The Big Red One

Starring:StÃ©phane Audran, Ken Campbell, Robert Carradine, Joseph Clark (II), Howard Delman, Bobby Di Cicco, Alain Doutey, Giovanna Galletti, Colin Gilbert, Mark Hamill, Perry Lang, Charles Macaulay, Serge Marquand, Maurice Marsac, Lee Marvin, Siegfried Rauch, Marthe Villalonga, Kelly Ward, Doug Werner
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Sam Fuller's The Big Red One was already one of the best films of 1980, despite the fact that the version released to theaters ran barely half as long as the director's cut. Fuller had been America's ballsiest B-movie auteur, an ex-newspaper reporter of the hardnosed breed who made fiercely personal, radically stylized, and politically outspoken films between the early '50s (The Steel Helmet, Pickup on South Street) and the early '60s (Shock Corridor). The Big Red One was his long-dreamt-of account of World War II as experienced by his own squad of the 1st Infantry Division, USA, from the first shot fired (by a dead man, on the coast of North Africa) to the last (in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia).

Even in the studio-truncated version, there was no shortage of astonishing moments and sequences: the squad choking on dust in a bat-filled cave in North Africa as German tanks clatter past the entrance; Fuller's cold-blooded distillation of the D-Day slaughter on Omaha Beach, with a wrist watch on a dead arm in the surf marking time as the water slopping over it grows redder; the rifle squad delivering a Frenchwoman's baby in a German tank on a battlefield full of corpses; a commando-like raid on Nazi troops bivouacked in a Belgian insane asylum. A quarter-century later, film critic Richard Schickel and Warner Bros. executive Brian Jamieson succeeded in restoring 15 never-seen sequences and fleshing out 23 others to create The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, a "new" film nearly an hour longer.

Above all, BR1: The Reconstruction has a rhythm the 1980 cut lacked. The arc of years, battles, and battlegrounds is so much more satisfying. Greater play is given to Fuller's feeling for children caught up in the sidewash of history and atrocity. And the 2004 cut puts sex back into the movie, not orgiastically but as a fact of life and a rarely forgotten driving force. We can see now that Fuller touched, bluntly and shockingly, on the phenomenon of infiltrators--English-speaking German warriors who donned GI khaki and moved among their enemies waiting for a chance to strike.

It's also apparent, as it was not in 1980, that Lee Marvin as the eternal Sergeant leading the young squad is magnificent. This was Marvin's greatest role, rivaled only by his walking dead man in John Boorman's Point Blank. Just beneath the masterly implacability, we glimpse the tenderness, rage, dark humor, experience, and wisdom beyond guilt that have enabled him to survive, to preserve others and to soldier on. His performance, like Fuller's film, is a masterpiece. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

Unwatchable!.......2007-06-16

Any resemblance between BRO and WW2 is merely in the uniforms.
Do you want to see Lee Marvin kissed on the mouth multiple times by a German military doctor who has a childish tattoo of a nude man on chest? Didn't think so. And the really odd thing is that Marvin doesn't object until at least the second kiss. Was his character undecided whether he liked it?
I guess this is Fuller's idea of a good war movie or at least a good joke on the rest of us. If war is hell, then watching this movie is the closest thing to hell. And I don't mean that in a "Saving Private Ryan" way.
If you make the mistake of buying this movie and watch the first few scenes, don't torture yourself by hoping it will get better. Hit eject and move on.

Different Time.......2007-05-06

Even not a fun of war movies likes this work of young US soldiers and their lucky elder wise commander much.

Why not so many awards for? Maybe, because Fuller then was not recent Spielberg. Time is different now. Even in Hollywood for Hollywood.

the big red one.......2007-04-10

one of the really good wwII movies. unknown to most. lee marvin is great.

Big Red One.......2007-03-08

Aside form the failed attempts to add / alter footage in Star Wars and Return of the Jedi, there are only two other movies in recent times that I can recall as being reduced in quality after previously excised material was later included. One was "Apocalypse Now; Redux" and the other is "The Big Red One".

