The Big Red One (1980)

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  • THE BIG RED ONE

    DIRECTED AND WRITTEN BY SAMUEL FULLER
    PRODUCED BY GENE CORMAN
    LORIMAR/ LORAC PRODUCTIONS
    UNITED ARTISTS



    Information from IMDb


    Plot Summary
    Grim story of a WWII squad consisting of an anonymous sergeant
    and four long-time survivors who ignore the faceless replacements
    who continually arrive and die.
    Written by Bruce Bozarth


    Full 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
    Stéphane Audran ... Underground Walloon fighter at asylum (as Stephane Audran)
    Siegfried Rauch ... Schroeder (German sergeant)
    Serge Marquand ... Rensonnet
    Charles Macaulay ... General / captain
    Alain Doutey ... Broban (Vichy sergeant)
    Maurice Marsac ... Vichy colonel
    Colin Gilbert ... Dog Face POW
    Joseph Clark ... Pvt. Shep (soldier on troop transport)
    Ken Campbell ... Pvt. Lemchek (#2 on Bangalore torpedo)
    Doug Werner ... Switolski
    Perry Lang ... Pvt. Kaiser, 1st Squad
    Howard Delman ... Pvt. Smitty (soldier who trips mine)
    Marthe Villalonga ... Madame Marbaise
    Giovanna Galletti ... Woman in Sicilian village (as Giovanna Galetti)
    Gregori Buimistre ... The Hun (German soldier killed by The Sergeant in WWI sequence)
    Shimon Barr ... German male nurse in Tunisian hospital
    Matteo Zoffoli ... Sicilian boy - Matteo
    Abraham Ronai ... German Field Marshall
    Galit Rotman ... Pregnant Frenchwoman
    Samuel Fuller ... War Correspondent (as Sam Fuller)
    Pascal Breuer ... Hitler Youth (uncredited)
    Luther Fear ... German standing in tank in snow (uncredited)
    Walter Flesch ... Colonel (uncredited)
    Anat Harel ... Graziella (uncredited)
    Ulli Kinalzik ... Gerd (uncredited)
    Christa Lang ... German Countess (extended edition) (uncredited)
    Guy Marchand ... Captain Chapier (uncredited)
    Steve Moriarty ... Staff Sgt at Kasserine Pass (uncredited)
    Yosef Polak ... Herr Green Shirt (uncredited)


    Produced
    Gene Corman .... producer
    Douglas Freeman .... producer (reconstruction, 2004)
    Brian Jamieson .... executive producer in charge of production (reconstruction, 2004)
    Richard Schickel .... producer (reconstruction, 2004)


    Original Music
    Dana Kaproff


    Cinematography
    Adam Greenberg


    Trivia
    The bulk of the picture was shot in Israel, and director Samuel Fuller remarked that it was unsettling after a scene was shot when the German soldiers and SS troops pull would take off their helmets and Fuller would see them wearing yarmulkes, and between takes they would be sitting around the set in full Nazi uniform speaking Hebrew or reading the Torah.


    Reportedly Samuel Fuller wanted Martin Scorsese for the role of Pvt. Vinci, 1st Squad, but Scorsese moved on to do Raging Bull (1980).


    The screams from the foxholes as the tanks roll over them seem strangely out of place, but actually happened. Samuel Fuller said, "When we were in those holes, and the tanks were rolling over us, it was our only chance to scream all the terror out and not be heard. We got it all out in those holes..."


    In the Reconstructed version, the Captain in the World War I prologue reappears in a short segment as the Commanding General of the Big Red One just prior to the Battle of Hurgten Forest in the Fall of 1944. The actual Commanding General during that time period, Major General Clarence R. Huebner, really was a Captain in the Big Red One at the end of World War I, so this is historically accurate rather than just poetic license.


    During the UK clampdown on video nasties in the 80's the film was briefly seized by Manchester Police who believed it to be a sex film.


    According to film commentator Richard Schickel, the scene in which the Sergeant (Lee Marvin) is wounded is a re-creation of how Marvin was wounded in real life as a Marine in the Pacific. As in the film, Marvin was shot through the back and collapsed down on his knees.


