This listing is for The Big Red One LaserDisc LD (1980) 7052-80.
Country: USA
Street Date: 1987
Publisher: CBS/FOX Video
Price: 34.98 USD
UPC: (none)
I-S-B-N: (none)
Category: Action
Color: Color
Length: 114 min.
Sides: 2
Chapter(s): ???
Size: 12"
Picture: Pan & Scan
Ratio: 1.33:1
Plastic: Transparent
Cover: ???
The Big Red One is a 1980 epic war film written and directed by Samuel Fuller starring Lee Marvin alongside an ensemble supporting cast including Mark Hamill, Robert Carradine, Siegfried Rauch, Bobby Di Cicco, and Kelly Ward. Based on Fuller's own experiences, it was produced independently on a lower budget, shot on location in Israel as a cost-saving measure. It was heavily cut on its original release, but a restored version, The Big Red One: The Reconstruction, premiered at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, seven years after Fuller's death. Fuller wrote a book, with the same title, which was more a companion novel than a novelization of the film, although it features many of the scenes that were originally cut. Fuller was a World War II veteran and served with the 1st Infantry Division, which is nicknamed The Big Red One for the red numeral "1" on the Division's shoulder patch. He received the Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart during his service. He was present at the liberation of the Falkenau concentration camp.
In November 1918, a private, using his trench knife, slays a German soldier, who was approaching with his arms raised and speaking German. When he returns to his company's headquarters, the private is told that the "war's been over for four hours." In November 1942, the soldier, now a sergeant in the "Big Red One," leads his squad of infantrymen through North Africa; they are initially fired on by a Vichy French general, who is then overpowered by his French troops who are loyal to Free France. Over the next two years, the squad serves in campaigns in Sicily, where they are given intelligence by a peasant boy and fed by grateful women, Omaha Beach at the start of the Normandy Campaign, the liberation of France, where they battle Germans inside a mental asylum, and the invasion of western Germany.
The sergeant's German counterpart, Schroeder, participates in many of the same battles and displays a ruthless loyalty to Hitler and Germany. At different times, he and the sergeant express the same sentiment that soldiers are killers, but not murderers. During the advance across northern France, the squad crosses the same field where the sergeant killed the surrendering German, where a memorial now stands. The squad's final action in the war is the liberation of Falkenau concentration camp in Czechoslovakia. Shortly after this, the sergeant is in a forest at night, having just buried a young boy he had befriended earlier after liberating the camp. Schroeder approaches, attempting to surrender, but the sergeant stabs him. His squad then arrives, and informs him that the "war's been over for four hours." This time, as the squad walks away, Pvt. Griff notices that Schroeder is still alive; the sergeant and his men work frantically to save his life as they return to their encampment.
LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known as simply "DiscoVision") in North America in 1978. Although the format was capable of offering higher-quality video and audio than its consumer rivals, the VHS and Betamax videocassette systems, LaserDisc never managed to gain widespread use in North America, largely due to high costs for the players and video titles themselves and the inability to record TV programming. It also remained a largely obscure format in Europe and Australia. By contrast, the format was much more popular in Japan and in the more affluent regions of Southeast Asia, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia, being the prevalent rental video medium in Hong Kong during the 1990s. Its superior video and audio quality did make it a somewhat popular choice among videophiles and film enthusiasts during its lifespan.
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