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The Big Red One [1980] | ![The Big Red One [1980]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VB4878C6L._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Director: Samuel Fuller
Actors: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco, Kelly Ward
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: Video
List Price: £9.99
Buy Used: £0.30
You Save: £9.69 (97%)
Used (15) Collectible (1) from £0.30
Rating:  6 reviews
Format: Dolby, Pal, Surround Sound
Languages: English (Original Language), French (Original Language), German (Original Language), Italian (Original Language)
Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
Media: VHS Tape
Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 111 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 4.2 x 1.1
EAN: 5014780009394
ASIN: B00004CI9T
Theatrical Release Date: 1980
Release Date: June 19, 2000
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: In fine fettle all round
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
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 Europe, 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 humour 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--someday perhaps a restoration will allow the director's vision to be seen for the first time. --Robert Horton
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| Customer Reviews:
 Has no one heard of suspension of disbelief? November 29, 2002
William Woodward (United Kingdom)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This film is very true, in the way that great art can be true. It is not, admittedly, GREAT film making, yet it does, especially given the period within which it was made, tell many truths about both warfare and the Second World War in particular. We have been spoilt since the late eighties by a stream of realistic war films, which should nevertheless not prevent us from enjoying The Big Red One. With what now seem like school play production values when compared to such as Full Metal Jacket, incedentally filmed at Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, and the Isle of Dogs - before development, realistic it is not, yet it is one of the most truthful depictions of warfare yet made.
 Neither worst nor best. May 14, 2002
2 out of 10 found this review helpful
This offers nothing new to war films, but is better made than most. It has some surprising moments, and captures the mixture of black humour, grimness and downright misery of infantry soldiery. A main point of interest is that both the star and director were veterans of the Second World War, and this shows. It's production values aren't the best, but it was made in 1980 and is on a par with most films from the period. If you're a war film fan, then this is worth buying if you get a good deal on VHS, but unless the picture is sharpened, the sound is re-mastered and there are some great extras, it won't make a good DVD.
 Possibly the nadir of entertainment! January 21, 2001
1 out of 20 found this review helpful
This film has the dubious distinction of being the only 'film' other than the star wars trilogy to star Mark Hamil and only confirms that he has the acting abilities of a plank of wood. The idea that a single platoon of rifleman singlehandedly win WW2 is even more insulting than the 'plot' of "Saving Private Ryan". The backdrops which are supposed to be of Algiers, Sicilly, France and Czechoslovakia all look as if they were filmed on the Utah flats, unsurprisingly they were. The 'authentic' Battle of the Bulge sequence is done in a sound stage the obvioussness of which can be gagued from the shredded paper snow. The quality of the film is dire and not worthy of Lee Marvins presence on the screen.
Absolute rubbish August 5, 2003
Neil Sawyer (London, London United Kingdom)
1 out of 18 found this review helpful
If you are thinking of buying this movie - don't bother. It is disjointed, boring and there's minimal decent action in it. The worst thing is that unlike the excellent Band of Brothers or Saving Private Ryan, there is no attempt by the film makers to get the audience to bond with the characters in the movie. I found it superficial and just a hotch potch of different bland action sequences. Give it a miss!
5* May 29, 2006
John Fairbairn
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
great film ,all the way from north africa to the horror of the camps.very believable and the actors are true to the war (i was there ) bit weak at the end ,however very enjoyable .
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