Actor Denis Leary’s latest TV series, “Going Dutch,” is a comedic military portrayal of an Army unit stationed in a remote corner of the Netherlands known as “Garrison Stroopsdorf.” Actor Denis Leary plays a new unit commander, Col. Patrick Quinn, a role in which he drew inspiration from a career-long interest in Gen. George S. Patton.
Leary was recently interviewed by Fox News about his new role in “Going Dutch,” where he had a chance to infuse all of his knowledge about Patton into his character. He recalled a conversation with the series creator, Joel Church-Cooper.
“I said, ‘Listen, If I’m thinking about playing this guy, I’m going to lean on George Patton and his characteristics because they match the colonel, and I know a lot about him,’” Leary said to Fox News. “So being able to play the comedy version of that guy, that sort of vanity and that ego and that sort of self-importance was basically what I used as my reference point.”
As Col. Quinn, Leary is a hard-charging combat leader, replete with Special Forces and Ranger tabs, who finds himself assigned to Stroopsdorf after mouthing off on the lack of combat experience of his superior officer, Brigadier General Davidson.
Stroopsdorf troops are not front-line combat arms troops but rather spend much of their days making cheese, doing laundry, and bowling. Leary arrives to find a group of troops in what looks like a dance class, which turns out to be the unit’s PT.
If it sounds like an outfit that could benefit — or suffer greatly — under a Patton-like commander, well, that’s the fun part.
The show premiered on Tuesday, and the first episode showed some of Leary’s Patton-inspired character and dialogue.
Leary and his co-stars spoke to Fox News about the series’ filming location on an active Irish Army base. They were able to film as the Irish Army carried out drills. The Irish troops even lent the actors equipment and gear throughout filming.
Like virtually all military shows, “Going Dutch” has plenty of gaffes and mistakes that will make current and former military members groan — laughable salutes, uniform miscues, haircuts, etc. But there are also moments that the show gets right.
In one early scene, Quinn and his aide discuss the press release announcing Quinn as the new commander.
“Mention the Rangers. People get hard when I namedrop the Rangers,” Col. Quinn says in the first episode’s opening scene.
The rest of the episode is a comical depiction of a hard-charging officer who talked sh*t about the wrong general and is left with a lackluster assignment of turning around a non-combat unit into a razor-sharp service unit.
The latest on Task & Purpose
- Special Forces soldier dies in non-combat incident at Eglin range
- A Marine’s disciplinary record from 100 years ago reveals rank-and-file life as much the same
- Navy shoots down its own F/A-18 in Red Sea fight
- The Coast Guard is building up its Arctic fleet
- Coast Guard pilot receives top flying honor for helicopter rescue