Samuel Fuller was never a truly good director in any real sense of the word. Most of his efforts are mediocre to middling at best. Early efforts like "Fixed Bayonets" or "The Steel Helmet" showed flashes of something approaching greatness, but when one looks through his body of material, one is left somewhat under-whelmed.

"The Big Red One", which was easily Fuller's best movie contains those same flashes of brilliance, (a dead soldier's wrist watch marking time on Omaha beach on the 6th June), but also tends to leave the viewer somewhat dry after each section following Fullers young squad of American infantrymen. The project, which was in Fullers heart for many years, is just beyond the scope of the budget that Sam Fuller was able to scrape together for it. The 70 year old Fuller, who served with 1st battalion, has many memories to draw upon but they are let down sometimes by poor writing, directing and execution. "The Big Red One" never seems to know what kind of movie it's trying to be. In one moment we have a gung ho `gee whiz Sarge, let's kill the Krauts" type of Hollywood war movie, very much in the vein of the 1950's and on the other it tries hard to actually say something strong about the war and the period that the film is set in. Neither element seems to come off successfully however.

This is not to say that the "Big Red One" is totally un-enjoyable, that is not the case. On the whole the film passes by relatively well, with some very nice sarcastic moments delivered by a great Lee Marvin, who plays the squads Sergeant, although he is far, far too old (the prologue shows Marvin's character during the First World War ! ) If one ignores that, however and just enjoys Marvin for what he is, then it's forgivable. Other characters aren't so entertaining though. Among the core of the squad are a pretty dull Kelly Ward and Bobby Di Cicco, with Robert Carridine tasked with trying to be a composite of Fuller himself (complete with chomping cigar) and others and Mark Hammil fresh from "The Empire Strikes Back" playing a rather clichéd sharpshooter who, shock horror, loses his ability to shoot straight because he's worrying about "murdering the enemy", exercising one of the films nods to old style war movies.

"We don't murder the enemy, we kill him" reassures Marvin's Sergeant.

This is echoed by Marvin's opposite number, Fledwebel Schroeder (played by Siegfried Rauch). An obviously cardboard nazi type, that's actually made more silly by the extended material. Schroeder is ridiculously one dimensional, dispatching his own men when they don't agree with him or the party line and is simply a foil for Marvin. But he could have been a much better character and contributed more to the film. It's not Rauch's fault, it's just the writing.

The new material in the reconstruction of the "Big Red One" jars on the film as a whole. Most of the extra scenes don't add anything to the movie except to its running time and it's easy to see why they were cut out the first time `round. The exception being the extra footage of a French cavalry attack, which helps out Marvin's squad as they make an attack the Afrika Korps. At the end of the battle Marvin warns his men that he won't have any trading going on for "Krauts ears", as the North Afican troops have been cutting off American ears too and trading them as well. It's a nice little effort to introduce some ambiguity to the main characters of the piece. Among other added scenes is a frankly un-necessary sex scene between Hammil and an older female agent in a mental asylum and a scene with a German sniper child that is rendered absolutely ridiculous at its end.

None of the extra material ever comes close to matching some of the original scenes for power. The previously mentioned D-Day watch sequence (although it's a poor man's "Private Ryan" for the most part) and the finale in Czechoslovakian concentration camp just won't be bettered by the new inclusions.

Overall, the "Big Red One; the reconstruction" is a nice package and is essentially a good idea but with flawed material, both original and added. There's nice extras here too in the form of genuinely interesting documentaries and deleted scenes etc. It would have been nice to have the original theatrical cut included too. That would have rounded off the presentation.

