The Big Red One

Name: The Big Red One
Genre: Action, Drama, War
Released: July 18, 1980
Duration: 113 min
Rating: 77
Cast: Alain Doutey, Bobby Di Cicco, Charles Macaulay, Kelly Ward, Lee Marvin

1980

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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8.0	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 6 Ratings

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The Big Red One (Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: July 18, 1980 | R

Starring: Alain Doutey, Bobby Di Cicco, Charles Macaulay, Kelly Ward, Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Serge Marquand, Siegfried Rauch, Stéphane Audran

Summary: World War I veteran Sergeant Possum (Lee Marvin) wants to get the job done and to get himself and his squad of green recruits out alive. It's just a job: Kill the enemy before they kill you. And through the seemingly endless bloodshed from North Africa, to Sicily, the Normandy Invasion and the push into Germany, his now-veteran squad—GruffWorld War I veteran Sergeant Possum (Lee Marvin) wants to get the job done and to get himself and his squad of green recruits out alive. It's just a job: Kill the enemy before they kill you. And through the seemingly endless bloodshed from North Africa, to Sicily, the Normandy Invasion and the push into Germany, his now-veteran squad—Gruff (Mark Hamill), Zab (Robert Carradine), Vinci (Bobby CiCicco) and Johnson (Kelly Ward)—learns both the brutal horror of war and to never become emotionally close with a new recruit.… Expand

Director: Samuel Fuller

Genre(s): Action, Drama, War

Rating: R

Runtime: 113 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Jonathan Rosenbaum

A grand-style, idiosyncratic war epic, with wonderful poetic ideas, intense emotions, and haunting images rich in metaphysical portent. Read full review

100

To see this seamless "reconstruction" - consisting of some 15 entirely new sequences as well as augmentations to 23 others - is to behold a masterpiece revealed. Read full review

Michael O'Sullivan

What the movie may lack in "Saving Private Ryan"-style gloss, it more than makes up for in authenticity, or, in other words, heart. Read full review

Keith Phipps

In some respects a less tidy film than before, particularly when it veers off into a subplot involving a Nazi soldier played by Siegfried Rauch, the new cut mostly retains the original's virtues while adding details and episodes that make it more recognizably a Fuller film. Read full review

Roger Ebert

Hard-boiled, filled with action, held together by male camaraderie, directed with a lean economy of action. It's one of the most expensive B-pictures ever made, and I think that helps it fit the subject. "A" war movies are about War, but "B" war movies are about soldiers. (Review of Original Release) Read full review

Ty Burr

There are sequences in The Big Red One that you can't forget, and every one of them could have been made better with a bigger budget and a realism that was beyond Fuller's grasp at the time. Read full review

Stephen Hunter

Though 45 minutes longer than the original release, still feels thinner, less complex, more mythic and far less compelling. Read full review

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User Reviews

smiyamot

Jul 10, 2016

A really good movie about soldiers in war. Many topics flow though the movie, is killing enemy soldiers murder?, is bombing an insane asylum bad but bombing sane people is good?, I don't know these guys why am I here in this fight? do I want to know the names of new guys since they'll beA really good movie about soldiers in war. Many topics flow though the movie, is killing enemy soldiers murder?, is bombing an insane asylum bad but bombing sane people is good?, I don't know these guys why am I here in this fight? do I want to know the names of new guys since they'll be killed anyway? Lee Marvin said in an interview this was his best acting job; I was interested to see; it was.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

HotelCentral

Apr 11, 2016

Compared to The Longest Day, Band of Brothers, Twelve O'Clock High, Patton, Das Boot, The Great Escape, The Train, In Harm's Way, Schindler's List, and others, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction is a very long and tedious collection of anecdotes with very little in the way of interestingCompared to The Longest Day, Band of Brothers, Twelve O'Clock High, Patton, Das Boot, The Great Escape, The Train, In Harm's Way, Schindler's List, and others, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction is a very long and tedious collection of anecdotes with very little in the way of interesting action or characterization. It would be a waste of time to even mention the words "story arc." This is perhaps the most overrated film I have ever encountered. I would compare it to a mediocre episode from the TV series The Rat Patrol with the only redeeming feature being Lee Marvin, who is provided with very little material to work with.

I can well understand the theatrical release being edited down from 162 minutes to 113. What I can't understand is why in God's name anyone would want to paste it all back together. There's so little in the way of a real story here it's ridiculous and probably not worth your time, unless you are very easily entertained.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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