(Credit: www.dvdsoon.com)
Director:
Samuel Fuller
Cast:
Lee Marvin……….The Sergeant
Mark Hamill……….Pvt. Griff, 1st Squad
Robert Carradine……….Pvt. Zab, 1st Squad
Bobby Di Cicco……….Pvt. Vinci, 1st Squad
Kelly Ward……….Pvt. Johnson, 1st Squad
Siegfried Rauch……….Schroeder (German sergeant)
Stephane Audran……….Walloon
Joseph Clark……….Pvt. Shep
Ken Campbell……….Pvt. Lemchek
Warner Home Video and Lorimar present a Gene Corman production. Written by Samuel Fuller. The Big Red One: The Reconstruction is produced by Richard Schickel and edited by Bryan McKenzie. Post-Production Supervised by Brian Hamblin. Running time: 162 minutes (originally released as a 113-minute feature). Rated R (for war violence and some language).
Writer’s note: In the tradition of Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now Redux, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction has turned an admired war film into an epic masterwork. Working with 70,000 feet of vault materials and Fuller’s original shooting script, critic/filmmaker Richard Schickel lead a reconstruction effort that ended in a digitally restored and remastered film with 47 minutes of never before seen footage.
The movie:
Before the first frame of film is revealed there is a phrase in block lettering. “This is a fictional life based on factual death.” What the idiom means is that all the events in Sam Fuller’s The Big Red One are true; the characters are representations of men who fought valiantly and sweated and bled for our country during World War II.
The title of the film refers to the First Infantry Division of our U.S. Army, and the story follows one squad during the War. Over the course of the film they fight in North Africa, Sicily, Normandy, Omaha Beach on D-Day, France, Belgium, and Germany, just to name a few. Sure, the idea that this squad fought in all these countries may not seem plausible, but I think that’s Sam Fuller’s intention. Since he lived the experience – and heard stories from others – he didn’t want to overlook even the most trivial of events.
There’s a kid in The Big Red One who has a wet-behind-the-ears look about him. Chewing on a cigar stub of his, Private Zab (Robert Carradine) is a relatively unknown writer who enlisted in the military so he could share his experiences with the literary inclined. The Zab character is the spitting image of Sam Fuller. Well, not quite. But you can definitely sense a resemblance between the two.
To help tell the story, an inner monologue is used to a good degree. Zab’s thoughts give an anecdotal structure to the film. With each new battle, he shares his experiences, and his philosophy of said events invoke Fuller’s own philosophy. Men die but you remain. Surviving is “the real glory of war.”
The events that transpire are brutal and unpredictable, corny and disturbing. Thankfully, Sam Fuller’s odyssey doesn’t profess a pro-American sentiment. The film stands on it’s own. It is neither pro-war nor is it against the act. Instead, it is a visual record of a group of grunts who are stuck in the middle.
The grunts include Lee Marvin as the Sergeant. He is the focus for The Big Red One. A former combatant in World War I, the Sarge is soft spoken, but a man who could easily slit your throat if given the opportunity. Private Griff (Mark Hamill) is a great marksman who is afraid to kill the enemy up close. He’s never shot a man in a direct face-to-face encounter. When he finally does, it is a chilling reminder of how easily it is to reach the brink of madness.
Privates Zab, Vinci and Johnson comprise the rest of the company. Together with Private Griff, these four men are proficient, and sometimes lucky, who survive to see action in most of the countries in Western Europe. As they traverse the countryside they are always on watch, careful not to be attacked by the enemy.
Still, they manage to find trouble. Watching the feature you can’t help but be inundated by the number of action sequences. There are so many that you begin to think Fuller wanted to create a gung-ho epic. Not so. His film is more like a morality play; the most relevant theme is the issue of killing versus murdering the enemy.
Despite the battleground action, Fuller takes the time to slow things down and have the squad rest and recuperate. In a neighboring Sicilian village, they are treated to a bountiful feast when all they really need are some young, virile female companions. These scenes show that even in a time a war there’s ample opportunity to goof and be flippant.