Not as good as other war movies.......2007-03-06

I have seen this movie several times and do not rank it as among the best war films. Several films that I consider better include "Battleground", "A Walk in the Sun", "GI Joe", The Longest Day", "The Train", "Saving Private Ryan", "They Were Expendable", "Twelve O'clock High", "Bridge at Remagen", "A Bridge Too Far", "Judgement at Nuremberg", and "Band of Brothers." I sometimes watch it on cable TV but will not buy it for my film library. I cannot give explicit reasons why I feel this way but can only use my experience as a war movie buff.

World War II Collection - Battlefront Europe (The Big Red One Two-Disc Special Edition / The Dirty Dozen / Battle of the Bulge / Battleground / Where Eagles Dare)

Average customer rating:

WWII Collection Battle Front Europe
War Movies
GREAT ADVENTURE
Thrilling War Films

World War II Collection - Battlefront Europe (The Big Red One Two-Disc Special Edition / The Dirty Dozen / Battle of the Bulge / Battleground / Where Eagles Dare)
Starring: Wwii Collection
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

World War II | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

( W ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Two-Disc Special Editions | Fully Loaded DVDs | Features | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Drama | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

World War II Collection (The Thin Red Line/Patton/Tora! Tora! Tora!/The Longest Day)
WWII 60th Anniversary Collection (The Guns of Navarone/From Here to Eternity/The Bridge on the River Kwai) (Includes Collectible Scrapbook)
WW II 60th Anniversary Collection (Das Boot/Anzio/Caine Mutiny/Dead Men's Secrets) (Includes Collectible Scrapbook)
The Bridge at Remagen
Midway (Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B0007TKNLK
Release Date: 2005-05-03

Description

The Battle of the Bulge: Nazi Panzer forces stage a last-ditch Belgian front offensive that could turn the tide of WWII. Henry Fonda, Robert Shaw and Robert Ryan in the spectacular recreation of a crucial campaign.

Battleground: Van Johnson, Ricardo Montalban and George Murphy star in this remarkable war film, nominated for six Oscars(R) (including Best Picture) about courageous American G.I.s caught up in the battle at Bastogne.

The Big Red One Special Edition: "The real glory of war," Samuel Fuller said, "is surviving." A decorated combatant with the famed U.S. First Infantry in WWII, Fuller survived. His 1980 film version of his war experiences did not...until now. Working with 70,000 feet of vault materials and Fuller's shooting script, critic/filmmaker Richard Schickel heads a reconstruction that adds over 40 minutes and transforms a truncated but admired war film into an epic masterwork. Lee Marvin, in a richly layered performance now revealed as one of his finest, stars as the sergeant of peach-fuzzed riflemen fighting from North Africa to Normandy and across Europe. The film is the squad's combat diary, war as it's fought and sweated and bled, and, maybe, survived.

The Dirty Dozen: Twelve jailbirds will earn their freedom...if they survive a suicide mission against the Nazi brass. Tough-as-nails Lee Marvin leads a nothing-to-lose convict squad of Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Trini Lopez, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker and more in the all-time action trendsetter. Where Eagles

Dare: The mission is clear. Get in. Get the general. Get out. Commandos charged with freeing a U.S. general from an Alpine fortress should also be told to trust nothing - including the search-and-rescue orders just issued. Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood go Where Eagles Dare in this twisty World War II thriller written by action master Alistair MacLean (The Guns of Navarone, Ice Station Zebra) and directed by Brian G. Hutton (Kelly's Heroes). Known for fiery dramatic roles, Burton ventures into the realm of movie pyrotechnics with dynamic efficiency. And Eastwood's cool-fire presence heightens one searing action sequence after another. The film became Eastwood's then-largest hit and its studio's #1 moneymaker of the year.

Customer Reviews:

WWII Collection Battle Front Europe.......2007-05-18

5 of my favorite WWII movies in one package. Super!

