TinsHeadline Touches You

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Fred Schaefer Though Lee Marvin and Sam Fuller did not live to see the 2004 reconstituted version of THE BIG RED ONE, I think both would be enormously proud of the restoration of one of their finest films. Though not a "director's cut," the DVD, with an exceptional commentary by critic Richard Schiekel, and running nearly three hours, gives us the gritty, infantryman's view of World War II that Fuller wanted us to see. The longer version has a stronger narrative flow as the movie follows a unit of young American GI's and their much older Sergeant (a veteran of WWI) through a series of battles with Germans, starting with North Africa and ending with the liberation of a concentration camp in Germany at the war's end. There is one marvelously staged and striking scene after another, as these young men go from one theater of battle to another, starting out as fresh and nervous recruits and ending up as battle hardened vets, sticking together and surviving one deadly encounter with the Nazis after another, outlasting most of the replacements who come to fill the ranks; and all the time led by Marvin's tough Sergeant, in a role that fit him as perfectly as his uniform. The young men are played by Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine (as a character based on Fuller himself), Bobby Di Cicco, and Kelly Ward; all of whom should have gone on to be much bigger stars. Seigfried Rauch is Schroeder, a German counterpart to Marvin's Sergeant, who comes in and out of the story multiple times before the fateful final scene. One of the replacements is played by Perry Lang, whose face is familiar to anyone who watched a lot of teen comedies back in the day.What struck me most about this film is its lack of typical Hollywood war movie theatrics and heroics, as when Marvin's Sergeant is reunited with the young men in his squad after being briefly captured during the battle at the Kasserine Pass, where most of his untested squad threw down their rifles and fled the Germans. You expect Marvin to tear them a new one when he finds them relaxing on a North African beach, which would have happened if John Wayne (who had once been considered for the part in the 50's) had played the character. Instead, Fuller stages the reunion in a long shot, we don't hear a word, but the emotion of the moment is clear. Hamill's sensitive Griff, has a problem with pulling the trigger when face to face with the enemy, yet in every other way, he is a competent, brave and effective soldier (especially in the D-Day sequence), yet Griff is never confronted by his fellow infantrymen, never called "yellow" and forced to prove his courage to the satisfaction of others. There is a point to this subplot and Fuller resolves it in the finale. We get the full sense of the combat soldier's view of this world, where the ground was constantly shifting under their feet: they are charging into a German held building and taking fire in the afternoon, and then one of them is having sex with female partisan that evening; being shot at from snipers on the way to eliminating an 88 gun, and once the deadly mission is completed, sitting down to dinner with grateful Italians. There is the constant presence of children, over and over, Fuller returns them and shows in vivid ways the impact of war upon them; this is another thing rooted in Fuller's own wartime experience. This has to be the first film to note that American soldiers died from heat attacks on the front lines. The film had a limited budget, but Fuller did amazing things with it, they only had a couple of tanks to use, but you would never know it except from Schiekel's commentary; the D-Day scene may pale in comparison with the one in SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, or THE LONGEST DAY, but it works within this movie. There is the expected blood and gore, but nothing like what Sam Peckinpah would have done if he'd been the director; I think Fuller would have considered that exploitative and disrespectful.Why did THE BIG RED ONE fail at the box office? By the summer of 1980, the era of the big World War II epic of the late 50's and 60's had passed and there seemed to be nothing more to say about a conflict fading into history; APOCALYPSE NOW was playing in theaters and audiences wanted to see movies about Vietnam; they wanted to see Mark Hamill fight Darth Vader with a light saber, not shoot Germans with an M-1 rifle. The only person anyone wanted to see fighting Nazis in the 80's was Indiana Jones. Another good movie had fallen victim to bad timing. After the failure of THE BIG RED ONE and the shelving of his controversial film, WHITE DOG, the following year, Sam Fuller turned his back on Hollywood for good, working in Europe for many years; truly our loss. Yet, it stands now as one of the great American war films, and a definitive statement on the men who defeated Hitler's war machine. THE BIG RED ONE is moving, but brutally unsentimental, horrific and funny at the same time, a film that gets better with repeat viewings. Wherever they are, I am sure Lee Marvin and Sam Fuller would be well pleased with how it turned out.

Sameir Ali I have added to the list of my favorite movies, among the other war films I have seen.The movie is inspired from the real life of the director @Samuel Fuller, himself. Not to compare with most rated movies such as "Saving Private Ryan (1998)", this movie is definitely worth watch. The movie portrays the heart touching situations of a war field, along with some nice hilarious moments. This makes the movie unique.@Lee Marvin often reminds me of the veteran actor @Thilakan, who is famous for rough and tough character, but with a hidden human sentiments.The movie is highly recommended for movie enthusiasts. Don't miss out this good movie.Sameir Ali: 80%

