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Movies / On DVD / The Big Red One
The Big Red One

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The Big Red One (1980)

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Reviews Counted:43

Fresh:39

Rotten:4

Average Rating:7.7/10

Consensus: The reconstruction of Samuel Fuller’s epic account of his days in North Africa in World War II elevates the film into the pantheon of great war movies.

Runtime: 2 hrs 43 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

Synopsis: Episodic retelling of the exploits of the American First Infantry Division during World War II, focusing on the squad's sergeant and four of the soldiers. They struggle to survive campaigns from... Episodic retelling of the exploits of the American First Infantry Division during World War II, focusing on the squad's sergeant and four of the soldiers. They struggle to survive campaigns from North Africa in November, 1942, to Czechoslovakia in May, 1945, along the way participating in the invasion of Sicily and the D-Day invasion and freeing a lunatic asylum and a concentration camp. [More]

Starring: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Kelly Ward

Starring: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Kelly Ward

Director: Samuel Fuller

Director: Samuel Fuller

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Release:

Apr 29, 1999

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for The Big Red One

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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... if you want a World War II story from a real vet's perspective, Sam Fuller is still the man and The Big Red One, drawn from his own war experiences, is the film

Full Review Source: Seanax.com | comment Comment
04/12/09
Sean Axmaker
Sean Axmaker
Seanax.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
03/26/09
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Personal observation bleeds out of every scene, and somehow it feels like a true story in a way that most war movies can't achieve.

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
09/12/07
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

No review available.

comment Comment
10/22/06
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

... displays both raw power and the hint of war's brutality.

Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
10/02/06
Dennis Schwartz
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
07/04/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
05/20/05
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

meant to be the culmination of a life’s work... It didn’t come to pass.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/10/05
Chris Barsanti
Chris Barsanti
Filmcritic.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/26/05
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The cast smartly underplays things, with Marvin being as charismatic as usual playing a man of few words. And Hamill, an actor given to over-the-top outbursts, reins it in here; this may be his best big-screen performance.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
02/18/05
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

These places were where Fuller himself served during the war, and he imbues these stories with the same gritty detail he probably delivered telling them over a beer.

Full Review Source: Salt Lake Tribune | comment Comment
02/18/05
Sean Means
Sean Means
Salt Lake Tribune

No review available.

comment Comment
02/14/05
Robin Clifford
Robin Clifford
Reeling Reviews

Schickel's painstaking work elevates The Big Red One into the pantheon of the all-time great war films and gives it a fullness that the original only suggested.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
01/21/05
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

Fuller went a step further, baring not only his soul but the wartime scars inflicted upon it. For all its merits, the 1980 version of the film denied audiences that connection. The new version both restores and reaffirms it.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/21/05
Wade Major
Wade Major
Boxoffice Magazine

Fuller wrote and directed The Big Red One with a reporter's respect for detail and a humanist's respect for the moments that shape lives.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
01/20/05
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

A big, impressive slab of drama -- maybe not a masterpiece or an epic, but a colorful story that sweeps you up and covers a lot of ground at a fast clip.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
01/20/05
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

'The Reconstruction,' which clocks in at 2 hours, 43 minutes, with not a single extraneous frame, elevates the work from a robust genre film to a full-blown epic.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
01/20/05
Kevin Crust
Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
01/20/05
Scott Foundas
Scott Foundas
L.A. Weekly

No review available.

comment Comment
01/05/05
Lori Hoffman
Lori Hoffman
Atlantic City Weekly
 
 
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