The Big Red One (1980)

Simply Perfect

Perfect cast and a good story

Must See Movie...

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The film is book-ended by similar scenes. In both, the unnamed sergeant portrayed by Lee Marvin attacks a German soldier moments after the war he's engaged in has come to an end. In the first sequence, Marvin's character shows remorse that he took a life unnecessarily; at the end of the movie he attempts to save the German soldier's life he just stabbed after finding out that a treaty has been confirmed. Both instances might have been considered attempted murder, a differentiation that's explored in the picture as stated in my summary line above in the Sergeant's own words to one of the men in his squad.As far as war movies go, I didn't get a lot out of this one. The film focuses more on the personalities of the four principals in Marvin's unit, and how they managed to survive their experiences throughout campaigns in Northern Africa, Sicily, D-Day on Omaha Beach, Belgium and Czechoslovakia. There's a particular scene that takes place in a Belgian insane asylum, presumably meant by director Sam Fuller to counterpoint the insanity of war in general, so on that basis the sequence seems to offer a realistic evaluation. Much of the rest of the film is rather plodding and doesn't appear to have been made for the action crowd. The explanation and depiction of a Bangalore relay was appreciated, as I now understand what that scene was meant to convey.Other than Lee Marvin's role as the Sergeant, the rest of the acting is less than noteworthy. Outside of his Luke Skywalker character, I haven't seen Mark Hamill in anything else that's impressive. He has two defining moments in the picture when first, he freezes up during an early battle against French Vichy forces, and later on when he blanks out and repeatedly shoots a German soldier, virtually unable to process the idea that the man is already dead. In both cases, the horror of war is mirrored in Private Griff's blank expression, perhaps a testament to the film's closing argument that 'surviving is the only glory in war'.

Yes, this movie features two well known actors of the time, and still today: Lee Marvin & Mark Hamill. The Big Red One has some ups and downs, but mainly downs...in a matter of opinion of course. To start off, I feel that nobody in this movie was truly dedicated to their role, as most or all of the actors were very unconvincing. The way it was filmed makes me feel like there are pieces missing or it's broken/hastily made. They land in Africa (wait did I see a black soldier on the landing boats?! with white soldiers?! Didn't the army segregate whites and blacks into their own battalions post 1942?). Then the Americans are fired upon "accidentally" by the French, U.S. has sporadic firefights with the Germans, later they dig in and tanks run over their foxholes killing some men?, two guys get out of foxholes (one of them Hamill) and run for the hills, and then everyone is out of their foxholes, and THEN I don't know what the f**k is going on...just a lot of nonsense. THEN they are on the beaches, and Mark Hamill's narration kicks in and states that there are only four guys left in their unit or something like that....Nest scene their on a boat to Sicily. Blah blah blah. I'm not going to review every inch of this film. I saw this for the first time 15 or so years ago, but recently watched it again and had to put in some words. I loved the Dirty Dozen, but did not like Lee Marvin in Red One. He seemed far away, like on autopilot for this role. The good I have to say is that although some/most of the battle scenes were off, they were still entertaining, and for that I give this movie a 5. It's 1:08 AM now, I can't sleep and had nothing better to do. I think I'll watch All Quiet On The Western Front (1930 talkie version), the acting and battle scenes are more realistic than The Big Red One made 50 years later.

There must be lots of men who fought bravely during war but who aren't good at making war movies. Samuel Fuller is just one of them.This movie is a bore-fest.Acting: Lee Marvin is working within himself (it's no Emperor of the North) but the others must have just been handy and cheap.Story: There isn't really one. It is a series of scenarios, each from a different European theater of WWII in which American army forces took part. It's sort of like a greatest hits of actions - and clichés.It is fairly humourless, says nothing unique, and is best viewed by someone who wants to see a WWII movies and has seen the others.

In the early 1950s, writer/director Sam Fuller made a name for himself making ultra-low budget war films such as "Steel Helmet" and "Fixed Bayonets". The films shared a few things which appear once again in "The Big Red One"--a relatively small cast, small numbers of extras, clipped but realistic dialog and a grittiness not seen in many other war films. So in "The Big Red One", despite showing battles such as the invasion of Sicily, North Africa and Normandy, the actual number of soldiers in these massive engagements is very, very small. Many times, in fact, it just showed the same five guys! Fuller tried to hide his small budget by focusing on a small number of individuals but it was obvious he couldn't afford more. Compare these with movies such as "The Longest Day" and "Saving Private Ryan"--you'll notice a huge difference. Now this is NOT necessarily a harsh criticism of the film--just an observation since Fuller obviously did not have the huge budgets like Zanuck and Spielberg. This low budget also comes out if you look carefully at the Germans--many of which look rather Mediterranean or Semitic.The film was inspired by Fuller's own WWII experiences--something that made him an excellent war film director. He, too, served with the same unit featured in the film and here he pays homage to the brave men he served with, though it is not meant to be a literal retelling of Fuller's combat career. Like the tough sergeant played by Gene Evans in "Steel Helmet", here we have old reliable Lee Marvin playing nursemaid to a group of rookies as the film begins. The film follows them from 1942 to the end of the war in 1945. In many ways, the film also plays a lot like Leon Uris' "Battle Cry"--which was also based on his WWII experiences.Overall, an interesting homage to the infantry who fought WWII and without the flowery and over-glorified stuff you'd typically find in a Hollywood war film. Certainly not great (as I think Fuller's earlier war films were better and more original) but well worth seeing.