The Big Red One - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of The Big Red One or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to The Big Red One

[addison]

All the Nazi concentration camp guards are played by Jews. The location was a military base in Israel and the jailers were Israeli soldiers loaned for the production.

[amber]

In the film commentary, Richard Schickel points out two incidents which really happened to Samuel Fuller while serving in the Big Red One and are given to Pvt. Zab (Robert Carradine) in the film: One was when Zab is playing basketball and spots Keiser (Perry Lang) reading his novel. In real life, Fuller didn't know his novel had been published until he spotted a soldier reading it. The other major incident is when Zab acts as runner during the D-Day invasion and tells the colonel that they've broken through. Fuller was awarded a medal for his actions.

[lonnie]

Samuel Fuller: [Lemchek] A recurring character name in Fuller's films; also, uncredited, in Merrill's Marauders (1962), The Tanks Are Coming (1951) and The Steel Helmet (1951).

[elmer]

According to film historian Richard Schickel, the scene in which the sergeant (Lee Marvin) is wounded is a re-creation of how Marvin was wounded in real life as a Marine in the Pacific. As in the film, Marvin was shot through the back and collapsed down on his knees.

[sandra]

During the UK clampdown on video nasties in the 1980s the film was briefly seized by Manchester police, who believed it to be a sex film.

[claude]

Samuel Fuller's autobiography "A Third Face" has many references and a whole chapter about the making of The Big Red One.

[toni]

Samuel Fuller put the actors through a mini boot camp. Lee Marvin, as a former Marine, was the drill instructor, even for the smallest details, such as how to hold a rifle and change a magazine of the rifle at the right time; same as in real combat.

[ronnie]

Filmed in 1978.

[lonnie]

According to Robert Carradine in the Reconstruction Documentary, he was originally cast as Pfc. Griff. However, when the producers learned they could get Mark Hamill, fresh off of the success of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Carradine was given the role of Pfc. Zab, so Hamill could be cast as Griff.

[jamie]

The screams from the foxholes as the tanks roll over them seem strangely out of place, but actually happened. Samuel Fuller said, "When we were in those holes, and the tanks were rolling over us, it was our only chance to scream all the terror out and not be heard. We got it all out in those holes . . . ".

[melinda]

Samuel Fuller: as a military cameraman documenting the troops. He's the older man with the cigar asking the troops to wave at the camera.

[jesse]

Samuel Fuller wanted Kris Kristofferson for a part, but he had to turn it down due to some music work.

[carl]

Until this film, Samuel Fuller hadn't directed a picture in 11 years, his last credited film--he directed part of The Deadly Trackers (1973) before being fired, and was not credited for it--was Shark (1969).

[tammy]

Samuel Fuller originally submitted a four-hour cut and then a two-hour one, both of which were rejected by the studio.

[jim]

Zab's novel is called The Dark Deadline. The movie author Samuel Fuller based the character Zab on himself and also wrote a book called The Dark Page. The 25th anniversary novel for The Big Red One has a black cover with a very similar style to the insert book cover on Zab's book.