Au-delà de la gloire

Definitely one of the best war films I have ever seen. Why? Because there are scenes here that I have never seen in any other film. They are inventive, interesting, entertaining, and cruel. Excellent cast, which is definitely not pointless, but rather functional. Mark Hamill and Lee Marvin are absolutely captivating. (23/11/2015)

I remembered the original version of The Big Red One, which I had seen on TV several times, as a rather good, but at times rather boring and somehow overdone given the immortality of the five main characters. How can a forty-minute longer cut be better? Unexpectedly easily. Maybe it was the TV cropping of the image and my age at the time, but it was certainly more than that. There was so much missing in The Big Red One! On DVD, the film is suddenly much more human, emotional and impressive... A number of the scenes added are literally unforgettable, showing the hell of war as a thoroughly absurd but certainly not a light-hearted experience in places, and seeing those mostly nameless soldiers constantly falling to the ground suddenly makes the central characters seem less bulletproof. Especially the final hour is one of the best things ever made in (anti-)war films. The only flaw is that the Germans speak English. But still, four and a half. (02/06/2013)