The Big Red One

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The Big Red One ★★★½ 1980 (PG)

Fuller's harrowing, intense semiautobiographical account of the U.S. Army's famous First Infantry Division in WWII, the “Big Red One.” A rifle squad composed of four very young men, led by the grizzled Marvin, cut a fiery path of conquest from the landing in North Africa to the liberation of the concentration camp at Falkenau, Czechoslovakia. In part a tale of lost innocence, the film scores highest by bringing the raw terror of war down to the individual level. New restored version adds about 47 minutes and sports an “R” rating. 113m/C VHS, DVD . Lee Marvin, Robert Carradine, Mark Hamill, Stephane Audran, Bobby DiCicco, Perry Lang, Kelly Ward, Siegfried Rauch, Serge Marquand, Charles Macaulay, Alain Doutey, Maurice Marsac, Colin Gilbert, Joseph Clark, Ken Campbell, Doug Werner, Marthe Villalonga; D: Samuel Fuller; W: Samuel Fuller; C: Adam Greenberg; M: Dana Kaproff.