Sam Fuller's "The Big Red One" is a dinosaur. Large, cumbersome yet full of fire, it seems horribly out of place. A WWII drama now seems "trendy," following in the likes of "Saving Private Ryan" (of which "The Big Red One" is surely a predecessor) and Terrence Malick's "The Thin Red Line." WWII dramas were also a staple of the late 60's/early 70's movie marquee and they were very popular then. But in 1980, nothing could seem more out of place. Fuller, full of beauty and bravado, could not leave war behind, having experienced most of "The Big Red One's" plot himself. Like Ed Wood, he puts himself in every film. Being a writer, a newspaperman, a soldier and a filmmaker, Sam permeates this film. The character Zab, played by a cigar chomping Robert Carradine, is surely Fuller here. Carradine enjoys every second of his time on screen, playing a youthful version of the man behind the camera. Meanwhile, Fuller also inserts his stalwart "Griff" character in the film (based on a paraplegic soldier from Fuller'  real life experience), played by none-other than Luke Skywalker, Mark Hamill. 

"The Big Red One" moves all over the road, usually propelled by Carradine's "Fulleresque" narration. It begins in 1914, during WWI and ends with the armistice of WWII, only to tell us there is no glory in  war, except survival.

But Fuller's low-budget and somewhat amateurish film somehow grabs hold of us. We like his characters. Any fan of the man will enjoy watching Carradine portray him. Likewise, Hamill has a scene in a concentration camp that is breathtaking. The characters who surround this duo, including Lee Marvin's nameless Sergeant and the other men of the outfit begin to grow upon us. Like the heros in James Jones' "The Thin Red Line," the characters here are war-weary soldier who expect each battle to the last one, only to find new orders awaiting them upon their completion of a mission. Instead of force-feeding us heroics and battle strategies, Fuller takes us on the road with his characters and lets us experience both the neurosis and the ennui, simple put - the everyday life, of being a soldier in WWII.

Fuller peoples the film with the characters and events from his own experience. "The Big Red One" could best be described as a soldier's diary. It spans several years and several battles on numerous continents. We travel with Fuller and see the small, genuinely interesting, moments he experienced in war. "The Big Red One," doesn't snatch us with tricky photography or awesome special effects, it simply unfurls before us on the silver screen and allows us to witness these moments from Fuller's past.

The film ends at the liberation of a concentration camp. But unlike the monolith monstrosities we usually see in WWII films, the concentration camp here is small and bucolic. It's as if the Nazi's came into town and turned a local farm or mill into a death factory. This is probably a more authentic picture than any  film we've ever scene set in such a place.

Fuller's voice can be heard loud and clear in this film. It's like reading his diary. It's really an awesome piece of work. But it doesn't have much plot or much of a budget. Instead, it's infused with an independent spirit. The distillation of a man who lived life to the fullest, and allowed his essence to spill over unto the silver screen. We owe Fuller thanks - for his honesty, and his verve. Here is a film made by a true American.

Note: Produced by Gene Corman. Several people named Corman worked on the crew.

A documentary on the making of the film was released in 1979 called "Sam Fuller and the Big Red One."

Filmed in Israel and Ireland.

Featured in the documentary "The Typewriter, the Rifle and the Movie Camera."

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