---
title: "The Big Red One: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-big-red-one/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-big-red-one"
critics_score: 84
critics_reviews: 9
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Big Red One (1980): what the critics said

Critics' score 84 from 9 reviews: 8 positive, 1 mixed, 0 negative.

## Slant Magazine — Nick Schager

Rating 4/4. 28 September 2004. 

Schager praises Fuller’s unsentimental, episodic portrayal of war as absurd, cruel, and inescapable. He singles out the film’s visceral combat sequences and its compassionate focus on soldiers and children caught in the violence.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-big-red-one/)

## Variety — Variety Staff

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 31 December 1979. 

The critic calls it a terrific, powerfully intimate war story that also achieves great scope. They praise its fast-paced telling of the European land war through the eyes of five foot soldiers.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1979/film/reviews/the-big-red-one-1200424646/)

## Empire — Angie Errigo

Fi1m's normalised score 88/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

Errigo gives the film a strongly positive verdict, calling it a great and unusually immediate war film. She singles out Fuller’s intimate, unsentimental depiction of combat and the soldiers’ lived experience.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/big-red-one-review/)

## Los Angeles Times — Kevin Crust

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 21 January 2005. 

Crust finds the restored cut elevates the film into a compelling epic. He especially praises Lee Marvin’s performance and the film’s tense, carefully staged action.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jan-21-et-bigred21-story.html)

## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 

Ebert’s Great Movies feature treats the film as a powerful, unsentimental account of war. It especially values Fuller’s humane perspective on the soldiers’ experiences.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-the-big-red-one-1980)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 29 April 2005. 

Bradshaw argues that the film’s brash, expressionistic vision makes a strong case for its status as a crazy masterpiece. He praises its superbly contrived images and ingenuous passion for conveying the madness of war.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2005/apr/29/5)

## Radio Times — John Marriott

Rating 4/5. 

Marriott considers the film a powerful return to form and one of Fuller's most accomplished features. He praises its poetic, graphic account of combat, anchored by Lee Marvin's performance as the sergeant.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-gsw27x/the-big-red-one/)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 2 October 2004. 

The critic views the film as a powerful, unsentimental account of war. He singles out its focus on survival rather than glory.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/02/movies/theres-no-glory-in-war-unless-you-mean-survival.html)

## Time Out — TR

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page identifies this as a review, but the review text is unavailable, so its verdict cannot be determined. No specific praise or complaint is visible in the available content.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-big-red-one)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-big-red-one.md