The Big Red One

THIS is the movie Saving Private Ryan wants to be when it grows up. The opening of Spielberg’s Second World War flick, as Tom Hanks and co land on Omaha beach, is arguably the most convincing, gripping combat sequence ever filmed. But it’s all a bit dull after that. Not so with The Big Red One, which may not share Ryan’s shaky-cam immediacy, but feels more grounded in the grime and grit of war. Writer/director Samuel Fuller called on his own experiences as a grunt, as did star Lee Marvin, playing a sergeant shepherding his platoon through the Allied invasion of first Africa, then Europe. Surreal, emotional and yet sometimes funny, its attitude is summed up by the marketing tagline: “The real glory of war is surviving.” Look out for Mark “Luke Skywalker” Hamill as a wide-eyed recruit witnessing war’s horrors first-hand.