When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Dear Samuel Fuller,this guy called Quentin Tarantino ripped off the beginning of your film with the visuals of the statue of Jesus on the cross. He might also have been inspired (for another film of his) by the scene where a Belgian maid identifies a German officer posing as an American by the way he eats a steak.I liked the story - a tightly knit unit of soldiers lead by a sergeant (Lee Marvin) who is both ruthless and humane take part in some of the important battles of World War 2. Your film can be looked at as series of dramatic and action set pieces separated by scenes of the soldiers interacting with each other and cracking jokes. The soldiers helping a German woman deliver a baby, eating lunch with a bunch of Italian mamas, partying with Belgian women and attacking a mental asylum stood out for me. But the action scenes were the film's weak point. Sometimes, they went on and on. They were quite boring. I guess you were aiming for realism. I liked the extensive use of close ups and the quick cuts in the battle scenes. The images of the bloodied waves and food stood out for me.Rober Carradine who plays the Italian narrator looked like a young John Cassavetes. Lee Marvin was effortlessly bad ass and melancholic as the leader of the squadron. The catharsis for Marvin's character (who has fought in both the World War's) at the film's end was very imaginative and touching.Best Regards, Pimpin.(7/10)

This was a disappointing film for me. It didn't really engage me at all. For a rather long film, I would have expected a little more character development and background story exploration, but we never really learn much about them. In fact I couldn't tell you the names of the main characters, which says a lot about how much the film held my interest.In terms of the filming style, it is rather disjointed, with the action switching between various locations, and from one explosion to the next. At one point we have a ridiculous isolated scene where 3 of the soldiers are delivering a baby in a tank. Who is this woman? We don't know, never find out, and she's never seen again.I can't even recommend the acting quality, with some peripheral characters being extremely wooden, and a little painful to 'see' them acting. The ending scene at Auschwitz is woefully unconvincing, and Hamil is clearly out of his depth.Annoyingly too, the music at points was inappropriate in its style. Normally a good film soundtrack is quite unobtrusive, yet adds to the atmosphere of the film. Yet with this one, the style was sometimes glaringly irritating to me, and not really in keeping with the mood of the film.For a 2 hour 40 minute film, I expected more. I know it's an older film, and it sure looks like it. This falls way below the standard of films like 'Saving Private Ryan' and even the TV series 'Band Of Brothers', which were both much more enjoyable, engaging and convincing.

Yes, this movie features two well known actors of the time, and still today: Lee Marvin & Mark Hamill. The Big Red One has some ups and downs, but mainly downs...in a matter of opinion of course. To start off, I feel that nobody in this movie was truly dedicated to their role, as most or all of the actors were very unconvincing. The way it was filmed makes me feel like there are pieces missing or it's broken/hastily made. They land in Africa (wait did I see a black soldier on the landing boats?! with white soldiers?! Didn't the army segregate whites and blacks into their own battalions post 1942?). Then the Americans are fired upon "accidentally" by the French, U.S. has sporadic firefights with the Germans, later they dig in and tanks run over their foxholes killing some men?, two guys get out of foxholes (one of them Hamill) and run for the hills, and then everyone is out of their foxholes, and THEN I don't know what the f**k is going on...just a lot of nonsense. THEN they are on the beaches, and Mark Hamill's narration kicks in and states that there are only four guys left in their unit or something like that....Nest scene their on a boat to Sicily. Blah blah blah. I'm not going to review every inch of this film. I saw this for the first time 15 or so years ago, but recently watched it again and had to put in some words. I loved the Dirty Dozen, but did not like Lee Marvin in Red One. He seemed far away, like on autopilot for this role. The good I have to say is that although some/most of the battle scenes were off, they were still entertaining, and for that I give this movie a 5. It's 1:08 AM now, I can't sleep and had nothing better to do. I think I'll watch All Quiet On The Western Front (1930 talkie version), the acting and battle scenes are more realistic than The Big Red One made 50 years later.

The Big Red One directed by Samuel Fuller bases the story line off of his own life and has done it well. Along with several other war tributes to the generation that served our country during the 1940s, Fuller's version is another good film to see.Starring as the main character is Lee Marvin. For anyone who does not know of Marvin's background, he too served in the military in World War II. And now he's fighting for his country again but on screen; where he can't be really killed. Lucky him! Along side Marvin is actor Mark Hamill. Yes-Luke Skywalker is in this movie too! Now America has the force on its side! Hamill plays a character named Griff who is a little bit insecure about himself. He's the kind of person that does not acclimate to war so easily but tries to cope with it. The main things that will grab people's attention are the accuracy of what most of the war was like. Everything was grueling. Everything was communicated by hollering orders. Everything was at war. There are not a lot of characters involved with the plot but you see many brave soldiers die; no doubt about that.There are also some touching moments in this film. Sometimes platoon's would run into run-down foreign European towns where many people did not have food and water. What makes moments great like these is that the soldier's would help them, which is what America does. We help people. We release people from their captives because everyone has the right to be free. The only reason why I did not give this World War II flick ten stars was the way the story line moved. Everything seemed too choppy. First they start out in some place in Africa. All of a sudden, they're in Europe. Wait, where's the transition here? It just felt like the platoon was just migrating from place to place just because they felt like it. That's the only thing that bothers me in this movie. Everything else I appreciate and respect to up-most degree.Containing less gore but the same amount of zeal, Fuller's version of World War II is heartfelt and touching altogether. For any World War II buff, this is another classic that should be on your list to watch.