Joseph Pezzuto "I can't murder anybody." "We don't murder; we kill." 'The Big Red One' (1980), was made particularly in order to show people what the 1st Infantry Division entering WWII were truly like and how ordinary men fought, bled, and died for our great nation throughout the many hellish war zones and situations some narrowly survived for a few fatal years. The director, Samuel Fuller (Pickup on South Street, Shock Corridor), known for his low-budget genre movies with controversial themes, here wanted to capture the true essence of what these ordinary men had to do to survive extraordinary circumstances: the German artillery, D-Day on Omaha Beach in Normandy, a massive counterattack resulting in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge and other famous historical battles. Dodging gunfire and clinging to survival amidst dangerous war zones therein this gritty, gripping war flick, 'Big Red' is a loosely constructed epic account for reconstructing his Fuller's own days in Europe and North Africa between the years 1942 and 1945, displaying both raw power and a rough edge, all the while maintaining a cool and personal perspective that echoes his war-torn trials as they bleed from various moments throughout the picture as we sit there and witness it. So, did Fuller's version of what he personally experienced during the war truly capture the essence of it? Let's take a look.In October 1918, the patch as it is known, a red "1" on a solid olive green background, was officially approved for wear by members of the Division. Worn with pride, the patch symbolizes the legacy and tradition that binds all generations of those who have worn the Big Red One. On August 1, 1942, the first Division was recognized and redesignated as the 1st Infantry Division. The 1st Infantry Division entered combat in World War II as part of "Operation Torch", the invasion of North Africa, the first American campaign against the Axis powers that marched and combated through Algiers, Tunisia, Sicily, France, Belgium and then pushed into the German border. The Division continued its push into Germany, crossing the Rhine River. On December 16, twenty-four enemy divisions, ten of which were armored, launched a massive counterattack in the Ardennes sector, resulting in what became known as the Battle of the Bulge. The Big Red One held the critical shoulder of the "Bulge" at Bullingen, destroying hundreds of German tanks in the process. On Easter Sunday, April 1, 1945, the Division marched one-hundred fifty miles to the east of Siegen. On April 8, the Division crossed the Weser River into Czechoslovakia. The war was over May 8, 1945. Tragically at the end of WWII, there were over twenty-thousand casualties and over one hundred thousand prisoners of war had been taken. Forty-three thousand plus men had served in the ranks, winning a total of twenty-thousand plus medals and awards, including sixteen Congressional Medals of Honor. Nonetheless, the actors on the screen reflected just a glimpse of how the real soldiers back in the day fought for our great nation to the fullest extent. One of the main characters, Pvt. Griff (Mark Hamill), causes to violate his pacifist views because even amidst the chaos and utter destruction around him, he does not believe in and refuses to "murder". He values life to the fullest extent. He lives in believing and even states that the true glory of war is actually surviving it. Griff's position in the infantry is a marksman, and a skilled one at that. Nonetheless, the horrors of his war years have finally caught up with him. He is finally stripped of his pacifist views in one scene as he fires every one of his last bullets into a lone German hiding in one of the ovens in a concentration camp used to exterminate the Jews. His face contorting into agony and despair as he does so, it is revealed to him and to the audience that WWII had finally wreaked a psychological toll on Griff, regardless of his heroism and bravery for his country. The horrors of war have finally gripped him into a reality where his pacifist views have come to a grinding halt in his mentality, knowing that his aspects will never again be the same from here on out.I do believe there is a difference between killing and murder. Even though The Sergeant (Lee Marvin) explained the difference in the beginning of the film, I had to agree with what he said. However, my thoughts on the certain matter is that killing is what you have to do in war or in dangerous life-threatening situations where you have to shoot the enemy in order to defend and protect something big or meaningful, their case being the United States and the people of America. Murder has no rational thought, such as randomly stabbing someone with a knife for example. Some people murder only to save themselves or if they are convicted criminals, not for something heroic like fighting for their homeland or for victory. The plot was all about surviving WWII, along with the many horrors that encompassed it as well. This was a wonderful picture altogether, with a glorious display of historical battles given as torn pages from a found war journal for us to relive, recount and remember.

zardoz-13 "The Big Red One" qualifies as an all-time combat classic, especially the reconstructed version where 50 minutes of cut footage were restored. "Steel Helmet" director Sam Fuller saw action in World War II as an infantryman, and he has fashioned a gripping film bristling with ironies. Eloquently, Fuller meditates about the central theme of war. For example, is war murder or merely killing? Fuller provides an answer in a roundabout way during a later scene when the discussion of murder versus killing crops up. Another theme related to the issue of war is the question of insanity. If war is insanity, then who can be considered sane? A later scene in an insane asylum where our heroes rescue a French resistance agent highlights the insanity issue. What sets this war movie aside from most is that Fuller is able to alternate lethally serious scenes with light-hearted humorous scenes. Lee Marvin stars as an anonymous, hell-bent-for-leather Army Sergeant who is shown as a young doughboy in World War I to an older, wiser NCO in World War II. Naturally, Marvin gives a wholly convincing performance. Indeed, the Oscar winning actor served in the South Pacific as a Marine during World War II so he is more than adequately cast. "Star Wars" hero Mark Hamill is just as effectively cast as a wet-behind-the-ear Private named Griff who struggles with the quandary about whether war is murder or killing. Hamill is one of a quartet of G.I.s who follows Marvin from Casablanca to Czechoslovakian death camp. Meantime, during the movie, Fuller cross-cuts between Marvin's mentoring NCO watching over his duckling-like troops with Siegfried Raunch's cynical Wehrmach German Sergeant Schroeder, whose comments about war as killing rather than murder mirror Marvin's Sergeant. This is ironic later because Schroeder machine guns to death a German conscientious objector. Writer & director Fuller develops Marvin and his recruits over the course of the movie so they emerge as three dimensional characters. Long before Spielberg messed around with minimal color in his black & white classic "Schindler's List," Fuller did so in the opening scene when Marvin boasts about killing a wandering German and presents his idea about the unit patch for the First Division with a strip of red thread. If you want to see the ultimate World War II actioneer that covers just about every aspect of the war, "The Big Red One" is the standard bearing. Fuller achieves this feat without wallowing in blood and gore, and he doesn't have a multi-million dollar budget to capture the epic sprawl of war. The Normandy scene with the bangolare torpedo is nothing short of brilliant, but unlike Darryl F. Zanuck and Steven Spielberg who had millions, Fuller does so with considerably less. Altogether, the reconstruction of "The Big Red One" trumps the shorter theatrical release.