[2] In flying school, lazy Private Archie Hall somehow dominates everyone around him, fellow trainees, sergeants and officers alike, and manages to avoid doing any work.

An initially hostile, suspicious trio of privates, Sam Beacham, Russell Drexler, and Frank Ostrow, are penalized for opposing him and eventually smarten up and become his pals as well.

Erlenheim and his underling, Sergeant Malcolm Greenbriar, arrange it so that Archie and his buddies are given permanent passes and a personal jeep, so they can leave the training base whenever they please.

[4] The main character in The Last Time I Saw Archie, played by Robert Mitchum was based on Arch Hall Sr., whom screenwriter William Bowers knew in the war.

"[4] In an unusual (if not entirely singular) approach to tie-in fiction, Jack Webb's production company decided to create the impression that the film was based on a pre-existing book.

(The only "tell" indicating the book's progeny is on the copyright page: In tiny print, the rights holder is Jack Webb's company, Mark VII Productions.)

The novelization's subsequent tie-in edition, published under the revised title, The Last Time I Saw Archie—its cover featuring Nuyen, Mitchum, Webb and Hyer with arms linked, walking forward—didn't spill the beans either.