War Movies.......2006-11-11

Three of this collection are movies I have wanted for many years, and to get them in one collection is my reason for acquiring the set. Battleground is the story of a small group of doughboys stuck in the Argonne, basically surrounded by Germans, and their fight for survival. Where Eagles Dare is about a group of highly trained soldiers trying to destroy a fortress in the Alps controlled by the Germans; however, a mole and high ranking officer overseeing the operation want the group to fail. The Dirty Dozen is a war classic about criminals given a respite to carry out a basically suicide mission against a host of high ranking German officers

GREAT ADVENTURE .......2006-08-04

I have watched a lot of WWII DVDs and found that these movies while hollywoodized to an extent are pretty accurate. These movies will entertain you completely!!! This is a great group of war films and I enjoyed each and every one of them thouroughly!!! Cant beat the price either!!

Thrilling War Films.......2006-07-26

I recently purchased this DVD European War collection and I'm enjoying these wonderful war films at a price that's so affordable it must be seen to believe. This World War II DVD Collection-European Warfare includes 5 outstanding War epics that were received by the movie-going public as fascinating with a great story line and many action-packed scenes that most critics moved to give these films a thumbs up. It's difficult to point out which film ranks the best. You can choose any 5 exciting war epics, my favorites "The Dirty Dozen" and "Where Eagles Dare" were given 3-1/2 - 4 Stars. The picture transfer on all 5 are crisp and clear and the sound is remarkably full-bodied stereo. Five stars for a great collection of War films that can be watched over and over again.

Average customer rating:

Unwatchable!
Different Time
the big red one
Big Red One
Not as good as other war movies

The Big Red One
Starring: Stéphane Audran , Ken Campbell , Robert Carradine , Joseph Clark (II) , and Howard Delman
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

Action & Combat | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

World War II | Military & War | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 Action & Adventure | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

All Deals | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( B ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Battle of the Bulge [HD DVD]
A Bridge Too Far
The Wild Geese (30th Anniversary Edition)
Major Dundee (The Extended Version)
Midway (Collector's Edition)

ASIN: 0790741814
Release Date: 1999-04-27

Amazon.com

In Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg depicts the D-day landings with a realism lauded by veterans. The Big Red One depicts the D-day landings, too, and it was made by a veteran. Writer-director Samuel Fuller, who served in the First Infantry Division from North Africa to Czechoslovakia (including the Normandy landings), made a career out of swift, punchy B movies, such as Pickup on South Street and The Naked Kiss. The Big Red One became Fuller's nod to A-movie filmmaking, yet it has the solid, matter-of-fact perspective of the ground-level infantryman. The episodic action ranges all over the European theater, as a tough squad of American GIs (including Mark Hamill and Robert Carradine) follow their hard-bitten sergeant (Lee Marvin, at his best) and try to stay alive. Filmed mostly in Israel, the film delivers on the requisite war-movie conventions and tough-guy humor but also introduces notes of poetry. Fuller's D-day doesn't match the pyrotechnics of Spielberg's version, but it creates power from the simple image of a dead soldier's watch, ticking away in blood-soaked surf. A fine and memorable picture, The Big Red One might have been even greater had it been released in Fuller's full-length cut--not until 2005 did a reconstruction allow the director's vision to be seen for the first time. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

Unwatchable!.......2007-06-16

Different Time.......2007-05-06

the big red one.......2007-04-10

one of the really good wwII movies. unknown to most. lee marvin is great.

Big Red One.......2007-03-08

Not as good as other war movies.......2007-03-06

Average customer rating:

CAVEAT EMPTOR
They have got to be kidding.
It is a bad deal.
Not terribly useful collection
Some Winners and Some Losers

Dozen DVD Deal - Action

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Action & Adventure | Genres | DVD | Video

( D ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Action & Adventure | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Customer Reviews:

CAVEAT EMPTOR.......2005-05-11

BUYER BEWARE! This looks like a lowball of a deal if you consider that most of the movies depicted are the worst Hollywood has ever produced and delivered. I would look at the reviews and perhaps rent each individual movie before you by them all together. Here's a view of some of them:

'The Big Red One': Without question one of the worst WWII/D-Day films ever produced in every respect (technically and historically.) The film stars Lee Marvin who's much too old to play a grunt on the beaches of Normandy. The film is riddled with cliches and bad scenes from beginning to end. It wasn't even filmed in Europe but Israel. Yes, the coasts and beaches in Israel look so much like Normandy it's striking! It's about as bad as setting Auschwitz in Death Valley for a Holocaust film.

