“The real
glory of war,” Samuel Fuller said, “is surviving.” A decorated
combatant with the famed U.S. First Infantry in World War II,
Fuller survived. His 1980 film version of his war experiences did
not... until now. Working with 70, 000 feet of vault materials
and Fuller’s shooting script, critic/filmmaker Richard Schickel
heads a reconstruction that adds over 40 minutes and transforms a
truncated but admired war film into an epic masterpiece.
CRITIQUE
In the late
1970’s, after an eight year absence from feature filmmaking, Samuel
Fuller finally got the financing for the story he had been waiting
more than thirty years to tell, the story of his life during war
time. World War II was the defining moment in Fuller’s life, and he
learned things during those years that would later become his
consistent artistic themes. In his early 30’s when the war broke out,
Fuller was older than the average soldier, and the infantry was his
second career, after years as a reported in New York City and around
the country. He made it though the war with his humor in tact, and
went on to a successful career in filmmaking, mostly B-movies, but
they all had balls. After it all, The Big Red One was to be
Fuller’s crowning achievement. Unfortunately, without Fuller’s
participation or cooperation, the film was cut by more than thirty
percent, reducing an epic to little more than a quirky, low budget war
film. Also lost was a screen legend’s greatest performance.
Almost an hour
has been added to the film, 47 minutes to be exact, much of it the
real meat of the film. The new footage fleshes out characters that
were only blips before, if they were seen at all, but more importantly
it reintroduces elements that were staples of Fuller’s vision, moments
of absurdity and scenes that showed just how cheap life had become
under the circumstances. During the invasion of Normandy - the
squad’s third amphibious landing, it is not treated as anything
special - Private Zab (Robert Carradine) makes his way down the beach
to relay a message to the commanding officer. Along the way his cigar
burns out and he loses his helmet. Then he comes across a dead man
with his entrails hanging out. Zab drops his cigar butt into the dead
man’s chest cavity, takes his cigar and helmet, moves on down the
beach. It is an interesting moment, showing not only Fuller’s typical
lack of sentiment, but the character’s as well. There are also plenty
of absurd moments, like when the Arab fighters cut off the ears of
dead Germans to trade the Americans for cigarettes, or the men on
horseback taking on a German tank. This is all in addition to what
had been in the film all along. When the squad stops to deliver a
baby in a tank, they use straps of bullets to hold the woman’s legs
open... with the bullets pointed towards her. There are also
new moments of ambiguity. When they stop to rest, a German woman
fingers the rifle of one of the men. The Sergeant (Lee Marvin) tells
to Private to keep his eye on her. “She’s just a German, Sergeant,”
the Private says, “she’s not a Nazi.”
The question of
killing was in the truncated version of the film, but it is given
greater depth here, a question that comes up over and over throughout
the film, the final pay off not coming until the end. The pay off
scene - where Griff (Mark Hamill) kills a German soldier at Falkenau -
was always there, but with the added material leading up to it, a
familiar scene now has so many more layers of depth. The ambiguity is
shown in the very first scene of the film. France, 1918, The Sergeant
comes across a German soldier and kills him. It is routine, and he
does not think twice about it. That is, until he learns that the
Armistice had been signed and that the war had been over for hours.
The killing went from being a routine act of war to a grievous crime,
a sin for The Sergeant, a professional soldier, and it haunts him
throughout the rest of the film. In a new scene, he talks a little
about killing, perhaps the most he has to say at any one time in the
film. He says that they are free to fire away only until the Germans
surrender. “Kill all the Huns you can before that,” he says, “but
never after.” As The Sergeant, Lee Marvin gives his finest screen
performance. We know as much about The Sergeant as the squad does,
which is almost nothing, but he leads with a quiet intensity, leading
them competently and keeping them safe. When he returns from the
hospital after being wounded, his boys drop what they are doing and
run over to him as though he was the father they had not seen in
years.
Many of the new
scenes also deal with a German soldier, Schroeder (played by Siegfried
Rauch), who becomes a German version of The Sergeant. Much of what
one man says is echoed by the other. Schroeder wounds The Sergeant in
North Africa, only to be wounded by The Sergeant in Sicily. The two
cross paths from the opening of the war to the surrender. Echoing
what The Sergeant says about “a pen, a stopwatch, and a piece of
paper,” when Schroeder comes across a leaflet that says the Germans
have surrendered and the war is over, he stops, drops his helmet and
weapon, and starts the long walk home. The fanaticism he displayed
for the war ended with the surrender; his job is done.
