the big red one

i have not seen a samuel fuller movie, but obviously, i’m curious as an aspiring film buff.
i was at the store today and saw a dvd of the big red one- the reconstruction.
for some reason, i have a huge soft spot for movies that have been dismantled by the studio, and been pieced back together years later.
i don’t know why.
but, is this a movie i should check out? should i bother seeing the original theatrical cut at all?
i love lee marvin, war movies, and film history, so i’m probably going to see it at some point

It’s worth watching. It’s not my favorite Sam Fuller, but certain things endear it. First of all, Mark Hamill as anything other than Luke Skywalker and the voice of the animated Joker. Secondly, a protracted Normandy Invasion scene ominously similar to Saving Private Ryan…. Thirdly, Lee Marvin. Just… Lee Marvin.

But dude, for my buck, Naked Kiss, White Dog, and Pickup on South Street. Most amazing Fuller.

—PolarisDiB

Yes, that it is worth watching! It’s a masterpiece!

I just picked this one up at the Library. I’m looking forward to it. I was surprised to see Mark Hamill was in it.

Johnny —

This is one of the films that helped to mold my love, appreciation and philosophy of cinema. It is a masterpiece.

Not Fuller’s best, but pretty good. The same thing happened to me a few months ago. I hadn’t seen “The Big Red One,” it was on sale for for $10, and bought it outright; though not blindly, since I had already seen and loved Pickup on South Street and Naked Kiss. I wasn’t disappointed.

Also, the Reconstruction is seamless except in a few scenes. It is quite unfortunate Fuller didn’t have huge budgets and amazing casts throughout his career. His talent more than makes up for these shortcomings. It sucks that he could out tarantino Tarantino with drive, wit, sensationalism, pacing, and iconoclasm, but was never given the great actors and monster budgets the Quentin garners. Fuller had to pave the way for others to follow.

It’s definitely worthwhile.

Get the uncut restored version if you can. It’s a great film. Budgetary limitations and his struggles with the studio while making the film are well documented. Which was too bad really, considering Fuller was part of the Big Red One, and actually fought that day 6 June in Normandy, which oddly in the film looked sunny and bloodless. (With all due respect to “Saving Private Ryan”, whose overall production captured that bloody day on film the way history, and it’s participants described it.) Although I must admit I preferred ‘Steel Helmet’, and the rarely seen ’Merryl’s Marauders’ as the better of Fuller’s war films. But there’s more to the film than D-Day – it’s a long journey from the Meditteranean to the gas chambers of Europe. And with Fuller and Lee Marvin, yes it’s definitely worth seeing.

Steel Helmet is my favorite Fuller and favorite war film.

Just saw it for the first time yesterday and i enjoyed it. Im a sucker for WW2 films

The Big Red One is the real shit. We still haven’t got enough films by vets (former Marines Fuller & Marvin among them) which express, directly and honestly, the senseless experience of being up to one’s elbows in more-or-less organized mass slaughter of men, women and children one doesn’t know.

@WITKACY – “We still haven’t got enough films by vets (former Marines Fuller & Marvin among them)…”

- Sam Fuller was actually an Army grunt (infantryman) who fought in numerous campaigns in the Meditteranean and Europe. Lee Marvin, a Marine rifleman and a veteran of many island hopping operations in the Pacific, was wounded in action during the battle of Saipan. Many directors have served, among them include Marine Sam Peckinpah, Russ Meyer (as an Army combat cameraman in Europe), John Ford (an officer in the Navy, he shot many combat footage of the great Pacific battles) and Oliver Stone (an Army infantryman in Vietnam). The odd one is Edward Wood Jr. (yes, Ed Wood!) He was a Marine, and a veteran of many bloody Pacific campaigns. He’s been known to have claimed that he fought the savage battle of Tarawa wearing woman’s undergarment under his uniform. Hey, he’s got my respect, way better than “the famous Marine who did not serve”- John Wayne.

The Big Red One(restored) is not as good as Steel Helmet. As much as I’d like to fault casting and lack of budget, I think some of the flaws of this film come from Fuller’s occasional sloppiness as a craftsman. Yes, I think he was sometimes “sloppy” as opposed to “raw”. That said, his ideas for scenes are often shocking, but rarely just seem like “shock” cinema- they are too damn interesting. Some of the episodes of this film are brilliant. My favorites are SPOILER – the woman pulling the gun on the German imposter for not “eating like an American” (like an American “slob” i should say, patriotically) and the scene in the cave which is visually grand and somewhat absurd. I like Lee Marvin, but I wish it had been someone else (I am not sure why). The young cast is not very good. Like other posters have mentioned, I could not help but think of Tarantino occasionally when watching this film. Tarantino has a better shooting style to me, but is far less interesting…

The film is worth seeing, especially for world war 2 movie aficionados

Just bought the restoration for a buck at a yard sale, but was immediately reminded that it’s style is indeed quite changed from those elements I admired most in STEEL HELMET, FIXED BAYONETS, and other earlier Fuller’s (even up to MERRIL’S MAURADERS). But then again, Fuller had changed a lot as a director over the course of decades of experience. The sense of humor is very different and fantastical in BIG RED ONE compared to something like STEEL HELMET.

. . . and Big Red One was looking way back to WWII, while Steel Helmet and Fixed Bayonets! were pretty much staring the Korean War right in the face, so the historical perspective is quite different.

Precisely. I think that explains everything about his change in style to actually tackle revised and evolved views on the memories of what he had witnessed and undergone.