The Big Red One (1980)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

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

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Dear Samuel Fuller,this guy called Quentin Tarantino ripped off the beginning of your film with the visuals of the statue of Jesus on the cross. He might also have been inspired (for another film of his) by the scene where a Belgian maid identifies a German officer posing as an American by the way he eats a steak.I liked the story - a tightly knit unit of soldiers lead by a sergeant (Lee Marvin) who is both ruthless and humane take part in some of the important battles of World War 2. Your film can be looked at as series of dramatic and action set pieces separated by scenes of the soldiers interacting with each other and cracking jokes. The soldiers helping a German woman deliver a baby, eating lunch with a bunch of Italian mamas, partying with Belgian women and attacking a mental asylum stood out for me. But the action scenes were the film's weak point. Sometimes, they went on and on. They were quite boring. I guess you were aiming for realism. I liked the extensive use of close ups and the quick cuts in the battle scenes. The images of the bloodied waves and food stood out for me.Rober Carradine who plays the Italian narrator looked like a young John Cassavetes. Lee Marvin was effortlessly bad ass and melancholic as the leader of the squadron. The catharsis for Marvin's character (who has fought in both the World War's) at the film's end was very imaginative and touching.Best Regards, Pimpin.(7/10)

For a war movie from 1980, then "The Big Red One" was actually quite good. Sure it was no "Saving Private Ryan" or "Band of Brothers", but it did hold up its own quite nicely.The story is about a group of soldiers who make it through the various campaigns throughout World War II, spanding from Africa to Germany and everything in between.The movie did, however, come off as somewhat fractioned, as if the red thread throughout the movie had been cut in various places and then tied together, and the result was this movie. That being said, then the movie is still enjoyable. But it tends to jump from location to location in a manner such as the audience never really gets attached to what's going on, and once we start to get into it, then the year and location changes."The Big Red One" does have some good people to the cast list, and it is no secret that I bought this movie solely because I wanted to see Mark Hamill in a war movie. And it was actually quite a nice treat to see him in this movie. The movie is driven by some good characters, however, unlike "Band of Brothers" or "The Pacific", then the audience are never really let into the inner sphere of each of these characters, and as such something was lost to the movie, because the movie failed to build up a relationship between the characters and the audience as a whole.If you enjoy World War II movies, then "The Big Red One" is definitely well worth watching. And for those of the slightly older generation, then Lee Marvin does put on a good performance in this movie as well.

I was looking forward to seeing this film as I am a big fan of WWII movies but this film was a big letdown. It is hard to know where to start and whether I should waste any more time commenting on a film that has already wasted nearly 3 hours of my life.What we have here is what seems to be a buddy movie. A group of friends having a whale of a time on holiday in Europe during WWII. I know that sounds ridiculous but thats how the movie feels. The starkness and harsh reality of war is not what you see in this movie, war almost seems like fun. Of course not for the minor characters who keep ending up dead but for the principal characters it is all just a laugh.The dialogues is terrible and full of clichés. I know many war movies are riddled with clichés but its not just that. The dialogues is just absurd at times. And all the characters are just walking clichés, especially the European characters. The Italians are typically over the top. Children and old grandmothers are sweet and innocent. These are just a couple of examples.All the sub-plots in the film are completely ridiculous. Children for some reason seem to be attracted to Lee Marvin's character like he is the kiddy snatcher from chitty chitty bang bang bearing gifts of sweeties. Germans fall out of line by telling their commanding officers how much they hate Hitler until their predictable execution. The whole ridiculous birth scene inside a tank is done in very bad taste. Then you have a young Hitler youth who has killed some American G.I's and then has his trousers pulled down and spanked.The beach scene when the Americans arrive in North Africa is probably the most ridiculous scene I have ever seen in a war movie. They start off fighting the French Vichy soldiers and as soon as the Vichy commander is killed the french troops surrender and then run over to embrace the Americans.As you have seen I have mostly just tried to state things as they actually happen and not give my personal opinion. You don't need to give opinions to show how absurd this film is, just stating what happens illustrates enough.Also there seem to be many homosexual innuendos in the film. Nothing wrong with that but they are very bizarre. I could go on and on here, I could talk about the terrible acting, the stupid plot and the historical inaccuracies but I will save it.If you like to hear things go BANG ! and see a bit of blood and guts then this is the movie for you. If however you want a movie with just a little substance to it then please do yourself a favour and avoid this awful movie.I know my review might be a little incoherent in style but I just wanted to quickly get this off my chest before going to bed. This is the first time I have written a review and that is because I have never felt so strongly about a films shortcomings as much as I did for this film.I know the director Fuller served in WWII, but that doesn't prove anything. I respect his bravery in serving his country during WWII but as a director I have no respect for him. This is simply one of the worst films I have ever seen.

Perhaps I am an exception but this film really did nothing for me.The premise is simple: the experiences of a US infantry squad led by Lee Marvin fighting in Europe and North Africa during WW II. It was supposed to be about the experiences of the men who fought but I didn't feel the film delivered that: none of the characters were really explored or given much depth, even the great Lee Marvin seemed distant and cold. There isn't too much dialogue, in fact there isn't too much of anything in this film. Its just there but it doesn't really give you much, it just leaves you cold. The plot is occasionally just plain weird and confusing, not the good kind of quirky type of weird but just strange for no apparent reason and with no charm to it.The action scenes are average, nothing special but enough for their purpose. What annoyed me was that so many different locations were so obviously filmed in the same sandy country (Israel) and it just didn't come off as very convincing. I didn't believe that what I was being shown was really the place it was supposed to be. Its also a quiet film, with very minimal music which in itself isn't bad but just gave the whole thing a somewhat sleepy atmosphere. I wouldn't go so far as to say the film was boring, it wasn't but it just wasn't that attention grabbing either.Its a film that is there but it did absolutely nothing for me. Others however might enjoy it.