Having previously fought in World War I, an unnamed sergeant (Lee Marvin) now leads soldiers of the U.S. First Infantry Division through World War II. The film follows his unit as they try to serve in and survive the war.
12 August 1912, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA
2 April 1932, Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany
24 March 1954, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA
1955, Itasca, Illinois, USA
24 December 1959, Palo Alto, California, USA
26 February 1939, Grabów nad Prosna, Wielkopolskie, Poland
30 August 1953, Los Angeles, California, USA
26 July 1966, Munich, Germany
20 March 1932, Fort-de-l'Eau, Alger, France [now Bordj El Kifan, Algeria]
19 February 1924, New York City, New York, USA
28 January 1975, Los Angeles, California, USA
14 September 1932, Budapest, Hungary
17 November 1956, San Diego, California, USA
May 22, 1937 in Paris, France
12 October 1944, Paris, France
23 March 1915, Croix, Nord, France
26 September 1927, Louisville, Kentucky, USA
23 December 1943, Winterberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
12 March 1930, Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France
25 September 1951, Oakland, California, USA
April 12, 2009
... if you want a World War II story from a real vet's perspective, Sam Fuller is still the man and The Big Red One, drawn from his own war experiences, is the film
January 20, 2005
To see this seamless 'reconstruction' -- consisting of some 15 entirely new sequences as well as augmentations to 23 others -- is to behold a masterpiece revealed.
December 10, 2004
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.
January 20, 2005
A big, impressive slab of drama -- maybe not a masterpiece or an epic, but a colorful story that sweeps you up and covers a lot of ground at a fast clip.
December 03, 2004
The director's gift for bare-knuckles lyricism rescues scene after scene.
May 10, 2005
meant to be the culmination of a life's work... It didn't come to pass.
February 18, 2005
The cast smartly underplays things, with Marvin being as charismatic as usual playing a man of few words. And Hamill, an actor given to over-the-top outbursts, reins it in here; this may be his best big-screen performance.
October 02, 2006
... displays both raw power and the hint of war's brutality.
September 12, 2007
Personal observation bleeds out of every scene, and somehow it feels like a true story in a way that most war movies can't achieve.
February 18, 2005
These places were where Fuller himself served during the war, and he imbues these stories with the same gritty detail he probably delivered telling them over a beer.
January 20, 2005
'The Reconstruction,' which clocks in at 2 hours, 43 minutes, with not a single extraneous frame, elevates the work from a robust genre film to a full-blown epic.
December 02, 2004
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.