'The Gauntlet': Dirty Harry-type Eastwood movie where he's got to protect a witness against corrupt cops. Not a bad movie but not his best either: far below his Dirty Harry films or his westerns.

'Point of No Return': American version of "La Femme Nikita" starring Bridget Fonda. O.K. but the French version was better and more realistic.

'The Sea Wolves': Humor-action WWII movie starring Roger Moore. This one is actually pretty good with a lot of action.

'Soldier': Probably the worst movie that Kurt Russel ever starred in where he has an even smaller script than Schwarzeneger in "Terminator." Pathetic: not even worth watching once.

'Tango and Cash': Comedy-action cop movie with Kurt Russel and Sylvester Stallone. O.K. but after a while you begin to wonder whether you're laughing at the film or the fact that this was even made into a movie.

'Victory': Good movie about a soccer team of prisoners in WWII starrring Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. This film is probably the best one out of the entire selection.

'When Trumpets Fade': Another one of the absolutely worst war films ever produced regarding the obscure battle of Hurtigen Forest at the close of WWII in Europe. A pathetic film with a horrible screenplay and equally disgraceful acting: avoid like the plague! I got it for free as a bonus to buying 'Band of Brothers' and I threw it away after one viewing as I couldn't stop laughing as to how bad this movie was.

Save your money and buy the few good films in this packet separately. Most of the movies in this package are not worth buying trust me!

They have got to be kidding........2005-03-20

There are maybe two OK movies in this "Deal", the rest are junk. I do not want to own any of them personally. The best part is the deal itself. Every single one of these movies can be had for less than ten bucks. If they chopped the first number of the price, they might be able to call it a deal.

It is a bad deal........2004-11-18

With the market for the DVD's being so competetive you can buy these DVDs individually at a much cheaper price than as an action pack on amazon. Don't be fooled go else where. The movies are good so I'd get them just not all at once like this.

David

Not terribly useful collection.......2003-09-12

While the movies here in and of themselves are not 'bad' movies, unless you really want to buy them all you would probably be better off seeking the specific movies that you want rather than coughing up $115 for them here.

Some Winners and Some Losers.......2003-09-10

This is an interesting set of DVDs.

There are some good films here and some not so great.

"The Big Red One" is a much overlooked war film starring, believe it or not, Mark Hamill of "Star Wars" fame. The story is told very well.

"Fort Apache, The Bronx" stars Paul Newman and is really not so bad a cop film. If you like that genre, this is a good addition to your collection. Again, a well told story, if not a little dated.

"The Gauntlet" is a pretty good Clint Eastwood movie from 1977. Not one of his best, but not one of his worst either.

"Point of No Return" is the American version of "LaFemme Nikita" starring Bridget Fonda. The original is the better movie, but this one works. Its a fun watch.

"Ricochet" stars a pre-Oscar win Denzel Washington and a very over the top John Lithgow. It passes for entertainment, but barely. Lindsay Wagner shows up, if that helps.

"Soldier" is a Kurt Russel movie that he worked out for. Nice pecs, Kurt.

"Tango and Cash" is actually a pretty good film. Importantly, it does NOT take itself too seriously and it fun to watch. It stars Kurt Russel and Sylvester Stallone in their prime action-hero days.

"Victory" is a great film. The best featured here. It is placed in a concentration camp in WWII and its about soccer. You're intrigued, right? Its actually a very good movie, uplifting and well told. Again we have Sylvester Stallone and he's joined by Michael Caine and Pele (soccer superstar).

Obviously, there are some good films in this collection. Dont write it off without a consideration.

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