for the remainder of the series.)

Sergeant Bosco Albert "B.A." Baracus (Mr. T): His initials, while short for his given name, are generally accepted as having a much more colorful meaning: "Bad Attitude." Even though each A-Team member can hold his own in a fistfight, B.A. is still considered the muscle, because if he's fighting, men aren't just knocked down but are thrown through the air. B.A. is also, as described in the pilot, "a mechanical genius." In many episodes, the men build a weapon or armed vehicle of some sort, and B.A. almost becomes the team leader, designing and crafting the machines, as everyone else just seems to be helping him. Despite the bulky man's "bad attitude," B.A. is a sucker for the children, and it is he who insists they undertake a mission if a child is involved. And with his drink of choice being milk, B.A. essentially becomes the team's paternal figure. Hannibal may be the leader, but B.A. is the one who barks orders, usually yelling at Face and Murdock as if they were his disobedient sons. One of B.A.'s most recognizable qualities is his intense fear of flying, forcing the others to trick him into air transportation (often by drugging him) if flying proves necessary.

Captain H.M. "Howling Mad" Murdock (Dwight Schultz): Although Murdock outranks both Face and B.A., he seems to have the lowest rank as a member of the A-Team. This may be for one of two reasons: (1) Though he was the pilot for the team's mission that led to their arrest and subsequent incarceration, Murdock was actually never charged by the military and is technically not on the run with the others; and (2) Murdock is clinically insane. He spends the majority of his time (and the series) in an institution with a seemingly endless list of symptoms, perhaps most famously his incessant conversing with and caring for an invisible dog named Billy. Murdock, however, is an accomplished pilot, and as part of the team, he makes a habit of "escaping," usually with Face the conman helping him. Throughout the course of the series, the audience never learns Murdock's first or middle name.

There were other people with the A-Team, although not necessarily official members. The most notable is Amy Allen (Melinda Culea), an ambitious newspaper reporter whose desire to write a story on the mysterious A-Team is the catalyst for the entire series. Amy certainly wasn't integral to either the team or the majority of their missions, but she was superbly portrayed by Culea, and Amy was fun to watch as she occasionally suffered through the team's bickering. Amy also helped periodically, such as Season 1's "Pros and Cons", in which she assists Face in one of his cons. Reportedly, Culea wanted her character to more actively participate in episodes, so the actress either quit or was fired (depending on which account you believe). Her "replacement" was another reporter, Tawnia Baker (Marla Heasley), who joined the show in the middle of the second season. Heasley's name, unlike Culea, did not even appear in the opening credits, and given that actor Peppard was supposedly unhappy that the producers/writers thought a female character would work on the series, Tawnia was predictably gone early in Season 3. The fifth season saw a fifth member, Frankie Santana (Eddie Velez), join the team. He was more involved than Amy and Tawnia, but he was a special effects man, a job more suitable to the A-Team than a reporter.

Those four men are almost like a family. While the military wants three of the men arrested, the greatest concern is not that Hannibal, Face, and B.A. will be imprisoned, but rather that their arrest would break apart the team. So many of their missions dealt with helping the "little man." Sometimes it was racketeers trying to muscle into a smaller territory, other times it was a biker gang or a rich family committing murders. In the Season 1 episodes, "Holiday in the Hills" and "Till Death Do Us Part", the team rescued, respectively, a man about to be burned at the stake and a young woman being coerced into marrying her deceased father's former business partner. Whatever the mission, it can all be boiled down to a simple concept: the splitting of a unit or family. Numerous episodes end, rather appropriately, with a family thanking the A-Team for their help.

One of the series' best episodes, and an example of how the show revolves around its engaging characters, is "Black Day at Bad Rock" from the first season. While Hannibal, Face, and B.A. are on a mission, B.A. is wounded, and the other two men rush him to a local doctor in a small town. B.A. blames Face for his injury, and Face expresses concern over B.A.'s possible retaliation when his health improves. Not only is Face worried about physical pain inflicted upon him, but he's also acting like a child who knows that he is in trouble and is fearing the inevitable punishment from his "father." Hannibal, in an attempt to maintain order as the team leader, tries to placate Face by hysterically telling him: "Face, B.A. loves you." (This apparently works, as Face responds hopefully: "He does?") Murdock has to escape from the hospital, literally running out the front door with Amy in the getaway car. Although the A-Team may not be family by blood, when B.A. needs a blood transfusion, Murdock is happy to be the donor (even if B.A. is worried that Murdock's "crazy blood" will be inside him). The most significant thing about "Black Day at Bad Rock" is that the plan evidently only "comes together" because Murdock (and, in this case, Amy, too) reunites with the others. In essence, only when the team is a whole can it truly succeed.

The upcoming feature film was directed by Joe Carnahan, who also helmed Narc (2003) and Smokin' Aces (2007). The cast includes Liam Neeson as Hannibal, Bradley Cooper as Face, Sharlto Copley as Murdock, and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as B.A. While Neeson has recently reinvented himself as an action star with 2008's profitable Taken, Cooper and Copley have had similar success with, respectively, The Hangover and District 9, both released last year. Jackson, a mixed martial artist and former UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) Light Heavyweight champ, makes his debut in a leading role with The A-Team.