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Actors: Lee Marvin, Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Bobby Di Cicco, Kelly Ward, Siegfried Rauch
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Big Red One |
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In a prologue, an American soldier in World War I mistakenly kills a German hours after the armistice has been signed. By 1942, the American is a veteran Sergeant (Marvin) leading a small group of men in the invasion of North Africa against the Vichy French. Private Zab (Carradine) is a budding writer, Private Vinci (Di Cicco) an Italian-American, Private Johnson (Ward) a fun-loving blonde. The one who will grow the most as the squad fights its way through Sicily, Normandy, Belgium, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally a Nazi death camp in Czechoslovakia, however, is Private Griff (Hamill), an artist/cartoonist who shies from killing in their first battle and is shunned by the others, but who becomes a stone-cold killer (not a murderer, as their sergeant explains) by war's end. The men will experience everything from battle in an insane asylum to delivering a baby in a German tank. Much of their trek across the map is shadowed by a German sergeant, Schroeder (Rauch) who repeatedly tries to kill them and finally collides with the American sergeant in the final hours of the war. Samuel Fuller wrote and directed this 1980 film based on his own experiences and book: originally released in severely-cut form at 113 minutes by the studio, it was reconstructed and rereleased in 2004 with a running time of 158 minutes.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of The Big Red One |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Movie
Actual chase scenes or violence - 40%
Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 20%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40%
Time/Era of Movie:
- 1930's-1950's
War Thriller
Yes
Armed Forces:
- Army
Specific to
- WW II
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
Age:
- 40's-50's
Hair color?
- white
Hair style
- short/standard straight (man)
Body type
- muscular (man)
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- average build (man)
How much in movie?
- 80%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- infantry soldier
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 40%
Hair color
- white
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- muscular (man)
Ethnicity/Nationality
- German
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- Italy
- Germany
- France
Africa
Yes
Part of Africa:
- Arabic Africa
Misc setting
- cave
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- gory visuals of deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- challenged
How many deaths in film?
- dozens
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- impregnation/reproduction
- sex under blankets
How much use of techno gadgets?
- 2 (a little)
Kind of violence:
- land battles
Unusual forms of death
- perforation--bullets
Lot of special effects?
Yes
Kinds of F/X
- exploding vehicles
- exploding bombs
Is this movie based on a
- book
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Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 David Loftus
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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