The Big Red One
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The Big Red One is a 1980 war film written and directed by Samuel Fuller.
Fuller saw much action in World War II as a member of the US First Infantry Division, which was nicknamed The Big Red One for the red "1" on the Division's shoulder patch. The movie attempts to portray the horrors of war as it affects the men on the front lines.
Lee Marvin, who was wounded and almost killed while fighting in the Pacific during World War Two, portrays a character known only as "Sergeant" who leads a squad of men through North Africa and Sicily, then on to the D-Day landings, where The Big Red One lands on Omaha Beach at the start of the Battle of Normandy. The squad then treks though Europe, ending up at the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. The story's focus is on the four enlisted men who survive the war from beginning to end with their sergeant, becoming known as "The Sergeant's Four Horsemen."
The battle scenes were generaly considered realistic, though some technical details are incorrect, such as the German panzers actually being surplus US Sherman tanks painted with a German insignia. One of the more memorable scenes takes place in a mental hospital complete with throat slashings and inmates walking around unconcerned while fighting rages and romantic music plays. As men are killed, one patient picks up an MP40 submachine gun and begins shooting at everyone in sight, shouting, "I am one of you now! I am sane!...I am sane!".
Mark Hamill of Star Wars fame and Robert Carradine play supporting roles as soldiers under the leadership of Lee Marvin.
External links
Suggested Reading
- The Fighting First: The Untold Story of The Big Red One on D-Day by Flint Whitlock - 2004. ISBN 0-8133-4218-X