The Big Red One (1980)

THE combat-hardened sergeant squints at the members of his rifle squad. They're kids right out of high school. And it's the sergeant's job to keep those kids alive. The Big Red One, named for the insignia of the First Infantry Division, is the unsparing World War II saga of a handful of Gls battling their way from North Africa through Sicily, Omaha Beach and Belgium to the ultimate horror of the Nazi death camps, Lee Marvin (The Dirty Dozen) is the sergeant, and his young charges include Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds), Writer/director Samuel Fuller, one of the most influential filmmak ers in Hollywood history, served in the Fighting First. He knew that for the line soldier, war is about survival, And that meant The Big Red One may be the most immediate, most intense, truest war movie you'll ever see,