Compared to Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan, Sam Fuller’s Big Red One is nothing more than a B-grade quality war picture. But that’s the great thing about the film. Fuller doesn’t use a whole lot of bloodshed to get across the atrocities of war. You can see it resonate on the faces of each causality. Whereas most war dramas use loud explosions and battle scenes to prolong a film, Fuller relies on his experiences. It is his characters that act as the backbone for the entire picture. The camaraderie they have with each other is unparalleled. It’s just like when Roger Ebert writes, “‘A’ war movies are about War, but ‘B’ war movies are about soldiers.” No argument here.
Score: 7.5/10
THE DVD:
VIDEO: How does it look?
The digitally mastered video transfer is good, but not a pristine master by any stretch of the imagination. There are big issues with the film’s print. It is inconsistent. Most of time the picture is grainy. Spots and other imperfections are also apparent. But working with 70,000 feet of footage you can’t always expect miracles. For what it’s worth, the transfer works. Some colors look faded, but overall okay.
Score: 7/10
AUDIO: How does it sound?
The soundtrack has been remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1. It has a little punch to it, but it still lacks in certain scenes. Though, I will admit I jumped a little when Private Griff finally overcame his fear of face-to-face confrontations. As part of the learn-at-home program, you can view The Big Red One in a 5.1 French soundtrack. You can also view the film with English, French, or Spanish subtitles.
Score: 7/10
SPECIAL FEATURES: If a the film itself wasn’t enough to ask for, we get a commentary by Reconstruction producer Richard Schickel, alternate scenes, documentaries, and even more extras!!!
Since this film was 24 years in the making how appropriate it is then that we get to hear Richard Schickel on commentary. For 162 minutes he takes you through the process of the Reconstruction. From time to time his commentary will drop out, letting you watch the film. But you know he’s there watching it too because he will cough and clear his throat. He talks about the young actors, like up-and-comer Robert Carradine and Mark Hamill fresh off from doing Star Wars.
On Disc 2, the bulk of the special features reside. Up first are two documentaries.
The Real Glory: Reconstructing The Big Red One (47:20) is a ten-part retrospective on Samuel Fuller’s creation. The documentary includes interviews with some of the principle actors twenty-plus years after its theatrical release. Other topics include restoring the picture and sound. One of the interesting revelations by Sam Fuller – in an interview conducted before his death – is that John Wayne wanted to play the Sergeant. Thank goodness Lee Marvin got the part. I don’t think “The Duke” could play the tired, gaunt Sarge like Marvin could.
The Men Who Made the Movies: Samuel Fuller (54:58) was originally a documentary that aired on Turner Classic Movies in 2002. Fiddling with that cigar of his, Sam Fuller reflects on his “yellow journalism” career and some of his directing efforts. Notable films include: The Steel Helmet, Shock Corridor, The Naked Kiss, and of course The Big Red One. The documentary is in twelve-parts that can be played individually or as an entire feature.
With 70,000 feet of film at their disposal, Richard Schickel and his editor Bryan McKenzie and post-production supervisor Brian Hamblin had a long road ahead of them. By watching the anatomy for the scene feature (six scenes in all running a combined 18 minutes), you get a better understanding of the type of technical problems they had to alleviate. For instance, the white spots in the film were so bad it looked like the squad was being attacked by a ravaging hail storm.
A 162-minute war epic wasn’t enough for you? How about 31 minutes of alternate scenes. McKenzie and Hamblin speak shop over 18 scenes and explain why they didn’t fit into the Reconstruction of The Big Red One.
If you want to know more about our U.S. Army’s First Infantry Division, watch the War Department’s Official Film on the subject, The Fighting First. This 12-minute film uses classic war footage and intercuts it with the voice of one of the combatants.
In 1999, Warner Bros. discovered the original promo reel (29:49) for Sam Fuller’s upcoming film. It contains portions of the missing scenes and was the inspiration for the Reconstruction. This reel is just a great big montage for Sam Fuller’s epic film. Thank goodness somebody at Warner Bros. found this beautiful “bean” footage. Without this reel movie watchers everywhere would never see this gem of a war drama.
A still gallery, two of the film’s original theatrical trailers and the Reconstruction trailer, and two radio spots complete this lavish two-disc set.
Score: 9/10