    In the film commentary, Richard Schickel points out two incidents which really happened to Samuel Fuller while serving in the Big Red One and are given to Private Zab (Robert Carradine) in the film: When Zab is playing basketball and spots Keiser (Perry Lang) reading his novel. In real life, Fuller didn't know his novel was published until he spotted a soldier reading it. The other major incident is when Zab acts as runner during the D-Day Invasion and tells the Colonel that they've broken through. Fuller was awarded a medal for his actions.


    In the "Reconstruction" Documentary, Robert Carradine says that when he, Mark Hamill, Bobby Di Cicco and Kelly Ward first met Lee Marvin, Marvin didn't say anything at first. After they got into a taxi to drive out to the shooting range where they would hone their skills, Marvin finally said "Which one of you is Carradine?" To which Robert Carradine answered dutifully "I am." Lee Marvin's response: "F*** you, Carradine." A short time later, after they'd been working together, Carradine asked Marvin why he said that to him to which Marvin replied "Cause yours was the only name I recognized."


    According to Robert Carradine in the Reconstruction Documentary, he was originally cast as PFC Griff. But when the producers learned they could get Mark Hamill, fresh off of the success of _Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)_, Carradine was given the role of PFC Zab, so Hamill could be cast as Griff.


    In 2005, Mark Hamill, who portrays PFC Griff, lent his voice talents to the video game "Call Of Duty 2: The Big Red One". Like the film, the game follows the exploits of a squad from "The Big Red One" from North Africa to East Europe.


    Director Sam Fuller served in World War II. He was a member of "The Big Red One" and many of the moments in this movie are based upon his own experiences.


    Lee Marvin fought in WWII, but in the Pacific at Saipan.


    During the course of filming, Lee Marvin and Perry Lang got into an argument. While filming the scene where they come to Crucifix Hill (where the Nazis are planning an ambush), Lang kept waving and gesturing his arms while he spoke. After the scene was finished, Lee Marvin growled at Lang "What the fuck was all that crap about?" To which Perry Lang cursed out Marvin. According to the other actors in the Reconstruction Documentary, neither Marvin nor Lang spoke to one another for the next week. Finally, Marvin began talking to Lang and treated him with respect for standing up to him.


    Many critics felt that Lee Marvin was too old at 54 to play the sergeant.


    Filmed in 1978.


    Samuel Fuller wanted Kris Kristofferson for a part, but he had to turn it down due to some music work.


    This film's opening preamble of the reconstructed version states: "This is fictional life based on factual death."


    This movie's final coda in the reconstructed version is a memorial and tribute of this film's director Samuel Fuller stating; "SAM FULLER 1912 - 1997".


    According to a review in the 'Variety Movie Guide', this movie was "Based on the writer-director's i.e. Samuel Fuller own experiences as a GI, pic was announced as a John Wayne starrer in the late 1950s and came close to realization on many other occasions, but only came together when producer Gene Corman found means to make it almost entirely in Israel."


    Robert Carradine's character is named Rab after Fuller's original family name, Rabinovitch. The name was changed at Ellis Island.


    When it was released, this movie was director Samuel Fuller's first film showing in theaters for about six or seven years.


    Director Cameo
    Sam Fuller as a military cameraman documenting the troops. He's the older man with the cigar asking the troops to wave at the camera.


    Director Trademark
    Samuel Fuller [Lemchek] A recurring character name in Fuller's films; also, uncredited, in Merrill's Marauders (1962), The Tanks Are Coming (1951) and The Steel Helmet (1951).


    Goofs
    Continuity: German sergeant starts walking up sand dune in Africa with stick grenade tucked in right boot, arrives at the top of the dune with it in the left.


    Continuity: In the ambush scene, with the German hiding behind the cross, the sun is shining on the cross and the German's face. However, in the same sequence the cross casts a shadow across the field in the opposite direction to the first scene.


    Continuity: In the opening scene (WWI) in the bunker, the officer's shaving cream covers his lip and his chin, then his chin only, then back to his lip and his chin.


    Miscellaneous: When the sergeant and his unit are in Sicily, they walk in front of a wall with the portrait of Mussolini and a sentence in big capital letters written in Italian. The writing is incorrect. It reads "Se avanzo, Se guitmi! Se indietreggio, uccidetemi! Se muoiu, vendicatemi! Mussolini". It should be "Se avanzo, Seguitemi! Se indietreggio, uccidetemi! Se muoio, vendicatemi! Mussolini". It means "If I move forward, follow me! If I move back, kill me! If I die, avenge me!"


