It's sometimes so explicit, corny and odd that you can understand why a studio had second thoughts about it. But it also now has the feel of a true epic.
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12/17/04
The Big Red One (1980)
91
%
Tomatometer
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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... [More]
Starring: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Kelly Ward
Director: Samuel Fuller
Reviews for The Big Red One
Even though it has gained more than 45 minutes, it doesn't feel longer. Scenes that were choppy or half-baked are now allowed to play out as Fuller intended.
12/10/04
The reconstruction is a bigger, longer and better movie than the one released in 1980, but is less than the revelation for which one might have hoped.
12/09/04
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12/08/04
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12/04/04
Top CriticThe director's gift for bare-knuckles lyricism rescues scene after scene.
12/03/04
If you don't elect to watch The Big Red One through the lens of Sam Fuller's mystique ... you'll realize that it has been celebrated in ways that essentially make virtues of its flaws.
12/02/04
[Marvin's] understated authority and sincerity give the entire film a dignity it would otherwise lack.
12/02/04
Fuller's only A-budget movie is still among the lesser works of this frequently brilliant filmmaker.
11/18/04
In its own rough and still unfinished way, The Big Red One works -- as a memoir of a time, and a movie of the war.
11/15/04
Alas, the lost version of Samuel Fuller's The Big Red One of 1980 has been found -- reassembled, actually, by the distinguished film critic Richard Schickel -- and it's a lot less than legendary. It isn't even very good.
11/12/04
The combination of old-time Hollywood valor and ahead-of-its-time surprises makes this restoration a big event.
11/12/04
What the movie may lack in Saving Private Ryan-style gloss, it more than makes up for in authenticity, or, in other words, heart.
11/11/04
Seven years after Fuller's death, 24 years after its initial, botched release, and almost 60 years after V-E day, The Big Red One is finally here, in a form close to what Fuller intended.
11/11/04
Top CriticYou must see this film for one unstoppable reason, and that is Lee Marvin.
11/09/04
The Big Red One isn't even Fuller's greatest war film. Of those, I'd rank it fourth -- but that's not half bad.
11/09/04
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10/23/04
Top CriticUntil "Saving Private Ryan," this film was the most graphic WWII picture made.
10/15/04
As the longest and biggest of Fuller's movies, it magnifies the essence -- good and bad -- of his work.
10/06/04
The film's overriding mission is to expose both the inherent absurdity and tragedy of war.
10/06/04
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