CommentsXp Best movie ever!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

classicsoncall The film is book-ended by similar scenes. In both, the unnamed sergeant portrayed by Lee Marvin attacks a German soldier moments after the war he's engaged in has come to an end. In the first sequence, Marvin's character shows remorse that he took a life unnecessarily; at the end of the movie he attempts to save the German soldier's life he just stabbed after finding out that a treaty has been confirmed. Both instances might have been considered attempted murder, a differentiation that's explored in the picture as stated in my summary line above in the Sergeant's own words to one of the men in his squad.As far as war movies go, I didn't get a lot out of this one. The film focuses more on the personalities of the four principals in Marvin's unit, and how they managed to survive their experiences throughout campaigns in Northern Africa, Sicily, D-Day on Omaha Beach, Belgium and Czechoslovakia. There's a particular scene that takes place in a Belgian insane asylum, presumably meant by director Sam Fuller to counterpoint the insanity of war in general, so on that basis the sequence seems to offer a realistic evaluation. Much of the rest of the film is rather plodding and doesn't appear to have been made for the action crowd. The explanation and depiction of a Bangalore relay was appreciated, as I now understand what that scene was meant to convey.Other than Lee Marvin's role as the Sergeant, the rest of the acting is less than noteworthy. Outside of his Luke Skywalker character, I haven't seen Mark Hamill in anything else that's impressive. He has two defining moments in the picture when first, he freezes up during an early battle against French Vichy forces, and later on when he blanks out and repeatedly shoots a German soldier, virtually unable to process the idea that the man is already dead. In both cases, the horror of war is mirrored in Private Griff's blank expression, perhaps a testament to the film's closing argument that 'surviving is the only glory in war'.

SnoopyStyle It's 1918 at the end of WWI. A private (Lee Marvin) kills a German soldier but he finds out that the war is already over. It's then WWII as the same soldier now as Sergeant of a squad in the 1st Infantry Division nicknamed The Big Red One. They land on the North African shore but Private Griff (Mark Hamill) is unable to kill. The Sergeant is injured and captured during Kasserine Pass. He escapes during a battle dressed as an Arab and rejoins his unit going to Sicily. Only four men remained from the original twelve. After Sicily, they are sent to Normandy on D-day.This is basically a series of small squad action instead of large epic set pieces. It's interesting to go small in a big budget movie. It doesn't have great memorable characters other than Lee Marvin as the nameless leader. He shouldn't be the lead character. He's more fitting as a supporting character. This movie is in desperate need of Hamill taking charge but he never does. The guys become nameless faceless cannon fodder although that's kind of the point.

mformoviesandmore There must be lots of men who fought bravely during war but who aren't good at making war movies. Samuel Fuller is just one of them.This movie is a bore-fest.Acting: Lee Marvin is working within himself (it's no Emperor of the North) but the others must have just been handy and cheap.Story: There isn't really one. It is a series of scenarios, each from a different European theater of WWII in which American army forces took part. It's sort of like a greatest hits of actions - and clichés.It is fairly humourless, says nothing unique, and is best viewed by someone who wants to see a WWII movies and has seen the others.

Jeff (actionrating.com) See it – Picture a mix between HBO's miniseries "Band of Brothers" and the "Dirty Dozen." It co-stars Lee Marvin in his usual hard-nosed role. The other co-star is a pleasant surprise. In a rare role playing someone other than Luke Skywalker, we see Mark Hammel playing a young soldier struggling with the fear of combat. This movie is special because it follows a squad of soldiers as they serve tours of duty in every major theater, from North Africa to Berlin. Some moments feel very corny and 70's. Other scenes are very over-the top, such as when the main characters help a woman deliver a baby inside a tank while propping her legs up using machine gun belts. But at its heart it's just a good World War 2 movie, complete to its climactic final scene. 4 out of 5 action rating