There was a time in the early '80s when The Movie Channel showed THE BIG RED ONE and STAR WARS on a seemingly endless loop. Some programmer couldn't get enough Mark Hamill, I suppose. As a fledgling movie nut, I watched them over and over again.
Today, I can't sit through STAR WARS. Though I was worried the same might happen when I fired up the reconstructed edition of THE BIG RED ONE such was not the case. In fact, I was riveted. The Reconstructed Edition is better than the original, and the DVD issue is a knockout.
The picture is crystal-clear in all but a few parts, and the sound is awesome. In fact, it gave my home system a real workout. I could hear the clattering of shell casings behind me as artillery landed all around, I could identify different weapons by their sonic signatures, and I was afraid the neighbors might call the police, fearing a major war had broken out in my basement.
The performances are phenomenal, with Mark Hamill giving an eye-opening performance that lends weight to the complaint that George Lucas doesn't know how to handle actors. Lee Marvin is, of course, Lee Marvin, and there isn't a moment I don't completely buy his character. My only question was how a sergeant this good never got rockers for his chevrons. The remaining cast is equally solid, with only one moment taking me out of the film (when the colonel stands up on Omaha Beach, it just seemed too theatrical).
And the story, of course, feels real in a way few movies can match. I can see this movie getting compared to SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, but I think it has more in common with BLACK DOWN DOWN. Like BLACK HAWK DOWN, It's a movie about real soldiers, and about the things they do, and about the situations they get themselves into. More than any pyrotechnics - fest can be, it's a movie about the War.
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