    Factual errors: The German Tiger tanks in this movie are actually Israeli M51HV tanks modified from American-built M4A1 Shermans. The Israeli tank crewmen are wearing modern tanker helmets with microphones. In the one winter scene from the reconstructed version the German tank is an Israeli M50 converted from an M4 Sherman and here the tank commander is in a German uniform.


    Factual errors: During the WW1 scene between the Sergeant and the officer in the dug-out, the Sergeant learns that the armistice had been signed 4 hours previously at 1100hrs, November 11, 1918. While talking with the officer, the sergeant is cutting a piece of red cloth in the shape of a number '1' which he says he will submit as a proposed insignia for the division. However the shoulder sleeve insignia for the 1st Division consisting of a red number "1" was already approved on 31 Oct 1918.


    Continuity: Griff's dog tags change positions when he is drawing on the back of the poster.


    Revealing mistakes: When the troops land on the beach in North Africa, there are no troop transports anywhere around. The same revealing mistake is repeated on the D-Day landings.


    Crew or equipment visible: Camera shadow is visible on the backs of the American soldiers as they rush to greet the French in North Africa.


    Continuity: The position of Griff's hands on his rifle change while he waits in line.


    Continuity: The tree branch moved by Sarge as he looks for the SP gun changes.


    Continuity: When Sarge is looking for the SP gun, his face is drenched with sweat, but dry when approaching the gun.


    Continuity: When the machine gun is firing from the tank, a truck is visible and is nearby to the tank. From the view of the cross, there is no truck at the scene.


    Continuity: Sarge carries a boy and lays him on a bed. The shirt changes positions.


    Revealing mistakes: The fire rate of MP40 submachine gun appears very high, although in reality it's quite low.


    Revealing mistakes: During the battle at the cross the Sergeant is firing the tank machine gun. From the front the restricter, a metal plug with a small hole in it used to permit machine guns to fire blanks, is clearly visible in the muzzle.


    Factual errors: 1st Infantry Division on 11th November 1918 held the line along Meuse river, near the town Mouzon (that were the final stages of Meuse-Argonne offensive, and whole war altogether); in the movie, when sergeant and his team approach an ambush by the old cross, we see that this is the spot from the first scene, the last day of the WWI. And on the memorial ("But the names are the same...") it reads "Killed in action - Soissons". Big Red One actually did fight near Soissons, but that was during the so-called Second Battle of the Marne, July to first week of August 1918.


    Factual errors: A sergeant is assigned command of a squad. A unit of four of five riflemen, like Sergeant Possun's unit, is only a fire team and would be commanded by a corporal.


    Memorable Quotes



    Filming Locations
    Big Bear City, San Bernardino National Forest, California, USA (winter scenes)
    Carton House, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland
    Ireland
    Israel
    King John's Castle, Trim, County Meath, Ireland


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    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 2 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • The Big Red One is a 1980 World War II war film
    starring Lee Marvin and Mark Hamill.
    It was written and directed by Samuel Fuller.
    It was produced by Lorimar and released by United Artists
    in the US on July 18, 1980.
    The Big Red One is the nickname of the 1st Infantry Division.
    The film details the experiences of several US soldiers in the division
    and the effects of the war on them.



    It was heavily cut on its original release,
    but a restored version was premièred at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival,
    seven years after Fuller's death.
    Fuller wrote a book with the same title which was more a companion novel
    than a novelization of the film, although it features many of the scenes
    that were originally cut.
    Taken from real life experiences of Director Samuel Fuller,
    this movie is a grim, harrowing and gripping film.
    Lee Marvin was tuff and gruff and simply made for this part.
    It was apparently intended to star Duke, but obviously
    this didn't happen.



    User Review


    Either Version, You Have A Solid WWII Movie
    20 February 2007 | by ccthemovieman-1 (United States)

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

    Edited 2 times, last by ethanedwards ().

  • I don't know if I saw the cut version or not (it's been many a year since I saw this movie) but I just didn't care for the film I did see. Which kinda surprised me because I like war movies AND Lee Marvin.

    De gustibus non est disputandum