The added
material adds so much, but what is best is the new sense we get of the
passage of years. We see the squad go from nervous young Privates who
have never fired a shot, to hardened veterans. Through it all there
is a sense that even though the men fight along side each other, they
are going through the war alone. There is a great moment near the end
of the film, when they battle their way through Czechoslovakia and
discover the Falkenau concentration camp. Fuller shows the four of
them individually, in rapid succession, kicking open the doors, and
what they find stops them cold. Nothing of what they have seen before
has prepared them for what they find. The four of them find this
horror together, but each man finds it for himself. It is the moment
where whatever shred of innocence was left if eradicated, and the
reality of what they have been fighting for sets in. The scene is the
pay off, at long last, not only to the question of killing, but for
the entire movie.
Unlike other
famously truncated films like The Magnificent Ambersons, where
it was all but certain that the lost footage was truly lost, with
The Big Red One it was always fairly certain that the lost footage
was around somewhere. Thankfully it has finally been restored, and
one of the cinemas great questions has been answered.
THE VIDEO
The Big Red One
is presented in the original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Some of the new
material is a bit dark, like there was only so much that could be done
with the color levels, but that is a minor complaint. It is actually
quite surprising how new some of the scenes look after they have been
sitting around for 25 years. The overall picture is sharp, and with
the exception of a couple new scenes, the colors look better than they
ever have.
THE AUDIO
This DVD offers
English and French tracks, both on Dolby 5.1. Every bit of the
soundtrack was overhauled for this reconstruction, from dialogue to
gunshots and explosions, and it really pays off. The layering is
unbelievable, up to date enough not to sound old, while retaining the
films intended grittiness. In some of the scenes, the sound had to be
created from scratch, but it is done so well that one would never
know. The balance between the war sounds and the quiet moments is
incredible, and the dispersal keeps all channels equal.
THE EXTRAS
Commentary by
Filmmaker/Critic Richard Schickel:
The man behind the reconstruction talks about Fuller and the new
material. He talks about what was added and how the material was
restored.
The Real Glory:
Reconstructing The Big Red One:
The cast talks about making the film, from their first meetings with
Fuller to the film’s disappointing 1980 release. We also hear from
Fuller himself via clips from a 1990 interview he did with Schickel.
Schickel then takes us through the long, arduous process of restoring
the film. (48:00)
The Men Who Made
the Movies: Samuel Fuller:
A Turner Classic Movies documentary, featuring footage from the same
1990 interview. Fuller talks about his more well known films and what
kinds of stories and characters excite him. (55:00)
Anatomy of a
Scene:
A look at six scenes, all with commentary, that show what the film
looked like before and after reconstruction.
Alternate
Scenes:
18 scenes in all, with commentary. These scenes were discovered
during the reconstruction but were left out because there was not
enough material to integrate them into the film.
The Fighting
First:
A vintage U.S. War Department film about the famed division,
highlighting the biggest campaigns of World War II. (13:00)
Original Promo
Reel:
A reel discovered in 1999, that was originally intended as a selling
tool for the film. This reel contains scenes missing from the
original 1980 theatrical cut and inspired the reconstruction. (30:00)
Stills Gallery:
Photographs from behind-the-scenes.
Trailers:
Three in all, two of these are from the time of the film’s original
release, and there is one from the release of the Reconstruction.
Radio Spots:
Two vintage radio promos for the film’s 1980 release.
FINAL THOUGHTS
At long last,
The Big Red One is available in a more complete form than we have
ever seen. The additions to the film elevate it from curious low
budget war flick to the epic autobiographical masterpiece of one of
the cinema’s most powerful filmmakers. We see the great performances
that were lost, the levels of visual storytelling, and just how much
Fuller was able to squeeze out of his $4 million dollar budget. The
result is astonishing. The bonus material only adds to the
reconstruction. The material is gives much interesting detail on the
making of the film, on the real Fighting First, and on Fuller himself.
