Review of The Big Red One: The Reconstruction

Newspaper writer Samuel Fuller, a combat soldier, relives his WWII experiences in the European Theater through the eponymous Big Red 1 the US Army First Infantry Division whose symbol is a large numeral 1 worn on the left shoulder patch. Lee Marvin, Mark Hammill, and Robert Carradine play the major parts with good support from Kelly Ward and Bobby Di Ciccio. The squad fights from North Africa to Sicily, Italy, France, Belgium, and Germany. The reconstruction adds continuity and elaborates on the scenes with quality additional footage rather than filler. In addition to all the combat you could want there is great dialog and several welcome moments of comic relief. The Big Red One is much improved by this positive reconstruction.