MovieChat Forums > The Big Red One (1980) Discussion > I couldn't like this movie...

I couldn't like this movie...

posted 12 years ago by seeingdouble007
8 replies | jump to latest

I'm not here to bash anyone's opinion or start a war (lol) but I thought this movie was downright terrible. I can't find anything good in it. It is not anti or pro war, which is fine, but shoots itself in the foot with Marvin telling Hamill "we don't murder the enemy...we kill the enemy" and then having him question his own statement with an after-thought side glance of uncertainty. Yes I get it, he 'killed' a soldier in WWI 4 hours after the war had ended without knowing it had ended and carried this with him, but it doesn't ring true with the non-moral stance of the film. It seems Fuller was trying his hand at Fellini but ultimately floundering in Ed Wood. No one was likeable...especially the author/voice-over character. I found myself wishing he would become a casualty. Mark Hamill's character was silly...Lee Marvin was too old. The surrealism was so forced I felt as if I was watching an episode of the Avengers sans the tongue-in-cheek charm. The Germans were straight out of a cartoon. The battle scenes were so unbelievable and uninvolved to the point I actually chuckled at the death screams of the soldiers being killed. The music, while good, also missed the mark by alternately switching from atonal and experimental (reminiscent of David Amran) to patriotic. The effect came off as childish and immature as opposed to psychologically jarring. Released in 1980, this film may have had cut better teeth if it was realized during the late 60's or early 70's. This of course, is all my opinion. Normally I don't write out-right negative reviews just to complain, but I have to put my foot down here...if just for myself. Sorry for the negativity...but that's my two cents. I am open to suggestions or thoughts if I have misjudged this movie.

[–] Dantès 12 years ago

You didn't. This movie's terrible.

It should be called "22 short films in the war of some anonymous grunts." The characters were totally undeveloped and boring, the battle scenes were incomprehensible, the narration was disjointed and pointless. Almost nothing in this movie works.

[–] MightyTiki 12 years ago

Some movies do not hold the test of time, this is one of them.

"Toto, I've [got] a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

[–] Prismark10 12 years ago

I feel this film has grown over the years and its influence in films like Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line is plain to see.

Its that man again!!

[–] MightyTiki 12 years ago

What specifically did TBRO do to influence SVP or TTRL?

"Toto, I've [got] a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."

[–] chas437 9 years ago

It didn't at all.

SPR and TRL actually refuted the complete lack of realism of The Big Red One. They also did away with the corny, 1970s dialogue which defined TBRO.

[–] BeaSouth (2780) 4 years ago

I did notice Saving Private Ryan stole the scene from the Big Red One where the blood tinged ocean waves roll over dead soldiers. The camera viewpoint looking down the enemy machine gunner’s barrel sights to the American soldiers landing on the beach was another. Private Upham was derivative of Private Griff too. I definitely saw some influence on Saving Private Ryan

[–] rnmboon (376) 4 years ago

I wouldn't call it bad but it tries to do a bit too much in too little time. Also it feels very dated: this movie wouldn't have looked out of place in the mid 60's. And you get the sense that it was a little underfunded: some of the sets feel a bit primitive for a war movie with this scope. Not a bad movie but not as good as it could have been.

[–] olioz (3307) 2 years ago

It's terribly dated. It does feel like it was made in the 60's and it also has this tv movie quality to it. I really liked this movie as a kid when I saw it in the 90's, I tried watching it again last night but I couldn't get through it. The narration was also kind of weird, it sounded somehow lazy.