The Big Red One

  • Drama
  • War
5/28/1980
113
PG

The real glory of war is surviving

A veteran sergeant of World War I leads a squad in World War II, always in the company of the survivor Pvt. Griff, the writer Pvt. Zab, the Sicilian Pvt. Vinci and Pvt. Johnson, in Vichy French Africa, Sicily, D-Day at Omaha Beach, Belgium and France, and ending in a concentration camp in Czechoslovakia where they face the true horror of war.

Director:
Revenue:
$7,206,220
Budget:
$4,500,000

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Reviews

  • Wuchak

    Sam Fullers WW2 tour of North Africa, Sicily and France-to-Czechoslovakia

    Shot in the summer of 1978, this was inspired by Fullers experiences in the war with Robert Carradine as Private Zab representing him. Its a lot to cram into less than 2 hours, and this explains the criticisms that the film comes across as a collection of incidents with little character development. Yet Fuller wanted to include the highlights of his 2.5 years in the war and this delivers as far as that goes. Some say its a commentary on how war is an ongoing circle of Hell. The problem with this interpretation is that the war does end when the characters wind up at a concentration camp in Sokolov, which is located a dozen miles from the border of eastern Germ...

    October 23, 2025

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