Review of The Big Red One (1980) by Hotelcentral — 11 Apr 2016

Compared to The Longest Day, Band of Brothers, Twelve O'Clock High, Patton, Das Boot, The Great Escape, The Train, In Harm's Way, Schindler's List, and others, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction is a very long and tedious collection of anecdotes with very little in the way of interesting action or characterization. It would be a waste of time to even mention the words "story arc." This is perhaps the most overrated film I have ever encountered. I would compare it to a mediocre episode from the TV series The Rat Patrol with the only redeeming feature being Lee Marvin, who is provided with very little material to work with.

I can well understand the theatrical release being edited down from 162 minutes to 113. What I can't understand is why in God's name anyone would want to paste it all back together. There's so little in the way of a real story here it's ridiculous and probably not worth your time, unless you are very easily entertained.